I may be a little off topic, but how do you find the time to train outside of your work life? I feel like I have "aged" (at this point it probably is reversible through training) super-fast in the past few years given that I spend almost all my waking ours at work/getting to work/ working on something.
Also what kind of basic training would you recommend for general energy and energetic level. Something that could be done at home/ in a cell with no material would be appreciated. I am aware that it's probably not going to have extreme effects if it's low-time, no material, and self-taught but probably better than nothing...
I would say that the key here is cardiovascular training to improve overall fitness, more subtler methods like
qigong will require a good teacher. You could start with running in place for warm-up, then add an interval where you raise your knees as high as possible while still running, then returning to your regular place, knees up again and so on. Calisthenics like pushups, situps, the plank, burpees, or bodyweight exercises in general are good ways to counter age-related muscle loss which starts around 30 (
). In this context, you might want to check out Gynástica natural which mimicks animal movements, a very effective system in my opinion.
If you do want to invest in equipment, get some kettlebells, they're much more versatile than freeweights. Or simply fill a sturdy bag with some water bottles to get a similar effect – lift it in various ways, let it circle around your body, your legs, etc.
If you already have an MA background, you could practice basic techniques at home, if not, you could try light shadow boxing and basic boxing footwork in order to get agile again – duck, bob and weave, evade, that sort of thing. I wouldn't recommend the formal drills of Asian martial arts like karate though, I know from my experience as an instructor that beginners often make mistakes they don't even notice themselves, and mistakes can spell injuries, esp. with kicks.
Strength and cardio will go a long way in the MA, don't believe those who say that good technique is everything.
