my aikido journey in aikido

[TDWoj]

haaaaaaaahhhhhaaaaa! Done in by the Gi

You have no idea...

-TD, Michelin Woman when she's wearing hers

P.S. Hey, ad_adrian, when do we get to see a picture of you doing your stuff?

 

[ad_adrian]

tdwoj,

i know everyone has different opinions on things but i beleive u should definatly master the breakfall's straight up otherwise how can u fall properly when being the uke doing a basic technique?
oh and i will try and get some pic's or a video for you guys hey.

Adrian

 

[shihonage]

tdwoj,

i know everyone has different opinions on things but i beleive u should definatly master the breakfall's straight up otherwise how can u fall properly when being the uke doing a basic technique?
oh and i will try and get some pic's or a video for you guys hey.

Adrian

You can't skip rolling and go "mastering" the breakfalls. Master the rolls first.

 

[ad_adrian]

lesson 8,

it was more of a smaller class today only 20 or so people i really enjoyed it even though we just trained on one technique the whole hour it was enjoyable and im getting more and more used to it.
oh and definatly got to master the rolls...we did rolls first...i find the rolls pretty easy i suppose doing them all the time as a kid helps out
i did my gi up a little bit better but its still hard the pants keep falling and the belt keeps getting lose...anyone got any hints for it?
adrian

 

[TDWoj]

You can't skip rolling and go "mastering" the breakfalls. Master the rolls first.

That's how they do it in my dojo. Breakfalls are dangerous and you can injure yourself pretty seriously if you don't do them correctly. A breakfall is essentially a forward roll that stops suddenly instead of allowing the momentum of the throw to carry you all the way through. If you don't know how to do a forward roll properly, you can do some serious damage to your shoulders and back if you do a breakfall improperly. (Like me, on Monday - I did a breakfall unintentionally, and man, are my shoulders making me pay for it today.)

tdwoj,
i know everyone has different opinions on things but i beleive u should definatly master the breakfall's straight up otherwise how can u fall properly when being the uke doing a basic technique?

Rolling IS falling properly. Actually, it's falling safely. It's allowing you to disperse the momentum of the throw. Some throws, like koshinage, can ONLY end in a breakfall. Others can be either a breakfall or a roll.

I think maybe because your dojo teaches Yoshinkan, they might be teaching you to run before you can crawl. From your description, and I may be getting the wrong impression, but it strikes me that everything is "fast fast fast", both in teaching and expectations of learning. As I understand aikido, it isn't how fast you learn something - it's how well you know it. That's why it takes a minimum of 7 years to earn a black belt.

I just don't want to see you get injured. Again, my impression of how you describe things there, I'm wondering if they'd even let you continue classes if you couldn't, for example, fall for a while. In my place, they were very patient while I waited for my injury to heal. I still did all the techniques - but when I was uke, I didn't fall. (What I did do, though, was prepare myself for falling - meaning I'd go so far down, but not all the way down. Now that I'm back into full practice, I actually do better falls than before I got injured, despite not falling for nearly two months.)

I'm not saying the way you're being taught is wrong - it's just a different school, obviously. I'm just suggesting that you remember that you can only go at your pace - you don't need to go at the pace of students who've been doing it for a lot longer than you have - and that those you practice with need to respect that.

 

[ad_adrian]

lesson 9,

the hardest lesson i have had to date ,
it was katamochi ikkajo osae ni
getting the lock at the end was increadibly hard it took me all lesson to even understand to getting it right....even then im sure not all of it is right...im afraid im slowing down the learning process for all the others and im afraid im fustrating them i just have to keep training . sometimes i wonder why do the black belts come to the basic lessons...when they r so good at it and really all they r doing is teaching others...is that why? to teach others?
anyhow i am learning! and there is so much to learn!!! arg!!!
Adrian

 

[TDWoj]

lesson 9,

the hardest lesson i have had to date ,
it was katamochi ikkajo osae ni
getting the lock at the end was increadibly hard it took me all lesson to even understand to getting it right....even then im sure not all of it is right...im afraid im slowing down the learning process for all the others and im afraid im fustrating them i just have to keep training . sometimes i wonder why do the black belts come to the basic lessons...when they r so good at it and really all they r doing is teaching others...is that why? to teach others?
anyhow i am learning! and there is so much to learn!!! arg!!!
Adrian

That's the worry I have, when I go to class, that I'm slow and that I'm slowing other people down. However, I've undergone a bit of a mental shift on that score - I consider myself a good lesson for the more experienced.

If you do techniques too fast, that's a good way of getting them wrong. Being forced to work with me, my partner HAS to slow down. It's amazing how often my partner, when in slowing down, realises they have been doing the technique incorrectly. Last night, for example, we were doing a technique that my partner, a 3rd kyu and a whiz at everything, got wrong, because he'd been doing it too fast. The instructor noted his error, corrected his technique and off we went. And it was all down to the fact that I had to slow him down.

There is so much to learn! I'm having a lot of trouble with pins at the moment. I think when the instructor asks, "any questions", I'll ask to have the pins demonstrated more slowly.

It's all practice, practice, practice - the thing to remember is that even the black belts were beginners once! That makes them a lot less scary when faced with one in practice.

