Saturday, August 9, 2008

19-Year-Old Athlete In 52-Year-Old Body

Last week it was my shoulder; today it's my groin muscle that got pulled. I hurt it toward the end of class, and isn't intensely painful, but I did stop grappling, it hurts a bit going up stairs or trying to move fast. I'm icing it.

Somebody at work said to me, on hearing I had pulled a muscle in my shoulder, "The problem is, you're a 19-year-old athlete in a 52-year-old body." I got a laugh out of that, but she had a point.

It's good that I'm not going to test for the black belt in the fall; if I were, this groin pull would be a serious setback. But now it's just an annoyance. I imagine I'll be close to full speed in a week.

Grappling is so dependent on knowledge. When I grapple with somebody who knows less than I do, it's usually easy. When I grapple with someone who knows more, I have to tap out constantly. I do feel sometimes like it is harder to absorb and learn the moves now than it might have been a couple of decades ago.

But then again, a couple of decades ago, I wasn't doing anything athletic, so I have no real point of comparison.

Fortunately, my knee is doing just fine.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your point about grappling is so true. I am wary of concussions, so am focussing more on grappling - but it just feels so complicated, I don't have any instincts for it.