I am getting ready for Master Worlds and for me that mostly means trying to avoid getting injured as the healing time takes way to long. I have had many team mates close to my age that start working harder for a big tournament and get busted up and end up not being able to perform like they wanted.
I think old guys need to understand that they cannot train like Young Guys no matter what the Professor or their own brain says. It just does not work out. I think that is the biggest struggle for older Jiu Jitsu players. Our minds are strong but our bodies just don't respond like we want them to.
One thing that I am getting used to is for the referee to ask me to take of my wedding ring. I cannot get the ring off. It has been on my finger for 31 years. In fact at the last tournament I went to I worked to get the ring off before I competed and was able to get it off the middle knuckle but the top knuckle has grown so much (thank you Spider Guard) that the ring was stuck between the middle and top knuckle on my hand. It took me another few minutes and some oil to get it back down to the correct spot on the finger. I guess I could label this under BJJ Problems.
Now I just put some tape over it so I don't have to worry about them stopping the match and asking me about it.
