What do you know I am old

[shihansmurf]

I work day in and day out with kids born in the 90s--many of whom are bigger than I am, and I'm not small. In our youth-oriented culture, they tend to underestimate anyone with a little gray, so if they push it, I invite them to the MA class, and give them a chance to take my head off. Whatever block/counter I get to use (and yes, I pull it to a large extent) has always been enough to change their minds about 'Old People'.

I know what you mean. I love doing Army Combatives with them. :boxing:

Lets'em know why I have the stripes.

Mark

 

[jkembry]

Mind says yes, body says no.

Ground is hard.

I hear ya! Minds says 25 years old...Body says 50 years old...the conflict begins...and the body is winning.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Yar ... I turn 41 in just a couple weeks.

I was going to say I wouldn’t mind being 41 again but then I remembered that believe I was 41 when I started my year of constant injury that started with a torn ligament in my elbow and culminated with a tree falling on me.

My best advice to you is...stay out of the woods

Mind says yes, body says no.

Ground is hard.

You said it brother.

 

[kidswarrior]

Yar ... I turn 41 in just a couple weeks.

I know it hurts at the time, but later you'll be grateful. :highfive: I was 42 when I started Asian arts.

Over the last year I've been coming to grips with the idea that I won't be able to do head-high jumping/flying kicks for very much longer.

Sniff. Losing Super Powers sucks.

You're not losing super powers, you're just changing their targets--the legs are oh, so rich, and the guy almost never sees it coming. :lol:

 

[kidswarrior]

I know what you mean. My kenpo teacher is close to 60, has two hip replacements, served in Vietnam, and had a career in law enforcement including some nasty undercover work. He had plenty of opportunity to find out what really works. The last time he demonstrated a technique involving a shoulder lock on me, I literally thought I was going to lose the whole arm. I thought my shoulder was separating right there, on the spot. And it was tweaked for a couple of months, before I finally got acupuncture and it was able to start healing up again. That is one guy I'd HATE to be on the receiving end of a technique, if he meant it for real.

There is something to be said for solid experience.

And my taijiquan sifu is in his early 70s, half my size and you could not pay me enough to go all out one on one with him. If for no other reason than he would make it look way to easy.

Bingo on both your accounts. I've thought a lot about this, and I'm thinking that if you move in certain ways for 40-50 years, nothing like someone else's arm, leg ( as a punch, kick), or even their whole body is going to slow you down when you decide to do it one more time. Or maybe I'm rambling again. :idunno:

I work day in and day out with kids born in the 90s--many of whom are bigger than I am, and I'm not small. In our youth-oriented culture, they tend to underestimate anyone with a little gray, so if they push it, I invite them to the MA class, and give them a chance to take my head off. Whatever block/counter I get to use (and yes, I pull it to a large extent) has always been enough to change their minds about 'Old People'.

I know what you mean. I love doing Army Combatives with them. :boxing:

Lets'em know why I have the stripes.

Mark

:lfao: Yep, sometimes *teaching* is grand, huh? :matrix:

 

[KELLYG]

I've got shoes older than some of the folks that I train with. (tee hee) Do I qualify? My mind and spirit are willing but the body??? How about this I get sore/stiff if I train and get sore/stiff when I don't. Training soreness hurts less than not training so off I go. Do you guys modify technique/ training or do you just suck it up and suffer later?

 

[kidswarrior]

I've got shoes older than some of the folks that I train with. (tee hee) Do I qualify? My mind and spirit are willing but the body??? How about this I get sore/stiff if I train and get sore/stiff when I don't. Training soreness hurts less than not training so off I go. Do you guys modify technique/ training or do you just suck it up and suffer later?

Modify. Doesn't mean 'less effective', just more realistic/less time lost for recovery.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Bingo on both your accounts. I've thought a lot about this, and I'm thinking that if you move in certain ways for 40-50 years, nothing like someone else's arm, leg ( as a punch, kick), or even their whole body is going to slow you down when you decide to do it one more time. Or maybe I'm rambling again. :idunno:

Muscle memory is an amazing thing sometimes.

My first Sifu had a film of this old taiji guy he got in China (he said the guy was in his late 80s) and it was something to see. He was sitting in a chair and hobbled over to the area he was going to show his form in and all of a sudden he was 50 years younger in movement. His form was smooth and flowing he got lower than I have ever been able to get and his form was damn near perfect. When he was done he hobbled back to his chair and sat down.

