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Training As You Get Older

Something we all have to contend with is ageing. In this article, Personal Trainer and Door Supervisor Alvin Soosay gives some practical advice to help the older among us continue to stay in fighting shape. 

Training as you get older, recovery methods and how to adapt training to ageing.

As a society on the whole we tend to become lazier as we get older, develop more illnesses, injuries, reduce mobility consequently having a negative effect on our quality of life and general health. Although all of you reading this article are keen and practicing martial artists who have some degree of physical activity under your belt, there will come a point in your life where the effects of aging catch up to you and will impact not only your fighting ability but more importantly your quality of life. You want to have the best quality of life for as long as possible, to be fit and healthy to enjoy your family life, participate in your hobbies and fulfil your work requirements.

Ageing brings about the development of several possible adverse health conditions such as diabetes, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, cardiac related diseases among many others. However in this article I will focus on sarcopenia, which is ultimately the decline of muscle mass and bone density due to ageing. It is unfortunately a common condition that affects people over the age of 50.  This does not mean that you can’t delay the onset of sarcopenia with appropriate and regular strength training with the addition of cardiovascular training. I advise everyone regardless of age or gender to weight train at least 3 times a week. Now this training doesn’t have to be heavy max effort lifting, even light weight resistance training for those older individuals over 65+ will suffice and reduce the rate of sarcopenia.

I recommend consistently doing cardio vascular training 3x per week to combat the effects of age related illnesses in particular those associated with cardiac health. Your heart is a muscle, train it and it will become stronger for longer periods of time. Neglect it and it will get weaker with age simple as that. 

Those of you that are able to do heavier lifting I encourage you to do this, not only to develop strength,  force and power required to make you a fighting machine but it will also make you a more robust human with thicker bone density and muscle mass which will not reduce quickly as you age. Think of a house with a strong foundation, it is going to take longer to deteriorate than a poorly made foundation- the same applies to the human body. Years of resistance training will build a body which takes longer to lose as you get older.

As martial arts fighters you need to prevent the onset of sarcopenia as long as possible to enable you to train and fight with maximum power, strength, force and technique. I would like to touch upon prevention of injury with ageing. As we all get older we tend to lose balance, coordination, strength and take longer to recover from illness/injury. It is common for older individuals to slip, fall or injure themselves doing everyday tasks- these injuries can be prevented very easily by incorporating strength training with weights and cardio training into your life. The stronger and fitter you are the less chance of injuring yourself as you get older, in addition you would recover quicker should you injure yourself unfortunately. 

As we all get older we have to adapt our training, the simple fact is that we will not be as flexible and supple or strong as we once were at younger ages, however with anything else we adapt and overcome- this is not an obstacle to anyone to stop training. As I said earlier I recommend everyone to weight and cardio train a minimum of 3x week, the younger guys and girls I recommend training heavy with barbells and dumbbell avoid fancy machines and cables as this doesn’t build that robust body as mentioned earlier BARBELLS AND DUMBBELLS DO!!!!

Those of you able to run on treadmill or other surfaces I encourage doing so, however those who suffer from joint pain I suggest using a bicycle, rowing machine or cross trainer which will take the impact of the joints and allow you to do cardio without further pain. WEIGHT TRAINING WILL REDUCE JOINT PAIN REGARDLESS OF AGE.

As we get older training can be adapted to less free weight exercises and move into the direction of machines cables and band resistance training. Bands are an excellent training tool, I advocate the use of it religiously myself, and is very beneficial for the older generation who perhaps don’t feel comfortable in a gym setting. Bands can be used at home with limited space, provide enough resistance that a free weight or machine can offer and will reap the same benefits of lifting iron. If you are an older person who doesn’t like the gym scene PLEASE purchase some resistance bands and workout at home, focus on training your core, lower back and glutes as these are the 3 most important areas for pain free movement.

