Category: aikido

OK, tonight I did tumbling. Shoulder rolls, to be specific. Aikidoists do probably the smoothest shoulder rolls I’ve ever seen, turning their bodies into wheels. Amazing and graceful.

I got some good instruction in proper shoulder roll technique and practiced them for about 30 minutes. Mine are not great, but they did improve with practice. I will get them much better.

Then we did some techniques — variations of the Shomenuchi Ikkyo technique — and I rolled out of the throws when it was my turn to be thrown. This is why smooth rolls are important. Doing bad ones is much more painful and exhausting.

The Shomenuchi Ikkyo variations included various ways of changing direction and throwing, based on your position in the technique and how much fight the opponent has in him. These moves really rely on position and technique, rather than strength. They involve using the Uke’s (the person being thrown) momentum rather than resisting it, keeping your balance while taking Uke’s away, and proper footwork. Really cool.

We also did a throw from the Ryokatatori (double lapel grab) position. Not sure what the full technique was called, but it was a nice throw.

For more advanced level tests, Aikidoists have to contend with multiple attackers. Last night our Sensei demonstrated some strategies for students working on this. Then we did some exercises in which 2 of us, in line, confronted an advanced student, over, and over. The idea was that the Nage (guy doing the throwing) was to move forward, meeting the attackers. The exercise was not intended to test individual techniques, but rather to train the aikidoists to move toward attackers, taking the initiative in the situation. At least that was my understanding of it.

At any rate, it was very tiring. Made me realize that I’m in really, really bad shape. While my flexibility is improving, my overall condition leaves much to be desired. I’m looking forward to improving my physical condition and agility, as well as learning the techiques and learning to fall properly.

I am, however, less sore than I was expecting.

It is really fascinating to finally be doing these techniques that I’ve been reading about for so long. Even the most outwardly simple techniques seem to contain subtleties that require years to truely master.

Oh yeah — I bought a gi tonight. No more practicing in sweats. yaaaaay!

Tonight is my second Aikido class. My body has recovered pretty well from Monday’s class. I’m still a bit sore, but its more from my new stretching regimen than anything. After being a skateboarder for 32 years, I have rock hard legs. Unfortunately, they aren’t very flexible. Even during highschool, when I wrestled for 3 years, they didn’t get all that limber. But…I can feel them getting better, and my hips too.

I’ve mentally reviewed the techniques we did Monday, and physically “stepped through” them a few times, trying to remember some of the more subtle points, and trying to do them correctly in my head — get rid of a couple of incorrect motions I was doing. I’ve found in both skateboarding and wrestling that such visualization can be helpful.

So far we haven’t done a lot of tumbling. The aikidoists are really good at doing various smooooooooth shoulder rolls. I feel like I will not be very smooth at first. On the other hand, I can fall really hard on concrete, get up, and keep skating — so I should be OK.

I have so much to learn. I wish I’d been able to stick with this 16 years ago, but things were so different then. Oh well, I’m here now, and that’s what counts.

So tonight is the my first night at Aikido of Plano. I observed a class last week, and decided to try it. I did Aikido for about a month, 16 years ago. At the time my work schedule and some other issues just didn’t allow me to continue. So now, older and in worse shape, I’m going to give it a whirl. I’ve never lost interest, but now it is very convenient. Hopefully skateboarding has helped preserve my physical condition. Anyway, I’m really looking forward to it, and looking forward to being a total beginner at something. I’m trying to empty my mind of preconceptions so I’ll be totally open to the teaching.

I’ll probably be really sore tomorrow.