Martial Arts for Senior Citizens

[Steve]

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/email.php/9548187

My parents live in Sun City West down in Arizona and have taken up Tai Chi. They've been at it for about 2 years now and have said that it's been great for their health and general fitness.

According to my mom, it's something called Yang 108 style (or something like that).

Anyway, the local paper went out and wrote up a nice article about their school. Pretty neat, I think. Thought I'd share for anyone interested. That's my mom in the picture, by the way.

Posted before I could finish... Anyway, the reason I'm sharing, other than that I'm proud of my mom, is to ask whether you guys have any seniors that continue to train with you. What's the average age of the folks who train in your style? At my school, we're... I wouldn't say dominated by youngsters, but it's a good mix. We have lots of young men and women, and then a well represented group of old grapplers, 35 and over. I started training at 36, and we have several people over 50.

Do you think your style is good for seniors or not? Do you tend to collect health problems over time from training in your style? Would you recommend it to seniors who are interested in getting more fit?

 

[clfsean]

http://www.azcentral.com/php-bin/clicktrack/email.php/9548187

My parents live in Sun City West down in Arizona and have taken up Tai Chi. They've been at it for about 2 years now and have said that it's been great for their health and general fitness.

According to my mom, it's something called Yang 108 style (or something like that).

Anyway, the local paper went out and wrote up a nice article about their school. Pretty neat, I think. Thought I'd share for anyone interested. That's my mom in the picture, by the way.

Posted before I could finish... Anyway, the reason I'm sharing, other than that I'm proud of my mom, is to ask whether you guys have any seniors that continue to train with you. What's the average age of the folks who train in your style? At my school, we're... I wouldn't say dominated by youngsters, but it's a good mix. We have lots of young men and women, and then a well represented group of old grapplers, 35 and over. I started training at 36, and we have several people over 50.

Do you think your style is good for seniors or not? Do you tend to collect health problems over time from training in your style? Would you recommend it to seniors who are interested in getting more fit?

Cool!! I just moved my dad in with me from AZ.

Any MA is good for a senior. Some are quite spry & and get benefit from it. Some aren't so spry & something like TJQ benefits them as a physical activity which is a HUGE plus for them.

My MA being good for them?? Not really... they need something a tad bit less aerobic & contact oriented. But I also study Chen Taiji Quan, which once the MA aspect is turned down, can prove a huge benefit for them.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

We have a good mix of young and old. All ages, really.

We have kids' classes, just for the really young.

Lots of younger folks, say in their 20's and 30's. A few teenagers.

Then there are lots of folks in their 40's, like me.

One black belt who is in his late 60's. One black belt who is in his early 70's.

Our sensei is in his late 50's; his two highest-ranked students are in their 40's.

I'll be 50 in July.

So we're a good mix of young, middle-aged, and older.

Works for me.

 

[bluewaveschool]

We've had older students in the past, not currently. We had a guy in his 60s start after having a heart attack, to help get himself into better shape. He stuck with it for 2 years before he started getting unwell. He passed a few years later, and his girlfriend brought all his gear and donated it to the class, because that's what he wanted.

 

[Tez3]

Before I make any comments how old are you talking about when you say senior citizens

 

[ATC]

That is great that your parents are keeping active. Good for them.

We have a few older people at our dojang. Not many but a few. Over 35 would be a total of 7 of us. Over 40 the number drops to 6. Over 50 the number drops to 3. Over 60 and the number is 1.

If we all keep going the older ages should go up in numbers. That is if we keep living. Ha ha ha...

 

[Steve]

Before I make any comments how old are you talking about when you say senior citizens

Haha. I'd say over 60, although some might disagree. My mom is ahemgrumblemumble and my dad is 75.

 

[K-man]

There is a big difference between continuing training into the later years, as in 70s and 80s and beginning at an older age. My youngest student is about 50 and most of the guys I train with are around the wrong end of 50s. I would back these guys to match up anywhere. One of the guys, now in his 60's still moves like lightning. Richard is the guy in red in this promo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxqR7H7ldpw&feature=related He is about 60 and looks about 45. My previous head instructor is in his 70s now but is still faster than those half his age. The benefits of keeping active.
Now as a contrast, I had a visitor the other night starting out at about 65. It was very difficult for him to roll and his co-ordination was way out. I admire him for trying and hope he might come back next year. (We've just stopped training for this year.)
As to benefits ... the post would be incredibly long. But for a start:-
cardiovascular fitness, aerobic fitness, weight control, muscle tone, faster reflexes, flexibility, joint mobility, hand/eye co-ordination, confidence in the street, etc etc. Not to mention the social interaction with a generally younger generation. :asian:

 

[ralphmcpherson]

One of the reasons I got into MA was that I have always been heavily into sports but as I hit my 30's I was finding I had to give them away due to age so I was very keen to find a physical activity that I could start and continue into my senior years. When I first started tkd the thing that first struck me was the number of people in their "later years" who were still training. I find that where I train the art evolves in such a way that its easy to continue as I age. The lower belts through to first dan black belt have a heavy emphasis on "fighting", heaps of kicks, punches and generally jumping all over the place and then as you progress in the dan ranks the emphasis shifts more to soft techniques to disarm or drop an opponent in a more gentle way, such as the way a police officer or bouncer would deal with an aggressive attacker rather tham just beating the pulp out of them. Our higher dans/older people still do their kicks and punches etc but definetely spend more time on hapkido/aikido style self defence techs and defences against knives etc. With any luck i will still be training well into my senior years.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

My oldest student is 86 and fantastic at what he can do!

 

[Stac3y]

That is SO cool, Steve! Kudos to your mom and dad!

