Last night marked my first time back at karate since college. Once again I am studying Butokukan and Aikido. After one class, three things are readily apparent:

1. I am really, really out of shape. I mean really out of shape. After only an hour of floor exercises, my vision was darkening around the edges, I could see stars, my legs were shaking, and I couldn't hold my hands steady. And afterwards, I was unable to do all 20 two-count push ups, nor all 10 full-body crunches. And that's for what sensei called a light class.


2. I actually remembered all the techniques. Not any of the Korean for them(back at UF, we only used Korean for the first year, then switched to Japanese. Not that I remember the Japanese). But I did know the techniques. I even remembered the bit of Aikido we did at the end.


3. I am really bad at them. OK, so while I remembered the basic movements, chambers, and footwork, the execution was just all around sloppy. None of movements were clean and crisp. My body was very disconnected; feet, hips, and hands all moved independent of each other. Nor was I getting full chambers most of the time.

The final assessment is that I have a long way to go. I would not be surprised if it takes the whole semester to get back to where I was before I dropped out four years ago. Still, it is something I want to do, in part to get in better shape (it's much easier with someone pushing me for a whole class), and partly so I have the ability to defend myself even when unarmed.

And if you're interested in the title of the post, go listen to this.