Lebron James, Lindsay Lohan and Mary Harada
If you watch the news, you may be as sick of hearing about Lebron James and Lindsay Lohan as I am. Mary Harada, on the other hand, is another story — one worth hearing about. Her story is actually inspiring; it will lift your spirits. Mary is one of four septuagenarian athletes who have turned in athletic perfromances this summer that are genuinely deserving of headlines. Here are their stories.
First up, is 70-year-old Dr. John Williams of New Brunswick, Canada. Dr. Williams, a Mixed Martial Arts fighter, got in a cage to fight former pro-wrestler, Larry Brubaker, 49, as part of the “Wild Card” event for Elite 1 MMA Productions on July 24 at the Casino New-Nouveau Brunswick in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. This was not some publicity stunt; this was a real cage fight which Dr. Williams won in the second round with ankle-lock submission. This makes Dr. John Williams the world’s oldest MMA cage fighter.
Dr. Williams started his martial arts and boxing career back in 1947 as a seven-year-old. Over the years he’s continued to study and master various martial art forms, including Kodokan Judo, Tani-Ha Jiu-Jitsu and Taekwondo, Hapkido and Kyokushinkai Karate. As a young man he did strongman demonstrations in which he bent spikes, tore telephone books and performed other impressive feats of strength. In his late fifties he set a Guinness world record for breaking an 11-inch thick stack of ice slabs (a record that still stands). AND, all the more impressive, in an interview for this summer’s match he said, “I’m just as strong as I was 40 years ago.” Now, that’s saying something.
Dr. Williams’ fight was a test of his martial arts skills. It was a chance for him to show the world that “age is just a number.” He could show us that falling apart as we age is merely an option, because he has continued to train in his later years as he did in his earlier years.
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Now let’s shift our focus to middle distance running where we’ll look at what some women in their seventies have done this summer to push back the limiting boundaries of age. At the Hayward Classic track and field meet in Eugene, Oregon earlier this summer, professor emerita and grandmother, Mary Harada, 75, set a World and American Record in the mile run. Her 7:55.74 annihilated the former record of 8:16.3 set by Suzi MacLeod just last year. Speaking of Suzi MacLeod, at this same meet, Suzi bettered the 21-year-old American Record for 800 meters (3:37.19 by Pearl Mehl in 1989) with a time of 3:35.22 — a 7:10-per-mile pace — not too bad for a 75-year-old!
A little more about Mary Harada is in order. She’s had a good summer of running because besides her mile World Record run, she set a new American Record in the 5000 meters, too. At the USA Outdoor Masters Championships in Sacramento, California in July, she posted a 26:55.11 in this event, crushing the former record which had stood for 19 years (27:10.76 by Algene Williams in 1991) by over 15 seconds, and averaging 8:39 per mile for the 3.1-mile race. Oh, and she does all this despite having asthma, for which she must take medication; during a recent one-mile race she wheezed and gasped her way through the last three laps to a new World Record she’s since broken.
Mary is able to break these records because she takes care of her body and trains intelligently; that is, she doesn’t try to overdo, which she has found leads to injuries. In this light, she only runs four times per week, with a long run of eight miles. Her runs include some speedwork on the track and maybe a little hill work. Hitting the gym for some strength work is also a part of her typical week, as are core work (Pilates …) and some stretching at home. Her diet includes a lot of white rice and vegetables (she’s married to a japanese man), small portions of meat and fish and dark chocolate (desserts, however, are not a regular fixture of their meals).
Mary’s 75-79 age-group records may not last long, because 73-year-old Fayetteville, Georgia’s running phenom Jeanne Daprano will be aiming at them in just two years. Meanwhile, Jeanne, at the Bob Boal classic in Raleigh, North Carolina in June, ran a blistering 7:01.29 mile. That time turns out to be an age-graded 100.29% (in this rating system, 100% is equivalent to a World Record in one’s prime). This was the highest age-graded performance score of the whole track meet.
There you have it – four men and women athletes in their seventies who are actually worthy of headlines and challenging the rest of us to get off the sofa and live life to the fullest. They are all having fun — the time of their lives – smashing through age barriers that the rest of us think are real. They are faster and stronger than people decades younger, something which is — due to the edicts of “aging” – not supposed to be possible.
And now we’d like to invite you to claim your FREE Fitter After 50 e-newsletter when you visit http://www.FitterForLife.com
From Ed Mayhew, author of Fitter After 50 and AGE BLASTERS: 3 Steps to a Younger You and other books, CDs, videos, articles … on how you can make falling apart as you age merely an option — NOT a mandate http://YouCanGrowYounger.com
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Kick Boxing – General Background
Kick boxing is a relatively modern martial arts system, who syllabus derived by combining several fighting techniques from a variety of the more traditional disciplines, including Kung fu, Kyokushinkai Karate, Muay Thai, Kyokky shinkai and Tae kwon do.
