Please pardon the errors, this was transcribed by a computer… gotta love artificial intelligence!
Kevin: [00:00:00] I know I've asked this question before on this podcast. But what does a 72 year old woman look like? What is she capable of? What are our limitations? Many of us have preconceived notions of what a 72 year old could or could not do. When we conjure up images of 72 year olds, we might think of a bespeckled grandmotherly woman in a rocking chair with her knitting on her lap.

Certainly we wouldn't imagine this woman fighting. I mean, like really actually physically fighting another person. Would we. Hello and welcome to the over 50 health and wellness podcast. I'm your host, Kevin English. I'm a certified personal trainer and nutritionist. And I'm passionate about educating and inspiring you to become the strongest, healthiest version of yourself.

My guest this week is Elaine buyer's. Dorfer. Elaine is a 72 year old grandmother of seven, who regularly practices and competes in judo in jujitsu. She's four foot 11 and weighs in at just over a hundred pounds. And to call her spunky would fall woefully short. Elaine grew up as a tomboy in her lifelong passion was and his horses

Elaine: [00:01:27] I learned to ride when I was about two years old, my dad took him, put me on a horse with him and I rode with him till I was about four. And then they put me on my own horse and that from then on.

I was horse crazy, but I didn't get my horse till I was 30 years old.

We actually moved out on a farm because my daughters both had horses and I had a horse and it was expensive boarding them.

So we decided we'd just move out on the farm and bring our horses with us. And we've been on a farm with horses ever since.

I'm a trail rider, and you know, we'll go out for three, four, five hours at a time sometimes all day pack a lunch. No. I traveled with my horse around the Southeastern United States and sleep in the camper on the trailer and just ride, ride trails around the, around the country. It's fun.

I've done some competitive trail riding, which is more or less riding four or five hours in one day, and then turn it around and run four or five hours the next with a stop in between to do whatever the judges happened to want you and your horse to do.

But my horse is really too big for that. It's hard to cool him off on most rides. So I haven't gotten any competitor riding.

Kevin: [00:02:38] Okay. Gotcha. What kind of horses do you have?

Elaine: [00:02:41] I have a Missouri Fox Trotter myself. I put him on Instagram. He's a big old boy, 16 hands. I'm four foot 11, so hard getting in the saddle.

Kevin: [00:02:51] That's a lot of horse. And it sounds like you've, you've been around horses all your life. You're passionate about horses. So I think it's fair to say that that's anybody who's been around horses and done a lot of riding would be able to relate to the fact that that's, that will keep you conditioned and in shape.

Is that fair?

Elaine: [00:03:08] Oh, absolutely. By the time you muck stalls and throw hay and fill water buckets and just do the things you have to do for a horse, even before you get on the horse is really, that's a lot of work.

Okay. So Elaine has been around horses and working on a farm. Most of her life. And that certainly will keep you in shape, farm fit. If you will. But I'm sure you like me. Or wondering just where in the heck jujitsu fits into this picture.

Elaine: [00:03:45] Actually, judo. When my husband graduate school, I took a judo co course down in South Alabama, and I really liked it. But when I got to Birmingham, I didn't teach it around here. And I didn't find a gym who did teach until I was 69 years old. So I called the gym and said, you take old people and they went how old?

I said I'm 69. So like, let me come to judo class, scared the professor to death, but I stuck with it and he finally said, why don't you try jujitsu, which was on the next mat. And he taught both classes. It was judo and jujitsu. So I do judo one day and I turn around and do jujitsu, you know, the next and I'm really, I really liked you get to, but I'm, I'm taking both of them right now.

Still. That's what the downs in digits.

Kevin: [00:04:34] Yeah. I'm sure. I'm sure that it does. So let's, let's back up and pick that apart just a little bit. You mentioned that when your husband was in graduate school, I believe you said that you took a judo class. Well, first of all, how old were you then?

Elaine: [00:04:48] 21.

