Real Training

[Doc Stier]

..."aging smart" is to maintain your flexibility.

Excellent point, John. Anyone who develops optimal leg strength and flexibility before the diminished athleticism and natural weakening of older age begins will be able to enjoy much greater mobility and general physical activity in their later years than people who don't. Overall quality of life is no doubt greatly diminished for people who are bed ridden or dependent upon using a walker or a wheelchair to slowly get around.

[johnwang]

enjoy much greater mobility and general physical activity in their later years ...

One of my friends told me that he can't even bend down to cut his own toe nails. What kind of quality life can he has if his body is that tight?

[wiesiek]

echo of Doc and John posts:
keepin` body flexible = youth till the end

[Taste of Death]

I agree except no one in the video is over 25. Where is the video of the old people doing crescent kicks?

On a side note, I told Dan Harden I could no longer kick over my head since I stopped doing taiji. He said, "Who cares?" Well, I do.

[Wanderingdragon]

Muscle elasticity is just a matter of training, if you trained sufficiently when younger your body will not forget. If youre sixty and you haven't stretched in a while you're a fool to go out and try to kick up like the video, yet with some simple stretches you will be able to. As well as the dan harden response, no kick goes above the waist in a real fight anyway. Remember though, the more lose the body the greater the speed and the lesser the chance of stress injury. So you train always, age is no factor, kinda like sex you just do it slower and with more ease of comfort, can't force anything

[johnwang]

Where is the video of the old people doing crescent kicks?

Here is 马英图 (Ma Ying Tu) during his old age. He was the Baiji instructor in Central Nanking MA Institute. My teacher learned Baiji from him. IMO, the high front kick is much harder to do than the crescent kick. To swing your leg over your head without bending your knee joint is easy (such as the crescent kick). To kick over your head from knee bending is harder. Ma's kicking leg and rooting leg is almost in a straight line. He should have no problem to perform a forward-backward split on the ground during his old age.

Again, if you have single leg balance like this, your chance of falling down and break your hip during your old age will be reduced.