First and foremost it must be understood that I have no research or medical credentials on this subject. Second, this and any other posting on the aging process for martial artists comes from my personal experiences only and are not meant to project these theories on to anyone else. It is meant to convey the experience so that any other martial artist approaching or in the winter years of life will understand that some things that they experience are not indicative of some kinda of perceived loss. It is just the way life is.
Third, to allow for some validation to what I write I will say that I have been practicing martial arts since I was a teenager. Not seriously until much later, i.e. as a Marine I began serious practice circa 1976. There were smatterings of things martial all during my Marine career and I actually boxed for a period of time as a teenager and unofficially with other Marines during my first four years. I still practice and train with my system of martial arts, i.e. Okinawan Isshinryu karate. Oh, and I am fifty-nine years, one year away from officially being in my winter years.
I will start with one mental aspect. Not to say all of this will not be affected by anyone's mental state but this one I consider important. I begin with recognizing and accepting that I am not twenty-four years old and that when I participate with others that are within that range I cannot allow myself to be psychological influenced by their state of health, fitness and ability. I have to consider using the fundamentals principles of martial systems to remain steady in practice and training that allows me to be craftier when training with those younger martial artists. There is no shame and there is not stigma I will allow to influence my status as a winter year martial artist. I am now different and as my Sensei used to say to me, i.e. he is fifteen years older than I, that he had to be sneakier than us to remain able and willing to teach, learn and practice with a bunch of testerone overloaded young Marines with a can do and cannot be overcome attitude.
Next is the discovery that those things that our bodies and minds ignored in those summer years will not be ignored in the fall and winter years. If we are lucky the injuries we sustained and overcame in those years will not be as influential in our fall and winter years. We who are at this stage know that when we first rise from sleep that the creaking and aching are not necessarily something we experienced in you youth. If we did it tended to last about two seconds but now tends to last at least a few minutes or sometimes much longer. I have these and I have accepted them as a part of life and allowed adjustments to compensate.
I used to jump right in with minimal warming up and go to town and now accept that to train and practice with injuries in mind I will warm up and stretch for a minimum of fifteen minutes. I also add in time for the slow and gentle art of tai chi chuan and chi gung exercises so that my body is prepared. It is a shame I glossed over this in those early years for that would and could have possibly reduced the intensity of those aches and pains of today.
Then there is my thoughts on how one trains, practices and work out. I use to run mini-marathons. I ran all the time. I ran in any climate. I also used weights, heavy weights - both free and machine. I now use stairs, bicycles, etc. to do my fitness and health training along with martial arts practice. I learned and now use tai chi chuan and chi gong as a softer exercise model. You get my drift and the reason I did this was to adjust to how my body, mind and spirit spoke to me as I did the old stuff. Another one of those things some tend to try and stay with just so they can say, "see, I am an old guy and I can run circles around you young guys." Competing of sorts is fun. It is challenging to attempt to do what younger folks do but with the caveat that when the body and mind tell you, you adjust so as to NOT take the body beyond its natural limitations.
As an aging martial artist you do not have to do everything that your kohai do in the manner they do it simply because you are older. You can still do a lot but in some instances you must relinquish some teaching to those younger black belts who want to some day be sensei. I don't mean stop completely and let your body, mind and spirit sluff off till you get fat, slow and unhealthy. There is no excuse for that regardless of age.
Then there is eating, the fuel you ingest. Sugar, fat and salt - the deadly three. We young-uns can't get away with eating what we want but I can tell you that at fifty-nine years that doesn't work anymore and all those days of eating fun food and drink will come to haunt you. My knee injury this time took about a year to heal vs. the original two to three months. I could hardly walk and I can tell you whenever I consumed sugar, fat and/or salt it exacerbated the condition a lot. I would take a half hour to get my legs going and when I stopped sugar, fat and salt I found my knee working just fine and that half hour disappeared. The moral of this story is truly, "you are what you eat."
Strength, the muscular kind. This is a more direct thought previously discussed but relevant all the same. In our more youthful days we rely heavily on our strength and size. It is part of nature that the strongest and strongest includes strength gained by size as well, always survive the best. In the past this was probably true to a certain extent but I expect that histories warriors didn't remain clued to strength and size alone to carry them in battle. I suspect from my studies that the famous Greek warriors used fundamentals principles of martial systems to supplement that strength and size. Then you take into consideration the smaller stature warriors who relied on strategy and tactics coupled with strength, intelligence, knowledge and fundamental principles of martial arts to be the great warriors they were. So, what is it that carries us through to the older ages, the knowledge that it is not just strength and stature that are strong but a combination of the mind, spirit and body so when the body ebbs the mind and spirit take up the slack.
I wonder why we refuse to allow the mind and spirit to grow and prosper along side strength. I speak of strength in muscular form here not the psychological and spiritual strength that makes most warriors - warriors. You can get away with just the physical strength in youth but as time flies you had better have all of it. Every wonder why some good and strong football players stop in later youthful years and then suddenly become a bit heavy and lack that aura once held on the field that is no longer perceived or even present?
Growing older requires an adjustment so that the mind and spirit can accommodate the diminishment of the body due to time. This is what I am trying say here.
Maybe allowing for less active roles the mind and spirit morph into the wise person who can pass down knowledge and experiences to the youth. It is not adhering to some belief that we have to remain young and strong and upright but rather knowing we have to manipulate the great three to keep balance so that we may remain productive and respected in our winter years.
Enough for today, I will continue this thread as thought comes up from within and allows me to realize the truth to it. Then again maybe this is just the ramblings of an old man. Remember one thing tho, if lucky we all will reach and experience our winter years. How we do that matters.
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