Pearls of Wisdom

Training for Life

by Grandmaster Doc Fai Wong

Guess what?  Everybody’s getting older.  So far no one’s invented a fountain of youth or elixir of life.  We all have to realize age is steadily creeping up on us.  When you reach 40, your tendons and ligaments start losing their elasticity.  With this comes an increased risk of strained muscles and tendons.  Your stamina and speed are less than a 20 year old’s, and you’ll probably tire a lot quicker.

For those who are overweight, out of shape and have high blood pressure, you’re running a serious risk when you practice martial arts based on hard active force.  The risk is of shortening your life by putting undue strain on your heart and blood vessels each time you work out using hard, forceful power.

As a student you must work out to learn your marital art.  However, once you complete your learning and become a teacher or master, what do you do?  To keep in shape, most martial artists do stretching exercises.  Some do push ups and sit ups.  Most workout with kata or forms.  While some people over 40 can still practice hard, forceful kata , many tire easily and develop physical problems with elbows, knees or muscles.  At that age many have high blood pressure and stressful everyday lives.  If they don’t know how to take care of themselves, their martial arts practice will shorten their lives.

If you’re reaching middle age, you do have a choice.  If you are a beginner in martial arts, you can take up a softer, more internal style such as tai chi.  If you’ve been training for awhile and are noticing yourself slowing down or feeling easily fatigued, you can modify your training with the addition of a softer style.

Why is it bad for older martial artists to practice nothing but hard styles?  Most so called hard styles are based on tense, stiff muscle action.  When you do nothing but tense, stiff muscular workouts, your muscles and tendons quickly lose their elasticity, making it easier to injure yourself.  That type of workout is bad for people with high blood pressure.  Tense muscles slow the circulation and prohibit normal relaxed breathing.  There are multitudes of health problems that face an aging person who constantly emits tense force.  Tai chi or chi kung (qigong) are both good supplements to the aging martial artist’s workout.  They’ll help you understand relaxation.

How can you tell if your style uses too much tense force for the over 40 person?  First, your shoulders should be down and relaxed when you punch.  If they are raised, you’re too tense.  Next, your chest should not stick out.  When your chest sticks out, your chest muscles are tight, restricting your breathing and lung capacity.  Third, all kicks and punches should be smooth and flowing.  Broken, jerky movements are bad for aging joints.  Finally, when you strike, your upper body muscles should stay loose and relaxed, rather than firm or tense.

For you beginners who decide to join the nearest tai chi class on your block, be aware of one thing:
Not every tai chi instructor is teaching a martial art.  Over 90 percent of tai chi teachers don’t know the martial art applications of what they teach.  Even if you just want tai chi for health, you’ll still need a teacher who knows the martial art aspect of tai chi.  If your instructor doesn’t understand tai chi the martial art, it’s just a slow dance, and is no different from doing a hard style kata slowly and without intention.

Focus and intention, along with the right timing and balance are essentials for any martial art, including tai chi.  Learn from a tai chi instructor who comes from authentic martial art lineage and background.  Then you’ll get a good, safe workout along with self-defense training.

For those at an advanced level in most kung fu, karate, and other martial art styles, keep doing your martial art.  However, when you practice, relax and slow your speed so your heart doesn’t work too hard.  Don’t put too much emphasis on high kicks and low stances.  When you release power, use intention instead of raw force.  Use your mind to put forth plenty of power.  Keep your body relaxed before the moment of impact, adding power at the last instant.  Your form or kata then becomes slower, between the power sections.  But when you need power, it will still be there.

Dynamic tension exercises are not good for those over 40.  Keep your breathing even.  Don’t do techniques that require you to hold your breath too long.  Of  course, it doesn’t hurt for those in the advanced category to add some tai chi or comparable internal martial art to your daily workouts.

Learn more about the benefits of internal martial arts, click here: whitedragonmartialarts.com

Tags: Training for Life

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 7:00 am and is filed under Health & Fitness, Kung Fu Kickboxing MMA, Tai Chi & Qigong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.