Wrestling and Aging

Good topic to discuss.

Agreed. I’m just starting this wrestling thing. Any advice.

Fairly fit here. Was in excellent shape before my full test rotator cuff surgery four years ago. (“Before” shot attached.) Slowly fading ever since. Trying to get some back. Please log in to view gallery photos.

We are all getting older make the most of life.

Interesting topic.

Interesting to think about.

About to turn 54 in a few weeks and still wrestling competitive submission. You just have to be strict with diet, exercise and supplements as you age. I found that Keto, cutting carbs and sugars and fasting helped me to keep my strength, stamina and endurance.

Just the opposite actually. Carbs are the body's primary energy source. Just make sure they're of the complex variety.

I’ve gone to plant protein powders as I’ve gotten older. Thinking about cutting out protein supplements altogether. But you’d advocate keeping them? Or are these other supplements you’re talking about?

You'd need the supplement more as we age, and especially if you intend to remain active. Forget the plant proteins though.

Whey tears at my guts. I’ll look for more options.

A month or so ago I seriously considered ending my fighting passion. I'm not as fast, flexible or skilled as before and I ache a lot more. But the then my deeply seeded love of fighting brought me back to the reality. I'm not ready, even at age 74, to give up the fighting scene. I walk a lot and lift weights 5 days a week to keep in some semblance of fighting shape. I very grateful to those men willing to fight this old man.

Looking good especially for 70+. I’d love to wrestle

You are not old and you look great!

Simple comment: you are not alone! Congrats to you for being social, having fun. Fun need not involve injury. Keep at it - there must be several more of "you" somewhere nearby....

But rule #1: dont get hurt!

Good man...I am somewhat limited after a car accident 3 year's..I much would like to hurt from boxing.

You just gotta get your opponent to go easy on you. You can always do something, even if it has to be fighting in slow motion. I don’t care if I’m in a wheelchair, I’m still fighting. We’ll just call it a handicap match😆

This is the thought that sometimes keeps me awake at night. The prospect of being physically too frail to wrestle in any kind of competitive or semi-competitive way is terrifying to me because I don't know how much I'd want to live at that point, knowing I'll never do it again. I don't get to wrestle often, but the potential for it to happen is a big part of what keeps me going a lot of the time.

During this pandemic I felt I was getting a taste of how it might be where I literally CAN'T meet up with anyone to wrestle, for an extended period. Sometimes I was okay with it and other times I was crawling out of my skin. And that's with the knowledge that sooner or later the pandemic would end and I'd be wrestling again.

The idea of knowing it's over, forever, is not something I'm looking forward to. I'm trying to stay in shape, and I do find it inspiring to see how many 70+ guys on this site look so great and continue to grapple. But at 55, I have to be honest... the prospect of only being a decade or two away from that day scares the crap out of me.

I am 69 years old and will be 70 in January. I was 62 before I acted on my desire to wrestle. I plan to keep doing this as long as I am healthy. It is great fun. I have been asked many times - have you really met all those guys? Yes I have and I tell them two things: 1. Location - I live in rural Delaware but I am within 2 hours of Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia and South Jersey. So, location works in my favor. 2. My age works in my favor - many guys like to wrestle older men - and that is certainly what I am.
Anyone reading this within a 3 hour drive - lets meet - before I get too much older!

A bit more than three hours from you; but, as an old newbie, I appreciate the comment.

Yea one of the older ones in here I guess. I try to keep going with the wrestling because it is fun and yes helps keep me active. My body will tell me when it is time to call it quits with the wrestling. I guess it is more of an attitude thing. Thinking you can keep wrestling will help keep a positive attitude win or lose matters not. Just keep it up as long as you can.
Try to have a reasonable diet and yea if you go to the gym (and I don't) you will be better off. The thing is DON'T QUIT!!

We had a good meeting and I would do it again!

Nothing wrong with ageing particularly when you consider the other option.
Enjoy the experience and each match you have. Appreciate your opponents/partners and keep active.

Exercise and diet won't stop aging, but they will make in manageable. There's nothing depressing about aging unless you choose to be depressed by it. Know your body and act accordingly.

Great advice!

why the block?

