Growing older....

[wheeze]

I was talking with my wife the other day about aging. I noticed as I get older my reflexes are slowing down. I have as of late have allowed my daughter to teach more. Mrs. wheeze says that I am still quick but my over all speed and agility is less. I recognize my limits and are adapting to them. Does anyone else notice the wear and tear on your body as you get older? I still teach the basic kicks but my daughter teaches the more flashy kicks. I read a article by Chuck Norris where he started using stunt doubles on Walker, Texas Ranger because his body could not handle some of the moves required to film a action scene. I still spar and grapple but I have toned it down. As a matter of fact I recently decided not to grapple with those 20 something guys as I was getting injured more and more. What do you think? Should us older geezers temper our training or try and push beyond our limits risking injury?

wheeze

[bushido_man96]

It is important to continue to train, but it is also important to not injure ourselves. You have recognized you ability, and you have adapted, so you are doin the right thing. I do think that adaptation is the key.

What you lose in speed, strength, and reaction time, you will gain in experience. I would say to keep up the training, and just try to do your best to improve, but not get hurt.

[TigerDude]

When your body tells you something, you should listen. One of the hardest things for some guys to do is to admit that their bodies will no longer support the activities they did when younger.

Live long, stay healthy, take it easy!

[AikiGuy]

I started to notice this in myself too. It hurts my bad knee when I do certain aerial moves so I don't do them anymore. My reflexes are slower but I still spar because I enjoy it. There are lots of things I won't do now. If I did, I would probably have to skip several classes to recover. It's just not worth it to me. The difficult part is learning how to say to a student "You do this, but I'm not going to because I can't anymore". You have to find a classy way to express this without sounding like it's a cop-out. I saw an instructor in his 60's demonstrate an escape where both parties ended up on the floor. He told the student very plainly "I'll just go up to the take-down since I'm old, but you do the whole thing since you are young and strong". He was very honest and I admired that. I usually blame my bad knee for things like this. I tore some cartilege and wear an elastic brace when working out or jogging to take the pressure off the joint. So when I can't do something, I just say "I'm going to skip this part. I don't want to tear up my bad knee anymore". People usually understand this ok. Honesty really is the best policy. Hope this helps.

[2007]

my cheif instructor is in his mid 60's and he still is very quick, also i was on a fumio demura sensie course not long ago and i could not block any of his punches as the quickness was fast... can't amagine what their speed was like 30 years ago

[wheeze]

my cheif instructor is in his mid 60's and he still is very quick, also i was on a fumio demura sensie course not long ago and i could not block any of his punches as the quickness was fast... can't amagine what their speed was like 30 years ago

I still have my quickness but my reflexes ain't what they used to be. Incidently I just had a physical and I didn't do bad. I grappled and sparred guys in thier 20's up until this last year. Stopped because my wife got tired of me crawling through the front door with bloody lips and noses.

[cathal]

What I know about aging is that my father once told me that I should never fear growing older as so few are denied the privilege.

[bushido_man96]

What I know about aging is that my father once told me that I should never fear growing older as so few are denied the privilege.

How true that is!

[scad]

my master was a top competitor in korea when he was in his teens and early 20's and he won the U.S. open a few times when he came to the states. from all the kicks he has thrown, the wear and tear caught up to him in the school one day, he was warming up, just practing roundhouses and from the torque on his left knee when he kicked with his right leg, he snapped hid a.c.l. clean in two. your a.c.l. is the main ligement that runs through your knee. he was only 33 when this happened. he had a donor tendand put in his leg and went throuhg alot of physical therapy. but thats a perfect example of wear and tear on your body, but he is fine now, he can still sparr and kick fine

[username9715]

I was talking with my wife the other day about aging. I noticed as I get older my reflexes are slowing down. I have as of late have allowed my daughter to teach more. Mrs. wheeze says that I am still quick but my over all speed and agility is less. I recognize my limits and are adapting to them. Does anyone else notice the wear and tear on your body as you get older? I still teach the basic kicks but my daughter teaches the more flashy kicks. I read a article by Chuck Norris where he started using stunt doubles on Walker, Texas Ranger because his body could not handle some of the moves required to film a action scene. I still spar and grapple but I have toned it down. As a matter of fact I recently decided not to grapple with those 20 something guys as I was getting injured more and more. What do you think? Should us older geezers temper our training or try and push beyond our limits risking injury?

wheeze

There are some adjustments necessary when you age yet I wouldn't give it much thought. At that stage your experience and other esoteric qualities will carry you through.

I am 53