06/19/2026
Martial Arts and The Aging Body
Picture in black trunks is from over 22 years ago. I had recently retired from fighting and focused a little more on putting on some mass.
Then age hits, I had two bad car accidents and had to have back surgery. Slow to heal up from that. I got up to 215 pounds before the car accidents but I wasn't as lean as I would like to be.
The 2nd picture in the red trunks is at 48 years old (I'm 55 now). I needed to lean out to take some load of my disks in my spine. I'm now 183 pounds (I used to fight at 182 back in 1997). I had to change the way I did EVERYTHING physical. There were just some things I couldn't do anymore in sparring without hurting my spine. Same thing with grappling. I had to be a more defensive striker and a more offensive grappler. Total opposites of when I was younger.
Even resistance training had to be change. Started preferring exercises that didn't load my spine. And, as far as heavy bag work, 75% was new 100%. If I pushed passed it I would be hurting for days.
Now, I'm just glad I'm able to still work out. I do it for fun now. Its a different mindset then when I was younger. It's been really tough to change (mindset) but I want to keep training for a long time to come so I had to change the way I do things. Age and injuries don't have to be the end. You can adapt.