Man this thread is depressing because it hits right on the eventualities of life. I'm 25 and even I am already worried I'm starting this too late and will probably not be able to keep it for as long as I wanted. I surely hope all guys here find ways to keep wrestling for many years to come, even if that involves changing styles and going less rough. Some advices here were very useful as well, for the older guys out there, do you think proper exercise and proper diet will be enough to allow overcoming the challenges of age?

I'm not of you guys age yet, not 30 yet, lol. I will say though, for me I'll still let it be a fitness and exercise interest for me to some level, but once I get to like 35, I'm not taking any more matches. I'd rather stop early and transition to something else. That's just me, but maybe my perspective doesn't matter here.

Taking up swimming in my early 20s was the smartest exercise decision I ever made. It's tough and I've built up some endurance, but it is easier on your body and joints than any exercise I can think of. I may give up wrestling some day, but I expect to be able to swim regularly until the very end.

I think a lot does depend on how long you have been doing something. I played tennis very regularly for over 20 years on hard courts and my knees are a bit dodgy as a result. I've only been going to the gym for about 4 years and while I'm 50 now I still see improvement without exactly being Arnie. Having said that I have also tried to eat better without cutting out all the treats I like and swapped vaping for smoking. I would definitely say I'm fitter and stronger than I have ever been but that was starting from a fairly low base and I am careful training and wrestling to listen to my body. Luckily in a sense I don't often get the chance to wrestle two or even three times in a week as I once did so my body gets a chance to recover even from a hard match and of course finding guys much lighter and with jobber tendencies does reduce the risks ha ha.

Take glucosamine/chondroitin/fish oil supplements - they provide essential support for aging joints

I would hold off on the fish oil. A study that has been replicated demonstrated increased risk of aggressive prostate cancer in men who took fish oil supplements, without showing any concomitant cardiovascular risk reduction.

Thanks, i hadn't seen that. At least glucosamine and chondroitin still look pretty risk-free!

My doctor said it is good for me to explore boxing. Except getting hit in the head and knocked out.. Oh well I am not telling my doctor..
He said that the process of thinking about where the next punch is going and how to protect yourself. Then you need to in a second hit back.
The entire process involves the mind and this is good for you and me.
So I will box with anyone who understands the need to be hit. I can not wait for the moment I jump into the ring.

Push yourself. Find a new way to learn new skills. Learning itself builds new neural connections in the brain and that in turn leads to greater physical and mental health both of which go one to feed each other. Everyone ages differently so don't categorise yourself on the basis of a number alone.

Good diet, no smoking, no recreational drugs, management of stress, regular exercise. Excellenceis the stop before impossible so aim for the impossible

One word trumps all: genetics. When you have good genetics consider yourself blessed.

This is a great discussion and a reality we all will go through. I will be 50 years old myself in three weeks and as I write this all I can smell is the icy hot I just smeared on my shoulders, elbows and knees. I hurt everywhere most of the time and have been like this most of my life. I have been wrestling since I was a kid, weight training 4 or 5 days a week since my twenties and I start BJJ when I was 49 years old. All of that is nothing I was an elite gymnast and attended two junior olympics before I was age 14 the gmnastics has been by far the most brutal to my body and that was over by age 17. FYI most elite gymnast might as well be in wheelchairs by age thirty, MaryLou Retton has had both hips replace at age 40! Almost anyone I know who has been bench pressing since their twenties has blown out rotator cuffs by their 40s. All I can say is try anything and everything and continue with what works for you. Say hello to ibuprofen its your best friend I have bottles all over my house, car, work and gym bags. When something is really bad you have to STOP doing whatever is hurting.....this is a big one and one I often stupidly think I can push through....don't! Stop and take time off. Always remember. " growing old is a privilege that is not shared by all". We are all lucky we are able to participate at any level even when it hurts.

growing old is a privilege that is not shared by all.

Well said. Regardless of present youth, there's no guarantee of get there. And even if you do, no guarantee of making it in one piece. I know of too many twentysomething with enough ailments and injuries to fill a scroll.

