There’s nothing more undignified than an old person trying to behave like a younger one.  If you train well over the years, it’s only natural that you lose the aggression and ignorance of youth and the bullishness gives way to wisdom, emotional intelligence, cunning and skill.  A problem only arises  if you don’t continue learning and hanker after that which is past, then it can become embarrassing if the OAP is trying to convince everyone that he still ‘has it’ – a bit like your Grandad trying to dance on a nightclub floor to the latest music.

When someone has been training for ’30 years’ the question arises – have they continued learning and progressing over that period, or have they just repeated their first 3 years beginner training 10 times?  If so, they may only know how to train and move like they did as a youngster and now can only do the Martial Arts equivalent of the ‘Hitch Hiker’, the ‘Locomotion’ or the ‘Mash Potato’ that was prevalent on the Disco dance floor 40 years ago…

Phrases like ‘the old boys still got it’, ‘I can still do head kicks’ or ‘I still fight and beat all my youngsters’ puts a picture in my head that I really don’t want to be there of everyone letting the ‘old boy’ knock them around and fall over them because they don’t want to embarrass him.

The Martial Arts is a life long learning process that allows you to age with grace, fluidity, skill and wisdom, retaining your protection skills appropriate to your age, gender and personal needs.  More meditation, Neigong, Qigong and softer skills ease that aching body into a more skilful way of doing everything.  It means that you’ve made friends with it and can listen and communicate to each other as opposed to trying to fight it and force it to do what is unnatural.  It can take a lot in youth but becomes far more unforgiving with age.

You know you’re getting old in the Martial Arts when:

You realize that those who taught you and many of your fellow students that you started training with are dead.

You get out of bed and your first fifteen steps are like the “dawn of man” poster.
 
The other students call you “Grampa” and you realize that you are one.
 
You’re shaving your Father in the mirror.

“Designer stubble” makes you look homeless.

Your Karate belt gets shorter and training doesn’t make you slimmer or fitter just out of breath and more tired.
 
Training on a cold day your head is too hot and your feet are still numb.
 
People mistake your Karate Kata for Tai Chi.

Leo was obviously trying too hard.

He was no spring chicken, in his late forties he was trying to compete with the youngsters.  He had old, long term damage to his knees and ankles, he had a bit of “middle age spread” and here he was trying to leap around as if he hadn’t started shaving…… 

“Leo, take it easy,” said Sensei.  But this just seemed to aggravate him more.

Well, it had to happen, his face got redder, his knees more wobbly, his movements more frantic and then one of the young bucks swept both his legs and unmercifully reverse punched his heaving paunch.  Leo just lay there exhausted and empty. 

“Yamee!”  Leo rolled over, dragged himself to his knees like a defeated man awaiting execution and when decapitating katana came, forced himself back on to his unsteady legs and bowed out with the rest of the class.

“Leo, my man, nice floor polish.,” but Leo didn’t even take his head out of his hands and respond to the “high five” offered, he just sat in the changing room looking dejected.  The others eventually shrugged their shoulders to each other and left, saying to Sensei on the way out “you’d better see to Leo……”

Sensei came into the changing rooms and sat down on the bench next to him without saying anything.