It's Good Friday. We can declare the Lenten Challenge to be finished.

Since I took a new job last October, I've been working from home. Sure I have had to do my share of traveling, but when I am home, I'm home.
I like being really home, but ironically have felt the need to get out of the house. Besides with the traveling, my good habits were breaking down and I was putting on weight.

I was thinking about returning to an aikido class and/or perhaps taking up judo to mix with more people and get more physical exercise.

I found a couple of dojo fairly nearby. One only trained Saturday afternoons, which was the worst time for me. The othe seems to have closed.
As I was thinking about my next move, the Mrs reminded me that a friend of hers has been going to an MMA gym for years and really enjoys it there. I had never considered that, but decided that I would take the free lesson (for the conditioningclass) with and open mind and see what happened.
What happened is that I signed up right away. On Mondays, there is conditioning followed by kick boxing. On Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I'm doing Brazilian Jiujitsu and conditioning again on Thursdays. There is heavy sparring on Thursdays for the guys who are entering MMA matches and I don't want any part of that unless I am in a full suit of armor.

I have NO boxing skill, although I've been improving. At 56 I am finding that while I can hold my own with the 40 year olds, I can't come close to the 20 year olds.

The young guys are pretty good to me though. I am the oldest guy in the place. They generally dial it back to what I can handle, although I have found that the instructions to "take it easy on the old guy" lends itself to a wide range of interpretation. I picked up my first black eye about a week ago.

I am gravitating towards BJJ. It seems to be easier on my body and I think that I'll have a greater longevity at this gym if BJJ is my main focus rather than the kick boxing. If I do kickboxing for three days straight, for instance (in place of BJJ on Tuesdays and Wednesdays), my knees and feet are really sore for the next four days and it's time to begin again!

I like the gym. I'm glad I found it. My goal is to stick with BJJ as long as I can and to eventually be the toughest guy in the nursing home.