Martial Arts

[Thorondor]

"At least you've stopped hitting your head!"

So that's why you've been kinda bonkers lately - it figures...

 

::

 

Stop damaging the goods or I'll hammer you, fool! https://www.htmlgens.com/smileys/mrt.gif

[Gimli]

Persistence, persistence, persistence. Persistence is the key to succeeding at something.

[FullAuto]

And RSI. And brain damage.

[JellyfishGreen]

I earned my Kenpo Karate blue belt on Monday night. (Yay me!)

 

I was quite proud to get this far, considering I only show up once a week and I'd taken most of last year off when my new recruit came along. (Jellyfish Jr, that is.)

 

So compared to the dedication of our brown belt students, one of who started the same time I did, I've been using it as an interesting form of exercise rather than training It's pretty relaxed and an easygoing instructor. And it's only a 10-minute walk from home. On the downside, I once came home with kicked ribs that were sore for four weeks. :/

[FullAuto]

Very nice, JFG, especially for once a week. Have you sorted out the Cobra Kai yet?

[Space Voyager]

On the downside, I once came home with kicked ribs that were sore for four weeks. :/

Ehm, I mean, not funny. I got a pretty heavy blow into my ribs in a tournament (not even a kick, merely a punch!)... It didn't seem so bad that same day. The next morning it felt like HELL, I barely got out of bed for a week, than it slowly got away...

 

Driving was torture, too.

[FullAuto]

My worst injury so far from aikido was pretty stupid. I caught my toe on the edge of a mat as I stepped forward, folding my foot under my leg, and put my weight on it, spraining my ankle. My partner just looked at me hop in pain. "I didn't even touch him."

 

I had difficulty with one technique, finally managed it, holding my breath in frustration, and exhaled explosively when my partner hit the ground. My instructor clapped me on the shoulder. "Breathing," he said, "is part of aikido too."

 

I KNOOOOOOW.

[JellyfishGreen]

The Cobra Kai don't practice good nutrition; 20 years later they''re all overweight with low stamina. Easy to outrun but still not a good idea to take them all on at once.

 

Aikido and other joint locks will be more useful than you might think in child-rearing, I've certainly put my limited jiu-jitsu to good use keeping a toddler pinned to the changing mat while changing extremely biohazardous nappies.

 

(The trick is to see them as your sparring partner, not your opponent, and keep up a jaunty grin, so they struggle less and instead wonder what you're up to.)

[FullAuto]

Had my first true fear of injury yesterday.

 

Fairly simple, knife attack, ikkyo

https://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/FullAuto_2006/ikkyo.png

which ends with the attacker face-down, knife arm pinned to the floor. The instructor suggested, if you had difficulty removing the knife from their hand, you place one knee on their upper arm.

 

This causes additional pain, but nothing mind-blowing.

 

The instructor then advised lifting the wrist.

 

Now, while I've gone through considerable pain in aikido, and experienced various techniques and thought "This really hurts, and if done with x more force, would break/dislocate y.", this was the first time I've thought "My elbow is going to go." as my arm was bent the wrong way.

 

Pain is absolutely necessary, you need to hurt and be hurt to know a technique works, but the experience yesterday was incredibly sobering. I've experienced dislocations before, and they're disgusting.

[Space Voyager]

Ouch!

 

Pain is absolutely necessary, you need to hurt and be hurt to know a technique works

 

Very true.

[FullAuto]

It's one of the things that frustrated me about karate, spending ages training punches and kicks, yet hardly ever hitting anyone.

 

Anyway, busy shitting bricks as they want me to go up two grades on Saturday. I was advised, quite seriously, that if I threw up during my grading, to do it inside of my gi jacket.

 

Charming.

 

Was also told of two unfortunate instances by an instructor.

 

A chap on his first lesson, was learning taisabaki, a fairly simple step and turn movement, nothing complex. Instructor demonstrated. Chap copied him, stepping and unfortunately twisting, not turning. And dislocating his knee.

 

The instructor, unmoved, simply shook his head and said "No, not like that." as the unlucky gent started howling.

 

Secondly, a demonstration of sacrifice throws, which generally are quite spectacular, people flying through the air, heels hitting the ceiling stuff. Although the uke was experienced, he didn't fall right, and came down head-first. Naturally, he stuck an arm out. He landed, and his upper arm broke quite badly.

 

The same instructor commented "Somebody didn't warm up properly."

[FullAuto]

Passed my grading, somehow. Am now the proud owner of a yellow belt, inherited from a chap who moved up to orange

 

Dunno how I passed, as every technique I did, I thought "That was rubbish." But I passed, thanks to the quality of my instructors and classmates.

[Space Voyager]

Dunno how I passed, as every technique I did, I thought "That was rubbish." But I passed, thanks to the quality of my instructors and classmates.

 

You will always have a negative opinion of your own knowledge (unless you would have a HUGE ego), even when you'll be looked upon as a master by the newcomers.

[Thorondor]

Congratulations FA-San!

 

::

 

Something tells me it's you who's just warming up...

[FullAuto]

I am quite happy with the result, I think it's the only exam I've ever revised for!

 

Everyone was genuinely happy for each other, none of the people I know failed their grading, and my main instructor threw a barbeque afterwards. Despite the total lack of co-operation from the British weather, we had a great time, and nearly managed to drink everything, and filled the gap with delicious food.

 

It's not all pain, this aikido business. :-)

[Sunflash]

Grats FA!

[Space Voyager]

and my main instructor threw a barbeque afterwards.

 

Suddenly I have a bit less respect for my former karate instructors, cheap bastards!

 

Cool, it sounds like loads of fun, FA!

