Why is this so...

[Meguro]

I'm so happy my career choice is a LEO/SWAT, I get paid to stay in shape!

So the donut thing is a myth with leo's?

Truth is, by the time you're a senior black belt, your metabolism has slowed down, you're not as active as you used to be/would like to be, you're older, got more responsibilities, and less time and energy to train as the young guns. Hopefully, you've got more to offer your students than a stunning physique.

[italian_guy]

My instructors are all in good shape, some are not perfect but not too much overweight. I can agree that if you teach you may do not workout at the same time but, someone who's profession is based on physical activity should mantain a decent fitness level.

[UsagiYojimbo]

June... granted that as you get older your metabolism slows down drastically, but that shouldn't stop someone from consulting with a nutritionist about what he/she can do nutritionally to keep your bf% below 15% (I believe it's 15% thats healthy, between 15 and 4-5%). A lot of people don't know how to properly work out either so thats also an issue..

According to the American Council on Exercise's body fat chart, men should maintain a minimum of 6% bodyfat. Up to 17% is considered "fitness", and up to 25% is considered "acceptable". For women, the numbers are 14% bodyfat minimum, 24% for fitness, and 31% for acceptable.[/url]

[Grenadier]

The others have already stated most of the causes. I'll simply chip in by saying that as you get older, your muscles will atrophy, and the mass is often times replaced with fat.

To attempt to avoid it entirely is not possible, but there are many things you can do to stave off this effect, such as proper excercises, proper diet, etc.

[parkerlineage]

My instructor does our class with us - he gets right in there with the technique line, does all the katas hard and fast with us, spars with us...he teaches at the same time, but at this point in my training, sometimes I learn more from watching him than what he explains, much of which I've heard already.

Peace;

Parkerlineage

[Muaythaiboxer]

i disagree with the anything over 40mins is a wast of time if i run for 2 hrs im going to be in better shape than a guy who runs 40 mins, if i train 30 hours a week then in going to be better than a guy who trains 5.

[CapitalKarate]

If you run for 2 hours every day 5-6 days a week, that's over training, and it just doesn't do much if anything for you after that first hour.

And it also depends upon what kind of training it is you're doing during those 30 hours, and upon your diet. But generally, training 30 hours a week would be severe over training and would have an opposite effect upon your goals fitness-wise. There are 2 part of fitness a lot of people never thinking about, or hardly ever, diet and recovery time. Both of these are equally important compared to the actual workouts.

[markusan]

If you run for 2 hours every day 5-6 days a week, that's over training, and it just doesn't do much if anything for you after that first hour

Surely it trains your body to run two hours rather than one, which I don't think many people can do.

Road racing cyclists aren't competitive unless they're training 100 to 200 ks a day, average three hours plus.

The longer distances and times train the large leg muscles to store more fuel and use that stored energy more efficiently.

The downside is that it becomes difficult to maintain muscle mass and a healthy fat ratio.

[CapitalKarate]

Also a downside is that extreme endurance athletes suffer greatly in most other aspects of fitness. From what I've read, long distance runners have a worse vertical jump than that of a bodybuilder. Sure they can ride/row/run for long distances, but the people who train purely for that suffer greatly in the long run (no pun intended).