Training for Baby Boomers Only

Here's a great story in the making.  57-year-old Harry Grimm, a martial-arts student for more than 30 years, spent 19 years running an extremely successful all-ages karate school in Massachusetts.  Then about seven years ago, after moving to Naples, Florida, Harry decided to embark on what he calls his "semi-retirement project": operating a martial-arts school exclusively for adults 40 and over.
   As I've noted in this blog before, all across America you can find thousands of instructors teaching millions of kids.  And the kids, of course, are the great future of the martial-arts.  But because the kids vastly outnumber the adults who are currently training, many martial-arts seniors begin feeling that maybe they're too old, or too slow, or not limber enough . . . and consequently retire to the couch, TV remote in hand.
   Enter Harry Grimm, one man who's determined to make a difference.  He believes that there are an unlimited number of baby boomers who either want to resume training in an adults-only program or who would like to take up a martial art in their golden years.  What better place than Florida to pursue the dream?  So he started up Bucket List Martial Arts, a place where folks over 40 could master karate and perhaps even earn a black belt before, well, kicking the bucket.  His research had indicated that earning a black belt was way up there on the "bucket list" of many seniors, so he began offering a way for serious students to jump in with both feet and fists.
   Yes, there are plenty of senior-friendly exercise programs out there.  Yes, there are plenty of seniors who join each other for the health benefits of long walks.  But the martial arts offer something special: a comprehensive mind-body activity that, if you're fortunate, will become a way of life rather than a brief fling with the fitness program du jour.
   Harry is still trying to reach his target audience in the Naples area, and currently teaches a number of 40+ students in either private or group lessons.  Although there's no tidal wave of 40+ students yet, we think there's a good chance that it will materialize.  His program has gotten excellent press in the local community, and without question there are thousands of prospective students who would benefit greatly from martial-arts training.
   So you don't live in Naples, Florida?  Well, maybe you know someone who does.  Either way, you can contact Harry at office@bucketlistmartialarts.com.  If you've had the martial arts on your mind, it's time to stop thinking and start doing.  

   If you belong to a senior-friendly school or have a compelling story about seniors in the martial arts, please send us an email.  We'd like to share the story.

   In the meantime, we send good wishes to Harry Grimm, who's fighting the good fight down there in Naples, Florida.  All the best, Harry.

  
  

Maine Coastal Taekwondo Classic

If you live in or near New England, circle August 10th on your calendar and plan a trip to South Portland, ME.  You'll definitely want to be on hand for the 3rd Annual Maine Coastal Taekwondo Classic, hosted by Master Dave Esposito of the Southern Maine Taekwondo dojang. 
   In addition to providing competitors of all ages with an opportunity to test their skills in forms, breaking, and sparring, this year's tournament will also be a fund-raiser for the Boston Strong Foundation.  A portion of each competitor's entry fee and spectator entrance fee will go to the Foundation.  But that's not all.  As part of the opening ceremonies, anyone attending the tournament can purchase one or more $5 "donation boards" and do some just-for-fun breaking in support of Boston Strong.  Never broken a board?  Not a problem.  Master Esposito and his staff will teach you a basic breaking technique to help get the job done.
   I happen to love Maine, and August is a fantastic time to be there.  But there are two extremely important details about this event that have put the Maine Coastal Taekwondo Classic on my to-do list. 
     1. All adult black belts will compete first in each event. 
     2. Poomsae [or forms] competitors will compete one at a time.
   Let me say a few words about each of these two key points.  First, it's a rare tournament indeed that has the adult black belts compete ahead of the younger set.  What normally happens is that the tournament begins with the youngest kids -- perhaps ages 4 and 5 -- and slowly works its way up by age and by belt color until finally, many hours later, the adult black belts get their chance to compete.  But here's the worst part: after the kids finish competing, they and their families generally head for the door, joyously carting off their medals or trophies.  And who's left in the stands to watch the adult black belts?  Well, hardly anyone.  In my experience, by the end of the day the few people left watching the tournament are the spouses and families of the adult black belt athletes.
   Doesn't it make more sense to have the adult black belts compete first . . . so that all the kids in attendance get to see what their futures might hold?  I think so.  By showing off the adult black belts at the beginning of each tournament event, you help raise the bar for all the younger competitors as well as for the older competitors who have not yet earned their black belts.
   And now I move on to a favorite complaint of mine: having two poomsae [forms] athletes compete at the same time.  If you want to know how I really feel, scroll back to my May 15, 2013 post, "A Change I Would Love to See."  Here's the short version: no judge, however experienced, can see every move of two competitors at the same time.  The judge can glance back and forth between the two competitors, but he or she cannot possibly see every technique that each competitor executes.  The judge is therefore certain to miss some big mistakes or some really splendid moves, and that's not a reasonable way to treat athletes who, especially in the higher ranks, have invested hundreds or thousands of hours mastering their forms.
   What these two competition details tell me is that Master Esposito has thought hard about how to make the tournament a learning experience for everyone in attendance and how to treat competitors as fairly as possible.  That's a rock-solid foundation upon which to build a successful tournament.
   For more information about the 3rd Annual Maine Coastal Taekwondo Classic, please click over to Southern Maine Taekwondo and download the tournament packet.  This is a great way to spend a Saturday in Maine.
   Hope to see you there.
  