Kevin: [00:04:50] Okay. So still pretty young. What on earth inspired you to take a judo class? Oh,

Elaine: [00:04:59] okay. And nights at the college one of his friends said, you know, that looks interesting. And I went, well, I'll go with you. So I don't, I actually can't tell you why I started that, but it sure was fun.

So at 21 years of age, Elaine takes a judo class with a friend. Almost on a Lark because it sounded fun. But it will be nearly 50 years before she takes up martial arts again at age 69. I asked her why. Why at age 69. She decided that she wanted to get back into martial arts.

No, I work for an animal rescue and we were at PetSmart and doing a event and somebody walked in in a gee and I said, you do martial arts. And she said, I do jujitsu. I said, well, I like judo myself. Cause that's the only thing I've ever taken. And she said, well, they teach judo also. And my ears just really, so I just, I don't know.

I called the gym and ask if I can come.

Kevin: [00:06:03] All right. So you called the gym and I guess you said, like you said earlier, do you take old people and maybe after a pause when you told them how old they said sure. Come on in. Right. And is it safe to say you're the oldest person in your gym?

Elaine: [00:06:19] Yes.

Kevin: [00:06:22] What kind of reception did you get when you walked in?

Elaine: [00:06:25] In judo class. I was surrounded by either teenage boys that were 13 and 14 or guys that looked like they played for the NFL. I was the only girl and certainly by 40 years the oldest. So I didn't exactly know how this class was going to go, but I didn't want them to think I was the worst.

So I hung in, even though it was really hard, the warmups were really hard. They don't get a whole lot easier, quite frankly.

Kevin: [00:06:53] No, I, I would, I would imagine not. All right. So you go in and what is your head space like when you're in there? Are you intimidated? Are you nervous or are you just in there and saying, okay, throw it at me.

What have you got?

Elaine: [00:07:07] That's pretty much what I did. I'm not a nervous person. I didn't feel intimidated. I was ready to go and get, go and do it. And the teenage boys especially were really nice. And they've become good friends over the years. Cause they do jujitsu also, so they they've been been great.

I mean, now the professor kept saying, don't throw her and I'm going, I'll be fine. But it took him a week or two before he finally said, well, you can throw her, but you have to throw her easy. He didn't want anybody slamming me on a mat. Judo, you know, it's a rough sport.

Kevin: [00:07:42] Yes, it is. Yeah. No, it most certainly is.

And what was your conditioning while at age 69, as you're walking into this, are you, would you consider yourself to be in shape?

Elaine: [00:07:54] I thought I was till I started that warm up and they ran around and round and round and I went, Whoa, no, I'm not. That was, I was panting pretty hard during those classes. I really was.

But Hey, after three years I'm doing pretty good.

Kevin: [00:08:11] And for our listeners that aren't familiar with judo and jujitsu, let's start with, you had mentioned the warmups in the conditioning piece. What does that look like? What types of things are you doing? You you mentioned running around, but what would be involved in that, warm up conditioning type work you were just talking about?

Elaine: [00:08:28] Well, my jujitsu professor at the moment normally runs us four or five, six minutes round and ran around that gym until we're exhausted. And then we stop and do 40 jumping jacks, 40 squats, 20 pushups. Then we're on our back doing all those crutches, 80,000 crunches they do. And that's before they even start the class.

And then the end of the class, rolling with somebody and then you're really tired.

Kevin: [00:08:57] Okay. So, and you said something, I want to kind of make sure that we define here. You mentioned rolling. So to be sure not everybody listening to this podcast is going to be aware of what judo or jujitsu is. Why don't you just have very high level, tell us what those two things are.

And then maybe we'll kind of talk a little bit about what rolling is.

Elaine: [00:09:17] Okay. In judo, you're mostly standing up and the goal is to, to throw your opponent on his back. Once he's down, it's over, it can take two minutes or two seconds. If you can throw it fast enough, you're done in jujitsu. It's more wrestling.