[ERISS]

You will always have a negative opinion of your own knowledge,

Oh thank you. Remembering things, I think now I was not so bad:

I have somewhat a female skeleton (ex: remove fur, and I see female hands when I watch at mines).

I practiced just almost 3 years of kung-fu wushu and ta

[FullAuto]

Suddenly I have a bit less respect for my former karate instructors, cheap bastards!

 

Cool, it sounds like loads of fun, FA!

 

It was, actually. Perhaps it's just because of the smaller class size, or the different approach, but the group seems tighter and closer than others. My main instructor takes it seriously, it's not something he picks up and leaves at the dojo, but nor does he try to be Japanese, he just has a thoughtful approach. And he was training on Saturday, so he basically went home and started preparing the barbie, with the help of his wife, another black belt, and they played kind hosts until 3 am. A lot of effort and dedication for something they definitely did not have to do.

 

Thanks Sunflash!

 

ERISS, why did you stop training, it sounds like you had a lot of fun?

[FullAuto]

For all of its reputation as a martial art in which one's progress is slow, one of the things I'm enjoying most about aikido is the sense of progression. Already, even at my humble level, basic techniques are changing, counters are emerging, and the mindset and principles are either changing or revealing more of themselves.

 

At your basic starter level, for instance, you wait until you are grabbed. The technique's beginning is static. As you advance, you begin to anticipate the attack, then you move onto countering it, often counter-intuitively moving into it before it can gain momentum.

 

My rolling still isn't up to scratch. Essentially, you never roll over your head, but on a kind of diagonal, starting behind your shoulder and diagonally down and across your back to the opposite hip. On my left side, mostly fine. On my right, terrible. I am left side dominant, so on my right I am lacking some flexibility, or confidence or just not turning enough.

 

Backward rolls? Oh God. They started off perfect. From day 1, no problem. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, I started going over on my left shoulder, all the time. No idea how this started, but it's messed me up, not to mention wrecking my left shoulder. I now find it incredibly hard to roll over backward on my right.

 

On a sidenote, I was lucky enough to stumble and fall over backwards in front of the entire class one night. However, I naturally turned it into a backwards roll, which scored me some points. Didn't really help with the humiliation, though.

 

Now I've advanced a little, I'm being held to a higher standard across the board. Techniques must be faster and more fluid, but I have to stay balanced. I can't simply muscle it any more, I need to use more finesse and skill. Bugger.

 

I'm gaining insight into the philosophy of aikido, a little, but I am really beginning to appreciate the different options the techniques give you. Nikkyo is a basic wrist lock, using your hands on one of theirs. Now, you can merely cause agonising pain, or you can lever nice and hard, ignore their cries, and break the wrist. So if pain compliance doesn't work, it isn't hard to escalate.

[Space Voyager]

Sounds like we won't be messing with you any more! https://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b348/SpaceVoyager/Smiley/fear.gif

[Thorondor]

It should be interesting when you start doing backflips...

 

The issue with a number of martial arts is that they often favour a certain style of fighting too much for their own good. Meaning that everything you do either leads to or counts on certain situations to develop, so as to apply the techniques they usually employ or rely on.

 

For instance, close contact and grappling on one end of the spectrum to quick leg-work and mid-distance crippling kicks on the other.

 

::

 

Watch and learn...

 

[FullAuto]

No backflips yet, but I have been doing kotegaeshi, another wrist breaker, which involves flipping.

 

 

Probably the number one cause of wrist injuries, this. If applied properly, and you don't flip, goodbye wrist. Speaking of injuries, I'm doing well. One bit of agony from a bad fall, which taught me to fall properly. A back spasm near the shoulder blade (old injury, possibly) which lasted a second, and ached the rest of the day, and hasn't troubled me since. A minor bout of rotator cuff tendonitis (thank you shitty rolling technique) dispelled with ibuprofen and improved rolling.

 

Good point, Thor. Every martial art has strengths and weaknesses, and you do have to be aware of them and not limit yourself artificially. Coming from a striking background, I don't think aikido does enough of it. Some techniques incorporate them, and you're meant to use them opportunistically in an actual fight, but some people don't train them at all. While aikido offers plenty of techniques and versatility, I'd hate to have a scrap without punching and kneeing. Aikido has given me a new respect for the elbow, though, which I didn't have confidence in before.

 

Kicking isn't really something aikido or myself worries much about, and as a lot of the techniques are close range, there's plenty of scope for punches, gouges, forearm smashes, elbows etc. Not to mention everyone's favourite, the headbutt. Or the gentlemanly bite.

[FullAuto]

Ahh, the purple badge of courage that is the kotegaeshi bruise!

https://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/FullAuto_2006/IMAG0066.jpg

The dark spots are merely mottling on a much larger, ripe yellow bruise that is still developing.

 

My right arm is both stronger and more flexible than my left, which is odd, because I'm left-handed. Some mornings I get up, and it's much more difficult to touch my toes than usual. No idea why. I'm also finding sitting seiza (kneeling) more comfortable than cross-legged, plus I sit up straighter.

[Azrael Strife]

Ahh, the purple badge of courage that is the kotegaeshi bruise!

https://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h109/FullAuto_2006/IMAG0066.jpg

The dark spots are merely mottling on a much larger, ripe yellow bruise that is still developing.

 

My right arm is both stronger and more flexible than my left, which is odd, because I'm left-handed. Some mornings I get up, and it's much more difficult to touch my toes than usual. No idea why. I'm also finding sitting seiza (kneeling) more comfortable than cross-legged, plus I sit up straighter.

You're finding seiza comfortable? that is weird, in the years I had been training the most I could ever find seiza is tolerable, and for short periods of time.