The class I attended last night had 3 black belts who qualify for Medicare (I think that starts at 62; not sure), 4 black belts in their 40s (one of them is me), 2 black belts in their 30s, 1 16 year old black belt, a 20 y/o brown belt, a late 40s purple belt, and 3 underbelt teens/preteens.

I think we're weighted toward the more mature crowd, though that's not the case in all of our locations; last session I taught an "adult" class where all 5 of my students were between 12 and 15.

 

[Steve]

My oldest student is 86 and fantastic at what he can do!

That's awesome!

There is a big difference between continuing training into the later years, as in 70s and 80s and beginning at an older age. My youngest student is about 50 and most of the guys I train with are around the wrong end of 50s. I would back these guys to match up anywhere. One of the guys, now in his 60's still moves like lightning. Richard is the guy in red in this promo. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxqR7H7ldpw&feature=related He is about 60 and looks about 45. My previous head instructor is in his 70s now but is still faster than those half his age. The benefits of keeping active.
Now as a contrast, I had a visitor the other night starting out at about 65. It was very difficult for him to roll and his co-ordination was way out. I admire him for trying and hope he might come back next year. (We've just stopped training for this year.)
As to benefits ... the post would be incredibly long. But for a start:-
cardiovascular fitness, aerobic fitness, weight control, muscle tone, faster reflexes, flexibility, joint mobility, hand/eye co-ordination, confidence in the street, etc etc. Not to mention the social interaction with a generally younger generation. :asian:

This is a great distinction. It seems MUCH harder to start training at an advanced age than to continue training into one's senior years. While I hope to continue rolling on the mats into my 70s, I have a hard time picturing my dad just taking it up at 75 years old.

That is SO cool, Steve! Kudos to your mom and dad!

The class I attended last night had 3 black belts who qualify for Medicare (I think that starts at 62; not sure), 4 black belts in their 40s (one of them is me), 2 black belts in their 30s, 1 16 year old black belt, a 20 y/o brown belt, a late 40s purple belt, and 3 underbelt teens/preteens.

I think we're weighted toward the more mature crowd, though that's not the case in all of our locations; last session I taught an "adult" class where all 5 of my students were between 12 and 15.

I'm really happy that my parents have found something they enjoy. The school pushes them pretty hard. My mom is really into it. Conversations with her are a little strange now. She talks about repelling monkeys and stuff.

Just for trivia's sake, it's 65 for Medicare. 62 is the earliest age that someone can file for retirement benefits, which is different. If they qualify for Medicare, they're at least 65.

Interesting... you guys don't separate the teens from the adults? There's a fuzzy middle area where kids start to transition into the adult classes at our school. It's usually when the boys hit their growth spurt and are mangling the smaller kids. For most, that's somewhere between 13 and 15.

 

[frank raud]

At my judo club, there are two senior instructors who are retired(late 60s)probaly 5 instructors in their 50's, several students in their 50's(including me).

When I was teaching jiu jitsu, my oldest student was 72. He started taking karate at 65, acheived his black belt and switched clubs and started training in jiu jitsu. He now is a black belt in karate and jiu jitsu.

I regularly train in seminars with Georges Serei, who started one of the first judo clubs in Canada back in 1958. He is 90 and still active.

Here is Georges Serei training with his sons in 1958

 

[Stac3y]

I'm really happy that my parents have found something they enjoy. The school pushes them pretty hard. My mom is really into it. Conversations with her are a little strange now. She talks about repelling monkeys and stuff.

<snip>

Interesting... you guys don't separate the teens from the adults? There's a fuzzy middle area where kids start to transition into the adult classes at our school. It's usually when the boys hit their growth spurt and are mangling the smaller kids. For most, that's somewhere between 13 and 15.

Repelling monkeys? LOL!

Our "adult" classes start at age 13, due to that whole growth spurt thing. Adults 18 and up are not allowed to strike or kick kids who are 17 or younger (legal reasons; the exception is if we have specific permission from their parents); we have to just block when we spar them. So the teens only really spar each other. The 12 year olds I had in my adult class were there because they had already earned their junior black belts; in our organization, once you earn the JBB, you move on to learning the adult curriculum, which is significantly different.

 

[Big Don]

Even if the older student can't move as well or as easily as young ones, the process of learning, of setting their mind to learning is probably beneficial.

 

[Steve]

Repelling monkeys? LOL!

LOL... who knows? Maybe one of the Tai Chi guys around here can tell us. What she tells me and what I hear are seldom the same thing.

From what I gather, though, the Yang style tai chi has 108 positions, that they are told are called poems. And then each poem has a funny name. I tend to just make up names for them when I'm talking to her on the phone.

Bottom line for me is that she's getting strong and moving around, and she's having fun.

 

[clfsean]

LOL... who knows? Maybe one of the Tai Chi guys around here can tell us. What she tells me and what I hear are seldom the same thing.

From what I gather, though, the Yang style tai chi has 108 positions, that they are told are called poems. And then each poem has a funny name. I tend to just make up names for them when I'm talking to her on the phone.

Bottom line for me is that she's getting strong and moving around, and she's having fun.

Yeah there's a posture in the Yang sets that is something like "Repel the Monkey" or some such. It's been a long time since I've done Yang so I'm not 100% sure of the exact wording.

 

[Stac3y]

Yeah there's a posture in the Yang sets that is something like "Repel the Monkey" or some such. It's been a long time since I've done Yang so I'm not 100% sure of the exact wording.

My stepdad could stand to learn that. He had a monkey bite off a chunk of his ear when he was a kid. My husband, on the other hand, needs a "Repel the Possum" posture. Got one of those?

 

[Big Don]

My mom is ahemgrumblemumble and my dad is 75.

What a coincidence, my mom is ahemgrumblemumble too, although, my dad is only 71.