Did the unthinkable (my Aikido journey)
- Thread starter TDWoj
- Start date
It's not the fall that hurts - it's coming to a sudden stop! 
That's why one learns to roll, not fall. (Although one of the instructors has been threatening to teach an entire session just on break falls. Ow.)
One of my classmates said the mat is my friend, and I should learn to snuggle up to it.
(sigh)
Another class tomorrow. I wonder if I'll still be able to do a backward roll? Oh, yes, please!
That's why one learns to roll, not fall. (Although one of the instructors has been threatening to teach an entire session just on break falls. Ow.)One of my classmates said the mat is my friend, and I should learn to snuggle up to it.
(sigh)
Another class tomorrow. I wonder if I'll still be able to do a backward roll? Oh, yes, please!
shihonage
New Member
I remember when after a year or two I was thnking I was such a hotshot. I was walking down the street, fully confident that if I trip, I am going to roll on reflex.
Then something happened. I tripped - and half a second later the fall was broken my smashing my knee and elbow against the ground. I yelled "****ing **** **** !" or something along those lines.
For some reason I didn't roll. I looked at my feet - there was a plastic circle encasing my feet. Turns out I stepped into a plastic circle with both feet, which made me fall like a cutdown tree.
Try rolling with your feet tied together - its just not gonna happen.
I should've been aware of whats around me instead of counting on my ability to roll.
Then something happened. I tripped - and half a second later the fall was broken my smashing my knee and elbow against the ground. I yelled "****ing **** **** !" or something along those lines.
For some reason I didn't roll. I looked at my feet - there was a plastic circle encasing my feet. Turns out I stepped into a plastic circle with both feet, which made me fall like a cutdown tree.
Try rolling with your feet tied together - its just not gonna happen.
I should've been aware of whats around me instead of counting on my ability to roll.
Amos Stevens
New Member
Maybe you're out of practice shihonage?
I heard similiar tales about learning to roll properly helping against injury...a child of Aikido playing sports or just plain out playing has fallen on occassion & both times rolled out of it without injury
I heard similiar tales about learning to roll properly helping against injury...a child of Aikido playing sports or just plain out playing has fallen on occassion & both times rolled out of it without injury
shihonage
New Member
I roll on concrete for fun. In fact I specifically made myself roll on concrete years ago to get ready for sudden rolls on "uncomfortable surfaces" if such a thing should occur.
The truth is, there are circumstances which can make a roll undesireable. Sometimes it is better to just stop the fall with your hands, or do something else entirely. It all depends on what made you fall and what exactly you're falling into.
The truth is, there are circumstances which can make a roll undesireable. Sometimes it is better to just stop the fall with your hands, or do something else entirely. It all depends on what made you fall and what exactly you're falling into.
shihonage said:
Oh, I'm sure if I took a tumble outside of class, I'd go splat. Heck, I go splat on the mat. I keep smashing my knee into the mat, and you're not supposed to do that. My problem is that I simply do not have the flexibility to bring my centre down far enough, and the stiff hip doesn't help.
Practice, practice, practice. <sigh>
I'm still having fun - though I have REALLY got to start learning the terms. I have a feeling that's part of the test...
(Test? Somebody said there's a test? I hate taking tests!)
shihonage
New Member
A good thing about Aikido is that you can often find workarounds for things you cannot otherwise do. It takes a while to adapt Aikido to your particular body type, and the way YOU do things is not going to look exactly like the way instructor does them.
If you can't reach down far enough, maybe you should try bending your knees just before the roll. Not to the point where youre standing there trying to sustain your weight on bent knees, but just as you're about to roll, bend your front knee and roll...
Also try swinging the rear leg backwards as you're about to go... and of course tuck your head in ...
This is not guaranteed to help, but I've seen so many different ways of doing things, there HAS to be a workaround for the problem you're experiencing now.
If you can't reach down far enough, maybe you should try bending your knees just before the roll. Not to the point where youre standing there trying to sustain your weight on bent knees, but just as you're about to roll, bend your front knee and roll...
Also try swinging the rear leg backwards as you're about to go... and of course tuck your head in ...
