Small Training

It is a weird thing to be an old guy who trains in a martial art.

Training and experience makes a person a better fighter, but aging makes one worse. At some point, the downward slide begins.

It can be hard for anybody to recognize when this happens. Does it really matter?

There are days when I think I suck, but also times when I surprise myself at what I’m able to do.

I started training as a White Belt at age 55, and made it to a Blue Belt at 56. Purple followed in at age 59, and now I’m 63.

I would say that I’m still improving as a fighter. This doesn’t mean that age hasn’t taken a massive toll.

If up against an individual in their 20s, or 30s I’m faced with all sorts of disadvantages. Speed, strength, durability and endurance will all greatly favour my opponent.

If they also have as much experience and training as me then it really shows.

I rely on my training and experience to keep my body as effective a weapon as possible, and to give me the skills to counterweigh my deficiencies.

A funny thing is that there has been a huge shift in the type of training that makes me effective. Large classes are always great, but small-group work has become, on average, more important.

My group class training has been consisting of 4 sessions per week. It still does but, for example, this week I will also be spending even more time working within groups of from 2 to 4 people.

Sometimes the small groups will have somebody in the instructor roll, but just as often they won’t. By the nature of the dynamic, each student has to take more responsibility for their own learning.

I like that a lot, and it makes me think more. As even when we have somebody playing instructor, it isn’t with the certainty of a class leader.

With a group of 20 eager students, instructors tend to cover things that are not only suitable for the group, but that are also secure in the instructor’s knowledge base.

In our little groups, that’s rarely the case. We are forever figuring out what to do with that unused leg, or hand, and can the opponent find an easy counter for what we’re doing. It’s great.

A weird thing it that in order to pursue this fully I am holding back my progress in rank. My next step is to a Brown Belt, and in theory I could test anytime. In reality, it would take months of preparation.

To do that, I’d have to pull time and effort away from the training that I’m currently hip deep in. Test preparation would make me better, but not by as much what I’m doing now.

If I were a kid of 20, or even one of 40 this wouldn’t matter. There would be plenty of time for all sorts of things.

Instead, I am a geezer of 63. I have less years, and so need a more selective approach.

Rank will have to wait.