You're going to get them on the ground. And then you're going to wrestle for the however long the it is, unless arm bars you chokes you are squashes you in the mat and you tap and you say I'm done. But those have been once.

Kevin: [00:09:50] Okay. And you're doing both now. Is that, is that correct? Still currently.

Yeah. That's fantastic. And you had mentioned when you tap and so that's a submissive move, right? So when you're in a position where you feel like you can't get out, or you feel pain or injury is imminent, you just tap in your, opponent releases. And that's how that, match ends. Right.

And you don't tap if you can't get out. You tap if you're fixing to break your arm they choked off your air and you can't breathe, or they've done a blood choke and you're fixing to pass out that you would tap for any of those.

hold up. I just want to make sure we're all paying attention here. Did a 72 year old woman just inform us that you don't tap out unless you're fixing to break your arm. Or if your opponent gets you in a blood choke?

I don't know about you, but I was unfamiliar with the term blood choke. So I had to look it up.

And here's what Wikipedia has to say. Blood chokes also known as card Roy restraints or sleeper holds are a form of strangulation that compresses one or both Carter roid arteries. And, or the juggler veins without compressing the airway. Hence causing cerebral ischemia. And a temporary hypoxic condition in the brain.

Uh, well, applied chokehold may lead to unconsciousness in 10 to 20 seconds. Injury or death is plausible. If the arteries remain constricted for more than 20 seconds. Compared to strangulation with the hands. A properly applied blood choke requires little physical strength.

Okay. So Elaine has gone a long way from her early days in the gym with her professor telling the other students not to throw her now to competitions where a blood choke is a distinct possibility. I asked Elaine to elaborate on what is, and isn't fair game and jujitsu.

Elaine: [00:11:46] I couldn't tell you all the, you know, in actual competitions, there are certain things you can't do. Cause I don't want you to tweak somebody's pushing them the wrong way or something of that nature. But I mean, I was at a match where they stopped it because I busted my lip and there was blood all over my face and hands and they stopped it to wipe me off.

But then we started back, you know, don't have had one match stopped. The referee stopped it. Because he said the girl was fixing to break my arm and I'm too hard headed to tap. So he stopped the match because I wouldn't tap, which is just, I don't know.

Kevin: [00:12:25] You got ripped off, right? Yeah. Okay. We're getting a picture here of you as a pretty spunky person. Is that fair. Okay. You're 72 years old. You're a woman and you're for all intents and purposes, you're fighting, you're wrestling people.

Talk to us about that. What, what is the drive that, that makes you want to do that?

Elaine: [00:12:54] Well, that's a hard one, but I've always liked a challenge. I ride the horses often that other people might not want to get on it. And I really liked the fighting. I had two older brothers. We did a lot of wrestling around when I was a little girl and it appeals to me, you know, to pit myself physically against someone else.

And I'll, I'll fight anybody that's in the gym that wants to I'm. I'm good for it.

Kevin: [00:13:20] You certainly will. So I found you on Instagram, you have a great Instagram account. Your jujitsu grandma on Instagram, and I'll drop that in the show notes so people can look you up there, but most of your posts are you actually rolling or wrestling fighting.

However you want to call bat with opponents. And some of them are huge and some are male, some are female. So. So talk a little bit about that, because I believe that both judo and jujitsu would be weight, class sports, right. But in your class, how are you typically matched up and wrestling?

Elaine: [00:13:52] If I'm in a competition with jujitsu, my mass for seven classes, 61 years old.

So more than likely haven't got to be with somebody at least 10 years younger than me. And normally. I've only wrestled somebody my size one time. They're usually either outweigh me, or I've gone down to mass for six or five, which would be 50, 50 year up, you know, 50 year olds or maybe even half forties hard to hang with younger girls, it is, but I'm not afraid to do it.

I'll step on the mat with anybody. It might not last long, but I'm going to give it a good shot.

