Kung Fu practice and age

[SPJ]

Is the age thing an important factor to consider when you start?

I used to be able do a lot more things when young.

once you hit 40--

I was not able to do some postures well any more, --

some moves are just "not possible" any more--


What do you think?

comments?

--

:D

[David Jamieson]

I can hit with more accuracy and force now than when i was young.

[Notintheface]

Depends....

What are your goals?

Injuries, illness.....

are you doing it just for health reasons.


ect, ect, ect


but then again I would say some form of martial arts training into the later years will still promote health. Just don't think of jumping spinning heel kicks while standing in your walker.

[rogue]

I've noticed that I now gravitate toward and away from certain techniques. A bigger surprise was when I noticed that I take the idea of fighting more seriously now than I did even 5 or 6 years ago. I'm starting to understand the term, "Old man's karate".

[Mr Punch]

I voted 'no matter'. Of course, EVERYTHING is dependent on the person (as in their will, character etc) and their abilities (as in the limitations of their physical characteristics), but the reason I voted the way I did is:

I was afraid to start ground grappling because of injuries to my lower back. I started anyway. I injured my lower back again! :eek: Buuut, because (I think) of my increased strength in that area through rolling and increased suppleness through basing out, sinking into various odd positions, sinking my bodyweight etc, my recovery period got shorter and I came back stronger.

I was afraid to start lifting because of lower back and knee injuries. But during the umpteenth time on the masseur's slab I decided to get proactive about it and with a bit of research, a personal trainer and the help of the lovely KFM peeps, I started lifting and lo! Barely a twinge! And when I had twinges my newfound bodily awareness and strength helped me to work/rest through them.

Ditto lower stances, stretching programmes etc...

Now, you can all see my blog: I really don't train as much as I used to or want to - it really is an everyday geezer's training 'programme', but as I've got older and more injured, I've become more determined to get over the injuries, train smarter and stronger (though softer in many ways).

As you get older there's no reason why you shoudln't get stronger and softer at the same time. Just look at Helio Gracie, Morihei Ueshiba (OK, so you can also get PTSD and get madder too, but hey!), my grandma, Higaonna, and the real master of 'sword of no sword' Mohatma Gandhi... :D

So as for avoiding certain things: I don't. I do approach them in different ways, and that is where I agree with Rogue's 'old man's karate'.