Made the grade

[oldbloke]

When I dropped out of Uni in 73 I reckoned I'd never do another exam.
However, at the grand old age of 58, I just moved from ungraded to 9th kyu in shotokan karate.
The guy on the extreme right is our sensei, I'm next to him, my kid's in front of us.

Odds on making black belt by the time I qualify for state pension?

 

[oldbloke]

Sensie at right, me next to him, my lad in front of us

 

[Muddydisco]

Nice one Oldbloke, your instructor doesn't look much younger or older than you :)

 

[PD]

well done to you Sir..... ( I take it your not on the front rank in photo ! )

we olduns can show em !

 

[Baldbrewer]

How do you rate Karate as a form of fitness?
I find the gym pretty uninspiring these days,I'm not the most flexiable of people

 

[oldbloke]

You need a certain level of fitness to do some of it, but I don't think it'd ever get you fit.
I mean, I'm well overweight and just the warmup gets me sweating, but it doesn't last that long.
Some of the techniques get me at it too, but that's more because I'm doing them wrong.
You don't need tremendous flexibility at the lowest level I'm at, but you would later. The guy who graded us looks to be in his 60s and can do the sideways splits... Handy for those really high thrust kicks.