This is not guaranteed to help, but I've seen so many different ways of doing things, there HAS to be a workaround for the problem you're experiencing now.
Jules
Potters Clay
TD....come on girl!!!
So....how does that make me better than you? You are better than me....you are taking the class not me. Does it make you stupid for taking the class? Absolutely NOT!!! Makes me the chicken!!
I guess I fit in on my farm. :indiffere 
I like you TD, and the last thing I would want to do is insult you. I just wish I could figure out how to be funny on this forum and not have it blow up in my face so much. I like trying to make people laugh.
You should know me by now. I had told you before I have a lot of respect for you for going ahead with this class your taking because (me the coward) I have a fear of falling, no matter how you "land."TDWoj said:
So....how does that make me better than you? You are better than me....you are taking the class not me. Does it make you stupid for taking the class? Absolutely NOT!!! Makes me the chicken!!
I guess I fit in on my farm. :indiffere I like you TD, and the last thing I would want to do is insult you. I just wish I could figure out how to be funny on this forum and not have it blow up in my face so much. I like trying to make people laugh.
shihonage said:
At the moment, it's a case of too many cooks. One instructor tells me one thing. I practice it at the next class, but the instructor for the next class asks, "why are you doing it that way?" and suggests a different way.
So I try it a different way. Then the instructor in the next class... and so it goes.
At the moment, I'm just concentrating on forward rolls from the kneeling position and backward rolls from the kneeling position. My problem is that in one version of the kneeling position, where one knee is up, the knee crashes down on the mat before my shoulder. That's because I can't get my shoulder down and my back leg up far enough to avoid having the knee hit the mat.
The backward roll is more of an issue of momentum. I did a couple on Tuesday - interestingly, I think because on Tuesday, I wasn't in pain. On Thursday, when I tried it, various parts of my body were still very sore and I simply didn't have the momentum because of it.
I think I know why, though; my chiropractor suggested that I take an Advil or other anti-inflammatory before bed to help with the healing during sleep process, and I ran out earlier in the week. I found that it really was helping as regards how much pain I was in in the morning and then throughout the day. On Tuesday, when I wasn't in pain, I could do the back roll. When I'm in pain, though, I tend to be less able to do things.
I continue to practice, though. I'm hoping at some point either my leg will start cooperating, or my weight will start to go down, and my flexibility will improve. It's only been six weeks; I'm not expecting miracles, but I do wish I was getting on a bit faster!
I've had twenty classes. At forty I'm supposed to do my first test. Yikes! I need to fudge the books.....
shihonage
New Member
Yeah there's that "one instructor says one thing, the other says another" syndrome. I don't think it ever goes away. They may be teaching the same technique but stressing different aspects of it. That's the "proper" way of looking at it, I think.
In the beginning, before you have become friends with your body to some degree, it is important to do it in ALL the ways they show, because it opens your mind to how adaptive each technique really should be. It will throw you for a loop sometimes, and things will stop working that worked before, but it is all a part of expanding your perception of what a technique is.
In the beginning, before you have become friends with your body to some degree, it is important to do it in ALL the ways they show, because it opens your mind to how adaptive each technique really should be. It will throw you for a loop sometimes, and things will stop working that worked before, but it is all a part of expanding your perception of what a technique is.
Amos Stevens
New Member
Thought I would check to see how TD is doing in her training?
Getting along... getting along. I missed yesterday's class (the first one!) because I wasn't feeling well. (Just came back from a horrible session at the dentist's, the result of which left me very ill and nauseous, and decided it would be best to stay home rather than risk hurling my cookies all over the dojo floor.)
Still rolling like a cardboard box, alas.
The stiffness in my right hip is proving to be a real problem when it comes to rolling. I can do a forward roll - sort of - over my left shoulder without banging my knee on the floor (this is an improvement), but doing a forward roll over my right shoulder is a problem because of the stiff hip. I can't get my "centre" down far enough to roll onto my shoulder - I keep falling on it instead, and I've spent the last couple of days not being able to breathe really well because of it.
Almost did a backwards roll. Almost. That bugs me because a few weeks ago I actually did do one properly but haven't been able to do it since.