Is it muscle, or is it fat?

Here's every athlete's dream: eat all the pizza, ice cream, and chips you want, and any weight you gain will be all muscle.  Sound too good to be true?  Well, of course.  I already said it's a dream.  In the real world, if you don't eat properly, you gain fat, not muscle.  And sometimes even if you do everything according to the book, you still gain weight -- maybe muscle, maybe fat.
   One of the great ironies of exercise is that it causes too many people to get fatter, not thinner.  This is especially true of those who are just beginning exercise programs at the local mega gym.  They feel so incredibly energized by their workouts that they assume that they can eat whatever they want.  So, naturally, many of them eat whatever they want, often consuming far more extra calories than they burned off during the workouts.  Let's face it: consuming 500 calories is a lot easier than burning 500 calories.
   Okay, so life isn't quite fair.  But suppose you're a senior martial artist who trains regularly.  And let's suppose further that you've incorporated strength training into your training regimen, because pumping a little iron is extremely important even to aging athletes.  Finally, let's suppose you begin gaining weight.  Is the new weight all muscle?  Is it fat?  Or is it a little of each?
   There are two simple ways to decide.  1.  Flip a coin, since any answer you give yourself is as accurate as another.  2.  Step on a bathroom scale that measures body-fat content in addition to weight.  I prefer method #2, because it gives me facts, not guesses.  And out of all the body-fat measuring schemes I've examined, this one is by far the most user-friendly.
   For well over 20 years now I've used a Tanita scale.  The folks at Tanita aren't paying me to say good things about their scales, and they haven't given me any freebees to tout the brand.  So what you're getting here is only what I believe: every athlete's bathroom or training room should include a Tanita scale.
   Tanita scales measure fat using a process called Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis, or BIA.   You step on the scale, and a small electrical impulse passes from one foot to the other.  No, you don't feel a thing.  But while the current passes through your body, it distinguishes between fat and muscle through a series of complex calculations that some scientist with a PhD might understand.  Fortunately, you and I don't need to know the math.  All we have to do is read the numbers.  First you get total body weight, and then you get  your percentage of body fat.  If you buy one of the slightly more expensive scales, you also get a third statistic: your body's water content [generally above 50%, since we're built mostly of water].
   How often you step on your Tanita scale is up to you.  I use it every day, because I like to track the effects of certain foods on my body weight and water content.  But over longer periods the scale helps me understand how my weight gain or loss is affecting my muscle mass.  The more muscle mass the better, of course, because among other things more muscle means a faster metabolism, and that translates into a more efficient fat-fighting machine.
   By the way, the Tanita scale comes with a useful booklet that helps you understand what your body-fat percentage should be.  For a 66-year-old male like me, the average healthy range is something like 13-25%.  For women of the same age the range is more like 24-35%.  Some Tanita scales also have an Athlete mode for those who are into serious training, and this mode does some extra calculations to reflect the fact that athletes of any age will likely have lower body-fat readings than non-athletes.
   Are the Tanita scales accurate?  Since I'm not a scientist, I can't answer this question authoritatively.  So I'll hedge a bit.  Once you've established a baseline figure -- let's say it's 14% body fat -- you can keep that number in mind and see how it changes from week to week or month to month.  All you're really after anyway is the direction of your body-fat content.  Are you gaining muscle, or are you gaining fat?  By the way, it's important to use the scale at roughly the same time each day, because the readings will change throughout the day as you exercise, eat, and drink. 
   Bottom line: training religiously is the key to peak performance in the martial arts, and part of your training program should be tracking whether your hard work is successfully keeping body fat under control.

