How’s the body treating you?

I turned 43 this year and for the most part I’m healthy.  I have some of the same aches and pains that most my age feels I’m sure.  I don’t heal as quickly and I have old injuries that needs tending occasionally.  I was in a car accident in 2010 that messed my neck up pretty bad.  I hope I don’t have to revisit it, but it kept me from training completely for a couple of years and it still flairs up from time to time.  The thing is though, I feel better when training regularly.  Any pain from my right wrist to my index finger of my left hand just feels better in general with training.  Part of me finds that surprising that I have more aches and pains when I’m not subjecting myself to the rigors of jiu-jitsu.  I can’t count the number of times I’ve “hurt” myself just getting out of bed in the morning.

 

I feel like I’ve hit a milestone in my training.  I’ve never really been that  good.  I will pull off submissions and keep even blackbelts at bay for most of a roll, but I’m not a chess player yet on the mat.  I used to play chess and even there I think i was more of a tactical player, able to see in general where my pieces needs to be to give myself a better chance of winning but unable to see quickly a good way to beat someone.  I could study the board for awhile and figure out a good series of moves ahead, but it wasn’t my game.  Either case, I was able to do 3 good 8 min plus rolls in class without gassing too much and was able to actually think out my moves more.  I consider that an accomplishment.  I’ve also been less critical of my moves overall, starting to loosing up a bit.  I sometimes will stall in a position when I’m not sure of what to do next or if I think I won’t be able to pull it off and look stupid.   That puts me on the defensive alot and you should really be offensively minded, even on the body,  maybe especially on the bottom.