my aikido journey in aikido

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
thanks td wog...im slowly getting used to the rolling by my self...but the whole getting thrown thing when you cant really free ur arm is hard and they throw u werid....:(

lesson 14,
it was the easiest lesson we had as we're going 9th kyu training...
we didnt get through it all but what i did to was pretty easy.....all i gotta do is remember it
adrian
 

TDWoj

Administrator
Staff member
How do you mean, you can't free your arm? I'm just curious - I know that when I'm thrown, I have a hard time staying connected to nage long enough to get a good position for the roll (stupid wrists that don't bend).
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
as in...they have the arm that i have to flip ova so i cant roll on the arm i have to like flip in the air
 

TDWoj

Administrator
Staff member
Well, what you've just described sounds like a breakfall, not a roll, although the initial entry for the two are the same. You still have to bring the arm down in a soft curve up from the wrist. Try doing my yoko kaiten instead of a breakfall. You don't need both hands for that.

I don't know - it just sounds too bloody dangerous for a beginner, at least for me it does. That's why in my dojo they don't teach breakfalls until 4th or 3rd kyu.
 

Aikilove

Old member aikidoka
TD. You become good at what you train, right. So if you train breakfalls you become good at the. Problem is how do you train breakfall as a beginner? Solution - Crash mat!
We are very ukemi contious in our dojo. We train probably 50% ukemi in the beginning. And as soon as 3rd or 4th time, we bring out the crash mat and let them have a go at it.
Even if we don't start using breakfalls for a while, we train them on the crash mat. In this way, whenever someone is ready they can try to take a breakfall instead of a roll during a throw.
Our beginners classes are quite popular even for advanced students, since they can improve there ukemi skills there (and feel good about themselves compared with beginners ;) ).

/J
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
lesson 15
still kyu training much better didnt have any rooksters...
i hope with enough training i will be ready for the grading...
my brother is going pretty good in the introductory course
my rolls r getting better...still bad but at least i can kind of do them
adrian
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
lesson 16.... still 9th kyu training
i can practally do it all...just the hard thing is to remember it....and know the names to when they call it.....arg
adrian
 

TDWoj

Administrator
Staff member
Learning the names of the techniques is the hardest part! I end up linking my own nicknames to things as an aide-memoire. For example, I call iriminage the "snuggle".

We got a little package when we signed up (well, I didn't get mine until just recently, not knowing the package was there to get), and it came with a little glossary, and a sheet of drawings with the various techniques outlined, as well as test requirements, dojo etiquette and things specific to my dojo. I've seen at least one of the drawings used on an aikido website, so it must be from a book. I guess I should start crusing the bookstores...

I'm slowly learning the terms and can recognise the moves, but I always draw a blank when it comes time to perform them! Right now I know (the words in quotes are my own names for the techniques, which helps me remember what the Japanese names for the techniques are):

my kaiten (forward roll)
ushiro kaiten (backward roll)
ushiro gyoko kaiten ("popcorn roll")
shihonage ("under the bridge")
koshinage ("over the hip")
iriminage (the "snuggle", or "up close and personal")
kotegaeshi ("wrist bender")
nikkyo ("wrist breaker")
tsuki (that one's easy - it's just a straight-in punch to the midriff)
gyokomenuchi (sword cut/chop to the neck)
shomenuchi (sword cut/chop to the centre of the head)
tenshinage (heaven and earth - that's actually what's called, by the way)

Me, I have to see the words written out before I remember them and can visualise them in my mind, so it was really helpful having the glossary.
 

TDWoj

Administrator
Staff member
Sgurd Ekoms said:
How long have you been doing aikido, TDWoj?

Did you know Japanese before hand?

