Aikido at Age 59

Mr. Canario
It depends on how you train. I am 53 and have never been more capable than I am now. I think proper training, and what to train is more important at our age. There is no reason you have to get weaker as you age. In fact the opposite should be happening if you are training aiki. You just need to find people who- train - aiki.
Good luck in your training.
Dan

Hi Nelson,
Adding to the chorus: Started at 40, presently 55.
Tried wrestling in last year of high school and for almost a year afterwards. Took up judo at 18, stayed with it til 26. During the judo years, messed up ankle - still tender. Nearly broken neck x2. 2x concussions. chronic bruising on the shins, separated elbow, shoulder, loose wrist, cauliflower ear, right knee missing an ACL and having a very loose MCL. Sutures in the scalp. hyper mobile right Sacro-iliac joint, hypo mobile left SI joint.
That's what I remember...
Took up rowing, and after a few years the lower back said "bye-bye", so I coached rowing. When coaching one year tried Aikido. Since then, instead of going to physiotherapy for my back/hip/SI joint, I practice Aikido - instead of not being able to walk and being essentially a stiff, immobile block, I'm able to take ukemi, (not as well as I could at 40) practice, and so on, and am hoping to survive training for nidan in June.

Try it - everyone will acknowledge that you're not 20 any more. Let people know you're a bit sore in various places. Anyone who's worth practicing with will also recognise that you're new just by the way you move, and SHOULD moderate their intensity and speed to something you can handle - in one of my previous dojo, the rule was that if a "lower rank" threw a "higher rank" really hard, it was essentially saying to the "higher rank" that I think I can take being thrown harder and faster, so let's go. If you're not feeling really strong, fast, confident, or aggressive, be slow in your attacking, and relatively slow in your application of technique... SHOULD go OK.

Hope you try
Hope you like it.
Walter

One of my new students is 70 years old! You are never too old until the day they are throwing dirt on top!

Marc Abrams

Hello. I myself am young (almost 25) but my husband is 58 at the moment. He absolutely loves aikido. He has trouble with a few things, but has found that through aikido he has started to gain muscle and has begun to stretch out his muscles. If you have bad knees, you might want to inform your sensei. He might allow you to do standing techniques when your knees are bothering you instead of sitting. Most senseis are willing to work with your ailments and can adapt things to suit you. I am betting that you will find that some of your ailments will improve or go away all together if given enough time. Good luck!

some interesting comments here. I'm but a young buck at 28 but intend to continue until life dictates otherwise. we have a couple of more experienced practioners whose technique beggars belief and despite my youthful energy, I am in awe of their approach and execution. I believe a combination of experience and good attitude are key to becoming one who understands the route to er, ah, dunno, being good? how do you you describe it? all I know is I want to be as good and wise as my sensei eventually and it's not about gaining respect, more about emulating the patient and forgiving members of clubs who have given me so much as a novice. I'm still a baby but less so than a while ago and as that changes, I'd love to think that someone else down the line would be happy that I was there to help them as many others have helped me. ETC

I started at 46, and now I'm... oh, gosh... well OK, 46.

This discussion reminds me of a wonderful little story I heard ages ago. It's registration day at college. There's a line of new students, mostly kids fresh out of high school, waiting to sign up for their first classes. But in the line there's one old guy. The kid next to him strikes up a conversation, and learns that the old guy is 80, and says "Forgive me for saying so sir, but by the time you graduate in 4 years you'll be 84." To which the old guy replies "Son, in 4 years I'll be 84 in any case."

If your heart still goes pitter-patter at the memory of first watching those men, when you happened upon the dojo, and you're still happy to give it your best, go for it. Sure, there are risks in training, but there are risks in not-training, too. Get out there and show those youngsters what they have to look forward to.

Linda

Hi well i started aikido at 49 a year and a half ago,its great a little stiff but im becoming soft and loose.best thing ive done [when are we to old] there is no awnser.

ive been training 18 months and i was 49,[when are you to old] there is no answer, was stiff at first but now the young ones throw me hehe.i love it as an art just hope keep my body in shape till grim reaper comes along.

Hi,

in our dojo we have a couple - grandfather and granddaughter -, who started together some months ago. Granddaughter is 14, grandfather maybe 65.

The guy was terribly stiff and as unbalanced as possible in the beginning, but so are many young people, too. Now, still a white belt, he starts doing nice smooth rolls, makes first attempts at tobu ukemi, gets a better equilibrium when doing tai sabaki...the same development as for every newcomer. I don't have the impression he takes more time than others to learn, and I think the only inconvenient of starting so late is having less time left to do aikido...

But in any case I think it's great to overcome all these prejugees that old people learn slower, cannot adapt easily, cannot compete with the young ones etc. and have a living example that also a grandfather can do swift rolls and dynamic exercice.

Best regards,

Eva