Is there an age limit for high-intensity sports like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?
About five years ago, I did BJJ about five times a week. It was one of my favorite hobbies of all time with the exception of all the amount of "annoyances" that came with it:
carpal tunnel pain
finger numbness
knee pain
lower back pain
bumps and bruises
back thrown out
knee injury
toe injuries
With the advent of a family, fatherhood, and career ambition, it took a backseat to my life and eventually was phased out. But I have a daydream of getting back into it.
The problem is I'm 41 now and I can't show up to work in crutches and elbow braces anymore. Is this type of high-intensity sport better suited for a young man's life?
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I'm 41. I was doing regular workouts 2 times a week, and am now doing Jui Jitsu 1 time a week. This feels about right. I'm 8 weeks in now, and am recovering within 2-3 days (where it took the full week after the first session). While it is much more abusive than my regular workouts, it is becoming easier as my body adapts to it (and I learn not to 'muscle' it).
Work into it slowly. If you're experiencing that many problems from it often, then you are likely training too hard. I've known 70 year olds who could easily out-do me in the martial arts without breaking a sweat or getting injured. It has far less to do with your age than with your experience and endurance.
I did gymnastics as a kid and tried to get back into it two years ago.
I trained hard before going back to the gym, however I found my body couldn't deal with it.
I tried to ease myself in and I was still able to do a lot of what I could before, but I was finding I was waking up the next day and something would be strained or incredibly sore (I don't just mean owwww.... I mean "I better not put pressure on that for a while" sort of pain) so I gave it up again after 3 months.
I spoke to a GP and they said if I wanted to do it I would need to take baby steps, but to do it seriously I can't just do the basics all the time. You want to have some serious fun otherwise its not worthwhile.
Don't let this put you off, however I assume it will either be very tiny steps and go very slowly otherwise you may find yourself in some pain.
Never thought I'd hear BJJ described as high intensity. For BJJ specifically, look around for another club that has a more relaxed and safety focused atmosphere, and you could do it at 90 years old. If you're training in a club where the meatheads think BJJ and MMA are the same thing, and consider it more of a fight club than somewhere to train, even if you're 25 you're going to get hurt.
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