Kevin: [00:14:38] I absolutely love Elaine's attitude. Earlier in the episode, I referred to her as spunky. But I'm not sure that word does her justice. I asked Elaine about her competition accomplishments. .

Elaine: [00:14:51] I'm not sure there are too many accomplishments, but I went to master worlds. The first time I had just gotten my blue belt, I won one, I lost one in our tag team, so I was happy with that. That's the only match I've ever worn after that I've been fighting pretty much younger girls or bigger girls. And if I can hang on the four or five minutes, I'm happy.

Sometimes I just can't. But you know, I feel like I win. If I step on that mat by somebody I've already won the match. Cause I got the guts to do it.

Kevin: [00:15:23] 100%. That is beautifully spoken. I agree with you wholeheartedly. Yes. You have already won the second you step on that mat. So speaking of that, that kind of brings me to my next topic, which is mindset.

Talk to us a little bit about, I mean, I think we get an idea of your personality is coming through here. But talk to us about the mental side of jujitsu and, and just martial martial arts in general. You know,

Elaine: [00:15:52] I really like the fighting. I'm not afraid of people. I never go into a fight being afraid or, or get afraid regardless of what happens.

But personality wise, I'm a very easy going person, very easily. One up until I start fighting somebody, then I'm all in. But you know, you, you do have to have a certain mindset and like that physical fighting and people up close and personal, you know, there's no social distancing and you get to it stuff you're up, up close with with everybody.

So most of my friends would not do that. They just, they don't want that kind of physical work.

Kevin: [00:16:33] I think, I think you're right. I think probably, I think a lot of, a lot of your peers probably would not like that. Right. I mean, it's, it's hard enough to get. Older population moving and active in a very physical way, right.

To build actual strength and conditioning. But then to actually come into contact, close contact, very intimate contact with people that fighting requires, it takes a different, a completely different mindset. And that's what I'm trying to get at. Right. That's a very uncommon mindset in general at any age.

And certainly it's, it's certainly rare and older women.

Elaine: [00:17:12] It is. I can't tell you why I'm like that. I'm just, I just think you've gotten three years into this and realized I needed some more. I needed to build up some muscle some, so I started taking a class twice a week or so where the professor just tries to kill you for an hour. And that's really helped me. It's helped my strength, my balance, you know, leg strength arm strength, core strength. It's a hard class, but it's worth it. So I'm in the gym about four days a week, usually.

Kevin: [00:17:50] Yeah, that's incredible. So four days a week sounds like a couple days of really intense conditioning.

And probably a couple of days of you had mentioned, you're going to go in, you're going to do this pretty intense warmup a piece, and then you're going to actually get in and fight So talk to us a little bit about the community aspect of jujitsu, because I would imagine that you're in, you know, anytime people do intense things together, they typically tend to bond.

I'm thinking, you know the kind of the orange theory, bootcamp, CrossFit type commute, they're very close knit communities. And that's a part of the appeal of those things. is that a part of the jujitsu for you that intense community?

Elaine: [00:18:27] No, I wasn't expecting it, but it really, really is. We have a great gym.

My professors are wonderful. The kids. Teenage boys have been really good for me. They fight very hard. They're, they're closer to my size, or at least they were, when they were a little younger. Now they're getting bigger, but they they fight very hard with me. And yet if I get in a position, I'll say, why did I did that?

They'll say, okay, you need to back up, and this is what you should have done. So they'll teach me also, which is really helpful. And there are girls of course, in the gym that I become close friends with. I really enjoy it. Most everybody is bigger than me. I'm surprised at how the ma if I'm fighting some guy who's 200 pounds, he's mainly going to defend until he gets tired of me and then he'll flip me over.

Kevin: [00:19:19] Okay. Yeah. But that, that would allow you to practice certainly technique and whatnot. And how would you say that jujitsu has affected or impacted other areas of your life outside of the gym?

Elaine: [00:19:34] Well, for what night it might teach a lot of self defence in jujitsu, it gives you a little more confidence that you're not going to panic in a serious situation.

