Shotokan Black Belt in need of advice

[Chito]

One of the older black belts here was in the last tournament. He's in his 40's. Tall and lean, he's an excellant fighter. He gets winded a bit more than the 20 year olds... who he can beat because of tactics and strategy. He's "old school". Today, it's a lot more vicious and aggressive. I'd stick to the more "defense" type fighting than "offence". Good technique always wins out in the end.

[Jiffy]

I agree with a couple of previous remarks, stop trying to match the physical atributes of those younger than you, it is hard to do and will only get harder. Instead, use your obvious advantage.... wisdom and deceipt. Let them believe you are an "old man", then use wisdom to close the gap when they're not expecting it.

My father (our chief instructor) found this same problem when he was about your age. After a while, as he learned more, he learned how to use what he had, not try and increase what he had. When it came to his second Dan grading (he was about 48), he had to spar with one of our young students, who at the time was world champion at one of his categories. By playing his own game, Dad was able to over-come Cameron, who was much faster, much more flexible and stronger too.

Dad is now 59 and still handles all our students with a certain amount of ease.

Play your game, not theirs.

[Menjo]

I agree with a couple of previous remarks, stop trying to match the physical atributes of those younger than you, it is hard to do and will only get harder. Instead, use your obvious advantage.... wisdom and deceipt. Let them believe you are an "old man", then use wisdom to close the gap when they're not expecting it.

My father (our chief instructor) found this same problem when he was about your age. After a while, as he learned more, he learned how to use what he had, not try and increase what he had. When it came to his second Dan grading (he was about 48), he had to spar with one of our young students, who at the time was world champion at one of his categories. By playing his own game, Dad was able to over-come Cameron, who was much faster, much more flexible and stronger too.

Dad is now 59 and still handles all our students with a certain amount of ease.

Play your game, not theirs.

Thats a great approach. I fall victim to fighting experianced practitioners often to this idea.

[zuluking]

This is getting so frustrating. Tonight I sparred several 20 somethings and got my butt throughly kicked. I'm not hurt, or even bruised thanks to the pads, but my ego is taking a real blow.

One guy in praticular was so all over me that I actually turned my back on him, something I haven't done since, well since white belt.

I'm frustrated, saddened, unhappy, depressed, etc., over this. I'm starting, no, I AM doubting my abilities. Its like I'm a orange belt again fighting some brown belt who is just toying with me.

Its really really affecting me mentally. Sorry, I ramble sometimes, especially when frustrated.

One more thing. I've taken some advice here and backed off a bit on the daytime training. I do upper body on Monday and Thursday, and lower body on Tuesday and Saturday. This has allowed me to add more treadmill/running time.

Thanks for listening.

zulu

[Adam Ball]

all i can say about this situation is that you have to work on timing and stratergy. instead of trying to beat them to the punch, make use of those quick reflexes and do some fakes and then pond them with something coming from a different angle and always cover up. also timing will always beat raw speed.

[zuluking]

One of these guys tonight came at me like a freaking freight train. Legs and arms flying with real nice form and finding their mark. I HATE to go toe to toe, but I found that backing off, circling, etc., had no effect. He was QUICK and on me wailing away like it was by Black Belt test all over again.

[Adam Ball]

ok. um. maybe some speed training would be good then. you should do sets of 100 punches as fast as you can. and multiple kicks off the same leg and stuff like that.

[Meguro]

This is getting so frustrating. Tonight I sparred several 20 somethings and got my butt throughly kicked. I'm not hurt, or even bruised thanks to the pads, but my ego is taking a real blow.

One guy in praticular was so all over me that I actually turned my back on him, something I haven't done since, well since white belt.

I'm frustrated, saddened, unhappy, depressed, etc., over this. I'm starting, no, I AM doubting my abilities. Its like I'm a orange belt again fighting some brown belt who is just toying with me.

Its really really affecting me mentally. Sorry, I ramble sometimes, especially when frustrated.

One more thing. I've taken some advice here and backed off a bit on the daytime training. I do upper body on Monday and Thursday, and lower body on Tuesday and Saturday. This has allowed me to add more treadmill/running time.

Thanks for listening.

zulu

Sounds like your work-outs are targeted more at building beach muscle than in improving your fighting ability. My recommendation would be to improve your aerobic/anaerobic fitness. Pay special attention to intervals. I would cut out the isolation type weight training and instead focus on whole-body exercises. Dead lifts are good for strengthening your core and will add speed and power to your technique.

This is just a general observation about older karateka. If you're slower than your adversary, you won't be able to be a successful counter-puncher. What you can do is take away their ability to range and time their techniques against you. Control the distance and the timing. NB, distance control is not about backpedaling.

[jakmak52]

I'm 53, Shodan, and currently compete in the NASKA (North American Sport Karate Association) 50 & over executive men's division, that being said, I use cardiovascular training to enhance my stamina & endurance. Good luck to you and don't ever say never

[pers]

I am a 46 years old Nidan in shotokan and started training in 1984 .

One thing to remember is reaching black belt is onlythe beginning of a process of learning karate ! do not get disappointed by losing to people younger than you of higher or same grades .Rather look at it as valuble training and lesson and I promise you by perseverance you will improve and unleash your own to your opponents .

in the dojo you can afford to lose ,and learn from it .

My advice to you is if you want to get good at karate THEN do karate !

practice your combination and footwork in front of mirror hundreds of times until they become like second nature .same with defence work

Make up your favourite techniques and work on them .If you run out of ideas ,then ask your sensei or remember what you practiced in the dojo recently,but body conditioning in moderation is a good supplement also.

the process of learning karate gets really sweet once reaching black belt providing there is good instruction by a good master(very important!).

Learning strategies and how to apply and improve those techniques is a life long learning.