{"id":2832,"date":"2020-05-06T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/?p=2832"},"modified":"2020-04-29T16:31:52","modified_gmt":"2020-04-29T20:31:52","slug":"older-but-not-weaker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/?p=2832","title":{"rendered":"Older… But Not Weaker"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Master Lu Zijian, active until the age of 118
Original Source:\u00a01st.yogasummit.org<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

As a kid, I was amazed to read about Morihei Ueshiba, the Founder of Aikido. I was just starting out and I knew how tough it was for me to get a grip on sparring and\u00a0randori<\/em>\u00a0when facing one opponent. But fifteen opponents or more like he did?\u00a0 And as a senior citizen?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ueshiba wasn\u2019t tall. His body didn\u2019t surge with muscles. So how was he able to accomplish his magic? How was he able to weave his web and entangle everyone who attacked him?
I had a long time martial arts student (Karate, Judo, Aikido) who came to train in Tai Chi with me because he felt his strength waning while in his mid-50s. To him, his Karate and Jiu Jitsu just didn\u2019t feel as strong anymore. He still ran through his basics and Kata but you knew he wasn\u2019t expecting much more to happen in the arts he loved to train in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sad, I thought. But he was determined, obstinate even, that nothing was going to change. He was caught in the age trap.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I wanted to tell him was that Karate and Judo are so extensive in their repertoire that you can keep on changing your approach \u2013 and continue to learn and develop \u2013 as you become older. I enjoy sitting at a restaurant table with elderly Kung Fu practitioners and listen to their excitement while they talk about different power delivery structures. They remain bold and confident. And sometimes, in class, they might have to put an uppity youngster in their place. They do this with a smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Karate, Judo, Kung Fu\u2026you can accomplish great things right up to the day you meet St. Peter at the gate and he asks you to show him your favourite form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some random observations \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HIGH KICKS <\/strong>\u2013 they may not reach the altitude you once enjoyed. Discover the wide world of low kicks (speed, joint breaks, leg buckles, multiple kicks). Study pressure points\u2026kidney points, spleen points, gall bladder points, the legs are covered with them. Study the structure of the hip, knee and ankle joints as primary targets. Study the small secondary kicks that arc out from the main kicks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, compensate for any so-called loss of physical speed and power with knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Master Mok Kwai Lan, who passed away at 90
Source:\u00a0chinesemartialstudies.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

BREAKFALLS<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 stop slamming the mat hard; go soft. Tai Chi and Aikido do this. Land as though the mat was an extension of your skin. In fact those soft roll outs\u2026front, side and backward\u2026can act like a massage of the entire body. Rather than leave the Dojo spent from banging the mat, you\u2019ll come away\u00a0soothed<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MUSCLE RECOVERY TIME<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 truthfully, this may take longer. Vary the muscle groups, the training routines, etc. across several days so the recovery times are smoother. You\u2019ll maintain strength from muscles that haven\u2019t peaked. Change of muscle groups daily; one group recovers, the next receives a modified strength routine on that day, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less repetitions of one set of movements interspersed with gentle stretching within desirable stretch limits \u2013 and self-massage. Strength and stretching actually tear muscle fibre; as we age, it takes longer for muscle cells to either replenish or adapt. Stretch only slightly beyond established limits a few times a week, very carefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to the body\u2019s responses. Adapt either by reducing amount or the methods. You\u2019ll maintain a high degree of flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HAND SPEED<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 you\u2019ll lose none of this if you switch to relaxed striking in fact you\u2019re your reflexes will actually speed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

POWER<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 this will change, even increase, if you switch to internal and\/or relaxed striking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MEDITATION<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 lots of this. The mind compensates for the burst-through-the-wall type of bravado you showed in your 20s. Calm replaces fury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HARD CORE TENSION EXERCISES<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 check your heart and blood pressure. Don\u2019t perform tension every day. You can train in the\u00a0Sanchin<\/em>\u00a0Kata for example in various ways without building up blood pressure or stress hormones. If you\u2019re deeply committed to honouring and training in the\u00a0Sanchin<\/em>\u00a0Kata, you should spend the next twenty years investigating the tremendous power, stamina, rootedness and fighting capabilities aside from hard core tension and hard core breathing. They exist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Source:\u00a0www.pinterest.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve seen martial artists in their 40s and 50s train themselves into a rut. The same thing, the same way every day. At that age, many leave the martial arts because of frustration and\/or the inability to extract anything further from the path in training they\u2019ve narrowly followed. The key is\u2026you\u2019re not supposed to train the way you did twenty years ago. Each movement in Judo, Karate, Tai Chi, is an expression of force, speed, health, longevity and of course fighting prowess. You\u2019re not supposed to fight like you did in your 20s; you\u2019re supposed to have expanded your training and gone further into the heart of your system to find a multitude of ways to express speed, power and fighting prowess.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lastly, martial art training is for life. Write down all the possibilities that you think your art contains then set up a weekly training schedule to discover those possibilities. At your level of expertise, you should act as a\u00a0researcher<\/em>\u00a0of your art.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a kid, I was amazed to read about Morihei Ueshiba, the Founder of Aikido. I was just starting out and I knew how tough it was for me to get a grip on sparring and\u00a0randori\u00a0when facing one opponent. But … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181,267,17,261,269,130,270,287,275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-developmental","category-fitness","category-hotpress","category-internal-martial-arts","category-lifestyle","category-martial-arts","category-motivation","category-peace","category-training"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2832"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2833,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2832\/revisions\/2833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.snowtigermartialarts.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}