If you get gotten attacked or something like that, you can keep your brain sort of working because you've got a few things in your arsenal that you can work, you know, work to get away from the situation or stop the situation. So. I think that really mentally has helped me a lot because I am very little.

I'm not a big person. And I think that really, that's probably one of the biggest, the biggest things besides just the whole, whole gym, my professor, so quite religious as am I. So that also adds that, that to it also for me, that I know they're going to run a really tight gym. He doesn't let any bad language or bad attitude in that gym.

You know, they would be asked to leave if they did. So I don't have to worry about any of the guys being disrespectful. They just don't do it. They're wonderful.

Kevin: [00:20:34] Yeah. That's fantastic. And that, obviously that goes back to the community aspect, right? It sounds like your owner, professor runs a tight ship there and disrespect is just not going to be tolerated.

I love that. So. You talked about the act of doing jujitsu, obviously that, would give you a little more confidence and self-assurance, and in terms of should anything horrible happen. At least you've got some tools in the toolbox and perhaps as opposed to panic, you might have a different response.

Are there other areas, I mean, I would imagine that kind of. Doing something that difficult and that challenging might carry over into other areas of your life as well, just being capable, competent, does that help you? And I mean, certainly I would think that being, getting in that kind of shape would transfer over to say horseback riding or anything that you want to do.

Right.

Elaine: [00:21:24] Well, it certainly does with working around the farm some, but it's also had an added advantage for me, with my grandkids. I've taught them a little, self-defense some boxing, some things like that, which they think are really cool. And I I'm glad to pass on that information. And often, so to some of my friends, we had a riding event where we all went out, camping and riding, and I, we had a class one night where I'm saying, okay, this is how you make a fist. Half of them

didn't know. Self-defense thing she might be able to do. So that was really helpful too, that I felt like I might be able to help friends as well as, as my grandchildren too.

Kevin: [00:22:09] That's that's amazing. Okay. So I want to go back to the workouts for a minute. Cause you talked about doing some pretty intense conditioning two days a week, in addition to two very intense jujitsu judo classes. With all of that, plus your very active life on a farm with the horses. What do you do to recover, to stay in shape, to be able to continue to have this kind of a workload put on your body?

Elaine: [00:22:39] You know, we had guys in that gym are probably girls too, that go six and seven days a week. I can't do that. I've got have some days to recover. Because I, I, the, in, in the class I'm going, I can't move. I'm so tired and everything's sore. My back is tight. And so I need those, you know, maybe Friday, Saturday, and Sunday or whatever days it falls in that I can take a breath and just relax a little at home.

I, with my dog watch TV, if I, if there's a happened to be anything, Oh, I don't watch much TV, but we certainly relax at night. Go to bed early. But I really, because of my age, I can tell that I just, I need a little more recovery time then. And I see a chiropractor pretty regularly. A massage therapist when my back is killing me, that sort of thing.

I don't take too many drugs, things like that. I try to handle it naturally if I can.
Kevin: [00:23:39] Okay. So for recovery, it sounds like mostly just paying attention to your body, listening to your body and respecting and honoring. When you need some downtime, you take it and you're not pushing that envelope. It sounds like you understand what that is for you.

What about. Injury, it sounds like between, and certainly I know that working on a farm can there's, it's not difficult to be injured. There are working around horses. And certainly in, in judo, have you found that you're dealing with injury or have you dealt with injuries?

Elaine: [00:24:09] It's funny. Most of the injuries that have kept me off the mat had happened on my farm.

I stepped in a hole and tore my ankle, you know, which is still aggravating me some. I did get kicked in judo. Actually, the girl was blocking a kick that I was trying to kick her. And I had a really big hematoma come up on my leg that had to be surgically removed. That was huge. And I had a competition. I said, I can't wait for it to dissolve because it wasn't going to, so they went in and just cut it out so I can compete, but I haven't injured over much in, in class.

