I hit the big 7-0 last week.

They say age is just a number, but in my case, it's a BIG number.

I didn't even know how to spell septuagenarian and now I is one.

It's bad enough I've been dealing with the loss of one lung and a heart problem for the past 13 years, but now I have to be an old man, too? That's like adding insult to injury!

It's enough to make you throw sidekicks.

Okay, Ken. Stop and take a breath.

Center yourself.

Calm your mind and relax your rapidly withering, creaking body.

Worse things can happen to you than turning 70. For example, you could have died before you turned 70.

I had one grandfather who died at age 27, another who died at 69, and my dad died at age 61. I should be happy that I'm still studying, practicing, and teaching the internal arts. And I actually am very happy about that.

But it plays with your head. On the day after my birthday last week, I realized that I felt no different than I did the week before. I felt young. You know, like I was 65 again. But it still plays with your head.

I try to look ahead. In ten years I'll be 80. Just ten years. That passes pretty quickly. After all, it has been 23 years since Y2K. That went by pretty quickly, didn't it?

For most martial artists I know, after their sixties they were changing fast. Chen Fake died at age 70. Hu Yaozhen, the Taoist qigong master, passed away at age 76. One of Hu's students, Feng Zhiqiang, died at age 84, which is pretty good. He still had game in his 70s. Chen Xiaowang is 77 now. His younger brother Xiaoxing is my age. 

My wife Nancy retired from her job a month ago, just a few days after she turned 65. We have really enjoyed the past month. I have enjoyed seeing her free from the pressure of getting up at 5:40 a.m. and going to work for the Man. Suddenly, every day is Saturday and every night is Friday night. It's a wonderful thing.

But during the past month, as I thought about hitting 70, I wondered if I should begin to step back a little. I am either studying these arts or teaching these arts or practicing these arts seven days a week. Sometimes, I take a day off from practicing, but that's only to give my old body a rest, and even then I'm writing or reading or thinking of Taiji, Xingyi, Bagua, Qigong or philosophy. And I'm working with my students, maybe doing a live one-on-one session on Zoom.

It really helps to be doing what I love. Yes, my legs get very tired by the end of the day. I sit down at night on the couch with Nancy and we watch one of our favorite shows and enjoy a glass of wine, and after a while I'll stand up and my legs shout, "No! Don't make us do more work!"

The other night, I got up from the couch and Nancy said, "Ken, you're walking like an old man."

I said, "Well........" 

She laughed.

But when I think about stepping back a little, there is a voice in my head that says, "Who are you kidding? You love this. You study with Nabil on Mondays and Tuesdays and then you're bouncing around like a toddler, excited about what you're practicing. You're teaching on Wednesdays and sometimes Friday and Saturday and you meet during the winter with your in-person students on Sundays. You feel like something is missing if you skip a practice. Who are you kidding?"

Yeah, the voice in my head is right. I couldn't step away if I tried. I want to make more memories with Nancy while we have time, so I have pledged to myself, and I have succeeded in the past month, to take more time during weekdays to do something with her instead of being devoted to gongfu all day long. After all, isn't "balance" one of the goals we're after in Taijiquan?

So age is just a number. A terrifying number, maybe, but let's just remain centered and push forward. There are skills, movements and mechanics I want to develop, a dragon body to pursue, and goals yet to achieve. I don't have the stamina I used to have. If I'm a student in a class or workshop, I take more breaks than the younger guys. But I'm still moving pretty well. I can still kick a 6-foot tall guy in the head. I want to do what seemed impossible when the lung went South when I was 57. I want to improve in my 70s and still be practicing and teaching at 80.

I have a goal that can be summed up in a true story. The legendary cellist Pablo Casals practiced his instrument for hours each day, and when he was 90 years old, someone asked, "Why are you continuing to practice at age 90?"

Casals said, "Because I think I'm making progress."

So the title of this blog post, What Happens When a Martial Artist Turns 70, can be answered this way:

He practices.

