I’ve started taking Kali, which is style of stick fighting from the Philippines. Last night we did a bunch of exercises where you duck under and inside the opponent’s stick, perform various kicks and sweeps, and bounce up on the other side. Now whenever I go down the stairs in my house my legs protest quite vociferously. It’s almost enough to make me go back to my Internet-potato ways…
Kali is great, innit? That’s good sore you’ve got there, meaning you got a good workout! Enjoy the pain!
Last summer I signed up for Tae Kwan Doe classes. I attend an all belts class, which I find to be a little more challenging (gotta make the black belt work as well as the beginner). First day, we did over 100 front kicks on each leg. I couldn’t walk for days. My instructor actually apologized to me later, when she realized what happened. I’m still with it though, lots of fun.
My class, and apparently Filipino arts in general, don’t have much of a ranking system; either you know enough to be a fully qualified teacher or you don’t. And there’s no uniform, you just wear whatever you can move well in.
[nitpick]tae kwon do[/nitpick]
Congrats on taking up a martial art and training hard! Keep it up, the pain eases up once your body is used to moving like that.
Might I ask what drew you to Kali in particular?
“Owww…”
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha! Hahahahahahah!!!
I laugh because I’m there, man! My thing is cycling, and I’ve let myself get REALLY out of shape this winter. And this time of year it’s still too dark to ride on weeknights and weekends are typically rainy … so about three weeks ago I went and signed up at the local gym. So for the last three weeks I’ve done the “personal trainer” thing two nights a week plus either riding or gym workout (depending on weather) on Saturday and Sunday.
Owwww!!! Indeed. I still ache from Tuesday’s workout!!
Good luck with Kali! Have fun and “stick” with it! 
In law school, a classmate of mine started taking Kuk Sool Won. One day, he came to ask me (because I practice Tae Kwon Do) if he had done something wrong because he was really sore in both legs, right around where the leg connects to the hip.
He was most distressed when I told him that was normal.
If you want to be hardcore about it you could get a headlight and a rainsuit and ride in the rain at night. That’s what I used to do when I was younger and stupider, and didn’t have a car.
I used to take Kajukenbo a long time ago, which borrowed some bits from Escrima for weapons work. When I decided to take something up again, I looked into schools that focused more on the weapons because I always liked weapons training the most. I started looking for European swordfighting classes, but all the ones around here were either Olympic-style fencing or stage combat classes, and I wanted something less stylized. Then I looked into the Filipino arts because I’m half Filipino, I found this one online, went to observe a class one night, and signed up the following week. So this week was just my second class.
You are, of course, quite right. What can I say? I’m not so young any more myself. Or maybe I’m just a wuss! 
Thank you, I always screw up the spelling of that word. I’ve looked it up like 5 times, and than I’ll think I have it right… obviously, it hasn’t sunk in yet.
Mmm. Yes. The famous sore muscles. I vividly remember the first time I took an advanced-belt class in TKD. I had just earned my red belt, and a friend of our instructor was teaching that particular class. It was by far the most strenous workout I’d EVER had, and I ended up practically unable to walk for the following weekend - a trip to NYC.
But, uh, you never get over it. My shoulders and back are aching right now from last night’s TKD class, in which I was alternately trying to sweep people much larger than me to the ground, or getting thrown to the ground myself.
My most memorable is not either of my two ligament tears, but rather the time we had a four hour seminar on falling and throwing techniques. The first two hours were falls in all directions. The second two hours were flips and self-defense techniques. I was tired when I went home, but felt OK.
The next morning, I hurt all over. Somehow, I managed to get my ass to class later that night, and found out that everyone else who had been in the class was similarly afflicted. Except for the master, who just laughed at us.
Good times . . .
A runner here. Picked up running again after a break of nearly a year and can couldn’t walk for two days. Also, my lungs felt like they would burst. Its been a month now, and I am a little better. There is still a little pain, but it feels nice (its more acceptable than the feel of soft, fatty muscles!!).