MMA at 45 years old.

[KneeShot]

Fuck yeah for stepping over a threshold Clobber!... and GAP hit the nail on the head. To relate I’m 38, above the knee amp on one side and have been rolling for 2yrs.

You may have just bumped me into checking out the MMA classes.

Little injuries are bound to happen, ice up and rest like GAP said.

Thanks for the motospiration!

[Cookie Monster]

My boys are 4, there is a BJJ place an hour from my rural location. Their program starts at 5 years old. I’m 44 so I am figuring I’ll get dragged to the mat here in the next few years. Oh man, it’s gonna hurt.

[JodyH]

Have fun. I started MMA in my early forties and had a blast (I turn 50 this year and only train and do grappling tournaments now).
Tap when you need to (not necessarily when you want to LOL) and only train with people who respect the tap.
When you're older avoid dynamic takedowns (giving or receiving). Learn to wrestle them to the ground and how to avoid getting double legged.
Spar with full gear and preferably the heaviest gloves that can be worn.
As an older guy you'll never be quick. Don't even bother trying to use techniques that rely on speed, do learn how to counter them though.
Cardio, believe it or not us older guys can have insane cardio. Use cardio and economy of motion to grind down the younger faster guys.
Old boxers will tell you the last thing to go is power, you're going to be slow so you have to make the shots that do connect count.
I found that on the mental side we don't get nearly as amped up nor do we panic as fast when put in a bad spot as the younger guys.
Try to think your way into and out of situations because that along with cardio are the two biggest advantages older guys have.
Listen to your body and recognize the difference between being ridiculously sore and being injured, because you'll experience both.
If you're just sore work through it, If you're injured work with your coach so you can stay in the gym working on things that won't aggravate the injury.

Biggest thing is always make the effort to walk in the door and step on the mat, even if you don't feel like it.
Once you're in the gym listen to your body and walk out from there if you're not feeling it, but always make the effort to step onto the mat for every single scheduled workout.
You'll quickly learn there's a difference between a real and a fake "I'm just not feeling it today".
I have had the puking flu and still showed up (didn't shake hands with anyone, told the coach what was up) took my shoes off stepped on and then off the mat put my shoes on and went home.

Have fun, it's an adventure and one hell of a workout.

[Clobbersaurus]

Have fun. I started MMA in my early forties and had a blast (I turn 50 this year and only train and do grappling tournaments now).
Tap when you need to (not necessarily when you want to LOL) and only train with people who respect the tap.
When you're older avoid dynamic takedowns (giving or receiving). Learn to wrestle them to the ground and how to avoid getting double legged.
Spar with full gear and preferably the heaviest gloves that can be worn.
As an older guy you'll never be quick. Don't even bother trying to use techniques that rely on speed, do learn how to counter them though.
Cardio, believe it or not us older guys can have insane cardio. Use cardio and economy of motion to grind down the younger faster guys.
Old boxers will tell you the last thing to go is power, you're going to be slow so you have to make the shots that do connect count.
I found that on the mental side we don't get nearly as amped up nor do we panic as fast when put in a bad spot as the younger guys.
Try to think your way into and out of situations because that along with cardio are the two biggest advantages older guys have.
Listen to your body and recognize the difference between being ridiculously sore and being injured, because you'll experience both.
If you're just sore work through it, If you're injured work with your coach so you can stay in the gym working on things that won't aggravate the injury.

Biggest thing is always make the effort to walk in the door and step on the mat, even if you don't feel like it.
Once you're in the gym listen to your body and walk out from there if you're not feeling it, but always make the effort to step onto the mat for every single scheduled workout.
You'll quickly learn there's a difference between a real and a fake "I'm just not feeling it today".
I have had the puking flu and still showed up (didn't shake hands with anyone, told the coach what was up) took my shoes off stepped on and then off the mat put my shoes on and went home.

Have fun, it's an adventure and one hell of a workout.

Thanks for the advice, I really do appreciate everyone’s responses in this thread. I’ve talked to several other older students at the gym about how to approach this, and in the beginning I will be doing one class a week. Hopefully that will turn into more, just like it did with my boys.

Either way I’ll report back here and let you all know how it goes.

[Joshmill]

You're never too old to defend yourself and your loved ones. I'm 42.I still take firearms, stick/knife fighting, low light shooting, etc classes. It's unlikely you'll ever win an MMA title but you can still get in shape and learn some moves that will help you out in real life if the poop ever hits the prop for real. Plus it sounds like good quality time with the kids. Do it!

[MK11]

Good for you. I started Muay Thai at 45 and a surprising amount of students were my age or older. Work hard but listen to your body. My classmates were supportive and willing to go as hard or as light as their partners wanted (except the women--they were headhunting all the time ). Enjoy!

[Cecil Burch]

You sound like you have the right mental attitude about it, and there is great advice in this thread. I don't have too much to add except keep in mind that it does not matter one bit how much better everyone around you is getting. You are not measuring yourself against them. Your measurement is the you of yesterday. If you are better than him today, than it is a win, even if it feels like everyone else is passing you by.

[Clobbersaurus]

First class down. I took a fitness class, with more emphasis on cardio. It went okay, I worked a pace I was comfortable I would hopefully not injure myself.

Sprawls are hard. I need to work on those!

[JodyH]

The stuff of nightmares...

"high knees now!"
"Go!, Go! Go!"
"Sprawl!"
"Up! Up! Up!"
"High knees! Go! Go! Go!"
"Shoot!"
"Shoot!"
"High knees! Go! Go! Go!"
"Sprawl!"

repeat for what seems like an eternity but is only a 3 minute round...

[EPF]

I’m 46 and still train hard. I’m almost exclusively BJJ these days. I try to maintain the MT striking skills using a methodology Cecil B. explained to me at a class years ago using small windows of time to re-Inforce reps. But I can’t articulate it as well as he did and I would just mangle it if I tried 😀

IMO the number one rule for older people training is “DO NO HARM”. That applies to almost any age but for an older person just starting out it’s the golden rule. The number one goal is skill improvement. Anything I do that causes an injury or even overtraining sets me back in pursuit of my goals. If I can’t train tomorrow, winning the round today is meaningless. If a much larger less skilled opponent starts going to hard I just let him win or even tap. My goals are long term improvement.

To that end I’ve experimented with several different methodologies and settled on the classic tortoise and the hare. Rather than attend two of the advanced competition classes that are a high intensity fast paced 1:30 each week I make four one hour classes and use open mats where I can control my choice of partners, number of rounds, and drilling/sparring intensity.

For me, any more than that and the wheels start to come off. I want to be able to play with my kids hard and do family hikes etc. without pain. I don’t want to walk around sore all the time and nursing small injuries. Of course that’s not totally avoidable but I work toward that goal. I want to train at 60.

So my advice is find the correct intensity and frequency for your body and stick with it. Good luck, training is super fun and addicting.