The form is the thing

What you call it depends upon the martial art that you study: poomsae, kata, form, or any of several other names.  But since most tournaments simply list it as "forms," that's what I'll do for this present discussion.  A form is a meticulously choreographed set of martial-arts techniques -- punches, kicks, blocks, stances, and such -- and represents serious combat against a number of imagined opponents.  In my view, the form is also the solid foundation upon which senior martial artists must build their training programs.
   Since I'll be turning 67 this summer, I can no longer handle the kinds of training sessions that introduced me to Taekwondo more than 40 years ago.  Yes, a few things have changed -- cardio fitness, endurance, strength, flexibility, and speed among them.  And since I want to continue my training for many years to come, I would be foolish to disregard the obvious physical changes that come with age.  So I continually modify my training program to respect those changes while pushing as hard as I can.
   The one element of training that doesn't change, though, is my emphasis on forms.  Each form that you learn from white belt through the various black-belt ranks is a masterful lesson in how to apply proper techniques in a combat setting.  Look at it this way: each time you execute a form properly it's like having a master instructor guiding you through key techniques and combinations.  That's because each form you learn was created by master instructors of a given style in order to standardize training throughout the world.  So the Sipjin [5th Dan] form that I practice in Kukkiwon Taekwondo should look the same as the Sipjin form being practiced by someone in Korea, Chile, or Australia.
   Essentially forms represent a comprehensive curriculum for each martial art.  Once you have learned a variety of techniques from your master, you learn how to execute them properly in forms.  You begin with simple forms that rely on basic techniques, and you slowly move on to more complex forms that require a far greater understanding of how advanced techniques can be used in combination against multiple opponents. Along the way, forms deliver two important lessons:
       -- Discipline: a form isn't worth doing if it's lazy, sloppy, or casual.  You must master each movement and deliver each technique as though your life depends on it.  After all, the techniques of the form could very well become a matter of life and death in actual combat.
       -- The power of meditation: in order to execute a form seriously, you must close your mind to the clutter of noises, actions, and intrusive thoughts that surround your inner self.  In my view, practicing forms is an elegant form of meditation that empowers you to forget about "stuff" and to focus on the present moment.
   Since I'm on the topic, I should tell you what a form IS NOT.  It is not an item on a checklist to get you from white belt to black belt in, let's say, two years.  Yes, some schools crank out black belts at an alarming rate, and many of those black belts haven't reached adolescence yet.  But a serious martial-arts school doesn't rely on a checklist in order to advance students from one rank to the next.  Instead, it relies on the student's willingness to push himself or herself to the limit and upon his or her ability to master the necessary techniques.  Knowing all the forms required to reach 1st Dan doesn't mean a student is ready to wear a black belt.  But mastering forms is an important step toward a lifetime of success in the martial arts.
   Do you know of senior-friendly schools in your area?  If so, let me know about them, and I'll be happy to mention them in this blog.  In the meantime, enjoy practicing those forms.