 

I would like to talk about the importance of mobility. Regardless of age we all need to have good mobility for a pain free life but also to be good at our chosen sport. Poor mobility means a reduced range of motion which will ultimately lead to injury. Most injuries are related to POOR MOBILITY/FAULTY MECHANICS AND POOR TECHNIQUE. Martial artists- you want the best mobility you can in order to perform kicks, grapples on the floor, punches and takedowns. Reduced mobility will impact your range of motion. Lets take a round house kick or push kick for example, with poor mobility and reduced range of motion you are weaker technically because the muscles responsible for executing a powerful kick do not work at maximum capacity, but due to a shorter range of motion you will need to get in closer to your opponent to kick which opens yourself up as more of a target for their offensive strategy. 

How do we combat poor mobility? First of all get some bands, I know I’m flogging a dead horse here but I can’t stress enough the benefit and importance of resistance bands. Having several injuries in my shoulders largely due to awful mobility I educated myself on how to develop proper mobility using bands multiple times a week to recover from injuries and back to full strength. Bands can be used to stretch every body part far better than you can naturally, with the added band tension your able to take your muscles past their limited range of motion to the point where you’re causing permanent change to the length of muscle fibres (if you’re like me you got pathetic natural motion you need a lot of band tension). Again for you fighters this is vital to keep your muscles as mobile as possible so you’re flexible and supple enough for you to perform the necessary movements and techniques specific to your fighting discipline.

 

Mobility brings me onto my next point which goes hand in hand with mobility (as I previously mentioned most injuries are the result of faulty mechanics and bad mobility) which is recovery methods. You are only as good as what you can recover from and believe me I’ve learnt this the hard way. For years I trashed my body in the gym and several sports leaving me with injuries which took a long time to recover from. My lack of recovery methods and awful mobility was the main reason for this. Once again, relating back to the topic of ageing, as we get older it will take the body longer to recover from workouts, sports, injury and illness hence proper recovery methods are crucial. DO NOT wait to get injured to start using recovery methods, as the saying goes “an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” The methods everyone can easily use on a daily basis which are very cost efficient are; ice baths, ice packs or ice compression sleeve (very cheap), trigger point release, foam rolling, massage sticks, gua sha (muscle scraping), hot and cold showers.

I use every one of these methods on a regular basis and it has tremendously improved my recovery from years of heavy lifting and improved my mobility and flexibility allowing me to train harder and reduce risk of injury.  Those of you who have desk jobs or physical jobs after a long day at work I advise taking a hot and cold shower and getting a trigger point ball or foam roller on your lower backs, as this is a common area to suffer tightness and weakness. Obviously if you have other troublesome areas then pay attention to those too in addition. I personally recommend hot and cold treatment either using a bath/shower or ice packs. 

I would like to wrap this article up by reiterating the importance of exercising whether it be heavy weights, cardio vascular training or band resistance. It will prevent the health implications associated with ageing. It will give you a better quality of life for longer periods of time. Make the necessary adaptations to your training depending on your age and current physical state, younger individuals use free weights, older guys use band resistance if weights are not feasible. Prioritise mobility into your lives, not only for benefits to your training but for a pain free life and reduced risk of injury. Spend time doing recovery techniques, it will increase your mobility and reduce risk of injury.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article, hopefully it will benefit you not only in martial arts but in having a healthier longer and pain free life.

Remember… WORKOUT, MOBILITY, RECOVER= BETTER, HEALTHIER LIFE… quite simply just keep moving.

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Exercises For Isolation

Personal Trainer, Door Supervisor and Former Soldier Alvin Soosay, gives his suggestions for maintaining and developing condition during lockdown.

As most of us right now do not have access to a gym and grow increasingly frustrated with not being able to train with the usual equipment we’re used to in a gym setting, we must not slack of training. There are hundreds of exercises that can be done whilst in isolation without the typical gym equipment. The key is to get creative. If you have resistance bands GREAT, this is a vital piece of kit that can be used to train the whole body. If you don’t have resistance bands think outside the box, use furniture at home, objects, boxes, suitcases, rucksacks, bricks. Recently I got chopped tree stumps from my local park and now have them in my back garden and walkway where I use it for strongman lifts and distance walks whilst carrying them.

