Started when I was 10. Now 51, but not over the hill.

I'm faster and have more power than I ever did. Also have more muscle and ability to relax than before.

Definately takes a lot longer to recover than before. And it's easier to overdo things without realizing it and get injured or reinjured.

Current injuries are left knee, which over the course of a year, turned into tight hamstring on the right side, right side plantar fasciitis, and some kind of piriformis/sciatica also on the right side. Even with those, I can still throw hard head kicks on my right side. Not that I rely on those though.

Up until this year, I was working out 7 days a week. 3 days running, 2 days weights, 2 days kf. Until this year, I never stopped for injuries or illness, only llghtened up a little if necessary.

This year, for the first time ever, I actually found I had to stop all physical activity for 2 weeks at a time so that I wouldn't keep getting reinjured. The problem was that it would feel ok, but as soon as I did any aggressive footwork, my knee would be messed up again.

It would be 3 weeks recovery while working out, then reinjury and another 3 week setback. After going through that cycle for several months, I finally ended up just sitting on my ass and watching movies for 2 weeks so that I could heal.

Problem was that I'd still not figured out how slowly I had to start back up again. I thought my knee was ok so I did "light" sparring footwork while correcting students. Boom, instant 3 week setback. Ok, recover... then just "light" kicking. No power. Boom, 3 week setback again. Ok, recover. No footwork. No kicking for a month. Good, ok now. Start kicking the bag for form, no power, just targeting. That was good for a week. Ok, light tapping on the bag. Yep, another 3 week setback. Finally, a couple months ago, I decided nothing at all with the left leg for the rest of the year. That's been a big help. But, yep, I'm doing left side power footwork again. I can feel I'm on the edge of reinjury, but I think I can stay on the right side of the threshold. Probably a mistake, but I can't help it.

I jokingly blame the students for my bad knee. I had 3 sets of students rejoin classes at the same time. I was working with one group on a particular kick which we did for about 2 hours straight, trying to get them to do it correctly. Of course I had to show them over and over and over because they were doing it wrong. Then did the same with the other 2 groups. And then finished off with low roundhouse kicks to the leg. I wanted to see a power kick strong enough to take a guy off his feet. Kick, not sweep. Let the 200lb student kick a shield against my leg, but he did it wrong. Put the shield on his leg, kicked it and set him on his butt. Then made him kick me a bunch of times.

Didn't have any noticeable problems from that workout, but when I woke up the next day, I literally could not walk. Yep, it sounds really stupid, but until a year ago, that kind of workout hadn't been a problem. And I didn't realize until afterwards that I had to scale back.

Current reduced workout is 2 days stationary bike, 1 day weights, 2 days kf, 2 days sit on my ass. That's been helpful for recovery.