40 years old taking his first courses and having bits of difficulties

[Hanks]

Rheumatologist's current diagnosis after looking at the MRI: arthritis on the right transverse process of my L4 vertebra. Pretty clear on the images, fits very well the symptoms.
No magic solution here. Physiotherapy, physical exercises, moving a lot (my current work is 100% on a computer…), and we'll try an infiltration. She added (not her words but mine): "if you're very lucky, you go for a long time without pain, and we can make new infiltrations from time to time, and if you're not, like, less than several months pain-free, we won't go this way".
But basically, I'm a bit screwed on this; arthritis only goes forward, even if we can relieve the pain in some ways (and, of course, no possible surgery).

I first lost my rock climbing passion, which led me to years of depression. I finally found the strength to practice a new sport I absolutely love, to which I dedicated a LOT of energy, both physically and mentally, in which I've improved a lot (hey more than some of the youngsters from the club), in which I want to volunteer because everyone is amazing in the club, and I finally got another pathology that will probably make me stop practicing taekwondo.

I don't want to experience again what I experienced when I had to stop climbing. It was way too much suffering. I'm immensely sad and frustrated that it's likely to happen again.

 

[HighKick]

All highly active people get there at some point. It really can't be a determining factor in the decision-making process as far as starting a new physical activity. This is within reason of course. For example, you may not be able to rock climb anymore, but you can logically determine what you can and cannot do. This is different for everyone.
You have beginners block, thinking you have to achieve at a high level from the start. Let go of this and just go have fun learning something new.

 

[JowGaWolf]

and I finally got another pathology that will probably make me stop practicing taekwondo.

Even if this is true. It may only stop taekwondo. There are a lot of martial arts out there to choose from. There may be one that will allow you to continue martial arts unless you just have a passion for taekwondo.

my current work is 100% on a computer

This is my problem as well and it's killing my health. I'm currently making adjustments to deal with this.

 

[Hanks]

Got a back infiltration at the end of June. The club was closed from July to September.
Pain decreased a lot, and I kept training with a friend from the club during summer except for one month when I kept doing regular physical exercise at home.

The infiltration effect started to fade out at the end of August, but the pain wasn't as high as before. But I wasn't practicing as much as in the club. Still doing exercises at home (core strengthening, dynamic planks, a little bit of flexibility, a few kicks)

I started coming back to the club this week. I did two consecutive trainings; very oddly, there was no pain. Neither during the training, neither after, whereas there was pain pretty much all the previous days and month, when I was doing my regular exercise at home (which I still do). Very weird, I don't understand at all. But I can't imagine it won't come back at some point in the short future.

The 2nd training was a heavy cardio workout because the club created a schedule to prepare students who will do competitions. I intend to be part of this training to do a bit of sparring, even if I don't compete myself.
During the training, I was incredibly proud to be among the most resilient during the cardio exercises, outperforming many of the 15-20 years old 😲 How's so?!
I also saw my progress thanks to my summer training and since the beginning. When warmed up, I can land high kicks at a height of almost 1m70 max with my most flexible leg, and almost 1m80 with an axe kick (not that I could land them in a fight…).

Very happy to start again, even if I'll move to another city soon, which saddens me since I'll leave this awesome club and the awesome students. I hope I'll find another taekwondo club.

But above all, I hope my pain will remain silent or low enough to continue practicing. I'd be incredibly sad if I have to stop Taekwondo, as I probably said multiple times, and if I do, maybe I'll be strong enough to keep only the good memories and don't grieve as much as I did with rock climbing.

Also, I'm happy that I listened to the good advice here 🙂

unless you just have a passion for taekwondo.

I'm not into martial arts. It just happened that I fell in love with Taekwondo. I don't see any appeal in other martial arts or fighting sports at this time.

I'm currently making adjustments to deal with this.

Can you share the adjustments you're making?
As for me, I move more than usual. Keep changing how I sit. Stand up more often. Go out everyday cycling and walking at noon or in the evening.
I think of making my company buy me a standing desk and a better chair.

I used a gym balloon as a chair for a while, it was kind of fun (I did a lot of mobility exercises when using it as a chair), but I didn't see any benefit compared to my regular chair. I feel that benefits mostly come from being in motion more than usual, and doing regular exercises at home. My physical therapist told me, basically, "how you sit isn't really the issue. The issue is when you sit in the same position for a long duration. If you have to sit for a long time, change your position from time to time at the minimum, it will greatly improve things".