I'm not disagreeing with you so much as maybe coming from a different perspective.

I've been incredibly fortunate in terms of health. I'm in pretty good physical condition. I work out regularly. I'm not the guy that's in top condition in the over 60 crowd, but I suspect I'm above average. That's not unique, but from what I see, it's also not the norm. Bad knees, bad hips, bad backs, blown discs, blood thinners, early stage COPD, and brittle bones are the norm. Not too far further down that age funnel, heart problems and pacemakers are pretty common too. Some of it is from hard work and overuse. Some is from poor habits. Those things can make working on the mat nearly impossible.

I agree. I'd say it's more likely a BG will go hands on with an older person because they perceive them as more vulnerable.

Because I've been fortunate with my health, I have had the opportunity to take multiple force-on-force classes in the last few years. They've run the gambit from simunitions, to airsoft, to using blue guns on the mat and then live fire practice for things like retention shooting.

What I found is, even in reasonably good condition for my age, on the mat I'm not able to last long against 30'ish year old SWAT officers. I can project that out and say it would probably be similar for me against an athletic 20 year old criminal sociopath. That means I need to strike first and do something quickly to inflict a lot of pain to create enough separation to access my weapon.

I agree with that, but I think that's different than knocking around old guys with physical issues on the mat.

Absolutely, but being fit isn't the same as wrestling on the mat with a bad hip or a pacemaker.

I do like the idea 7shooter had about fingers in nose to create pain.

Good discussion. I'll stop beating a dead horse.

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Vegan by proxy.