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View Full Version : Another year gone. That means one less to go until I'm gone.



CEB
27th December 2002, 16:27
Christmas is over and New Years is approaching. That means it is almost time to celebrate that damn old ******* father time. That means another year is gone as I try to deal with the onset of another one my mid-life crisis.

It really warms my heart to see our older senior practitioners get on the floor and whoop up on the young whipper snappers. Mainly because I hope to be old someday.

There is a kendo sensei in Chicago. I don’t remember his name. He is an little bitty old gentleman from the Choyokan. In kendo there is a practice called Godo keiko (best guess on the spelling guys). What happens is all the senseis line up from the various schools and all the students ( sandan and below) step up and get it. After they give it to you then they tell you what you need to do to improve your kendo. Well we line up and my buddy is across from this little tiny OLD frail looking sensei, My friend was thinking, Man I hope I don’t hurt this guy. The sensei appears to hobble when he walks. He looks like he can barely get around. Well when hajime was called the little old man becomes a tiger. My buddy is getting a butt whipping and decides OK the old man is going to get it. Ha Ha Ha, no way the sensei’s timing is to good. An amazing site to this old gentleman play kendo. Suzuki Sensei our original Kendo teacher came to visit us this summer from Japan, he is 74 years old now. No one could still touch him. He looks bored as he beating us. I guess that is what Kendo 7th dans do.

I have a cousin who does Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in Connecticut. His teacher is Royce Gracie. My cousin told me a couple of years ago that Royce’s dad beats him on the mat. This is doing what they consider their traditional GJJ methods from the knees not the NHB type of fighting. I told Jim, “Well yeah I don’t think I could bring myself to ever beat my Dad either”. He said No Eddie its not like that, those guys play hard they do not give each other any breaks.

I have arthritis in both ankles and my left knee is bad. The ankles hurt a lot, especially in the mornings. They are starting to hurt all the time now but I ignore the pain and have been training through it. I figure my best hope is to stay as active as I can. Last year I was getting worried about it and I asked some of my seniors about my condition and they would ask me “How old are you Mr. Boyd?” “Well I’m about 40” I would say. Usually the reply was something like ‘yep I felt like too when I was 40.

I have had 2 friends and I corresponded with another individual who has traveled to Okinawa to train in Goju Ryu at the Shodokan. All 3 have mentioned how great of an experience it was to have met Takamine Sensei who is 95 and no longer able to train in the dojo. Even though he no longer actively trains he still acts as a source strength and inspiration to the Shodokan. Is honoring the old sensei something that is reserved for the far east only?

I’m hoping I can keep training into my 70s. I don’t like to see a situation in the martial arts where the old lions train until the young lions can beat them and run the old lions off. This used to happen in our dojo. The old men should be honored not beaten away. It seems to be their own pride that is driving most of them from the dojo and to the couch. The couch is the one place they do not need to be heading. My original Goju teacher and Judo teacher have both retired from teaching. Old age is a ***** I guess. Lets all do our own little part to try to make it a little more enjoyable for the old men.

MarkF
27th December 2002, 17:34
I have arthritis in both ankles and my left knee is bad. The ankles hurt a lot, especially in the mornings. They are starting to hurt all the time now but I ignore the pain and have been training through it. I figure my best hope is to stay as active as I can. Last year I was getting worried about it and I asked some of my seniors about my condition and they would ask me “How old are you Mr. Boyd?” “Well I’m about 40” I would say. Usually the reply was something like ‘yep I felt like too when I was 40.



Hi, Ed,
You're at least a year from forty, probably two and you tell people you are "about forty??" I'm at least 12 or 13 years older than you and you complain worse than I do, my ankles are weak because the were broken when I was a little tyke, about your age! Good reason for it, but ask anyone who knows me, and I only complain online (which reminds me, I need a BIG, new corrective lens prescription which I'll get in January. I can't see for at least two hours in the morning).

