Elliot wrote:Hello Sprint, I have a question for you, you said in your post above that:
"People should know that this type of conditioning will leave you crippled when you get older, meaning 50's - 60's. So what good is it knowing that in your youth you were a great fighter but in old age you can't fight your way out of a wet paper bag?"
I can tell by the tone of your post you must know everthing about Karate conditioning, but when I looked at Uechi Karate on Youtube I found a whole lot of old masters that looked like they were agile and in great shape, this guy for example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdVd4sYcXOEDo you think it is some kind of trick photography? Please help us understand.
I obviously don't know everything about karate conditioning. I spent 20 odd years learning a combination of Goju and Shito ryu style though, so I feel I have some qualification to comment. One thing I can say is, that in my experience, arthritis is very common amongst older karateka, and in weird places too like the neck and spine, not just the hands or arms.
Maybe I overstated the case for bodily harm, so I will rephrase it and say that you are asking for trouble if you train in this way.
There are always exceptional individuals who do not seem to be ever troubled by injuries, but they are rare.