--by Ken Gullette

I present Colin Frye with his black sash as Kim Kruse looks on.

On Sunday, January 15, 2023, I awarded black sashes to two long-time students, Colin Frye and Justin Snow. It was an event that I have been looking forward to for several years.

Colin began studying with me when he was a student at Augustana College around 2004. Justin started not long after, when he was 16-years old. 

Our curriculum is so extensive, covering the basics of Xingyiquan, Chen style Taijiquan, and Baguazhang, it can take four or five years of heavy-duty, nearly nonstop practice to earn a black sash. It can take a lot longer if you are a normal human being. That's why since 1997, when I first began teaching, Colin and Justin possess only the fourth and fifth black sashes I have awarded. Colin and Justin now join the ranks of Rich Coulter, Chris Miller, Kim Kruse, and Marilyn Hackett (who was awarded an honorary black sash). Kim was at the presentation of the sashes to Colin and Justin.

Anyone who has seen my videos has seen Colin and Justin. I have depended on Colin since he was 22 to be the one who shows up when everyone else is busy, and when both of these guys are there, our practices are full of creativity and growth. Justin was the teenager who peppered me with questions during class like, "What if someone did this?" He has added a great deal to our practices due to his size and strength. As I continue to study and try to get better, I depend on them to help me, and they do. 

Justin Snow receives his black sash with Kim Kruse and Colin standing in support.

When I began teaching, I taught a system in which a student could earn a colored sash for each rank up to black sash. During the first three sash levels, students studied the basics of Xingyi. During the middle three levels, they learned the basics of Chen Taiji. During the final three levels before black sash, they learned the basics of Bagua. After they got through nine levels, they spent a couple of years practicing the entire curriculum.

When I earned my black sash almost 26 years ago, it was an important milestone. I worked my butt off to get there, but I didn't feel great about the system I was in, so I hit the tournament circuit to find out if I could compete with the best of other styles. I found out that I could, but I knew there were holes in my curriculum, so I sought out information, videos, and in 1998 I met my first Chen Taiji teacher, Jim Criscimagna, who taught along with his wife Angela in Rockford, Illinois.

So my black sash actually signalled the beginning of my real studies. A black sash is like achieving a Bachelor's Degree in college. It's an honorable achievement. It takes hard work and determination. But after you get a B.A. you are ready for higher levels of learning. Now, the real learning begins. We can help each other improve our skills.

We don't wear sashes to our practices. We only wear uniforms when shooting "official" videos. They are probably the last students I will take through a colored-sash curriculum. We have been evolving out of that and the evolution continues. But for this moment, we reward hard work, persistence, dependability and loyalty. In our thinking, after you reach black sash, you become known by what you know and what you can do. It's up to each person how they want to travel that path. Some stop when they reach black sash, some go forward very slowly, and for some of us, we couldn't stop if we wanted to. It's part of our DNA.

Congratulations, Colin and Justin. Your black sash is well-deserved. Insert a deep bow here. Now let's go!

--by Ken Gullette

Scott M. Rodell, Taiji instructor and swordsman.

My last act of 2022 was to put this podcast episode together. I interviewed Scott M. Rodell about swordsmanship last week.

Scott teaches the Yang style Taijiquan that he learned from his principal teacher, Wang Yen-Nien, at the Great River Taoist Center in Annandale, Virginia. He is best known, however, for his swordsmanship. 

I've used swords in my martial arts for 35 years but even though I know and can use all the fighting applications from the sword forms I know, I don't consider myself a swordsman since it is not something I focus on any more than I focus on empty-hand techniques, staff, broadsword (dao) or spear.

I learned from this interview, and I bought Scott's cutting jian this past weekend from his website. Enjoy the program. The podcast runs one hour 15 minutes. Please send the link to any friend who might enjoy it.

https://internalfightingarts.libsyn.com/internal-fighting-arts-66-scott-m-rodell

Scott's website is www.grtc.org.