I’m thinking of joining a local tae kwon do club - minimal contact, sparring is pretty much optional. I competed a decade ago but haven’t done anything since. I had the best flexibility and core strength that I have ever had, and I think having both back would help with the rest of the training.
Does anyone have experience, or can point out some watch-out-fors? It would be a couple of incremental hours per week until June-ish.
Cheers!
Shouldn’t hurt and it might be beneficial in terms of core strength at the beginning of your training. As your distances increase and as you get closer to your event I would be careful of any “striking” or impact related activities on already weary shins.
mitch
yeah, that’s not even a problem since the club only goes until mid-June. A-race is IM Muskoka at end of August.
Also might help you ib the swim start ; )
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Only thing is be careful with injuries. unkess you avoid sparring completely, it is easy to sprain something or hurt your knees and be out of tri training for a while.
I trained intensely in martial arts for 15+ years. Eventually switched to Tri since I could no longer be competitive in TKD (traditional style, not Olympic) without training at least 20 hours a week. I’d hit the point due to work travel (and later, family) that I couldn’t train enough to progress belt ranks (I was traveling A LOT at the time).
I didn’t fully give up on martial arts until taking a break 4 years ago until the kids get old enough I can mix it back in again. Thus I overlapped trip and TKD for a few years.
Aside from direct injuries, also make sure you understand your body type. I’ve suffered the lack of mobility from daily martial arts training, and have had to compensate. On the other hand, when I tried both I suffered a lot more joint issues. I know, sounds contradictory, but different parts of the body reacted differently. Hip mobility is now an issue for me, and wasn’t before. Knee pain is much less of an issue since I stopped kicking things all the time. I have permanent damage to my feet from years of hitting things, enough that sparring and bag work is still on the table, but highly painful.
YMMV like with everything else. If you keep light, the mobility and core strength is awesome. But many martial artists who take breaks have a problem not trying to get back to where they were, which is where the problems start. You know, like triathletes.
Picking a style you have no experience in can also really help avoid that.
Only thing is be careful with injuries. unkess you avoid sparring completely, it is easy to sprain something or hurt your knees and be out of tri training for a while.
I’d second the ‘No Sparring At All’ rule. Way to easy to get injured, even when doing light sparring. When I was doing TKD regularly, I was always banged up a bit.