It's mainly been on that. Farm, if I'm shoveling gravel, if I'm doing stuff right.

Kevin: [00:24:53] Yeah. And I think that's I think people listening to this might be surprised that you're out there in this very physical sport that you participate in regularly and compete in. And you're saying that it's safe and enjoyable.

Elaine: [00:25:08] Oh gosh. Yes.

Kevin: [00:25:11] All right. That's what I thought. Okay. All right. Well, let's segue a little bit and talk about this kind of goes along with the recovery. What does your diet look like? You had mentioned as a, as a kid, you kind of had that good nutritional background, eating whole foods, meals together as a family, et cetera.

What does your diet look like these days?

Elaine: [00:25:31] Well, my husband and I are pretty well set into eating two, two meals, a day breakfast and early dinner. If I feel like I need something before I go to bed, I'll I might take a tablespoon of peanut butter or something like that. So my blood sugars not dropping down, it's hard to stay around or away from the cookies and sweets.

I can tell when my weight starts to creep up, laying in the back and I try not to eat too much bread. I stay away from the breads, carbs if I can. Cause that definitely puts on weight at my age, even as much activity as I get. I would like to be a few pounds lighter than I am, but it, you know,

Kevin: [00:26:12] so what I hear there's,

you're kind of eating what you want is that fair and just kind of, again, paying attention to your body and eating as much as you need, but not more.

Elaine: [00:26:23] A Keto diet of sorts, just cause I liked the vegetables and meats, you know salads. We always had salads at night and try to avoid breads and sweets, which is more or less what keto is. But, and it certainly helps me maintain a halfway decent weight.

Kevin: [00:26:44] Yeah. So what I hear in there is healthy whole foods, right?

Meat and vegetables. That's certainly can't go, can't go wrong there. Avoid some of that process carbs. That's the sugar or the the bread. That's not

Elaine: [00:26:59] no acids and you know, fish oils and things like that, that, that help also

Kevin: [00:27:08] any protein supplements are you doing like whey or any kind of protein shakes?

Elaine: [00:27:14] No, I probably eat a good bit of protein.

Kevin: [00:27:16] Yeah. Okay. Fair enough. Yeah. And so you're getting that through your diet, which is obviously the best way to get your nutrients is through whole foods as opposed to supplements. So that's fantastic.

Well, Elaine, let's see. So you've been, you've been fighting for three years and while my audience can't see you, I can see you're lit up. You're vibrant. You're obviously very passionate about this. How long are you going to keep fighting?

Elaine: [00:27:41] As long as I can. Absolutely. As well. If I'm not, professor said I should have my black belt by the time I'm 80 and I'm thinking, Oh, I don't know if I'll make it there, but you know, I'm going to try.

I don't want to give up easy. I like it too much. I'm having too much fun. It is fun. Even when I'm tired and sore and discouraged because I'm not learning as much as I'd like to, it's still fun. It's fun.

Kevin: [00:28:12] Yeah, absolutely. So what keeps you motivated to go in and do this? What people from the outside would consider very hard work, very, something very difficult.

Elaine: [00:28:22] Aye. I don't quite know how to answer that. I, I don't want to give up for one thing. I'm one of those people that I just don't want to say. that I quit. I just can't quit. You know, every professor would be disappointed my friends up there. I just, I can't do that. It's just part of my personality, I guess, you know, the challenge is still there and it's quite a challenge.

It's good for my brain too, because there's so many things you have to learn and I want to stay. Healthy in my brain, as well as my, from the neck down from the neck up also. And I think that just really it's, you have to learn a lot of stuff and remember a lot of stuff and that's really good mentally for me.

So that's the reason, being staying healthy and active is important for me.

Kevin: [00:29:13] I agree a hundred percent. Yeah. Staying healthy and active is absolutely vital for all of us as we age. you had mentioned the kind of the mental side of that and the mental acuity and staying sharp that apart a little bit, what you had mentioned that you're learning new things, but what is keeping you mentally engaged in jujitsu for folks who, you know, might think that well, that's just wrestling, right?

