by Art Rabesa » Sun Aug 14, 2016 11:45 pm
I have the good fortune to have senior peers that show no lack of decline in their overall performance. I'm sure there are certain things they did 30 or forty years ago that they have omitted from their training. I know I have. When we get up there in age, our training becomes more streamlined. Things become more simple. Our kata is more compact and movements flow into each other. I call it "moving in one piece". The power is now coming from our better understanding of sanchin. Knowing where our power can be reached and how to bring it forth. Blocks are now used with the understanding of small angles, and knowing when to move into the attack. Understanding space and how to use it. Not much heavy banging anymore to get the job done. I've been told many times that I can hit harder now than in my 20's and 30's. I feel that I can. I also know others around my age that hit very hard. I've known them for 50 years and I can tell you this as fact. I really do not think one ever loses the ability to strike hard, if the training is on going. You don't know any other way. I've written numerous posts concerning "keeping it simple". This means concentrating on the simple things in the training. Moving and striking. Not actually fighting, but moving and striking fast and hard. Exploding into the strikes. Limiting the variety of strikes to just a few. That's why I do leg thrusts instead of actually kicking. Working fast tight, close quarter strikes that cause lots of damage. Cause a lot of damage fast is now what I practice. Not many moving parts to have anything go wrong. Show me a machine with few moving parts, and I'll show you a machine that just keeps on ticking. So longevity is upon us like it or not. We now hone our training and embrace it. I've been quoted as saying - "I don't think I can do any rounds, but I'll give you 20 seconds of sheer hell". A fact.-----Happy Trails----Art
Art Rabesa