llbark

I can only advise you to read something before you try and critique it. It is foreign to me how some people here are obviously forming a summary of something they have not reviewed/researched/read.... Simply dismissing something because it uses statistics is ridiculous in my eyes, that is how most engineering, medical and many other informed other decisions are made in the world (including cars, aircarft systems e.g MTB statistic = mean time between failure etc). Karate is not the only anaerobic physical activity when done at high levels that appears to reduce/not help lifespan. Fitness, conditioning and health are all different things. The question is whether one wants to guess, or do some reading and research to become informed to understand what such links may be - be it physical or may also extend to karate culture/lifestyle in certain styles in some dojos/people....

The data is what it is, it was crunched by a researcher from the University of Adelaide (not Jason Armstrong) and it is not rocket science to gather all the founders of the major styles and run the statistics correctly... So I don't really understand why they are being questioned as an approach when backed up by both regionalised and normalised values for "mean age of death" and the more accurate "life expectancy at age of death". You cannot really "bend/manipulate" such a simple list as is in the book - very few, if any, major style heads were left out according to the textbook Unante and other major texts that list the key karate-ka for the styles that have been most heavily propagated around the world.

A study of 118 lifelong karate-ka who were 8th dan(s), style founders or successors would not support any conclusions about the effects on lifespan of the typical karate-ka. Apart from the issue of a sample size of only 118 compared to millions of practitioners, there is the composition of the sample itself which is not reflective of the group of karate-ka as a whole. This is know as the fallacy of faulty generalization. http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasty_generalization A chart showing the relative lifespans of 5 notable shuri-te masters compared to other groups is shown in Figure 4-4 on page 101 of Shotokan's Secret by Bruce D. Clayton, Ph.D. In a couple of hours I put together this list of senior martial artists of styles that contained a significant striking component (as compared to only karate) that were founders, inheritors or creators of offshoots with significant differences or innovations from their parents art. Either their lifespan or year of birth is given. Gordon Doversola 77 Adriano Emperado 82.8 William Chow 73 James Mitose 64 (in prison - diabetes) Choi Yong-Sool 82 Ji Han-Jae b1936 Myung Jae Nam 61 stomach cancer Suh In-Hyuk b1942 Gichin Funakoshi 89 Mas Oyama 71 lung cancer - non-smoker Fumio Demura b1938 Kenwa Mabuni 63 Ankō Itosu 84 Matsumura Sōkon ~91 Yip Man 79 throat cancer Chuck Norris b1940 Ed Parker 59 heart attack Jimmy Woo ~81 Hironori Ōtsuka 89 Tak Kubota b1934 Choi Hong Hi 83 Tatsuo Shimabuku 69 stroke Chotoku Kyan 75 self-starved at end of WWII Chōjun Miyagi 65 Higaonna Kanryō 62 Arakaki Seishō 78 Dan Inosanto b1936 Seiyu Oyata 84

I work in the healthcare industry and in answer to those that question lifespan statistcs, the study discussed in this thread used the same industry and research standards that are used by life insurane agencies, national health bodies, medical university studies etc. So I don't really understad why they are being questioned as an approach backed up by the appropriate statistics. In fact, 118 people is not a small number compared to many patient group studies when being compared to the larger population lifespan data via wat is called life expectacy at birth prediction tables and life at death prediction tables etc. Karate of course is not the only sport that appears to reduce lifespan and the book talks about some others - other studies like this one also tease out the variables around diet, region, occupation, training types, psychology and the list goes on. As the book states in one part, peolpe have to be aware of the difference in exercise in regards to whther we are training for health, fitness or enjoyment as they are all different things (and the government health bodies recognize this). mal: you really should look at the book, as the questions you keep asking are addressed in it. For example, your last comment re Funakoshi is a good question and it is dissected in the study/book in multiple places (covering the different variables) very thoroughly as why he, and a number of others, likely bucked the trend.