What, what sort of mental activity is going on there? Talk to us a little bit about that mental side of, jujitsu.

Elaine: [00:29:42] Every class they teach three or four different moves. They're either offensive or defensive. And when you're playing, when you're fighting and you're doing both, you have to be D on offense and a defense too.

You've got to attack as well as defend. That's a lot of thinking. It's like a chess game. I'm not real good at chess, but I'm getting better at it. So I can think a little bit ahead as what I need to know. And I'm not just trying to survive.

Kevin: [00:30:18] Yeah, no, I, I think that that might surprise some people that there is, and I've heard that analogy, that martial arts has got a very, it's like a physical game of chess that you're, you're both attacking and defending and you're in a very fluid situation, right? No two fights are going to be the same.

No two opponents are gonna, even if they have a similar style, the certainly the fighting is going to be different every time. So, yeah. that's interesting. And what is what's next for you? What's on the horizon. Do you have competitions coming up

Elaine: [00:30:47] well, I hope that I can get back to the Pan-American games in the world games.

It depends on where they are. If they're out in California, I probably won't be able to fly. I haven't taken any shots. I, I have an Epic pen cause I'm allergic to some bees and things like that. And they said, if you have an epi pen, you probably shouldn't take any of the COVID shots. So I don't, I have no idea how this is gonna run would probably have to drive.

And so far they've been down in Florida, so that's okay. we can drive down there that's I live in Alabama, so I just don't want to go all the way out to the California in a car with my husband. I'd shoot him.

Kevin: [00:31:33] All right. So, but it's fair to say that, that you want to compete. You want to compete on a, on a national level, right? Sure.

Elaine: [00:31:39] I signed up for about the new Orleans and a Memphis competition, but there was nobody in my class or even the class below or the class below. So I had to drop out because they were just, there was nobody there for me to fight, which is very disappointing because that's pretty close to my home.

And I would like to go home and, you know, in competing, but I just didn't get a chance to, I got to encourage these girls to.

Kevin: [00:32:04] Yes. Yes you do. So let's talk about that. So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that a very, very small percentage of the people listening to this are women over 50, let alone over 60 or over 70.

Who fight in some martial arts. There are some, but there it's a small, small percentage. What would you say to somebody listening to this? And let's just say, it's a woman and she's maybe in her sixties and she's listening to this and there's just something in there that's pulling her or calling to her.

What advice would you have for somebody to get started

Elaine: [00:32:42] in my gym, and I don't know if other gyms do this, but they give you a week free. So you can come and try out, try it out for as many days as you want in that week. And I think that's really quite a drop cause then if you go once or twice and go, this just isn't for me.

Okay. But then you might go and go, you know, this is actually fun and it does depend on the gym too. I mean, I do have a really, really good gym, but I think a lot of that Buffett, I mean, Gracie bar gyms are really good around the country. So. But I just need to give it a try, just try it.

Kevin: [00:33:19] And they might like it.

Just try it. Yeah. And what advice would you have for somebody who says, yeah, but I'm really apprehensive or nervous about that kind of physical contact. how would you help somebody get over that, that hurdle said, well, yeah, that sounds, you know, in theory, that sounds great, but I'm really nervous about grappling with another human being.

Elaine: [00:33:40] You know, I found if they are people in the gym who that's the least favorite part of the classes, the actual grappling at the end, they probably not going to stay with it. You've got love that. Quite frankly, you got to love it or else that's not going to be something you're going to stay with because that's really what it's about.

It's it's actually fighting. And if he find that that is just too nerve wracking for me, why would you do something that's not comfortable? Do you know what I'm

going

Kevin: [00:34:11] to say? I do, but I'm still marveling at the fact that you just walked into a gym without a care in the world and said, I've won. I want to do this.