Seriously (well, not too seriously), savor it and don't waste it. I know at least ten people with arthritis who are ten or more years younger than I am. I don't have arthritis, my little old mother is 86, she doesn't have arthritis (OK, she's almost deaf and blind, but no arthritis). My sister is the most active person in the world, and that is no joke. She's in bed and asleep at about 6:00PM, get's up at two, paractices the piano for a couple of hours, she's a Flamenca dancer which she does for another two hours, and then she goes outside for her mile walk, or five miles, I'm not sure. She has fluid on the heart, a cardiologist told here when she was in college (the first time) she needed to stop burning the candle at both ends. She only sped up. Now she's down to a bounding heart and throwing pvc's regularly.

Now do you understand how bad good health is for you?

Either I did something right or you did, I'm not sure. I do have weak ankles, strong knees and shoulders, and I'm a judo player, now time in that is closer to your age, but I've been doing that longer than you've been alive. I've put on weight, let my strengths lapse, and I rarely do more than teach eight hours weekly. And I'm relatively happy about it.

If you are really down about it, and truly want to stay young for a while, don't worry so much. Make sure your cholesterol is under 1000, your tryglicerides under 2000, and if that is overstated you're doing great!

Go do some taiji, you need to get out more.:)

Happy and healthy new year to you (all),


Mark

PS: How tall are you, I'm barely 5'3" and I used to be a stout, 5'4." You've got a lot to be thankful for, I know for a fact.:eek: Confession: According to some medical quack, I have an arthritic back, but then I hurt that bad enough for surgery when I was in my twenties. On the mat, all that disappears. At home, getting out of bed takes me about ten minutes and another ten for the shooting pains from my neck to my ankles to go away a little.:p

BTW: Actually, I won my first championship when I was thirteen, and three weeks post leg cast. The quack said to wait three months and then take my time, but did I listen? Why? That shiai was more important to me than avoiding the second fractured ankle.

I can call them quacks because I'm a drug pusher (pharmacist - Chemist).

OK, Have a healthy new year, y'all, I usually pick someone to rave on each year, I'm just sorry it had to be you, Ed.:(


Best Wishes,

Mark

Goju Man
27th December 2002, 23:39
Brother, I know how you feel. But that pushes me to go harder. For example, in BJJ, I'm on the mat with guys that are ten to fifteen years younger than I. As for Helio, he was down here some time back, and rolled with a friend of mine. He is very strong. It's hard for me now because I've gone back to college after all these years, but for example, I know some guys that used to weight train with me many years back. They are older than me and still look great. I wish I had more time. When I finish up my college, I'll get back in the weight room again. 'Till then, my mma routine including bjj will have to suffice.;)

Bustillo, A.
29th December 2002, 11:40
ED,

Your post, thumbs up.
Nice tribute to the old timers.

kusanku
30th December 2002, 04:29
Ed-
That's funny, I felt like that when I was about forty, too.:D Seriously.

At fifty, closer to Mark's age,I feel much better now. But maybe I don't work as hard at it, either.

Manny,good on you, going back to college.

Antonio, glad to see you feel that way 'bout all us old codgers, 'course, I guess you are geting up in year your self.Wisdom tis said, doth come with age, aches and pains sure as anything do.

I heard from another source that Helio Gracie is still Heck on the Mat.

Ta all.Cheerio and all that!

Goju Man
30th December 2002, 12:57
Hey Johnnie, Helio definitley doesn't fear any seventy year olds.:D

He is an inspiration. Ninety years old and still gets on the mat.


Manny,good on you, going back to college.
Now, I'm feeling my age everytime I go to class.:D

Bustillo, A.
30th December 2002, 12:58
[QUOTE]Originally posted by kusanku
[B]Ed- Antonio, glad to see you feel that way 'bout all us old codgers, 'course, I guess you are geting up in year your self.Wisdom tis said, doth come with age, aches and pains sure as anything do.



[AB responds]
John,

"...Am I? I hadn't noticed."
Nonetheless, as long as they aren't BS-er's, I always thought that way about old-timers; for the most part, they have my respect.