Martial Arts effect on the Body

[danfaggella]

I used to tend to think that Martial Arts promoted health and old age, allong with continued endurence, strenth and flexibility. Now I come to see the old Judo guys with busted joints and the old Chinese martial artists who have fingers and wriss that practically don't bend anymore from training in ways that make thier hands hard as stone. It seems as if martial arts can have a detrimental effect in age.

What do you guys think about this entire issue!?

Thanks!

[jubaji]

I used to tend to think that Martial Arts promoted health and old age, allong with continued endurence, strenth and flexibility. Now I come to see the old Judo guys with busted joints and the old Chinese martial artists who have fingers and wriss that practically don't bend anymore from training in ways that make thier hands hard as stone. It seems as if martial arts can have a detrimental effect in age.

What do you guys think about this entire issue!?

Thanks!

If you do anything hard on your body for a long time you will feel it as you age. Fighting is hard on the body. "I could fight, but I won't" isn't hard on the body.

Draw your own conclusions...

[danfaggella]

Thats what I've been working on. I love any kind of randori, weather it be BJJ rolling, live wrestling, kickboxing sparring, ect... But I wonder if I will be crippled in old age from doing such things. Looks like being a kata-only flower-fist has its pay off. I hope I can practice in a modern sportive full-contact fashion a lot, but I also hope I can still walkw hen in 65, sucha delema!

[treelizard]

Active isolated stretching, baby.

http://www.stretchingusa.com/

[Sagacious Lu]

Thats what I've been working on. I love any kind of randori, weather it be BJJ rolling, live wrestling, kickboxing sparring, ect... But I wonder if I will be crippled in old age from doing such things. Looks like being a kata-only flower-fist has its pay off. I hope I can practice in a modern sportive full-contact fashion a lot, but I also hope I can still walkw hen in 65, sucha delema!

In anything athletic you do you run the risk of injury, but I think you can avoid most problems by using wise training methods. As you get older the phrase "use it or lose it" becomes very true. The more healthy exercise you get the more likely you are to be athletic and strong well into your senior citizen years. Everyone has to balance too much vs. not enough based on their personal needs, but IMHO it's better to make an error of comission than one of omission.

[jubaji]

This is one of the wussiest threads in quite a while.

[blitz]

Active isolated stretching, baby.

http://www.stretchingusa.com/

Is the dvd on that site any good?

[treelizard]

YES!!! It's amazing. I've recommended it to people with chronic injuries and it has helped them soooo much. In fact, I have a friend who used AIS in his massage practice and he told me that the clients who did the stretches he gave them didn't need him any more. The point is to retrain your body to improve mobility. It is not the only stretching system out there (Pavel, et. al. are good too, and of course Sonnon) but I think it's a really useful one.

Is the dvd on that site any good?

[BoarSpear]

Active isolated stretching, baby.

http://www.stretchingusa.com/

Ugh its freakin stretchin people...the seminar is 545.00 dollars

Learn some taiji...the body feel you learn will help you stretch and move more effeciantly in all your activities....and the seminar aint 545.00 dollars....thats a rich people wanting to feel better about themselves scam...if you have extra money to throw away, help a homeless person, youll feel better.


there are plenty of fit old timers who train in internal arts who havent destroyed their bodies by practicing things that shorten the life span and your ability to function...remember the arts were designed to help you live a longer more productive life, not leave you crippled by the age of 30

check out this 86 yr old monk....he aint dynamic, but he also isnt crippled and in a wheelchair or using a walker like the majority of 86 yr old americans.

http://media.putfile.com/86-yr-old-Monk-Hsin-Yi

[treelizard]

The seminar is mostly for massage therapists and people who want to incorporate AIS into their practice. Laypeople just need the DVD or the book ($35), and that ain't $545 either. And it is all a lot cheaper than surgery, which is where many people are at when they seek out Mattes. Or you can do it before you're at that stage as a preventative. The Wharton's Stretch Book ($10.85) is good too. And btw this isn't incompatible with internal arts, the guy who turned me on to the Mattes methods also goes on Healing Tao retreats (which are far more expensive, by the way).

[BoarSpear]

The seminar is mostly for massage therapists and people who want to incorporate AIS into their practice. Laypeople just need the DVD or the book ($35), and that ain't $545 either. And it is all a lot cheaper than surgery, which is where many people are at when they seek out Mattes. Or you can do it before you're at that stage as a preventative. The Wharton's Stretch Book ($10.85) is good too. And btw this isn't incompatible with internal arts, the guy who turned me on to the Mattes methods also goes on Healing Tao retreats (which are far more expensive, by the way).

sure people out west have a whole racket of alternative healing...herbal and chi kung...reiki you name it they have 500 dollar seminars for it...after all if it cost more it must be better right? Any good martial system should teach you about your body, and how to take care of it...if it doesnt, you are studying an incomplete art.

ALL the people who go to the 500 to 1800 dollar retreats are trying to BUY secrets that the "common" man cant afford....guess what? there is ALWAYS someone willing to teach some 'secret techniques" for that kind of money.

Sante fe used to have at least one "Heal your DNA" or "Learning to use american indian healing secrets" seminar a week at 1000.00 a head of course...

When i taught at the Chi institute there was ALWAYS some rich %#* wanting to slip me extra money for the "real" secrets...these people never want to work...they want a magic cure

[treelizard]

When i taught at the Chi institute there was ALWAYS some rich %#* wanting to slip me extra money for the "real" secrets...these people never want to work...they want a magic cure

True dat! But with active isolated stretching, you DO have to work, and do the stretches every day. And they work.

[danfaggella]

I plan to be active and relatively nimble and flexible in old age. However, if that means that my martial art expereince has to be limited to soft tai chi, then I don't think I can deal with it. I hope I can stay active in Randori-type activity (grappling) for a very long time, and if I don't batter myself I would think that such activity would prolong my strenth and flexibility. I do plan to practice striking and MMA in a full-contact manner, but this will stop for the most part, I don't want to get my brain battered until I am stupid, and I don't want fucked up joints in old age. Does this sound reasonable, assuming I eat right, live a healthy lifestyle and stretch properly?

[BoarSpear]

I plan to be active and relatively nimble and flexible in old age. However, if that means that my martial art expereince has to be limited to soft tai chi, then I don't think I can deal with it. I hope I can stay active in Randori-type activity (grappling) for a very long time, and if I don't batter myself I would think that such activity would prolong my strenth and flexibility. I do plan to practice striking and MMA in a full-contact manner, but this will stop for the most part, I don't want to get my brain battered until I am stupid, and I don't want fucked up joints in old age. Does this sound reasonable, assuming I eat right, live a healthy lifestyle and stretch properly?

HEHEHE taiji, at least real taiji isnt all soft

do broken bones and blood on the training vest sound like the taiji youre used to? i didnt think so...i have some old interviews i will try to post with old taiji guys....what they did then and what people do today are to different animals...in fact to quote Chang "You used to have a goat...now you have a duck"

[jubaji]

I plan to be active and relatively nimble and flexible in old age. However, if that means that my martial art expereince has to be limited to soft tai chi, then I don't think I can deal with it. I hope I can stay active in Randori-type activity (grappling) for a very long time, and if I don't batter myself I would think that such activity would prolong my strenth and flexibility. I do plan to practice striking and MMA in a full-contact manner, but this will stop for the most part, I don't want to get my brain battered until I am stupid, and I don't want fucked up joints in old age. Does this sound reasonable, assuming I eat right, live a healthy lifestyle and stretch properly?

Yes, yes, I'm sure you and the other old women will be quite spry!