Here are a few examples of exercises you can do with everyday objects and furniture in your house:

3 sets of 15 reps per exercise. To make it more of an intense workout select 6 or more exercises and perform in a circuit type format non stop back to back exercises per rotation. Then take a 2 minute break and perform the rotations another 3-4 times.

  • Push ups- normal push ups, legs up onto a sofa (decline) or hands up onto a chair (incline). Make this harder by putting a rucksack on your back whilst doing it. Can be done with 3 chairs. Elevate your legs onto a chair behind you and each hand onto a separate chair left and right. As you lower your body it will dip into the gap between the chairs making it a harder variation.
  • Squats- air squats, box squats by sitting onto a chair and getting up, again make the exercise harder by putting a heavy rucksack onto your back.
  • Triceps dips- this can be done of the back of a chair, vary the width of your hand placing to make it harder/easier. To add resistance put something of weight onto your lap whilst doing dips.
  • Lunges- put 1 leg onto the sofa/chair with 1 leg forward and squat down, switch legs after completing a set of 15 per leg. To add resistance you could carry shopping bags full of items in each hand or water bottles, again a loaded rucksack can be used.
  • Suitcase carry- pack a suitcase to the weight you desire, hold it in 1 hand and walk a distance then switch hands. Repeat this several times and you will feel your core muscles on fire.
  • Sit ups/ ab crunches/ laying leg raises/ flutter kicks/ Russian twists- all these simple core exercises can be done at home if you want to add resistance simply hold a weighted object whatever you have around your home.
  • Planks- can be done in traditional way, incline with your arms rested onto a chair or table and decline where your legs are elevated higher than the torso. For added resistance wear a rucksack whilst doing it.
  • Reverse hypers- I cannot stress the importance of doing this exercise even without the actual machine itself it can be done with improvisation. After suffering back injuries, myself the reverse hyper and hyper extension helped me recover my back and aided me in lifts to the strongest and best shape of my life thus far. If you suffer from lower back pain in stongly encourage you to do this exercise multiple times per week in a high volume and you will see improvements in your lower back strength, posture and a reduction in back pain. Here’s how to do it at home; Jump up onto a bench or table where your waist line meets the edge of the surface. Your upper body will rest on the surface without moving. Raise your legs up by contracting your glutes muscles and lower back muscles, lower the legs back to starting position. If you have ankle weights then attach them for extra resistance.

The above are an example of exercises that can be done at home with everyday objects, get creative, think outside the box. Also think about movement fundamentals such as pressing, pulling, squatting. Consider the normal exercises you do in the gym such as shoulder pressing and bench pressing, now improvise the same pressing biomechanics but with a loaded suitcase or a ruck sack or camping bag.

The importance of strength training to fighting systems/martial arts

Strength training will develop overall strength which will allow you to generate more force, power and speed. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking weight training will turn you into a slow muscle bound freak it will not if done properly with specific rep and set ranges as I will explain in further detail.

Everything in sports is based on force, power and speed. Lets look at force….

Force = mass X acceleration

The quicker you can move a weight you are going to develop more force. This can be done with several methods but I recommend concentrating on 2 principles which are maximal strength (1 REP MAX) and speed strength (ability to move weight with speed approx. 0.8-1 metre per second). If you are a 100kg man who can bench press 100kg with ease at a relatively fast speed, imagine that force being translated into fighting… that’s a 100kg force that you can generate into a punch, your opponent is going to feel some pain when hit with that force.

Speed strength as I mentioned is achieved my moving a smaller weight in an explosive manner with multiple sets of 3 reps at a time with short rest periods in between. For example 9 sets of 3 on bench press with 30-40% of your 1 rep max done as explosive as you can. Again… imagine being able to generate that speed of throwing a punch or kick, you are going to be a devastating fighter !!!!

