Excellent Musing & very timely for me

[DaveRandolph]

I didnt start training until I was 30. I went at my MA training hard twice a week and as I got higher in rank I went 3 days then 4 now I'm up to 6 days/wk.

I started just with my forms work, then as I got further up in rank (blue belt) one of the classes did a 30 minute conditiong class and so I started doing more conditioning outside of that class in addition to my other work. THe weight came of and I got stronger. By the time I hit 35 I had dropped to about 158 from about 185 when I started. I was working out hard 5 days /wk. Getting to class early and doing pullups, pushups and other BW work, plus forms which were getting longer and more physically demanding. I'd get a few overuse injuries and keep going.

When I hit 40 the my weight had gone to 172 or so, my shoulders were getting trashed from too many pushups and couldn't do full Range of motion dips. I had (& still have) lateral epicondylitis (elbow tendonitis - lateral) from too many reverse curls and too much mouse on the computer, but I still kept my routine the same.

Now I'm 44 and after a year of KB, backing off forms and BW work and doing more strength work I have gotten stronger & leaner, my weight is the same, I train smarter not harder. We still do the conditioning class and while I cant do all the pushups non-stop that I used to be able to, Istill make most people moan and groan. They call me Robo-Dave (at least to my face anyway, no telling what they call me behind my back :) ), Very few can keep up. However getting up the next morning is much more difficult than it used to be...

Recently I have backed off my KB work to. I was going KB crazy doing a solid 45min workout (4 days/wk) and getting wiped out enough so that by the time the later classes came around I was whupped. I felt like I was starting to get more minor injuries, overtrained.

In the past few weeks I have limited my KB to 15 to 30 mins, incorporating more CB work on alternate days, doing more strength than ballistics and mixing it up quite a bit. I feel much better now, more energy, my weight is stable at 172, but I appear to leaning out although slowly.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that Coach Sonnon's latest musing really hits home at the most opportune time. I was afraid that I would lose strenght, endurance etc and not be able to torture my students as I once did, but what I am finding is that not only am I training smarter, I am training THEM smarter too. No more 100 rep non-stop pushup nights. I break them into sets 30,25,20,15,10 and vary the width of the hands or do slow pushups etc. It still a lot of work but that brief rest makes all the difference.


Thanks for reading this rather long post


Dave Randolph, CST,RKC

[Scott Sonnon]

Time and pain are the teachers. Everyone's in class, but only a few are paying attention to the actual lessons.

Yes, yes and yes.

Years of MA have taken there toll. I liked KBs when I discovered them. Went overboard till the old elbow screamed. I joined in the race to get the 2 pood up. I did it - with a tweaked back.

I then started on the CBs. For me this is how I always wanted to train. It's seems like a perfect mixture of what i like about bodyweight and what I like about weights. The WW with light weights is slowly fixing years of maladjustment.

My meter goes off very quickly now when something is not right for me in my training. Higher reps, strength endurance is the way to go. I'm leaner and meaner then - well maybe ever. I'm about to embark on learning a new MA -we'll see how it fits. Keep the journey going on, that's the secret.

Bill

[cmuberti]

Very a propos for me as well.

I just got back from the orthopedist today. I've had back and hip pain for the past year because of over- and mis-use.

I didn't start any training until I was 28, and then it was yoga only. I didn't pick up a weight until just before my 35th birthday. Having had success with sheer force of will before, I went full steam ahead.

So today, at the ripe old age of 37, I had a nice doctor tell me exactly what Scott wrote in today's musing. But as my doctor put it, "Well, we here in Central NJ we have a tendency to think more and harder is better."

I think I need to learn that I can have success with patience and moderation as well!

Bravo, Scott.

[GreggWeaver]

I agree with what's being said here, and I am trying to do the same thing myself.

I'm also trying to make sure I don't go too far in the opposite direction.

What I "worry" about is starting a downward spiral where I cut back to some extent on what I'm doing, become deconditioned, feel that I need to cut back some more etc. I'm still figuring this out for myself.

[admin]

Time and pain are the teachers. Everyone's in class, but only a few are paying attention to the actual lessons.

Great musing and very apropo statement. It's taken me the better part of half a century to finally begin paying attention. Better late than never, though.

Gregg, I'd just like to say that 'worry' vanishes the more we embrace the spirit of playfullness and exploration...and paying enough attention to notice when we are not. :)