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Thread: Don't mess with old dudes

  1. #11
    banana republican blues's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unobtanium View Post
    I am sure we can all find those videos of "70 year old former boxer knocks out mugger...". So build those skill-sets, stay active, and I bet you can hold your own well into your 70's, no BS. It's just that MOST people in their 70's today have no real skillset there. Not all, please don't allege I said that, but MOST are just brawlers.
    My late paternal grandfather, who I met for the first time in my early twenties, (long story), was a professional boxer and was an "old man" when I first met him. One of the first times I went to visit him at his job as a doorman for a nightclub in Greenwich Village, his face was badly bruised and I found out when I went to the hospital that he had an orbital fracture.

    I asked the manager of the club what had happened and he told me that he had knocked out three of four mugs that had started a ruckus and attempted rob the place. One landed a good shot before fleeing.

    The biggest problem I have with the aging process isn't that my strength (in most regards) isn't as much as it was in my thirties, it's that the cardio will never be the same...therefore I try to avoid a situation where I might have to grapple for any kind of extended period. If it comes to it, for me it would be "strike and move" and un-holster the weapon if need be. (Given the choice...which is a big "if".)

    Interesting topic. Each of us will have varying skill sets in this arena.
    Last edited by blues; 12-30-2017 at 11:52 AM.
    There's nothing civil about this war.

    Read: Harrison Bergeron

  2. #12
    Site Supporter Totem Polar's Avatar
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    Aug 2013
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    Tangent: my wife and I have a good friend who just turned 80. We met him at the boxing gym. The dude is a hero to a lot of us, because he’s still going strong 4 days doing boxing workouts, with lifting on the other 3. He’s told us several times that he started working out at 50 because he noticed some decline. Absolutely would not want to take a solid shot from him. He’s been boxing maybe 7 or 8 years... didn’t start boxing until his 70’s, although he’s been a gym rat for 30 years.

    He started piano and voice lessons from my wife last year too; sang in the adult section of her student holiday recital earlier this month. I’ve seen the fountain of youth: it’s daily work combined with new challenges.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Unobtanium View Post
    I've met many more old dudes that have crested the hill decades ago, that thought they were still something they used to be, to be honest. I am NOT AT ALL saying ALL old dudes are like this, but in my experience dealing with them when they get aggressive, a lot of 'em are. Glad this one was not!


    I'd also like to point out that people don't give a shit about you. See those two chicas? They SPLIT. They didn't yell "WHAT CAN WE DO?" They lit outta there. If someone isn't your tribe, then anything they do to aid you is dumb luck, is what I've learned.

    I first saw this as a scared 16 year old as my grandpa showed me that he still had quick reflexes. his goal was to powerslide the car into a drive-way. Reality ended with him overshooting, and us ending up in the ditch. No harm no foul, but that day I saw an old guy who used to be a real badass (could lift a 350 engine block over his head, back in the day, lived through the great depression, bought his first house cash, you name it, he did all the "badass Greatest Generation" type stuff) come to grips with the reality of the present. I didn't understand then, but I do now, why he was more sad than anything. I guess the moral is, don't have "that moment" at the wrong time, and that I've seen many an old guy learn it when they decided to get aggressive with staff and I've had to help them to understand that respect is going to be the order of the day.
    There's a Brazilian jui-jitsu instructor near here who is in his early 70s, it would not be a good idea to tangle with him for real.

    Years ago, I did a project site visit with a guy who was about 80 at the time. Tall, thin guy who still worked outside every day. We had to cover a lot of ground on a large island in the Mississippi River off the Missouri bootheel, on a hot summer day. Fallen timber, mud, sand, overall poor footing. I had trouble keeping up with him, and I was in my early 40s at the time and running 3:30 marathons every year.

    I'm just over 60 now, and while blessed with good health, I have no intention of slowing down anytime soon. I still do occasional 16-mile day hikes in the Trinity and Siskiyou Mountains.

    Moral of the story: Don't assume. While it's probably true that if you had enough data points, they would show that the average person slows down with age, there's a lot of variability at all ages. I frequently encounter people in their 20s who couldn't run a mile without collapsing in a heap.

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