Aging in Karate

It was stated, “It is important to keep building the body as you get past your mid fifties.” I would suggest that as you age you maintain a balance with nature’s natural aging process by “maintaining” what you have when you achieve what you already know as a milestone of life, a great achievement, living on into those winter years.

We of the human species will deal with the natural aging process where, for instance, we lose muscle mass and strength with our already considerable understanding of anatomy that to work against the natural aging process can speed it up so maintain and adjusting to it is smart, but you already know that.

As we age we must not continue to rely on our strength, but rather our mind by becoming smarter about how we do things and this is critical to martial arts/karate, especially as it applies to self-defense.

Yeah, I hear what you are saying, we should be using our minds first, even in our youth or best years physically, but that isn’t how SD and karate are taught in those spring, summer and fall years of life. It’s all about strength and physical abilities, right?

Listen to what nature is telling you as you age, mature, because she is trying to tell you how to live long and prosper 🖖.

I know in many cases squaring off against the younger generation of karate-ka it was more about how smart I applied myself rather than whether I was bigger, stronger or faster. This is especially true in teaching because your focus must be on providing the next generation “all” you have TO pass down.