I want to fight. You're 20, 30, 40 years older than next oldest person. And you just said, bring it on. I want to wrestle somebody. So that's something that's innate and just in you. And so, as you're speaking to people, cause what I'm trying to think of is how, you know, this could be an Avenue for somebody to, it could be there a springboard for them to being much more active and engaging in a community and enjoying themselves.

But to your point, it sounds like it's not for everybody, right? You're not trying to convince everybody because. Frankly, that's just not going to appeal to everybody, but if it's, if it's something you think, if you just have an idea that maybe that might be cool, go do a free week. Is that right?

Elaine: [00:35:03] What I want them to think of is that you're not too old, not too old. It's not too late. You need to give it a try if you think you'll like it. Cause I get a lot of feedback from people who are in their forties or older insights. I thought I was too old till I saw you. And then I decided, well, maybe I'm not too old.

So that really is probably the biggest lesson is it's not too late. It's never too late to try something new.

Kevin: [00:35:30] You're not too old and it's never too late. Yeah. That's fantastic. Absolutely love that. All right. And I'm just laughing cause that's, I love that message and clearly you're living that right?

You're the living embodiment of, it's not too old. It's never too late. You're really enjoying this. What I would consider an unusual sport For a 72 year old woman, it just is. But you're out there. You're kicking ass. You're enjoying life. I love it. All right. So Elaine, where would you like people to connect with you?

What's the best way is Instagram the best?

Elaine: [00:36:04] Instagram would be the best. It would cause messed up most, some horses. And my mainly now jujitsu stuff is on and judo is on Instagram. No, what Instagram was. My professor told me to get an Instagram account and I went, what is that? So I went to my granddaughter and she set it up for me and she named me jujitsu grandma.

So that's how it started. With, with my granddaughter, naming me and now alot of people know it.

Kevin: [00:36:35] A lot of people know it yet. So talk, talk a little bit about the rise of the success you've had, because you've got a lot of followers. I mean, you, you are making an impact. People are, are paying attention to this.

Talk a little bit about the rise of that account. I mean, when you started, obviously you had zero followers and you have to kind of figure out how to, how to post and all that was. Talk about that rise up until now.

Elaine: [00:36:56] You know, it really started kicking in when I got to the world masters. And I think that really started the, I had a thousand followers, you know, in, in a week because of the world, world masters in there, looking at this little white headed girl.

No, Whoa, what is she doing? So that really started it off. And I do a lot of videoing it in class and in competition too. And. I have been quite frankly amazed at why people wouldn't even care. I'm like, I'm a little old lady. Why, why is that interesting? You know, but I get messages from people literally all over the world.

Kevin: [00:37:37] It's not surprising to me. I mean, you had mentioned early on in that story, you said I've just, I can't imagine why anybody would want to follow me on Instagram. Just this little old lady that happens to do jujitsu at a world masters level. Yeah. It's not surprising to me. So in terms of your followers, do you have any idea, are these other older women, mostly younger people?

Do, do you kind of know what types of people are following you?

Elaine: [00:38:03] It seems to, to be pretty much everybody. I get teenagers, I get women. I get guys like, it's amazing. It's quite a wide range, which is also a surprise to me. Why a black belt or something would be interested in a little blue belt that doesn't know much.

No I'm participating in sport. I'm not even good at,

Kevin: [00:38:27] yeah, I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure I'm buying the not, not good at, it sounds like you're working hard at it and that's, you're, you're accomplished at it. And to your point, you're amazing. Whenever you step out onto that mat I think that's a fair way of saying that.

Well, Elaine, I want to thank you so much for taking the time and coming on the show today and talking to us about your story. You are an inspiration and you're a fantastic ambassador for healthy aging, and I certainly wish you all the best in all your future endeavors.

Elaine: [00:39:00] Thank you so much, Kevin, for asking me it was, I enjoyed it very much.

Well, that's all for today's show. Thanks so much for listening. And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a friend and please consider giving me a review. Wherever you listen to podcast. Until next week. Stay strong.