MOUNT FOREST – At 64, most people might be thinking of slowing down, but not Kim McDonald of Mount Forest.
McDonald recently earned her first dan black belt in taekwondo just five years after starting her martial arts journey.
McDonald began her martial arts journey after her husband died in 2019.
“I’d been coming to the gym for a while because I was doing boot camp to get stronger for work,” said McDonald. “And then I left work to look after my husband for a while. He had cancer, his second bout of it. So, then I left work to care for him, and then so he died when I was 58.”
After working through her grief, McDonald said she felt she had “all of this time and no role and nothing to do,” it was then that she decided she would pursue a martial art, something she said she had always had thoughts of doing. After careful consideration, McDonald decided to attend Rise Combat Fitness in Mount Forest.
“I’ve always wanted to do martial arts and so Dave [the owner of RISE Combat Fitness] had it here, and it’s the only gym in the area that offers this stuff,” said McDonald.
“I didn’t have any idea if it would be like judo or karate or that sort of stuff. Dave did taekwondo. And so, then I got started, and it was like, oh, this is so awesome.”
McDonald said her training began with a strong focus on, well, getting her to focus.
“[Dave is] trying to get me to focus more,” said McDonald. “But I eventually learned how to do that. [After that] I wanted to do more strengthening, so I can really focus when I’m doing weight training. It is so awesome. Seriously, I never saw myself doing weight training.”
Despite already achieving her first dan black belt, McDonald says there is still so much more to learn.
“I started in taekwondo, and I’m continuing in taekwondo. I have my black belt, but I want to get more because there’s so much more to learn,” said McDonald.
A huge part of her training has been focused on self-defense, something that has given McDonald the confidence to go out alone.
“Self-defense is a huge part of it, because being on my own, I want to do stuff and there’s not always the other person to be going to things with,” said McDonald.
“And so, I got comfortable with that [going out by herself], because we do self-defense in taekwondo. I can go anywhere now and feel comfortable with myself and feel safe with myself, so that for my age is really important.”
Since the passing of her husband, McDonald has lived alone, something that was a cause for great stress. However, since embarking on her taekwondo journey, McDonald said she feels she has the strength to keep living independently for many years to come.
“I now have the strength to do what I need to do. I live by myself. I am not a young person. I have to deal with my driveway, my lawn. Get the rock salt in for the softener, all of that stuff is me,” said McDonald.
“And because of the stuff here and the strengthening I’m doing; I can do that. And so, I still plan to live in my own house, which can be a huge issue for older people by themselves. There comes a time where you can’t do that necessarily, and I am going to stave that off for as long as I can.”
When asked if she had any doubts or concerns when she began, or if she thought she was “too old” McDonald said there is no such thing as too old.
“Never, ever, ever too old. The only proviso to that is, the longer we’re around on this Earth, the longer our joints have been around. They have their own way of doing things. And so, you have to work with that,” said McDonald.
“But Dave’s been really great in the sense that, okay, this happened. We will modify this, this, this and this, so that you can continue while this heals.”
McDonald said she hopes to encourage others to give the martial arts a try, regardless of age, and quoted her favourite motto “use it or lose it”.
“This place [RISE Combat Fitness] is crazy too. It is cool. So, I love it here,” said McDonald. “I just love it here, being by myself, and there’s no family in the area, I could go anywhere. I could move if I wanted to, but I don’t want to. Well, okay, if I could take the gym somewhere, then fine, but the gym’s here, and so I’m here.”