Per my first Sifu this guy had been doing taiji for his entire life, meaning close to or 80 years.

And I saw 2 guys in Tiāntán Park in Beijing that I swear were late 80s to early 90s doing some of the most amazing Changquan I have ever seen, certainly better than I ever achieved or saw anyone achieve when I was training it.

EDIT

And if I can have half that skill when I am that age I will be a happy old guy.

 

[Kacey]

"The mind is willing, but the body is beat". I can't remember where I read that, but it certainly fits some days... more days that it used to, to my dismay. Still, I look back and think about how much worse it would be if I hadn't been training all these years...

 

[Xue Sheng]

yup its age

I took yesterday off and today I am back on track and feeling great.

I just finished the work out and I am actually still capable of typing

 

[Deaf Smith]

If you look at my avatir, you see me doing a jump back kick on a punching bag. That was when I was 36. I'm 53 now.... both of my knees are recovering (nicely I might add), one from hyper extension from to much hard kicking with tennis shoes, and the other from streached ligaments from a very bad judo throw.

I can only hope I'll be able to do those jump back kicks again in maybe a year. But I do know my jump side kick days are pretty much over! I won't risk it at my age.

As for workouts, I'm doing a solid 5 out of 7 days a week. BUT, I don't work out more than 1 hour at a time and yes, some nights are 'tylenol' nights (and can 'Geritol' nights not be far behind?)

Deaf

 

[tshadowchaser]

Me thinkest my body is trying to tell me I need at least 2 days off a week :duh: and I think I am going to listen.

So has any one else found this to be true as you age and how has it effected your train?

If you or I stop training for a period of time it takes us longer to get back into things. Our bodies seem to forget how wonderful it is to push ourselves to the limits and how to enjoy that pain the next day.

I know that if I take time off and do not train that I suffer for it upon resuming training. After a period of time training again my body gets used to it once again but I just do not push myself like i did when I was younger

 

[kwaichang]

yup its age
I just finished the work out and I am actually still capable of typing

that about sums it up.

 

[kwaichang]

 

[J.K.]

The warranty is up after 30.
My stepson @ 18 has decided he wants to take karate and jiu-jitsu
a little more seriously. I have a nice setup @ home w/ some mats and we have sparred sporadically for years. Now he wants to enter tournaments and all that good stuff. I kinda shudder a little when he walks in the door
'cuz the first words out of his mouth "Let's spar" or "let's roll".
Don't get me wrong ,I love to spar. I just turned 41 and rolling around or sparring w/ this kid EVERYDAY wears me flat out. It's an ego boost for
sure when he brings his football buddies around to throwdown and I can hang and embarras them for a day. But I can't do more than 2-3 days straight like this without at least 1 day off.
I saw Helio Gracie a couple of months ago. @ 90 he still gets around and heard he will roll occasionally. That's were I want to be.
Use it or lose it & a rolling stone gathers no moss

 

[DojangMom]

The warranty is up after 30.

I don't think that was mentioned in the manual.

 

[newGuy12]

yup its age

I took yesterday off and today I am back on track and feeling great.

I just finished the work out and I am actually still capable of typing

You will surely succeed with your exercise. You are mindful of being cautious, and will avoid any injury while also exerting yourself nicely. This will surely work out!

I am only 42. I say only because I thought it would be old to be 42, but now that I am this age, it is not as old as I thought.

The TKD is for all ages, but, the way I see it is, it is ESPECIALLY for the young people (12 years old to 30 years old) -- those are the glorious days. After that, things change.

Myself, I can no longer push myself hard enough to (in my mind) give satisfaction to the Master Instructor and to the Assistant Instructor. I just do not have it in me. That sucks, but it is the truth.

 

[kwaichang]

Age and Guile Beat Youth, Innocence, and a Bad Haircut.:whip1:

 

[Jenna]

But at least it is better than the alternative

I guess this post is geared more towards those over 40 but all are welcome, just if you are in your 20s (or younger) expect the “I have leather jackets older than you” comment.... sorry but it IS required :EG: :uhyeah:

It has been awhile since I have done an exercise routine like I am working on now (I actually have time again since I stopped taiji) and something surprised me. I have read as we age out bodies need more time to recover and I did not doubt it, I just didn’t expect it to FORCE me to do it. :idunno:

About 15 years ago I did a much more strenuous routine and I did that 6 to 7 days a week and I felt pretty good. I have been trying to go 6 days a week with Saturdays or Sundays off, although I did not take either off last weekend since I took an evening off (I got the morning workout in) due to a debilitating headache that came on after I took a 30 minute walk at lunch time. But for 2 weeks prior to that I was doing ok, a little fatigued but that is to be expected when you start a new routine.

