Newbie from Toronto, Ontario

[Freedom Fighter]

Hello fellas. I'm obviously new or I would not be making one of these lame posts.

I've been interested in learning a martial art for a long time. I'm almost 30 years old and aside from my son who is the most important aspect of my life, my other main concerns are personal health and fitness (physical, mental & spiritual).

I'm fairly athletic and pretty strong for my size. I'm 6' tall and about 185lbs. I've always been into sports such as mountain biking, kayaking, milsims (airsoft), baseball and the like. I have a management job now which keeps me busy and I have somewhat neglected my health for the last few years (less exercise, less healthy food). I'm still in decent shape, but for me "decent" is no longer good enough.

I have recently started rock climbing which I love, it's a terrific work out not to mention fun. I did also start fencing but I don't really care for it for two reasons, I don't really care for the weapons (if you can honestly call a fencing sabre a weapon) and I kinda got trouble from my teacher because I can be a little bit aggressive. I'm not a maniac, but I like to push myself hard and since I can't really slam a fellow fencer, the sport was really mismatched for my personality.

I have always liked the look of Muay Thai so I have been thinking about signing up somewhere. I also have a strong jaw so I'm not afraid to get in close and take a few hits while trying to grapple someone. I don't really like wrestling so I'm not interested in learning that specifically. I need something that has a good combination of both striking and grappling.

I want a fighting style where I can be aggressive, push myself very hard, learn good technique, and if I'm in a position where I have no choice but to physically defend myself or my friends in a given situation, I will have an above average chance of doing so. I'd love to learn a martial art purely for fun, but in today's world anything can happen so I think it's better to be prepared than not.

If anyone lives in or around the Toronto East area (Riverdale/Beaches etc I'd love to hear from you especially since I would like to start training at a good school in my area soon. I'd also welcome any advice/suggestions from those of you in the know.

Cheers,
Alexander Knight

[loyalonehk]

Its never too late... Good positive mental attitude!

I recommend researching as many styles as possible. Take your time to find a good teacher, then stick with him/her. Kajukenbo is the art I fell in love with about 20 years ago. I did 3 years of kung fu before that. Kajukenbo is very well rounded. Today a lot of people are combining fighting styles. The founders of KA JU KEN BO did that long before it became trendy... Korean Karate (tang soo do), Japanese (judo/jujitsu), Okinawan (kenpo) and Chinese boxing. Look into kajukenbo as well as keeping an open mind towards all arts. No one is better that the other, just another piece of the pie. www.emperado.com also for good info go to www.kajukenboinfo.com the later is 7th degree John Bishop- He has written some good articles for Black Belt Magazine. Good luck -

[Freedom Fighter]

Thanks for the reply mate. I looked for a teacher for this art, but as expected, I couldn't find one. I did however start at the Rebellion JiuJitsu school here in Toronto and am taking Muay Thai. I love that style and wish I would have began a long time ago.