terry

Yeah, BUT. Look at Guro Inosanto. He is in his 60s and still hangs with the 20 year olds at the Thai Camp. Look at Mano Cacoy. He is in his mid-80s and spars with a room full of 20 year olds until he gets tired of laughing at how easily he can hit them. Never drop your expectations of yourself as you grow older. Your body will tell you what it cannot do.

Okay, do this. Get a notebook and one of those calorie counter books. Make three columns: food item, calories and protein. Total up the calories and protein on a daily basis. You can make a more complex diet with lots of variables and restrictions if you want. But I would advise you to focus on one thing only. Make sure you are taking enough feul to sustain your workouts and provide your body enough energy to make a recovery. And for the workouts you are doing that's something like 3000cal/300g or more. If you do not take in enough feul your muscles will feed on themselves and hold onto the fat, and you'll feel tired and sluggish. And you'll have more injuries.

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4: I'm on top of that one as well (but what are hypers?) and also what are your suggestions for working the sides of your neck. Typically, I do 50 neck ups lying flat on my back then 50 neck twists fromt the same position. Then I do 50 belly down and then 50 neck twists from the same position.

Hyper extensions are an exercise to strengthen the lower back and glutes. For Thai you want sufficient strength to stabilize your brain when you get hit so as not to get knocked out. That means neck exercises and shrugs. The Thais also want a strong neck to keep from getting pulled down on the plum. I know that if you can do 50 neck ups, then start doing sets of 50s. Then hang a weight and do sets of 50s. I'll ask my strength coach about what he would do for lateral stuff because I'm not sure.

The Gracies do some different stuff for neck strengthening because they're worried about getting choked. Specifically, they seek to strengthen the muscles deep inside the neck. I've seen guys just stand on somebody's neck to strengthen the muscles inside. (This is a very advanced thing and do not try this.) Better to ask a guy who is more experienced in BJJ than me.

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5: I'll give that a try. Any suggestions for the amount of time I should jump for?

Jump rope is for: 1) footwork, 2) foot speed, and 3) endurance. I would say figure out a way to address all three issues. I have been jumping about 25 minutes, but that is due in part because I'm a big guy and jumping rope is easy on your joints and thus good for big guys.

I would approach the heart rate monitor stuff like this: set goals for yourself on cardio-vascular conditioning in both aerobic and anaerobic zones. For example, holding my heart rate at 150 bpm for an hour in my morning run is one of mine. And for anaerobic, well, how long can you hold your heart rate at 180 for? Start logging it and find out. Then seek to improve it. And don't make the mistake of comparing your performance to martial artists because a lot of them aren't really very good atheletes. Lance Armstrong can hold a heart rate of 180 for hours at a time.

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8: I usually cycle like you said... I spar whenever I get the chance and use thai pads when I have holders and the heavy bag when no one is around... training to fight is often a long lonely road for me unfortunately. I wish we could have Thai Camp all the time.

Yah, as a fighter you have to get very inwardly focused on how you use your time. Some would even say 'selfish'. One thing to try is to get in time with a local boxing gym. They may be able to offer you more sparring time and help you with your boxing fundamentals.

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9: I get in about 2 to three 10 to 15 minute streches each day.

Ack, you're doing way better than me already. Stretching is something I need to work more on, especially since I'm a geezer.

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But most of my injuries are to the bones and joints.

Yah, your earlier post explained a lot. Try to train with the best people you can. In my experience it is the beginners, not the veterans, who will mangle you. The veterans have little to prove. Sheesh, be careful, man.

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Do you really think a sports medicine man can help me?

Yes, definitely. There is some question as to whether the neurological damage you have already sustained to your eye will prevent you from keeping your boxing license. You may wind up a jujutsu player sooner than you think. In any case, getting the joints into rehab as soon as possible is pretty much the only thing you can do. But eye socket? Yikes, I have no experience in that. Scary stuff.

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Thanks again Terry... TBA Every Day! Every Day... TBA! [/b]

Sure, no worries, mon. Please get an opinion of a doctor on the eye before you train hard again.

Terry

P.S.: SLEEP!!!