Experience vs Youth

[Ninpo Ikan]

Just interested to see what others might think of this. Who would you rather put your money on, a young strong guy who has done a few different martial arts for a few years and is pretty good, or an older man who has been training in one martial art for many many years and with a lot of dedication?

[Ninpo Ikan]

No comments at all? I figured this poll would get jumped all over.

[Hikage]

No comments at all? I figured this poll would get jumped all over.

Tough call, too many variables. You need to be more specific.

-Hikage

[Ninpo Ikan]

All right, we'll break it down more:

In the red corner we have a young guy, mid-20s, about 6', 180lbs. He's in good shape, muscular yet not too big, spends some time in the gym. He's a pretty good NHB fighter in the amateur circuit and has a winning record so far. He mostly trains in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai, a few years in each so far, and trains about 3-4 times a week.

In the blue corner we have an older gent, mid to late 30s, about 6' and 170lbs so about the same size. He is leaner yet possesses wiry strength, as he does lots of traditional exercises and body conditioning. He has trained in, say, kung fu since he was a child, approximately 30 years, practicing virtually every day of his life and often doing a variety of forms before breakfast. He is no slouch either, having done his fair share of full-contact sparring and realistic self-defense training, as well as several incidents of self-defense on the streets.

Who do you think would be the better fighter, and have the best chance of being the victor?

[Tom Yum]

Who would win?

The better fighter of course. If you are talking about a NHB type fight, it would be a matter of which one is the better fighter. You never can tell what the outcome will be until it happens.

[Ikken Hisatsu]

the better fighter. this is a dumb question.

[Ninpo Ikan]

Not really, I'm just interested to see the different opinions. And we'll say an all-out street fight, no rules.

[jubaji]

Not really, I'm just interested to see the different opinions.

Actually, you are just interested in offering more bullshit stories and lies. I recommend that anything from this kid be taken with a giant grain of salt.

[osopardo]

Not a dumb question at all. I'm 52 and I train with guys between 14 to 35 years old, so the question is always there. They can usually beat me in performance drills; they run faster, longer, do more push-ups, more sit-ups, have more stamina, are more muscular, physically stronger, faster reflexes, more flexibility, etc. etc. etc. in short, I simply can no longer keep up with them. BUT....

When it comes to sparring and rolling, my knowledge of techniques is generally more reflexive, more intuitive. I can see openings in their defense faster than they can see openings in mine, and I'm less afraid to exploit those openings (sometimes the inexperienced fighter second-guesses himself, wondering if what he see is an opening or a trap).

As I like to tell them, "Youth and strength is no match for experience and just plain viciousness. "

Bottom line, I may not be able to beat a young experienced fighter every time, but I can at the very least make it damn difficult for him, maybe even not worth the cost.

[darrianation]

It depends, Tom of course is right it would be the better fighter on that day. However youth has a lot of advantages becuase he can afford to make a few mistakes and can brush off some the blows he takes.

Youth will have stmina, speed, agility, and the ability to ward off injuries as well as come back from being stunned. He also can make you miss with his movement as well as close faster.

Age- he willl be slower, have less stamina, and won't be able to move as fast, and he will be less able to ward off or bounce back form an injury. He will fight smarter and make less mistakes. But he still has power, thats usually the last to go.

When we see older boxers or MMA guys go up against younger ones there has been some mesure of success, but many times the older guy looses.

Mike tyson is a good example of this.

[straitup]

hi

hi this is a reasonable interrest for most people. Especially as one getts older. The first thing that you must look at is yes age,expierence,and length of practice. These are factors but not the main ones. If this is two people that have trainned in martial arts for any length of time and there is no rules what so ever in this fight the one that wil win in my opinion will be the one that remembers that there is NO rules. see we as people who train in the martial arts forget this, even if were in a NO rule fight. this means that we get under the imprestion that even if there are no rules we seem to still have a set morale code that we fight by. (exsaple I saw a fight in the bar once one guy was well dressed with short hair the other was not but had long hair in a ponytail. To make the story short the long hair fellow puched at the other man. the short hair man grabbed his long hair and drove him to the ground with it. Once he was on the ground he kicked him in the groin.) you might be saying thats not right. So were a lot of other people. so the one that will win the fight will be the one that remembers that there are NO rules. If the person that started this is concernd about getting older don't be because even if you get older,slower,or are not in the best of shape all that you or anyone else for that matter needs to remember is even though we all train in martial arts (no matter what style) there is no rule book out there. Age in my opinion only plays a part if there's rules.

[HtTKar]

an experienced fighter in his mid-30s...training his whole life. I dont think that mid 30s is all that old of a fighter. And warriors get more vicious as they age, especially against younger opponents. Now if you said 60 or something, I could make a broad generalization.

[Miss_Kitty]

the better fighter. this is a dumb question.

I agree...either could win! Like a wise man once said..."Never judge the size of the dog in a fight but the size of the fight in the dog".

[LoneWolf1]

I really think even if the younger is faster, has more stamina ect. ect. the older more experienced person should be able to win, not to say that they always will. With age comes much wisdom even if the younger ones are faster they will tend to use more movement where as older more experienced fighters fight more efficiently making there movements that much more effective. I recently experienced this in the dojo when sensei (he's been doing juijutsu for 43 yrs and is in 50's) and he asked me to attack him with everything I got. I came at him with a few boxing style jabs and he easily side stepped me grabbed my arm, swung me around and threw me to the ground. it all happened in less than a second. ( he's also only 4' 9'' I'm a little over 6' and 30 yrs younger) So even though this may not be the outcome of all fights where it's youth vs experience this is one that proves experience can beat youth. Pretty Easily

[electrorok]

yeah im with experience on this one and im a young guy who trains as much as i can. obviously it does come down to the fighter but but the descriptions of each fighter i would put money on older experience. if the young guy is so so at a few styles never really mastering one and is up against a guy who has lived and breathed 1 style all his life i would back the pure bread than the mongrel.
perfect example is a guy named randy couture who fights in ufc. this guy is 40 yrs old with wrestling experience around 25-30 yrs and is wiping the floor against young strong boys who are in there 20's. and it comes down to experience. he knows what to do in every situation. hes a smarter fighter due to his experience.