Are you in your 40s or 50s or even older? Should you take up Wing Chun at your age? This article provides some information on this topic, written from the perspective of a 51 year old Wing Chun student.
I am 40 +. Could I ever be any good at martial arts?
The physical performance of most people peaks in their twenties. Following this peak, elite sports men and women will often retire from top level competition in their early to mid 30s driven by injuries, their lesser pace than younger opponents, and slowing recovery times.
Martial artists also find that their performance deteriorates in certain ways as they age – at some stage we all start to experience some loss of flexibility and strength. However, there is much more to a martial artist than physical attributes. Judgement, strategy, technique and self knowledge are essential elements of the martial arts and our command of these usually keep improving even as certain physical skills decline. This is apparent in martial arts masters who are on the wrong side of 70 and yet still very effective.
So an older student who dedicates him or herself to the task can certainly become an effective martial artist.
Is Wing Chun a good martial art for an older student?
Wing Chun is suitable for all ages.
Its suitability for older students stem from its emphases on good technique, balance, economy of motion, using an opponent’s power for your benefit, and creating and exploiting changes in angles of attack. These are all skills that anyone can master.
The sheer aggression of the Wing Chun fighting style may also assist students who are past their peak strength. This may seem counter intuitive, but basic physics demonstrate why a martial artist going forward will have an advantage over a static or backward-pedalling opponent.
The most important attributes of a good Wing Chun student are therefore not the physical powers of youth but good technique and a thoughtful approach. However, and for good reason, our Sifu does place a strong emphasis on physical fitness.
The benefits from physical exercise are always important, but their importance increases as one ages. Exercise cannot defeat the ageing process, but can certainly slow it. A good exercise program will improve strength and aerobic fitness, reduce the risk of heart problems, help weight control, improve flexibility, and help fight a series of health conditions. And nothing feels as good as feeling fit!
There are many good exercise options for the over 40s. Many people like to run, walk, cycle, swim, do yoga or take up a sport. I walk and cycle but my best exercise is from Wing Chun – I receive a swag of physical benefits while learning important self defence skills.
I am interested in a martial art. But will I cope with the younger students? And what about my old sporting injuries?
So ....you are the wrong side of 40 and thinking of starting, or returning to, regular exercise. The worst thing that can happen is to have your comeback spoilt by injury. The risks of this grow as we lose the resilience of a young body. Further, the risks increase exponentially when an exercise program is poorly managed and basic rules are broken. Does the exercise start with a good warm up? Is there uncontrolled contact? Is there suitable stretching? Are you allowed to obey the signals your body is sending? Is there a cooling down period?
Wing Chun provides a safe environment for all students, one that perhaps most benefits the older student.
•First, our class commences with a comprehensive set of exercises over about 30 minutes that sees the body warm, muscles well stretched, and heart rate appropriately up. The exercise benefits are provided safely, and without high-risk routines. This part of the class might accurately be described as being an excellent aerobics class whilst learning and improving Wing Chun movements.
•The warm up is not a competitive sport, with no students eyeing each other off to see who performs best. (I confess to doing that in my mid 20s at an aerobics class!) Each student goes at the pace he/she sets, and may choose to go as fast or slow as he/she wants.
oTo illustrate, I usually push myself fairly hard, but also slow right down at times so as to improve specific techniques. And I have a shoulder injury from falling off a ladder as a young and silly 38-year old, but there are no questions asked when I do an alternative to our push up sets.
oBy contrast one of our young senior students pushes himself much harder, doing one armed push ups and stretching positions that I cannot any longer contemplate. But I feel no pressure to emulate him, and in any case would have to be put on a rack if I wished to try!
•The warm up session sees all students made ready for specific martial arts exercises given over the last hour. This usually sees students practising drills set personally by Sifu Allan. For example, the drill may see one student punch repeatedly at the other, while the other student deflects the punch and counters. The exercise is fully controlled and with no room for unpermitted contact.
oMy practice for a new exercise is to have my partner commence with very slow attacks. As my technique improves I ask my partner for the attacks to be quickened and I build up to full speed in my responses.
•The final part is the cooling down at the end of the class. This is done through doing a form (a pattern of key Wing Chun moves) that sees key techniques practiced whilst the heart rate slows and the body cools.
Will I get bored?
For an exercise program to be adhered to over the longer term, or for interest in an activity to be maintained, usually requires both variety and achievements to look forward to.
Wing Chun does require the repetition of key exercises - to do a technique well requires that it be done many times. And the martial arts are not the activity of choice for everyone. But the last hour of our 90 minute class can see significant variety. Apart from our oneonone exercises, students may be set:
•forms, which see students undertake a set pattern of important strikes and deflections. I also practice a basic form when travelling for work and have discovered its side benefits in being a relaxation device;
•“chi sao”, a non-contact quasi-fighting exercise between two students that heightens sensitivity to their opponent’s movements. This enhances the ability to initiate effective surprise attacks, and to not in turn be surprised;
•my favourite, working on the “Wooden Man”. Marvin is basically a suspended tree trunk with many simulated human limbs, and exercises with Marvin allow techniques and movements to be practiced and refined without concern for injuring a classmate; and
•Sifu will at times pull out assorted gear from his cupboard and teach counters to weapons attacks.
Wing Chun is also a good partner for other activities or for sports if you wish to obtain variety through cross training. There is also a lot to anticipate. Most of all there is the feeling of improvement as one continues in the art. And there is also the prospect of new directions. What I look forward to is approaching Sifu one day about him teaching me how to use butterfly knives!