I do some of the techniques quite well, except when it's my turn to be uke. I'm still terrified my own weight is going to kill me and I still don't "relax" enough not to injure myself. There's one fellow I simply will not work with because he's too rough for the level I'm at, at the moment. Maybe later; but not now. Right now it's "gently, please" until I get more proficient at not killing myself falling down.
This is, of course, going to take time.
I hate missing a class, but it's probably a good thing I did. I have some minor hurts that need healing (one of which not caused by aikido, but because I stupidly put on an old pair of shoes that yanked my knee out of position and now my knee hurts like crazy). I worry, though, that having missed one class, it will be so easy to miss the next one, and the next one....
One of the hardest things to learn is the name of the moves. As each move gets more complicated, the name gets more complicated, and having to remember them is turning my brain into porridge! "Ten kan" and "han meh" (closest approximation in English) are the only two that have stuck so far. I'm feeling so stupid....
It's going to be a few years before I can take the 6th kyu test. Years! Well, I knew it would take a while. I just get so frustrated that my body is letting me down all over the place.
Anyway, there's a class on Thursday, so I hope all little aches and pains are sorted before then. I don't want to find another excuse not to go!
Still rolling like a cardboard box, alas.
The stiffness in my right hip is proving to be a real problem when it comes to rolling. I can do a forward roll - sort of - over my left shoulder without banging my knee on the floor (this is an improvement), but doing a forward roll over my right shoulder is a problem because of the stiff hip. I can't get my "centre" down far enough to roll onto my shoulder - I keep falling on it instead, and I've spent the last couple of days not being able to breathe really well because of it.
Almost did a backwards roll. Almost. That bugs me because a few weeks ago I actually did do one properly but haven't been able to do it since.
I do some of the techniques quite well, except when it's my turn to be uke. I'm still terrified my own weight is going to kill me and I still don't "relax" enough not to injure myself. There's one fellow I simply will not work with because he's too rough for the level I'm at, at the moment. Maybe later; but not now. Right now it's "gently, please" until I get more proficient at not killing myself falling down.
This is, of course, going to take time.
I hate missing a class, but it's probably a good thing I did. I have some minor hurts that need healing (one of which not caused by aikido, but because I stupidly put on an old pair of shoes that yanked my knee out of position and now my knee hurts like crazy). I worry, though, that having missed one class, it will be so easy to miss the next one, and the next one....
One of the hardest things to learn is the name of the moves. As each move gets more complicated, the name gets more complicated, and having to remember them is turning my brain into porridge! "Ten kan" and "han meh" (closest approximation in English) are the only two that have stuck so far. I'm feeling so stupid....
It's going to be a few years before I can take the 6th kyu test. Years! Well, I knew it would take a while. I just get so frustrated that my body is letting me down all over the place.
Anyway, there's a class on Thursday, so I hope all little aches and pains are sorted before then. I don't want to find another excuse not to go!
Ryan of Yamaguchi
Member
Congratulations on starting Aikido! No matter who you are or how old you are there is no better time to start than now...
I actually started training when I was in 3rd grade in Aikikai in Iwakuni, Japan. I was a runt and used to get beat up just about every day. I would hide in the nurse's office and talk to her during recess to avoid the arse whupin's. She was in her late 60's and she started talking to me about Aikido and eventually my parents brought me to the school she trained at and it all began from there. I have to say, despite her age and frailty (she was skin an bones) to this day I have never seen anyone perform kotegaeshi better...
Unfortunately I haven't been able to train in months because of a hernia I suffered during a particulary nasty breakfall.
I actually started training when I was in 3rd grade in Aikikai in Iwakuni, Japan. I was a runt and used to get beat up just about every day. I would hide in the nurse's office and talk to her during recess to avoid the arse whupin's. She was in her late 60's and she started talking to me about Aikido and eventually my parents brought me to the school she trained at and it all began from there. I have to say, despite her age and frailty (she was skin an bones) to this day I have never seen anyone perform kotegaeshi better...
Unfortunately I haven't been able to train in months because of a hernia I suffered during a particulary nasty breakfall.
Amos Stevens
New Member
Sorry to hear about your "dentist" visit...hang in there-even cardboard boxes blow around in the wind