 

[Amos Stevens]

Dont feel that you're holding the class back TD..as in every walk of life,people progress at their own pace.Can't learn properly if you try to short cut

 

[ad_adrian]

thanks for all your support guys,
lesson 10,

quite an enjoyable lesson...i am really loving aikdio...its becoming apart of my life already, im getting more confident with my breakfalls today...i was doing them pretty well....the rolls are coming along ok! going 4 times a week pay's off...hey td how often do you go??
i'd go 6 days a week but as i work it kind of cuts that down to only 4..
Adrian

 

[Littledragon]

First day

My thoughts of it after getting out of the class…wow…. there is so much to learn.
It’s a lot harder then I thought and its amazing some of the techniques they teach you.
Its all in Japanese and its very tough but everyone is very nice I just hope I get used to it quick. I have so much to do and so far to go. I was tired just after the warm up.
Looking forward to Thursday

How long did it take for u guys to get used to it? What did u guys think of ur first go…did u get used to it?

Adrian

Sorry I wasn't here earlier to congratulate you. Martial Arts is a great activity in one's life. It helps calm stress, ehances your ability phsycially and mentally. Stick with it and keep us updated.

 

[TDWoj]

thanks for all your support guys,
lesson 10,

quite an enjoyable lesson...i am really loving aikdio...its becoming apart of my life already, im getting more confident with my breakfalls today...i was doing them pretty well....the rolls are coming along ok! going 4 times a week pay's off...hey td how often do you go??
i'd go 6 days a week but as i work it kind of cuts that down to only 4..
Adrian

I usually go four times a week - my poor, ancient, decripit body won't take much more than that!

 

[ad_adrian]

lesson 11,
i have dragged along my brother to do the introductory course...i have had to teach him heaps of stuff hey...after only going for a month...i thought i knew so little (and i do in prespective of what i have yet to learn ahhh) but i actually knew quite a bit to when i started i didnt think i had learned so much...so i have had to teach my brother quite a bit...he is finding it fustrating...lets just hope he keeps it up and doesnt give up like most ppl do...ppl that keep going will succeed in life.
this class was the busiest i have seen...there were so many ppl here...over 50 ppl struggling to fit on the mats and all do their moves...even though it worked out pretty well...the dojo is quite bit...the tecnique took me ages to get used to it...even now i am shaky on it....ah well i just need heaps of time to get used to it so i can get some confidence and be good with it

Adrian

 

[TDWoj]

That's good, Adrian! See how you feel when you reach 69 classes, like I did last night!

 

[ad_adrian]

lesson 12,
the most embarrasing lesson eva, i was going pretty good learning the tecnique untill they actually threw me...and i had to do the rolls...first time i kind of just landed on my butt did it totaly wrong....second time i landed completely on my face didnt even turn ova....everyone was asking me if i was ok etc....the only thing i can think of doing is keep practicing my rolls but even when i practice them alone i can just do them but when someone throws me its increadibly hard i always do it wrong....like totaly wrong..i dont know why can anyone give me some valuable advice???
im pretty sure another 2 ppl who were at my introductory course a couple have quit...so many ppl give it up in the first 2 months :s
so a discouraging lesson today

adrian

 

[TDWoj]

What you can do is ask your partner to do the technique slowly enough so that you can get yourself into position to do the roll correctly. For forward rolls, the easiest way to remember what roll to do is whatever leg is on the outside (forward), that's the shoulder you roll over. If you're doing a forward roll and the outside leg is the left leg, then you're rolling over your left shoulder.

For backward rolls, it's the same thing, only in reverse. My outside leg is the right leg - I step back with the left, leaving the right knee up, so it's over the right shoulder I should go. (Since I can't do simple back rolls, I end up doing ushiro my yoko kaitan, which is a little different.)

What I did while my back was healing was when doing a technique that required a forward roll, I'd get as far as getting into position, just to get the feel of it. That is, getting one arm down as far as the mat, knee bent, back leg up but not far enough to actually tip over. That gave me the sense of where my body needed to be when it came time to roll. Mind you, my technique is terrible, and I tend to go kerplunk whilst everyone else is as smooth as a wheel, but at least I've figured out which way to fall, even if I don't do it right.

 

[ad_adrian]

thanks td wog thats great advice...i just have to remember it....

although putting into practice is another thing

 

[TDWoj]

Just get your partner to do the technique slowly enough so that you can get into the right position. After doing it a hundred times in slow motion, your body will remember what to do when it comes time to do it faster.

 

[ad_adrian]

lesson 13,
in interesting lesson i was getting used to the techniques and was doing alright just learning going pretty good i though...one thing out of the ordanairy was a girl i partnered up with at the end she was also instructing a kids class but the attitude she gave of was your pathetic....she really didnt care what i did at all. ruined the lesson for me..but apart from that everything went aok! im practicing my forward rolls as much as i can just do them by my self...doing them while getting flipped is another story any advice
Adrian

 

[Aikilove]

Yes, practice...
Seriously look at TD's thread. There are lots of advices regarding rolling there.

/J

 

[TDWoj]

lesson 13,
in interesting lesson i was getting used to the techniques and was doing alright just learning going pretty good i though...one thing out of the ordanairy was a girl i partnered up with at the end she was also instructing a kids class but the attitude she gave of was your pathetic....she really didnt care what i did at all. ruined the lesson for me..but apart from that everything went aok! im practicing my forward rolls as much as i can just do them by my self...doing them while getting flipped is another story any advice
Adrian

Take it slow. Nage is required to go at uke's pace - not the other way around. If you're getting the rolls right in ukemi practice, then you're already halfway there. Remember: outside leg = shoulder you're going to roll over (for my kaitan or ushiro my kaitan - simple forward and backward rolls).

And just remember - no matter how experienced your partner is, they were once a beginner as well. If they've forgotten that, then it's as much your responsibility to teach them as it is for them to teach you.

Your pace - not theirs.