Seniors

barefoot-kohai · White Belt

Well... everything is nice and beautiful when you are 20... your stance is strong your kicks are hight...

But I (some of us) am (are) not 20 anymore... In fact I am about to be 51...

Kicks are not so hight (well... not hight at all), legs hurt, agility is... not what it used to be...

How do you face it?

Good thing about age is that you are empowered to start doing things "your way" and start adapting to you new circumstances, despite what other people say. In my case... I find myself in a phase of discovery...

In my case, all this is leading to the discovering of my "true way of doing things".

I am not a person who is afraid of age (one more year is not a tragedy)... I like travelling my path through life. There is a time for youth (and for doing stupid crazy things), a time for maturity (and regretting all the crazy and stupid things you did) ... an a time for seniority will come (finally time for wisdom -expected-) . I intend to enjoy each step of the way, because evolution is what life is about... If it were not... What would be the purpose of it?
And karate is a part of it.

What do you think?

If you are in the same circumstance... How do you face your future (present) in martial arts?
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"Words without thoughts never to heaven go"

JR 137 · Black Belt

I’d love to fight like an old man, only as a 20 something

At 42, I’m on the younger side of average adult age at my dojo. I love how the older guys and ladies fight: they stand back and let the fight come to them. Instead of trying to overwhelm people, they pick them apart by countering. They stay within their physical limitations and make it look easy. Basically, the same thing I do to the kids and beginners.

I’d love to be able to fight just like those guys. But I’d like to do that and add a few head height kicks and some other flashy stuff at will. Very, very few people can do both.

sensei8 · KF Sensei

Day by day!!

That's how I've always approached my MA journey. However, as I was much younger, I didn't give much credibility to my up and coming years; I just trained and learnt and taught...day by day.

Having reached the twilight of my journey, I'm much more attentive with the side affect of growing older. That is what it is, in which there's nothing I can do about it, but to accept it, and not be surprised when I'm not that whippersnapper anymore, even though I forget myself until my aged body reminds me unceremoniously that I've limits.

Seeing that there's more than one way to skin a cat, I have to reinvent myself both on and off the floor. I can still kick high, but I don't have to because Shindokan doesn't kick above the waist...anyway...kicking high for me has been added to my arsenal through the untold years I've been cross training.

Day by day...one step at a time!! I adapt, and I carry on...as well as I can. But I do listen to my body, even though I hate what it's always telling me. Btw, I just turned 61.

And I am old, and will be gone!!
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**Proof is on the floor!!!

MatsuShinshii · Black Belt

I don't mind getting older. Yes it has some drawbacks in that joints ache a little more, flexibility isn't what it used to be and I've slowed down a pinch.

The thing with age and the passage of time is the accumulation of knowledge. No I don't just mean that you have memorized more and know more than the younger students. In fact you realize its has less to do with knowing every technique and more to do with understanding the art. You figure out things that only years and decades of study reveal. Things that can not be taught. You realize that expending vast amounts of energy is great for the young but is unnecessary to achieve your goal. You lean, over time, that you can do the same with half or less of the effort.

To be honest I wish I knew back when I was younger what I know now. I think it's a balancing act. When you're young you have to make up for what you don't know with strength and speed. When you get older and have decades of training under your belt you realize that you don't need to be the fastest or the strongest to overcome your opponent. You realize that proper technique doesn't demand as much strength or speed to work and in most cases it works better without them.

Yes getting old has some drawbacks but then again it also has it's benefits.
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The person who succeeds is not the one who holds back, fearing failure, nor the one who never fails-but the one who moves on in spite of failure.
Charles R. Swindoll

sensei8 · KF Sensei

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

Anything practiced with any seriousness over the course of 30'ish years has got to be pretty solid. I've been playing guitar for about 25. I'm not professional, and I don't play regularly. All that considered, I do alright.

With age, comes wisdom. That's usually better than brute force, in the long run.
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5th Geup Jidokwan Tae Kwon Do/Hap Ki Do

(Never officially tested in aikido, iaido or kendo)

Fat Cobra · Green Belt

Blunt force trauma and hard training...seriously.

I am 45 years old and spent 24.5 years in the infantry.

One of my students, who just started training again 4 months ago after a 25 year break, is 51 years old and retired 10 years ago from the army.

We train hard (well, at least hard for us), but smart. Don't be afraid to train hard, but also be aware of your body and what it is telling you.
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Yondan in Ryukyu Kempo
Head of the Shubu Kan Dojo in Carthage, NY
(United Ryukyu Kempo Alliance)

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

The journey changes as we go along, and making those changes helps me to learn more about myself and what I can and can't do, and how to learn how to do what I can't do, again.
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www.haysgym.com
http://www.sunyis.com/
www.aikidoofnorthwestkansas.com

MatsuShinshii · Black Belt

Chunmonchek · Orange Belt

I'm 57 and am still training regularly, but have backed off a bit on some stuff. For instance, I don't train ground work too much anymore, as we don't use mats.

I'm probably more at risk of injury skiing or long-boarding...
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Chris

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