The Imaginary Wall

Why Some People Never Start Or Return To Karate

Beginner's Karate Class At Tatsu Dojo

I am very fortunate to have started martial arts training at the relatively young age of 17.  For one thing, all of my joints worked and didn’t need to be replaced.  Furthermore, I was in that special period of invincibility, where I could get banged up one day and be fine the next.  It was kind of like taking money out of an ATM machine but not have it affect your bank account. Being a shy, awkward and nerdy kind of kid, I found the atmosphere of the kung fu studio to be a very welcome and eclectic place, far removed from stress and angst of being a teenager.  And because I had considerable low self-esteem, I had no ego to lose.  I also had no commitments other than getting past junior year algebra (who thought of that crap, anyway?), so I had plenty of time to devote to training.  My folks were thrilled that I finally took an interest in something physical, so they paid my tuition for that first year.  When you start martial arts training with essentially nothing to lose, you can only go up from there and that’s what happened to me.   

Owning a martial arts school is completely different now than it was 40 years ago.  Back then, the only advertising you had was the yellow pages, a few fliers and maybe a radio spot if you were big time.  There was much more of a fascination with eastern fighting methods and philosophies.  And aside from actually stepping into a dojo, the only exposure most people had to arts like karate were over-the-top movies that depicted martial artists as super human killing machines.  There was a kind of mystical draw towards training, especially for young people looking for a path.  There were no podcasts back then; no YouTube videos or Joe Rogen to educate us.  If you had a real interest, you read a lot of books and subscribed to Black Belt Magazine.  But the last 20 some years have changed all of that.  There was a popular song in the 80s called, “Video Killed The Radio Star” by the Buggles (catchy).  Well, I think in many ways, video killed traditional martial arts, or at least the misconception that training somehow makes you invincible and/or deadly.  That’s not a bad thing, by the way.

Within most disciplines I studied, the sensei was infallible and unapproachable.  You didn’t ask questions, you just did what you were told or you went some place else.  I vividly remember doing basics and forms that seemed to have no bearing on actual fighting, especially when it came time to spar.  There was, in some cases, a huge precipice between  philosophical as well as the physical training in Japan, for example, and that of the west.  I had a karate teacher for a brief time who pushed us to go to tournaments and point sparring, which I really didn’t like.  He told us once, “You don’t have to know karate to win; you just need to look like you know karate.”  I remember feeling a little betrayed after that.  I didn’t want to just look like I could fight…I wanted to be able to fight.  I was also searching for something deeper, a path to personal discipline.  Unfortunately, teachers like that are still around today, peddling martial arts to desperate parents who want their five year old to be a ninja, or to a smattering of adults who believe they can become karate masters online or within in the confines of a “safe space” where nobody ever challenges them.

Today, the term “martial arts” brings several connotations to mind:  Cute little kids breaking boards in pressed uniforms.  Two tatted up dudes, beating the crap out of each other in a UFC ring.  And of course, Brazilian or Gracie Jujitsu, with its formidable grappling maneuvers, joint locks and chokes…all of which look nothing like Japanese Jujutsu.  If I were searching dojo for the first time in today’s world, that would be my perception of martial arts and I probably wouldn’t be interested.  I certainly would not want to wear a white uniform with a white belt that tells everybody that I’m a beginner.  Nor would I want to devote two or three nights a week to training when I could easily go to a gym that coincides with my schedule.  I would not want to have to go through the painful process of learning new skills at my age, much less suffer the painful aspects of things like bone conditioning.  And sparring?  No thanks.  I like my face the way it is.  And speaking from a young man’s perspective, I wouldn’t waste my time on something like karate when I could do MMA and “have it all.”

The thing is, karate is not just one path, but several.  You don’t have to be in shape to start because your training (in a good dojo) will take care of that for you in a calculated and effective way.  If your schedule only allows for once or twice a week, that’s ok as long as you’re willing to do your homework.  You don’t have to worry about grappling or sparring on day one; a good teacher will bring you along at the pace that’s right for you because he or she has been doing this a long time and simply knows how to do that.  Yes, there is some uncomfortable humility involved in wearing a white belt and learning new skills.  But the people on either side of you are in the same boat, and the people who sit to your far right in the line experienced the same thing.  And the more you train, the better you get, the more confident you become and the deeper the relationships you have with those around you.  It’s actually pretty cool.  That’s why I’m spending the last years of my working life doing this and not trying to pad my retirement.  To quote Denzel Washington, “You never see a hearse pulling a U-Haul.”

Maybe you’re reading this and you’ve been on the fence a long time.  Perhaps it’s something you did in youth and you want to return but don’t know how, or maybe the sacrifices outweigh the desire.  You don’t want get hurt, you don’t want to be pushed.  You’re too old for that.  Let me help you with that one…a good teacher creates an environment that is safe, but challenging and he knows when to push and when to let you figure it out yourself.   Don’t let this stay on your bucket list; it’s never too late to start.  And if you live in our area…look us up…on the net, not the yellow pages.

Dave Magliano

Tatsu Dojo

Jissenkan Budo

Dojo Cho