Strength training makes your body stronger hence more “bulletproof”. You will be more conditioned and stronger than your opponent in a fight or in training. Compared to a fighter who neglects strength training you will have more power and force behind your punches and kicks and your body will be harder to “break” you are a more robust athlete overall.

In fighting as well as every other sport, all major movement patterns occur at the shoulder and hip region. In any martial art/ combat discipline all power derives from the shoulder and hip. Therefore it is essential to perform strength training exercises that target the shoulder, hips, glutes and core muscles.

Please do not be ignorant in thinking core muscles involves ab crunches to look like an FHM model, proper core training should include movements that target the obliques, rectus abdominus, spinal erectors and iliopsoas muscles that tie into the hip. Exercises such as reverse hypers, Russian twists, suitcase carry, kettlebell swings among other should be conducted on a regular basis. A strong core will give you that balance and ability to generate force through your body when throwing punches, kicks, take downs and ground grappling. Very important for those practicing judo where hip tosses are common, a strong core is needed to toss your opponent over your hip and to the floor without injuring yourself.

Exercises for glutes such as; glute bridges, glute kickbacks, duck walk with bands, hip abduction and adduction, Romanian deadlifts, walking lunges, mountain climbers. These should all be incorporated into your training. Strong glutes will allow you to develop a tremendous power when kicking, movements such as round house kicks, push kick will be much stronger once you develop bigger and stronger glutes.

Exercises for shoulder such as, landmine presses, overhead military presses, punching with dumbbells, face pulls, single hand med ball throws. These will develop incredible punching power, if your able to press weight above your head or in front of you with force…. Imagine how much power you can generate when you are punching an opponent without any resistance.

This is an example of a workout I recommend you implement into your training regimen:

I want to briefly touch on another training system that I believe is vital for any fighting system; CONTRAST TRAINING. It involves core compound lifts such as a bench press followed by explosive dynamic movements done back to back in a circuit fashion for a rotation. It works explosive power and strength, crucial in developing that “fight muscle”. Below is an example of a contrast training circuit

Perform these exercises non stop back to back. Once completed each rotation of this take a 1 min break and repeat 3 times. Remember the point of this is explosive power, you want to perform the reps in a highly explosive manner. If you struggle to develop punching power try this workout twice a week and see the difference in the power and speed of your punches.

As I said earlier on in the article strength training is vital to becoming a better and more effective fighter regardless of what martial art discipline you participate in. It will not turn you into a bodybuilder or inhibit your flexibility, technique or fitness in regards to fighting. It will turn you into a stronger, faster, fitter and more efficient fighting machine with less chance of injury to yourself and a greater chance of exerting pain onto your opponent.

I would like to briefly touch on how strength training can also have real life applications outside of a martial arts setting. I was a doorman for 10 years, during this time I’ve encountered dozens of physical confrontations and scraps where I was able to take necessary action to diffuse the situation using physical force without injuring myself. I attribute a lot of this to strength training. Being a bigger person allowed me to exert more force over another, overwhelming them with power and speed that they could not handle giving me the upper hand. I am not an expert in martial arts and not that technically great at fighting however I was able to be effective many times over with physical confrontations purely through having the added advantage of strength. Strength coupled with pre-emptive strikes enabled me to always get the better of the person I was dealing with. Do not hesitate in situations like this you do not know the skill level, capability or whatever weapon the person may possess. Overwhelm them with force before they have a chance to attack you and you put yourself in a better position to then use your martial art techniques and neutralise that threat with minimal damage to yourself.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article and remember if you are training at home without a gym, don’t forget the fundamental movement patterns you normally do, adapt it with whatever weighted objects you have at home. BE CREATIVE WITH YOUR WORKOUTS AT HOME, THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX ALMOST ANYTHING AT HOME CAN BE USED.

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