Why would he? His reason for training was to compete in the Tenkaichi Budokai against Goku and Krillin. After they stopped attending, what reason would he have to keep at it? He wouldn't do it just to keep up and help defend the Earth because he never participates in that outside of Piccolo Daimao.
Even when he fought the Red Ribbon Army, he only did it because they arrived on his doorstep, and was only willing to do it a second time because Goku was going to their headquarters and he wanted to stop Goku from getting himself killed.
He doesn't fight Raditz. He doesn't fight the Saiyans. He doesn't go to Namek. He doesn't show up when Frieza lands. He doesn't fight the Androids or Cell. He doesn't compete in the 24th, 24.5thHey or 25th Tenkaichi Budokai. He doesn't get involved with Buu.
Kame-sennin was a great mentor to Goku, Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien but he was retired when Goku met him and he went right back into retirement after Piccolo Daimao was defeated.
edited 22nd Apr '16 10:17:15 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.He didn't need to train since he was the strongest man in the world so far as he knew, but then his students made him want to train again. There's no reason he had to stop. You might as well ask why Tien keeps training even though he hasn't really mattered since Nappa at best, and that's being generous.
He didn't need to train because he didn't care about anything that would require him to be a formidable warrior. He was an old man living alone on an island putting obscure magic artifacts indicative of a lifetime of adventure to mundane uses.
Tien has every reason to train because it's his hobby. Like Goku, it's what he's passionate about. Being a martial artist is literally his entire identity, so he keeps at it regardless of the fact that he'll never be the best. It's all he is.
Kame-sennin doesn't need "powerful martial artist" to be his identity. It hasn't been his identity in a very long time. He is a wise old master, but it's not what defines him. It's a character trait, but was only a motivation until his pupils could stand on their own; even then, he didn't even want to train Goku and Krillin in the first place.
edited 22nd Apr '16 10:24:36 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Stuff about episodes 42-45 came out.
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- 42: Finally, the confrontation with Monaka!?
- 43: Having a hard time taking care of Pan - AKA the episode Arale's appearing in.
- 44: The Secret of the Sacred Water - Ya know, the stuff Korin has in the back.
- 45: The Wonder of Copy-Vegeta - What the hell is happening in this episode!?
At this point, Kame-sennin is basically Goku and Krillin's dad more than he is a wise old master. They respect him and Krillin crashes on his couch when he needs a place to stay, but he's retired, they're adults now, and everyone has their own life to lead.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.So he can't train in martial arts simply because he wants to do it? If he had no interest in martial arts he never would have become a man who could teach Krillin and Goku to begin with. It's not like he's as serious about it as Tien either. I do think it's pointless to include him, but I don't see why it would necessarily be out of character.
Enough to significantly impact his battle power to the extent that saying, "The Frieza Soldiers can't even handle Kame-sennin" would not be considered a huge mark against their ability? No, he can't. That's not doing it every once in a while to remember his glory days. That is actively power-training to catch up to the others and we've never been given any indication that Kame-sennin has any desire to do that.
The idea that he's been secretly training and keeping up with the likes of Tien and Krillin for the last 15 years is an Ass Pull.
Exactly that. I know we all shit on Yamcha because Chiaotzu is so weak as to basically be irrelevant, but Chiaotzu clocked in at 610 when Nappa and Vegeta landed, which is 4.4x more powerful than Kame-sennin's 139. After being trained by God, Chiaotzu could fight circles around Kame-sennin.
And he's been consistently training with Tien ever since. Kame-sennin, on the other hand, has has spent his time watching aerobics videos for the erotic poses involved.
edited 22nd Apr '16 11:00:01 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.To be fair, Roshi had the poorest showing in that fight. If it had gone on any longer, he would have been in a lot of trouble.
Let the joy of love give you an answer! Check out my book!True. He definitely wouldn't be able to handle all of them at once. But he was easily subduing individual grunts, which is where I got my Red Ribbon comparison.
edited 22nd Apr '16 11:04:17 AM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Um....
What if he kept training for the possibility of other people coming to train with him?
Guys like Hercule / Mr. Satan who can still get a lot stronger and all that.
But yeah, that's the big thing: Roshi can't be there if Yamcha and Chiaotzu aren't. Since Toriyama wrote the script, he actively decided he didn't want Yamcha there, which is a dick move.
Now that I've said that, I should point out that the fight against Raditz was initially going to be Goku, Krillin and Roshi, before Piccolo subbed in, and I think that if they'd gotten there in time, they'd have tried to help in the fight as well. They just didn't arrive in time.
One Strip! One Strip!That's pretty much what it boils down to. I can understand Chiaotzu being snubbed because he's basically a fashion accessory for Tien at this point, but saying that Yamcha is too weak for foes that Kame-sennin is making short work of is taking the Yamcha-bashing too far.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.What's worse, it's making it an in-universe thing. I thought it was mostly the West that ripped on Yamcha (Japan has the death pose, but that's about it), but now they are actively snubbing him over a much weaker character.
I mean, other Mangaka have their favourites, and don't always use the characters they do have to their fullest, but I feel like they don't actively snub their characters and toss them under the bus the way Toriyama does.
But maybe that's because he doesn't really plan out proper arcs for them all the time.
One Strip! One Strip!I want Yamcha and Ox-King to save the day by being the best cooks in the universe.
Toriyama says they are, and I want to see them actually do something with that.
Between the Saiyans, Majin Buu and Beerus, there's a rather large percentage of planetary and cosmic threats that could be overcome by cooking good enough food for them.
edited 22nd Apr '16 12:17:51 PM by unnoun
The way to a planet-killing alien horror's heart is through his stomach.
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Well yeah. The stomach's all soft, so if you punch through there, you can avoid the ribs. After that, you just gotta reach up and...
~Ducks a brick~
.....Oh. Not what you meant. My bad.
One Strip! One Strip!It just didn't seem as important at the time.
Rules of the Internet 45. Rule 45 is a lie. Check out my art if you notice.That is true.
Then again, maybe he was saving his full power for Frieza, especially since he didn't know if he could properly handle Super Saiyan anymore.
Though I'd argue it was another artificial attempt to create tension by nerfing Gohan so that Goku and Vegeta could save the day.
edited 22nd Apr '16 2:59:11 PM by HandsomeRob
One Strip! One Strip!And then you remember that he can do the exact same thing he did to the Cell Jrs., that is, hunt them down and kill them one by one.
Remember: Roshi and Krillin were fast enough to have an entire fight in like a second back when they first fought at the tournament.
himitsu keisatsu seifu chokuzoku kokka hoanbu na no da himitsu keisatsu yami ni magireru supai katsudou torishimari

Which is also more consistent with his character. He's been outclassed since Piccolo Daimao had him killed offscreen. Despite this, he showed up to fight the Saiyans. He went to Namek and fought the Ginyu Force and Frieza. He took the detonator to the island where Cell was trying to absorb Android 18. He even flied out to Babidi's Spaceship with Goku, Vegeta, Gohan, and Piccolo.
He's been afraid on multiple occasions as a consequence of the fact that he keeps getting involved with foes that can obliterate him with a thought, but he's always been there and he's always at least tried. Krillin has never been the character to say, "No, I can't do this, I'm not strong enough, someone else take over."
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.