Am I just too old?

[tmd]

Originally Posted by medguy

The male physical prime is between 25 and 40 anyway, so why worry.

Thanks for the heads up Med Guy gonna be out of my prime in the next 6 months . to be fair apart form the time I take to recover from injuries I'm fitter now than I was 10 years ago

[jcninja]

Thanks for all of the advice guys! I guess I am going to have to suck it up and get better shin guards while I'm toughening them up to let them heal - and yeah we do spar a lot - we basically train knockdown first - karate second - at least that's what it feels like. My first class was a fight team training class - I was destroyed (more like crippled acutally). . . but it made me want to do it again, and again, and again. Thanks for the encouraging words - I don't get a whole lot of encouragement in this Kyokushin endeavor of mine from the folks in my life. I guess that's why we have forums like this. Also, I guess I have to accept the fact that yes - at 32 - I have to be more patient about my training. When I was 21 and doing Ving Tsun five days a week - I remember how tore up my hands and forearms were all the time - they took a lot of abuse - always a brownish hue from conditioning and fighting - the pain I didn't care about and I recovered quickly - now - eleven years later it's a little slower to bounce back.
On the upside - having hurt shins all the time has made my hands able to hit like a freight train and my hand technique is great - but unfortunately my kicks are pretty piss poor . . .Ahh patience and time.
Thanks for the help guys and I guess I'll check my "Man Ego" and go buy some better shin guards.
Osu!

[BigAl]

Originally Posted by jcninja

Why heat instead of ice? Also, I do wear shin guards - I often spend my time on my train commute fantasizing about real shin guards to save my shins instead of my flimsy white elastic thingys I got for free that every one at my school wears - but then I'd feel like a wimp if I actually wore the fancy ones - but then that's my own ego thing. I want to hang with the big dogs . . .I really do. And thanks for the not too old thing -I'm definitely the oldest newbie there and when I see the "kids" suffering I wonder to myself,"Am I cut out for this?" But then I hit someone and its waaaay too much fun.

My sempai wears a thicker pair than the rest of us do. Don't think of it as an ego thing, more like a protective thing for now. Best to suck up the ego and have decades of fun with karate rather than just a few years. I have the same white elastic kind, so I know what you mean about how they don't absorb much.

[kyokushin4life]

A lot of good comments in this thread. You are only 32! Shin can be painful at the start but if you condition and prepare them well you will be okay.

[Dent]

Osu!

Recently visited a Muay Thai class, where there was light sparring afterwards. I was heading off to get my shin pads, and told, "No, it'll be light."

Needless to say, it wasn't, but years of shin clashes made all the difference in the world. Turns out I wasn't the one hobbling around like an arthritic octopus...

Osu!

[Chuck]

im only 24 and very out of shape i peal the skin off the top of my toe through kicking and still hasnt healed may be i am to old?

[ANTSAN]

I get that sometimes on the base of my toes / feet from carpet burn, I always keep some sports tape in my training bag for things like that, it always comes in handy, good for knuckles too.

[Paedde]

Originally Posted by shinobijesus

im not gonna say anything thats already been said since i agree with much of it already, but have you considered researching your diet? how are your eating habits? most people overlook that. or people think all they need to know is "high protein diet to speed muscle growth" and disregard foods that actually speed healing of tissue damaged via trauma.

hate to disappoint you though since all i know about eating habits is high protein speeds up my muscle regeneration. best advice i have is eat with common sense. cook at home a lot, cut down on greasy or overly fattening stuff, and try to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables. like.... a lot more fruits and vegetables. maybe take a multivitamin and some glucosamine too. im sure someone else can chime in with more specific info.

good luck.

Osu

I wouldn't recommend supplements except the person knows what he's doing.
It's better to buy a good book or two about the subject and learn. Then you can switch to a better diet and find out which supplements are needed.

Some good books are Nutrient Timing, The Paleo Diet for Athletes (I don't like the diet, but good information about nutrition) and John Berardi's Books (He also got a lot good articles on his website)

But anyway, I doubt that's the problem. If you are too banged up, don't go to training. Also buy thicker shin guards which you can use when you feel like. (I prefer the thinner ones because I always hurt myself with the thicker shinguards, I pay a lot more attention to correct technique with the thinner ones...)

Originally Posted by ANTSAN

I get that sometimes on the base of my toes / feet from carpet burn, I always keep some sports tape in my training bag for things like that, it always comes in handy, good for knuckles too.

Can't live without tape, I think I used 2 tapes in one year. Arnica and tape is all you need

[strongman1]

Osu
Hell I'm 35 tomorrow and i want more fighting and my next grade
I'll be doing this for the rest of my life

[powerof0ne]

To the author of this thread, I don't think you're too old but the dojo you're training at may not be suited for someone of your age. I've trained at a lot of different martial art schools as I know some of you have, too due to moving and/or schools closing, that sort of thing. I have trained at schools when I was younger with my father who was in his mid 40s at the time, where there was no way in hell that the average beginner could have just joined and expected to progress. One such gym was a muay thai gym where the dropout rate was extremely high due to the harshness of the work outs, not a good place for someone looking to get in shape, condition their shins, etc. to go to. No headgear was worn, boxing gloves, mouth piece(up to you), cup(up to you) and shin pads were worn. It was expected in every sparring session to see someone at least get TKO'd, bloody noses, lips, jump knees/kicks, had to wear shin pads if you wanted to spar more than once that week and in a lot of cases doubling up on shin pads. In my opinion, this is only good for those looking to compete and/or just looking for this kind of training but for the average person this kind of training isn't smart when they have careers to get to the next day. I stayed at this gym for quite a while and after a few years the intensity of the training and sparring went down which coincidentally resulted in more students, go figure. My Father had to quit training at this gym due to his fused back and just trains on his own, now.
Some Karate styles aren't good for bad backs due to the stances and what's interesting about that is in some Okinawan styles the stances are done higher because of the back strain! Anyhow, find a gym/dojo that suits your needs and remember you're not too old but training has to be done differently to suit different demographics.