I've been doing aikido for 5 and a half months. No, I didn't know Japanese before hand (except for a few words); the meanings that I put in quotes above I apply to the techniques as a way of remembering what the techniques are, and are not what the words actually mean.
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
lesson 17....still 9th kyu training it fustrates me because i want to learn the whole 9th kyu training but we have new members every time so i do not get to do what i want...
thanks td woj hopefully i will start remembering what to say....i have one week to learn the whole of 9th kyu...
10th kyu is the first kyu u can do but because its black belt grading if sensei approves your training you can skip one kyu
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
lesson 18 & 19
the basic class was boring once again did not get anywhere as to the new people...what fustrates me is this woman who just started who is i'd say 60 odd...and she just doesnt get it she's so slow...and no matter how many times the instructor or i tell her she just doesnt get it.... i was fustrated by my lack of progress during the basic lesson so i decided i'd grow some balls and do the advanced class...im glad i did i finally got some quality time doing what i wanted and learnt a bit. for the next week while we're doing kyu training i will stay for the advanced classes

adrian
 

TDWoj

Administrator
Staff member
Hey! It takes some of us old girls a little longer to learn things! :D That's part of the spiritual side of learning aikido - to not only be patient with yourself, but also with others. Not an easy thing to learn, as I've discovered!

Age isn't (or shouldn't be) an issue; some people just take longer to learn how to do things than others (like me, for instance!).

Taking advanced classes is good, though consider, then, that might make you the slowpoke to the advanced students! :D :D :D
 

GlimmerMan

Huge Member
I had one lesson in Aikido a while back, and the sensei sneered at me because I had trained in kickboxing, which "is not a real martial art". I think he thought I was some kind of thug. Ha! The only reason why I went to the lesson was because of Seagal, but the sensei's attitude put me off. He did allow me to beat him with a large pole though.
 

shihonage

New Member
GlimmerMan said:
I had one lesson in Aikido a while back, and the sensei sneered at me because I had trained in kickboxing, which "is not a real martial art". I think he thought I was some kind of thug. Ha! The only reason why I went to the lesson was because of Seagal, but the sensei's attitude put me off. He did allow me to beat him with a large pole though.

People like that do no good for image of Aikido. For all I know you could've beaten the **** out of that "Sensei" and remove that smirk from his face real fast. After he gets out of intensive care, maybe he'll get some respect for full-contact martial arts.

There are dojos like this everywhere. In San Francisco there's an Aikido dojo which will go unnamed where they talk a lot about peace and harmony while delivering attacks which wouldn't even hurt a toddler, and then dancing through the technique which "deals" with this worthless attack.

An acquaintance of mine, who has been studying and teaching Judo, Karate, and various forms of boxing for 40 years, visited that dojo. He visited for a month, and quit because he got extremely sick of the smirky condescending 5th degree blackbelts telling HIM that he wasn't punching correctly. I guess he wasn't "harmonious" enough for them.
Excuse me, but isn't Aikido's purpose is to learn to deal harmoniously with violent attacks ? Thats what makes it an art. Dealing harmoniously with HARMONIOUS attacks is no challenge.

A student from my dojo also visited the above dojo, where first they started telling her that she wasn't punching correctly (she's one of the people who likes to give sincere attacks and a pleasure to train with), and then, apparently to teach her some kind of a lesson, a black belt paired up with her during kokyu-dosa exercise and hung on to her wrists with all his strength.
Little did he know that we DO work with some degree of resistance, AND that she is an avid weightlifter. She picked him up and flipped him. He immediately started whining that "she used her strength".

That is how delusional and distanced from reality some dojos become. They become a cult of wannabe moral elitists who think they're above everyone else, fall for each other, and patronize people who actually practice sincere Aikido.
Oh, and of course, they patronize people who practice the "MORALLY INFERIOR" arts like boxing, kickboxing, Judo, etc.
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
odviously that dojo isnt very good gilmmer man that was like kung fu i went to..everyone there was disrespectfull and didnt care very much
lesson 20 and 21,
kyu training...just the basic going through it stuff...getting used to it...slowly
hopefully come saturday i will be ready for 9th kyu!
adrian
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
lesson 22 and 23
kyu training...only 2 more lots of kyu training then my test on saturday i am very nervous i know i'll get through it..just it will be hard lol im very nervous
adrian
 

ad_adrian

Twitter: adadrian
lesson 24 and 25,

still kyu training...we had our sensei actually personally train me in the advanced class...it was breath taking he is so good...gets me in ways i can only imagine...truely an amazing man....i cant explain how good he is...the power he has the things he can do...
he was gozo's last uke for 10 years.. but yeah one more night of training although i will get no sleep so it will be a painfull lesson tomorrow
thanks guys iwill need all the good luck i can get lol
adrian
 
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