Keep up the good work, Klank!
Keep pushing your fitness level and training. Sounds like you've already made alot of progress, so don't give up.
Watch your younger counterpart and learn how he moves. Other than instructors, students can be your best teacher.
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Hmmm, I have certainly been there (and will be again)
It's a different situation practicing drills and fighting/sparring. You usually don't do drills with lot's of adrenalin which seems to help in the reaction department.
Of course you can't measure yourself on the abilities of a younger person. Though MA is an endavour to ultimately test your ability against an opponent, you still are not in competition with him. (think Wild West Duels, speed is secondary to accuracy
) What I am more concerned about (you might have to kick his rear before long) the lack of respect for you rank... 
Another thing that I am guilty of, I sometimes let my mind wander....really bad in the Dojang...that also slows you down. When I'm on, I'm on, but when I have those days....I am happy to not fall on my face...Leave a comment:
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An observation about myself
I am testing for my Green belt this week. The way my school's colors go is White, Orange, Gold, and than Brown. Brown is what they consider the "Intermediate level". So we have Beginners, Intermediate, and Advanced.
I have come a long way since I first stepped on the mat and started learning. And to give you a quick idea of who I am. I am 6 foot 4 and 300 lbs. Not in the best of health but I do. I used to do MA in High school and am now 35. I've been doing this now since October.
I learned something pretty interesting the other day. A white belt who started in March was placed with me the other day to practice moves such as boxing combinations, pad work, and some self defense techniques. I have met this guy obviously but don't know anything about him. He is probably in his early 20's and definitely from my view point with the hair looks like a Military guy. When we do 20 push ups and 20 sit ups, he's done when I'm just getting my 10 push ups done. So yeah, I would say he's in good shape. When we started working on stuff he did his first set of combos and I could not believe how fast and hard he was doing stuff. I couldn't even block fast enough to keep up. After that happened I talked to him about it and he seemed to understand about slowing down a bit but continued to be insanely fast and hard about stuff. Finally I stepped out of one of his grips and said "listen, we don't have gear on, you need to slow down and not hit so hard, and if you don't were gonna have some issues here." So Finally, he slows down and we get some where.
So here's what I'm thinking. "Man, am I slow mentally and physically." I've been doing this same stuff since October and I can't keep up. Sure he may be a smaller guy than me and maybe more physical but man, I felt pretty small. I can't say that I would have won if it was a real fight we were in.
How does one really train you mind to become relaxed enough to truly concentrate in a Fight mode? Is my mind just reacting to my slug body I have?
I am having fun and getting in shape but I think I have a ways to go. Thanks for any input. Just trying to learn more about my self and this certainly brought up some questions.
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