A change I would love to see

Each tournament I attend is different in some ways from all the others, and generally I'm well satisfied with the way Taekwondo tournaments are run.  With rare exception, the tournament sponsors have invested a tremendous amount of time and energy in the venture, much of it devoted to selecting qualified and unbiased judges.  The "unbiased" part is extremely important, by the way.  Every now and then you run across a tournament in which the judges seem to know all the top local competitors and also seem to have certain events judged even before the competition begins.  This, I'm glad to report, is the exception, not the rule.
   But one judging norm that I would love to see changed is the fairly common practice of judging two forms competitors at the same time.  For the uninitiated, this means having two competitors stepping onto the mat at the same time and executing their respective forms -- often different forms -- while being scored by three, four, or five judges.
   Okay, first let's understand why this makes practical sense.  Some tournaments may have 500 or more competitors, and if you had to judge 500 forms, all lasting roughly one minute, you would need over eight hours to get the job done.  Obviously you cut that time in half by judging two competitors at the same time.
   The problem, however, is that no judge is capable of watching two competitors at the same time.  A judge can shift his or her attention from one athlete to the other periodically and get a general impression of how sharp each competitor looks, but he or she cannot possibly watch the full start-to-finish forms of two competitors at the same time.  It can't be done.  And by shifting attention back and forth between the two competitors, judges are apt to miss either the best techniques or worst mistakes -- or possibly both -- delivered by the two athletes.
   So we seem to have a dilemma.  If you judge all competitors individually, you end up with a tournament that never ends.  But if you judge two forms at the same time, there's a good chance that the officials will miss something important.  In addition, there's also a reasonable chance that the two competitors will collide in the middle of the mat, especially if they're executing two different, complex black-belt forms.
   Well, there you have my brief analysis of the problem.  Now it's fair to ask what, if anything, I would do to fix it.  Answer: in the interest of time, I would continue the practice of judging two forms competitors when they are under the rank of black belt; for black belts, however, I would allow each competitor to receive the full attention of all judges throughout the complete form.  Since all black-belt competitors should be executing their forms exceptionally well, it's critical that judges see everything that's right or wrong with each athlete's
performance.  At this level of competition, small differences will make the difference between gold and silver, and judges simply can't see all the small differences if they're being asked to watch two forms at the same time.
   All of this, of course, is just one man's opinion.  If you would like to weigh in on the subject, please send an email.  I'll gladly publish your comments no matter which side of the argument you take.