Now yesterday I could not even get myself out of bed to do any workout, I was late for work and I had a hard time staying awake for most of the day and no workout in the evening either, I did get a walk in however.

But today I am fine and ready to go and feel great actually :bangahead: I wish I was not a work so I could go train, but again this is nothing new I always wish I was not a work so I could go do something, anything, just not sit here most of the day.

Me thinkest my body is trying to tell me I need at least 2 days off a week :duh: and I think I am going to listen.

So has any one else found this to be true as you age and how has it effected your train?

Hey Xue Sheng I may not be the little old sifu with the aged gait and the glinting eye, and but I have been studying people in the arts for a time. And it would please me if you would allow me to give you my take.. I think that aging our way through the arts does not imply a tapering off of training, but rather a subtle change in the balance. I have, like everyone here, had the privelege of tuition from some, frankly phenomenal teachers who were more advanced in years (and def. older than anyone on here). Through their mannerisms, I have come to consider our aging through the arts to be akin to a kind of "slider". At the low end lies physical pursuit and at the high end, mental pursuit. I see us as we begin on our MA journey, set near to 100% physical methods with little mental faculty. As we age, our slider moves automatically and we tend towards greater mental acuity while USING less physical effort(through practise and muscle memories), or while REQUIRING less physical effort (through greater efficiency), or while simply being UNABLE TO GIVE as much physical effort (because of cumulative reductions in muscle mass, joint strength, endurance or greater rec. time needed). I do not know if that is just nonsense maybe and but I think aging through our art is simply reflected in this change of focus or moving of the slider.

Of course Xue, you can MANUALLY set your slider BACK to a place closer to the physical end than it might naturally sit. If you can keep it there, you can successfully "reset" the system (and but you might have to hold it or glue it there! ) Otherwise, nature and physiology will reset the adjustment you made. Does that make any sense? Prolly not. And apologies if that is all a big dumb irrelevance. And but maybe there is a chance that my analogy it is something to think on? Me I simply hold in higher esteem those who I have trained under and who have matured in their art and know where they fit within it, than I do those of lesser years who present a disposition of immortality.

If I am still fortunate enough to be here at 40 and have accumulated even a fraction of the martial adroitness and wisdom that some of you MT guys have when I step up to that carriage of my MA train, then I will consider myself more than fortunate

Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna

 

[kidswarrior]

Hey Xue Sheng I may not be the little old sifu with the aged gait and the glinting eye, and but I have been studying people in the arts for a time. And it would please me if you would allow me to give you my take.. I think that aging our way through the arts does not imply a tapering off of training, but rather a subtle change in the balance. I have, like everyone here, had the privelege of tuition from some, frankly phenomenal teachers who were more advanced in years (and def. older than anyone on here). Through their mannerisms, I have come to consider our aging through the arts to be akin to a kind of "slider". At the low end lies physical pursuit and at the high end, mental pursuit. I see us as we begin on our MA journey, set near to 100% physical methods with little mental faculty. As we age, our slider moves automatically and we tend towards greater mental acuity while USING less physical effort(through practise and muscle memories), or while REQUIRING less physical effort (through greater efficiency), or while simply being UNABLE TO GIVE as much physical effort (because of cumulative reductions in muscle mass, joint strength, endurance or greater rec. time needed). I do not know if that is just nonsense maybe and but I think aging through our art is simply reflected in this change of focus or moving of the slider.

Of course Xue, you can MANUALLY set your slider BACK to a place closer to the physical end than it might naturally sit. If you can keep it there, you can successfully "reset" the system (and but you might have to hold it or glue it there! ) Otherwise, nature and physiology will reset the adjustment you made. Does that make any sense? Prolly not. And apologies if that is all a big dumb irrelevance. And but maybe there is a chance that my analogy it is something to think on? Me I simply hold in higher esteem those who I have trained under and who have matured in their art and know where they fit within it, than I do those of lesser years who present a disposition of immortality.

If I am still fortunate enough to be here at 40 and have accumulated even a fraction of the martial adroitness and wisdom that some of you MT guys have when I step up to that carriage of my MA train, then I will consider myself more than fortunate

Yr most obdt hmble srvt,
Jenna

Yeah, X S, what she said. :lol: