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1. You can practice up until you are confined to your deathbed.
Training in a way you get banged around is not so long and definitely individual. This is more of a young peoples thing. However the flashy, end with a thump falls, are not necessary for good aikido. They're fun and can be a good learning experience in some ways, but as you gain skill you can also learn to hit the mat lighter and lighter. You ask, "but what if some youngster throws you really hard". Well, by the time you've studied aikido long enough to not want to take thumpy falls, you'll be so good that nobody can throw you in anyway that you don't want to fall.
2. I have rumors of people in their nineties. I know people in their seventies who have studied 50 years or more. They simply become more awesome each year.
Paul
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