Osakarob,
at first, don't complain : even youg lads may have troubles. Usually because the are over-trained, stressed and don't take care about some warnings (tendonitis, too much repetitions at heavy loads, ...). I've seen that in rowing : the articulations , back, create pain on ex-competitive rowers.
So I would say : take care of yourself by a good, careful warm-up, focused on both cardio and articulations.
Spend more time on streching, and don't make the fight session if you don't "feel it" : it is generally the one which is linked with the injury. Avoid shocks during the general cardio- training to preserve your body (so instead of running, go biking, swimming ou rowing).
And do not forget to drink water ! We always underestimate the losses due to the sweat, and it goes even worse when we are getting older.

Note to the readers : I apoligize in advance for the misuse of the english language...

Well I'm 45 and feel great and I intend to keep going until I keel over!

Your forum post made me stop and think about things I am taking for granted. It is a chilling thought, but a fighter must look toward the potentially unpleasant truth instead of flinching away from it.

I had a match the other day with a guy approaching 50. He held his own against me admirably (he was two divisions heavier), but after complained that he was not doing as well as he used to. I could not help thinking, hell, when I'm 50 and can still throw it down with 30s, I will not complain, just thank my lucky star.

As far as tips go, I am not qualified and anyway the question was probably not aimed at me. I just wanted to say, thank you for the post. It is something for me to keep in mind.

Thank you, Sile, for your thoughtful response. I was taken with the phrase you used "a fighter must look toward the potentially unpleasant truth instead of flinching away from it." Flinching is a good word for it.

I'm sure many of us have pushed ourselves too far - resulting in injury.

But your response made me think of another remark I have heard older folks (not only wrestlers but anyone over 40) say. As we age, one of the things we notice the most is the loss of flexibility. It is well documented that people lose about 1 percent of their lean muscle mass per year after age 40. Which is why most of us get flabby as we age.

I've also heard that the water content of tendons (the cord-like tissues that attach muscles to bones) decreases as you age. This change makes the tissues stiffer and less able to tolerate stress.

I don't quite understand the physiology behind what this means, but I certainly have noticed a significant deterioration in my flexibility as I've gotten older. Guess this is why grandma and grandpa used to complain about their "aches and pains". To the best of my knowledge, neither of them were wrestling.

:P

I'd like to tap into the wisdom of the MeetFighters community in regards to staying flexible, injury free, and still enjoying wrestling.

I've enjoyed matches since I was in my 20s. I'm now approaching my mid-40s. Back in the day, the testosterone raged through me and a rough submission match was something I looked forward to with great anticipation. After each match, I remember thinking that the bruises and muscle aches were well worth the sacrifice.

But that was many years ago.

Like most of us when we are young, I had no idea that the old body would eventually start to become less resilient. What once may have been a minor injury now has the ability to put me out of commission for months. Thankfully, I know my own limits and I'm careful to only meet up with partners who respect those limits.

So, as I have aged, I've drifted more to "Promission" matches where I'm less likely to suffer enduring injuries. But even working at a computer and sitting at a desk all day takes its toll on the old body. I now need see a massage therapist nearly every month just to keep from getting completely locked up.

Last year, I had tendonitis injury from weightlifting that forced me to stop nearly all training for a year! Not good!

So, I'd like to hear from others who have either come back from significant injuries or who smartly know how to battle their own bodies as they age.

Massage, stretching, lots of cardio, careful diet.....What approaches do YOU take to remain healthy, strong and ready to rumble?

Eat properly and you'll feel like new. Resilience against injuries, strength, power, endurance. It's all in the eating. You are in one of the worst countries in this respect sadly, but medically there is still hope for you. Know that as long as you are not feeling good (while still under 80), as long as your muscles and joints and teeth decay, you are messing up your eating.

I could go on about this for ages having done sports and training for years since an early age. But I will contain myself. Rule 1 is to carefully listen to your body and don't over-train and learn to know when you have an injury coming on or even tightness etc. be proactive with massage, physio (find a tough one not a namby pamby one) chiro/osteo as apt, acupuncture etc. look after your diet. Take days off weights. Drink loads of water. All the basic stuff. I have had sciatica, 2 x golfers elbow, 2 x tennis elbow, seized up back, bad shoulders etc, but I have come back from all of them and I am probably in better shape now than ever.