Practicing martial arts at 29.

[captain harlock]

That's why I want to learn martial arts so much. There's nobody in my mind who I want to beat with lethal techniques, but since these arts of fighting require you to push your body through it's paces, if you manage their harshness in your youth, you'll live your senior life without much of physical deterioration. And yes, eventhough my teacher is super fast, he showed us two Katas, while performing his second kata( the snake moves) I noticed that he started to pant heavily, and slightly lost his balance while performing it. That's a sign of his advanced age. I wonder how strong was he during his prime...

[JERRY2KONE]

Anyway you look at this it is a great way to spend your free time. Improving your physical well being, and learning how to defend yourself against all kinds of obstacles, plus improving your mental control to a point of erasing fear or panic for the most part. A lot of serious injuries and even deaths are caused more by those two factors alone rather than by an actual attack.

I have known a few masters over the years and they are solid physical people who can take quite a bit of punishment even into their later years without showing fear or any signs of breaking down physically or emotionally. I think you are into a WIN WIN situation and should take advantage of anything you can get out of it. Of course that all comes from what you put into it. Good luck with your new found adventure.

[lutach]

Don't learn and train just the art, do as much cardio as you can to avoid injuries. I've seen a lot of very talented martial artists get hurt because they only worked on what was required for the art they mastered and forgot to work on a solid foundation. Your legs is your support beam so you should include running and making your legs as strong as possible. Your mind and soul should also be very strong and combined they can make you very healthy. What you eat will also play a major factor not only in your training, but also in your fight against diabetes. Eat as much raw organic foods as you can and stay away from the over processed stuff that can raise your sugar levels. Observe Nature and see/learn how Nature works her magic. True warrior monks knows how important Nature is and their Kung Fu masters can do some pretty amazing stuff.