Can you be too fat to do Tae Kwon Do?

I don't think so.

I (re)started Tae Kwon Do about 8 months ago now, training with the East Leeds club (http://www.leedstkd.co.uk/index.html). I was fed up with being morbidly obese and having all the health problems that came with it, and had reached a point where I was determined to do something about it. Based on my experience over the last few months, I thought I'd write a little article about this to share my experiences with other people on the forums.

I first started TKD when I was about 15, training at my local club in Leicester. It was an ITF style club, operating under the "Mid West" group. I trained for several years, and managed to reach black belt by the time I hit 18 and left for university. Various things happened in life - being hit by a truck and smashing my leg up, ripping my shoulder blade open in a canoeing accident, getting pretty depressed about those (and other things) and putting on a load of weight... and due to injuries and apathy, not continuing training.

Skip forward 18 years, and all of a sudden I'm in my mid 30s, and weighing nearly 30 stone (or 190 kilos if you prefer metric). I'm horribly unfit, inflexible and starting to really suffer with my health. A 60" waist line makes getting clothes that fit difficult and expensive, and affects day to day life.

And one morning I woke up and decided to do something about it. So, scouting around on the internet, I found the TAGB website and found a school somewhere nearby, and the wife and I went off to go have a look.

We decided to join up, and I started to train with Miss Fiona Brown's class twice a week.

Was it hard? Damm straight it was. Even doing the warm up was tough. Jogging round the room at the start of the lesson, I stick to the outside edge, letting the other class members run around slightly inside so they can overtake easily enough without bumping into me... and that's still true today. Trying to do pressups, I have to do the easy mode half hearted ones and keep my knees on the floor - I was just too heavy for my arms to safely and comfortably lift me up properly.

The key part here was "safely". I knew how horribly overweight I was. I knew that I had lingering issues from earlier accidents - my right knee and right shoulder never got back to 100%, and are still noticeably weaker. I didn't want to push things too hard, injure myself and then be unable to train.

So, I used my brain, and took things steady. Half a press up is better than no pressup at all. Any exercise I did would help my situation, but trying to keep up with the blackbelts or kids in the class was just stupid. So, I took my time, took it steady, did what I could, and did my best, based on my level of fitness and capability.

In some ways I found it very hard re-starting - my brain started to remember things, bits of patterns, sets of 3 step sparring moves, how I used to be able to do line work - but the body was unable to match the memory. I wasn't flexible enough to even kick my own waist height, my balance was poor, my co-ordination off.

But, I persevered. Twice a week, off we went to Garforth and Scholes. I took my place on the back line, and worked away at stuff. Whenever I got to a lesson early, I tried to grab another student to go through patterns with me, or practice 3/2/1 step.

8 months on and I've lost 80 pounds in weight (36kg), and about 8" from my waist (20cm). I'm noticeably fitter, trimmer, and happier with myself. My flexibility has improved somewhat, as has my balance, posture and breathing.



Am I still overweight? Yes - very much so. Still nearly 150kg or 23 stone. Still in the "morbidly obese" category. Do I still have to be careful? Also yes.

When the class practices jumping front/side/turning kicks, most often I stay on the ground and work on my technique. I'm still too heavy to risk trying to bounce around with the others. I'm worried that I'll damage my knees, or take a tumble due to balance issues. So I do what I feel I can.

The instructor and other students have been great - very helpful and supportive, and help me work, gently pushing me along to try and improve, and I'm very grateful to them all.

I've regained my "keen" and I'm now training 4 times a week - also attending Normi Jamalludin's class at Lawnswood, North Leeds. Hopefully that will continue to help with losing weight, regaining flexibility and improving my overall health.

But based on my experiences - can someone dangerously overweight take up TKD and gain from it - very much so. You must be sensible, take things slowly and work to your own limits - but there is *NO* reason why you cannot start with basic line work and start doing low impact physical work to help yourself resolve your weight issues.

I cannot imagine any reasonable and competent instructor allowing a student to undertake something dangerous to themselves, and of course any beginning student would spend quite some time learning the basics. But even just doing a gentle warm up, basic line work and practicing 4 directional punching, would have noticeable, positive effects on anyone's health.

So - if you ever hear anyone say "I'm too unfit to start a martial art" or "I'm too overweight to do that" - you tell them to hush, send them here to read this, and give them the address of your local club. If they don't want to do it because they're not ready to make the change in their life yet - that's a reason. But being too fat to do Tae Kwon Do? Don't believe them.

Just to be clear, I welcome any feedback on the above, questions, additional points of view or advice on training!

If you find it difficult I suggest you do some research on bodybuilding.com, look at getting a clean diet (cut calories, you can still gain muscle mass while loosing fat initially) and lift some weights, you can cut a significant amount of Bodyfat which will make TKD easier.
On another note, if you're scared of doing something you won't suceed, don't care if you fall over and you'll be a lot better at jumping.

You're never too unfit to start anything, it mmight feel harder, but stick with it, it's great exercise and it's a cross between resistance and cardio.