Conquering back pain

In my family it has become known simply as "the book."  My wife and two adult children have read it.  I have recommended it to countless friends.  And I generally read it myself at least two or three times each year.  "The book" is Healing Back Pain by Dr. John Sarno, a highly regarded physician who has dedicated himself to identifying the link between physical symptoms and the innermost workings of our subconscious minds.
   Let me begin with a true story.  About 14 years ago I was suffering from crippling pain after my back "went out" one morning.  I could barely walk, and the pain ranged from intense to unbearable.  This wasn't the first time I had suffered severe back pain, but this was by far the worst episode.  A colleague at work suggested that I read something that had changed his life, and he gave me his copy of Dr. Sarno's Healing Back Pain.  That day I had to fly to Florida for a business convention, and I read the book from cover to cover while on the plane.  It's a slender book and an easy read -- but it worked a small miracle in my life.
   I hobbled onto the plane in the morning, and that afternoon in Florida I walked off as though I had never had back pain at all.  If this sounds impossible to you, I understand, because it doesn't sound possible to me either.  But it's true, because I lived the experience.
   Here's my very short summary of Dr. Sarno's explanation for what causes most incidents of lower-back pain: our subconscious minds deliberately produce physical symptoms in order to keep us from examining specific elements of anxiety or anger in our lives.  It's the brain's way of saying, "Don't go there."  And by throwing some pain at us, the subconscious mind gets us focusing on something that completely draws us away from the underlying psychological issue that needs addressing.
   This is a layman's very brief overview of a book that is written in plain English and may work a miracle in your life if you're suffering from lower-back pain, shoulder pain, heart palpitations, and a host of other problems related to the phenomenon that Dr. Sarno describes in his book.
   So why am I writing about Healing Back Pain today?  Ah, good question.  Well, this past Friday morning my back "went out" while I was training at the gym.  And the timing could not have been worse, since I was set to compete in a tournament the following day.  I'm sure that many of my readers understand how it feels to have all those months of preparation go down the drain the day before a tournament because of some dumb injury.
   But this story has a happy ending, thanks to Dr. Sarno.  I went home and read "the book."  One of the points that Dr. Sarno makes is that IF your back is structurally sound -- and doctors have found that mine certainly is -- then the pain is caused not by injury but by the actions of your subconscious mind.  And the best -- actually the ONLY -- was to overcome the pain is to accept that it's a fraud.  Rather than tiptoe around the pain, take it for what it is: a phony roadblock that your brain has set in your path.  Long story made short: after reading Dr. Sarno's book yet again, I was able to compete the next day, high kicks and all.
   Fifteen years ago this would not have been possible.  Back then I would have seen a doctor, who would have prescribed pain killers, physical therapy, and rest.  The doctor might also have said, "Oh, and stay away from that activity, because your back can't take it."  Thanks to Dr. Sarno, I now know that the enemy is psychological, not physical, and that there's no reason to baby my back.
   I'm 66, and perhaps one of these days I'll have an actual physical ailment that prevents me from practicing the Taekwondo that I love so much.  But I'm not there yet, and chances are you aren't either.  If you're sitting on the sidelines because of back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain, or any other "problem" that's making life less fun than it should be, please do yourself a great favor.  Buy a paperback copy of Healing Back Pain.  Here's hoping the book works a miracle in your life . . . as it has in mine.
  All the best to you.

Put the YOU in AAU Taekwondo

A couple of weeks ago I had the good fortune -- and the good sense -- to compete in my first AAU Taekwondo tournament.  So now I ask: why did I wait 66 years for something this outstanding?
   Since this was my first AAU Taekwondo event, I really had no idea what to expect.  After all, every tournament I've attended has had a different sponsor, and each tournament has been wonderful in its own way.  But I must say that the AAU Taekwondo Middle Atlantic District Championship -- hosted by Grandmaster Louis Parlagreco -- truly raised the bar for other martial-arts tournament sponsors. 
   A major reason for this, as it turns out, is that the AAU has a highly detailed handbook that specifies precisely how a Taekwondo tournament will be run.  The handbook covers, well, just about everything associated with a tournament -- from how to obtain official AAU sanctioning for the event to the hand signals that judges will use when managing their events.  And, yes, the handbook even specifies what the certified judges will wear in order to give the event a highly professional look: white shirt and tie, black slacks, white sneakers, etc.  Does this really matter?  Absolutely.  From the moment you step into the competition hall, you have the feeling that things are very much under control.
   I found the judges to be well trained, highly consistent in their application of the rules, demanding but fair in their scoring, and completely in charge of their rings.  When the judges are on top of their game, the contestants and spectators go by the rules.  No bad-mouthing calls; no trash-talking; and no obnoxious second-guessing from the stands.  This is how it should be, of course.
   The other benefit of having certified judges running their assigned rings was that the entire tournament ran like a finely tuned Swiss watch.  Events began when they were supposed to, and competitors always knew where they were supposed to
be . . . and when.
   Okay, so this was an outstanding event.  What does that mean for you?  Well, it's time to put YOU in AAU Taekwondo.  Your next opportunity will be the AAU Taekwondo New Jersey State Championships, to be held on April 20th in Spotswood, NJ.  Click over to www.aautaekwondo.org to find out how to join the AAU and how to register for the upcoming NJ event.   Or you can begin by looking at the tournament flyer at AAU Taekwondo NJ Championship.
   If you're a Taekwondo Senior, it's time to get back in the game.  And by the way: the AAU also offers tournaments in other martial arts, so don't feel left out if Taekwondo's not your style.  Visit the AAU website today.
   Hope to see you at a tournament soon.