Hey, we're all getting there, maybe it's time we had a place to hang out and share war stories and general complaints about our lumbaigo, hernias and iron-poor tired blood?

Couldnt the stories be put into the Martial Arts Tails and Stories forum...

Great! I'll start it.

When I was your age we use to work out in the 2ft snow drifts barechested for six hours straight. Then we would fight 37 ninja's at a time just for our yellow belt.

Is it for people who are old and do MA or for people who do Old MAs?

Did anyone else go to Judo classes in the early 1970's thinking they'd learn to be Bruce Lee (despite being way too young to have even sen one of his films)?

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of avoiding or dealing with injuries, sparring with the young whipper-snappers, memories of training from "back-in-the-day", the changing attitude of today's students, makiwara training and middle age, etc. Or, if you prefer, the "when I was your age" rants work, too. Sometimes, I get tired of sitting at the kid's table.

what got me was training with a WTF club one time and the coach came over during a break, "They'll take about 2 minutes... you take 5. You and me need a little extra time".

"Oh my god! I'm old!" It had never occurred to me until then not to do the same as the kids.

Attended a weekend camp for shorin-ryu practioners last month. I think I did OK against most of the younger guys (most of whom were half my age and twice my size), but several of them felt compelled to comment on my age, like "Not bad for an old guy". And then, there's the few who insist on calling me "Sir", even when I ask them to address me by my first name. They typically replied, "I'm taught to respect my elders". When the hell did I become an "elder"???

That's like the story of when the writer John Irving gave up competitive wrestling. He wrestled and lost against a soldier. The soldier said "Good match, Sir!" Irving decided if he was being called 'Sir', he'd better retire. Only later did his coach say, "The guy's in the army, he calls everyone 'Sir'!"