History:
Martial arts boomed during the early 1970s and interest was greatly increased by their emphasis on competition fighting. Chinese styles of fighting began to take a more westernised form in the UK, and even more so in the United States, where the first real freestyle systems were beginning to be created. Indeed, many people claim that Kick boxing originated in the US during the 1970s. This, they say, was due to various American Karate practitioners becoming frustrated with the limitations of tournament competitive scoring. While Karate and the other disciplines were viewed as being entrenched with theories and set kata, and were performed in a controlled environment, practitioners wanted to see how effective their moves would be in a more realistic environment. Great emphasis began to be placed on specialised techniques, such as kicks and punches, being delivered with full force. Although full contact Karate was already established, concerns were expressed for the safety of competitors.
Development:
There is a close affinity between Kick boxing and Muay Thai. While it is believed that the Americans had created this concept in their attempt to find a sport that could refine full contact competition, it is believed that the development of Kick boxing was borne out of the World Kick boxing Association finding common ground between Eastern and Western fighting cultures.
It is also believed that Joe Cawley, Don and Judy Quinn, along with Howard Hansen, a Shorin ryn Karate black belt, were the initial promoters of Kick boxing and worked together for improved recognition. Hansen took Kick boxing a stage further by introducing fights in a boxing ring rather than the usual Karate tournament bouts. He became known as a ring matchmaker, staging a variety of successful events with stars such as Bill “Superfoot” Wallis.
New rules evolved and were introduced into Kick boxing, most notably weight divisions – from fly weight to heavy weight – similar to those in traditional boxing. A down side to the discipline in those early days was criticism of a high risk injury. This led to improvement in the safety rules, such as contestants wearing protective clothing to cushion the impacts of the blows.
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The Fundamental Problem With The Back Stance (Kokutsu Dachi) In Shotokan Karate
Shotokan Karate is one of the most important karates styles in the world, so many systems are derived from this style, and thus are corrupted with some very incorrect concepts. Thus, whether you study Shito ryu, Isshin Ryu, Kyokushinkai, or any style that has the Heian kata as a base, you probably are making the errors I am listing in this article. It doesn’t mean your karate stance is terrible, it just means if you make a couple of adjustments you can make it better.
A good karate stance should be a perfect blend between mobility and solidity. Mobiity is when one can launch their body quickly in one direction. Solidity is when one can grip the ground with their feet and become virtually immoveable.
In the Shotokan kokutsu dachi stance, however, the balance between mobile and solid has been compromised. If you study the legs you will see that they are angling in directions that are more than 90 degrees apart. This means the stance can’t decide whether it is supposed to be mobile or solid.
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If the rear foot is pointing away from the target the major muscles are pointing away from the target. The foot being in the wrong position means that there is not going to be enough traction for the push. The leg being pointed away from the target means that the major thrusting muscles of the leg can’t be properly employed.
In addition, the hips will be angled improperly, and when one pushes with the leg there will be a ‘power leak,’ in the structure. That is to say that the hips will not want to support the entire weight of the push. This can be severe enough to tweak the back, and even (in extreme cases) lead to problems with lower spine.
To fix this the footwork all one needs to do is turn the rear foot to about 45 degrees or less towards the direction of the push. This will position the foot for proper traction, and set up the major muscles for the launch of the body. Of course, this is going to alter the essential nature of the stance.
Thus, when you turn the foot correctly, you are going to have to figure out the proper angle of the hips, and set the weight more on the rear leg. Doing this will prepare the body for maximum push, but shotokan instructors will resist this alignment of the body for a simple reason: it lacks the feel of shotokan power. But this merely proves that the system has been corrupted for the feeling and sake of power, and not for the balance between sinking the weight and launching the body.
To get past this, Shotokan masters have set the system up to rely on overly aggressive front stances. What they have done is okay, but only in specific instance, and the proof is in the fact that the kokutsu dachi stance is more for rooting than for shooting. Thus, you have a choice at this point, do what you are told in Shotokan Karate, or other classical martial arts styles, or analyze the physics I have presented here and alter your stance in accordance with these physics.
The difference between art and slop in isshin ryu karate is in the physics. If you want to learn <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link/3025881']);” href=”http://www.25MartialArtsBooks.com”>The Correct Physics</a> of isshin ryu karate drop by <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackPageview', '/outgoing/article_exit_link/3025881']);” href=”http://www.25MartialArtsBooks.com”>25 Martial Arts Books</a>. 0
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