(I am writing this as an adult who wants to learn martial arts...) I wanted to take some…read moreself-defense class, and left messages with several places. This is the only place that called me back immediately, which was a good sign. I said I never did martial arts before and would like to learn with other adults. They asked me to come in for a trial class.
When I got there, there were 3 teenagers and 2 other adults, 1 man and 1 woman. The woman only just started, so I thought this was a good start. The opening exercises were good, 100 jumping jacks and some very tough moves, but since I work out frequently, I actually liked the intensity. We then learned some defense moves that I liked also. But then we had to practice these moves with each other. When it was I against the woman, it was fine b/c we both were learning. Then it was the man sparring with the other woman, and it seemed like he's been there for a while, so he did it slowly and showed her the moves.
I was thinking, this wasn't too bad. Then it was my turn to spar with him, and I was shocked when he went into attack mode! I kid you not. He pulled and twisted my wrists and pretended to hit me. Unfortunately, we had to do this a dozen times. My wrists and arms started to hurt because he was pulling so hard. Then we were told to add a move where we pretended to push the other person away, and he really pushed me to the point that I had to take several steps back to avoid falling.
I had previously boxed before, but that was years ago, and usually against boxing bags or sparring with instructors with pads. So the next time we sparred, I came close to giving him full-blown upper cuts but stopped short, and decided to just block him instead. (I was taught to respect my elderlies, and he was probably 15 years older.) He said with a smirk, "Oh, are you afraid of me?" I said, "No, but I didn't expect to have to fight someone for real in my first class." (In my mind, I was like bring it on, a55h01e!)
I may have gotten injured if I was a true beginner. Needless to say, I am never going back. I think they really should separate the beginners from overzealous and overeager showoffs.