Training over 40

[Louis Ho]

My main problem now is lack of sleep/rest time. If I woke up at 5 am, I can't imagine being able to stay awake for my Jiu Jitsu class. How do you do it?

Btw, what treatments are available to treat your condition? Will it get worse with time?

[Kevin Green]

Louis - I get in bed around midnight or 1. Its rough getting through class sometimes (but when I get home Im so wired I have trouble sleeping). Getting up early is hard, but my old military days seem to help out. Recently Ive been trying to cut my caffine intake down (and out) so its been a bit more difficult. But like everything, if you stick to it long enough you get used to it.

[Coringao]

Im not there yet either, Im 37 but its gaining on me fast...Ive been training in Jiujitsu for 32 years now, and My joints hurt and pop all the time. I went Pro in MMA in 1998, and have had ACL, Ankle and MM surgs. Face looks like a train track, and My ears are scared from haveing Colly removed...This is not a Art for babies, whimps, or the soft. But man is it beautiful! Its all about the evol! I RICE, and Chiro, Yoga is my second best friend, and I have stock in Excedrin Migraine....My wife will not wash my gi's, shorts, ankle gear... and she gets crazy when I start talking about competeing...but Jiujitsu, is my first love. Without it, I would be not be the same man.
Coringao

[John Roderick]

HA! Too true Corinago, too true! Kevin-I'm with ya on the military thing. Although not the same, my Dad was WW II vet and woke me at 5 or 6 every morning as a kid. I also am SO wired after training, I can't get to sleep before midnight. Louis-you can train your body and mind to get by with 5-6 hours sleep. I try to make it up by sleeping in an hour or two on Saturdays and Sundays and making sure I don't drink a lot of coffee or have a lot of caffein or sugar in my system so I can get restful sleep. Unfortunately, with Rheumatoid Arthritis, it will worsen over time. All I can do is take pain killers, stretch and keep as active as possible. The same would apply similarly I would surmise, for any number of conditions or joint injuries. Hydration, flexibility exercises, strength exercises and the like are essential. The sooner you start taking care of yourself well and learning how to mitigate issues the better. However, it doesn't do any good if it's genetic or an auto-immune disease. Then, you just have to bear with it. Let's put it this way: ALL my guys know not to grab my fingers. That winds up being VERY bad for them

[Neale Hoerle]

Caffein, lack of sleep, pain killers. Hummm I have to add in on this section.

I have or had the same issues... Sleep time 12:30 or 1 at the earliest. Im up at 7am and to the gym by 8:30. Yoga, cardio, break then back at 3:30. My evenings end at 8:3pm. Most of you know but some may not, since opening 10TH Planet Lynchburg I am a full time coach now. Caffein is a requirement for my system in the am... The evening wind down consists of Sleepy Time tea and herbals. I know that we all are not in position to do what I do but I can also recommend valerian root and melatonin... They are but very mild but can produce a routine and or habitual "wind-down" pattern. I feel this is important. I have also heard that yoga is good for sleep and I do have a secret weapon. If you own an iPhone download the app Ambience. It is a sound generator on steroids! You can download wavys, whale songs, babbling brooks, wind chimes or even industrial or machine sounds. The key is it has a built in timer and alarm. I highly recommend it for sleep. One of the more interesting sound sets are the Binural beats. These require headphone but they enhance or activate brain wave activities that thru sound waves that have been proven to to create out of body experiences in some users. Not sure about that but they do seem to calm me.

[Kevin Green]

The problem with the caffine is I end up getting really bad heart burn from it....but Im with Coringao. As much as it hurts sometimes...its part of you, and without - you are a different person. I take my kids away for two weeks in the summer and 10 days in the spring every year...and dont get me wrong, I love it. My body needs it, but I do have that itch to get on the mat after about the third day. Ive had surgeries out the ass....but the injury that scared me the most was the nerve damage in my neck. For like a month and a half my pec and tricep didnt work at all. The nerves were so damaged they stopped firing. Doc said they heal like a cm a month. It was brutal and of course, if I dont keep my neck strong and stretch it every day - itll happen again. So that part of my motivation for the 5am wake up That and I wanna live forever!!

[hamzatu]

There is a big difference between aging and getting old...Exercise just does not make muscles stronger...it makes them younger...

[Tim Elliott]

I have training partners I will have to get onto this thread. One is 40 and about to get a new hip, he is a PT and looking to get into MMA. The other is my Muay Thai/MMA trainer and gym partner. He doesnt have an ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) . It broke for the second time and then just wasted away. The doc said he can live without it!

Im only 28 but two years ago at work (Im a geologist) a ton of granite fell on my right leg crushing my foot and snapping my tibia. All this stuff is valuable to me! Had my last surgery a week ago and when the stitches are out Im free to get amongst it!

I hope the young guys read it to. Iv got a mate who I work with who is 49 and when he was my age doing what I do his nickname was "indestructible". Now "destructed" would be more fitting. Iv just taken to doing all the preventative stuff he does in the hope I will avoid looking like him. Cartilage supplements etc. Watching what you guys suggest closely.

On the subject of sleep and caffein, I get up at 5:30 to train and my Girlfriend sleeps till 10:00 and goes to bed at 2:00am. So so do I. This must be stupidly bad for me, and drives me nuts. I can last for two weeks like a normal person, then I go mental till I can get a couple of nights full sleep, then Im good for another couple of weeks.

For coffee I only drink espresso or plunger from fresh ground beans, preferably organic (up to nine shots before lunch!). Now Im used to it, I get no side effects as long as I stick to that and avoid nasty instant.

[Kevin Green]

I love coffee....and when I was your age I could drink that shit all day, now the heart burn gets solo bad I'm trying to figure out how to mainline it. ps: getting up early to train is good - staying up late for no reason is not good. Staying up late to be w a woman is is all good

[Rick O'Connor]

Sound like you guys are the back pain experts. What do you guys think helps more for lower back pain, Chiro or PT? I'm only 20 but I have chronic pain in my lower back and I want to get on it now before it gets any worse.