It occurred to me that rather than trying to convince to join the fediverse, I can try and convince the fediverse to try . So here's my pitch.

Do you have a new year resolution to try and get in shape? Do you want to try a ?

 is a non-competitive art of Japanese origin practiced around the world. There is a saying "aikido is for everyone". Training consists (generally) of paired practice where you and your partner work through a kata that was demonstrated by the sensei. The goal is to improve your (and your training partner's) ability, not to "win". There are (wooden) swords and short staffs and disarmament that you get to play with.

So why shouldn't you try it? The only thing I've got is that we're still in an ongoing multi-year pandemic and, unfortunately, the number of people still masking largely reflects the rest of society. If that's a deal breaker for you, you might need to wait until someone invents public health and the airborne virus is controlled through ventilation.. aikido is largely based on trying to blend with an attacker's energy and redirect it to control the situation. It is hard to do without a partner.

If you can, I still think you should try a class (or watch one) at your local dojo. If your idea of martial arts comes from Hollywood or you think there's inherent competition in the concept you might be surprised. I'm sure there are bad dojos, but I haven't seen many. Most have a warm and welcoming atmosphere and it's a great way to get in shape.