Got my Shodan last weekend

[u/douglasbarbin]

I hope this post helps inspire some people who are considering Judo but are doubting themselves. Whenever some of the younger people at the dojo say, "I can't do this", I tell them that if I can do it, they probably also can. For context, I started my Judo journey in 2019, almost exactly 6 years ago, at age 37 (almost 38 at the time). I am currently 43 years old and will be 44 in about a month.

After white belt, the next few belts (yellow, orange, and green) came pretty easily to me. However, brown belt (Sankyu, Nikyu, and Ikkyu) was more of a grind for me. I had an old shoulder injury flare up during the end of Ikkyu, and I was doing physical therapy for a while until my shoulder pain improved. I believe some dojos (especially outside of the United States) have blue and/or purple belts before brown belt in the kyu ranks, but I am aligned with USJA and their ranking system has Sankyu, Nikyu, and Ikkyu all as a solid brown belt, so my belt color didn't change for a few years until last Saturday.

Shodan is the first Dan grade in Judo. While it does not signify mastery (like a black belt "automatically" does for some martial arts), it does signify a high level of competence in Judo. All of that to say, if I can do it, you can at least get to that next kyu rank! Keep getting on the tatami and practicing until the belt changes color.

[u/Ok-Temperature-7544]

congrats. in the same age bracket as you. did you find yourself ever taking time off or significant time off due to injury and life?

[u/douglasbarbin → u/Ok-Temperature-7544]

Thanks. I never really took significant time off, never more than maybe 2 weeks at most. I had a knee injury where I wore a brace for a while, but I stayed on the mat and took it easy until I healed up. The dojo I belong to also shut down for a week or two during covid, when basically everything was shut down at the beginning. But other than that, I have been extremely consistent.

I do know a guy who is about 10 years older than me who had to take a year off due to injury/surgery, but he has been back on the mat for a while now and he says he feels better than he did before his surgery. He got his green belt last night, in fact.

[u/Ok-Temperature-7544 → u/douglasbarbin]

Yes I’m in that boat. At 47 and at brown belt I have not trained in a month. I am even contemplating retiring all together from the sport.  Or maybe just take another month off I am feeling so much better and don’t  want to regress and he tower back pain again.