martindoyle
06-01-2009, 01:55 PM
Hello!!
Thought I'd do as I was told in the email and introduce myself. I'm 32 and planning on starting Aikido next week. I've never done any martial art before (apart from a handful of judo lessons as a kid), so it's all going to be incredibly new to me.
Anyway, I've been seeing a personal trainer twice-weekly for about six months and - primarily for financial reasons - I'm stopping that, and I wanted to find something else to help me keep fit, and I've also been interested in Aikido for a few years now. I'm hoping to find in it all of fitness, fun and eventually self-defence.
I've spent most of my life being very big. My heaviest ever was 25.5 stone a few years ago, and I'm currently about 20.5 having lost about 2.5 stone since the beginning of the year (and gained a fair amount of muscle). I'm 6'2" and fairly muscular though (thanks to the training), so I thankfully don't look as big as that sounds.
I believe I may find some Aikido techniques a little tricky to start with due to my size (height and weight), but I'm looking forward to getting past that. My aim is to get to a decent standard (i.e. such that I'll be capable of self-defence) within about five to six years, although I'm also hoping that by then I'll have learnt supplementary skills to avoid needing it :)
I'll be going to the Reading Zenshin Aikido club, so hello to anyone who's a member there. Iwama style Aikido sounds like a fairly useful one, and weapons training just sounds plain fun (although I have heard about how it helps with Aikido principles as well).
Anyway, looking forward to becoming a part of the community here and eventually a semi-competent Aikidoka! Nice to meet you all :D
Hi Martin,
Welcome to AikiWeb and to aikido. I hope your start of your aikido training goes well.
-- Jun
lifeafter2am
06-01-2009, 03:41 PM
Welcome to the site, and enjoy your journey! :)