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Go Back   AikiWeb Aikido Forums > AikiWeb AikiBlogs > Seeking Zanshin: Blood, Sweat, Tears & Aikikai

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Seeking Zanshin: Blood, Sweat, Tears & Aikikai Blog Tools Rating: Rate This Blog
Creation Date: 02-24-2005 10:53 PM
jducusin
Offline
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One small gal + a dojo full of big guys = tons o' fun
Blog Info
Status: Public
Entries: 270 (Private: 12)
Comments: 195
Views: 824,349

In General Upping the Ante Entry Tools Rate This Entry
  #203 New 04-06-2006 11:25 PM
And if you thought that going to every class (five times a week) wasn't enough...I went to the Athletic Therapy centre at work and got them to design a strength and conditioning program for me.

It's been almost two weeks of this now, and I am loving it like you wouldn't believe. There's just something about getting up early, pushing yourself physically, sweating your brains out and then relaxing with a nice shower and quiet moment alone in the sauna before starting work in the morning that is so invigorating. But I digress.

Essentially, I told the guy that my goals were to supplement my Aikido training: primarily build core strength (along with overall strength in general), flexibility and to reinforce the muscles around my joints to prevent future injury. Knowing that I already do a heck of a lot of cardio (yes, he saw the dojo video), he went ahead and apparently spent the most time he'd ever spent on a conditioning program for me with all of this in mind.

What he came up with was a very comprehensive plan that involves:
- Back and Arms on day one
- Shoulders, Hamstrings & Gastrocnemius-Soleus Complex (fancy term for...calves :-P) on day two
- Triceps, Quadriceps & Glutes on day three
- Lots of stretching and core training daily (and how.)

Whew. All I can say about the core training part is, "Wow." You just can't beat doing 50 Russian Twists with a weight to the tune of The Guess Who's "American Woman". It just rocks. And Back Extension "Y-T-Ws"...I may as well spell out "E-X-C-R-U-C-I-A-T-I-N-G". It's awesome.

In other related news, Sensei sprained my wrist during last Thursday night's Randori while trying to do a Dai-Yonkyo that ended up too low (ineffective as Yonkyo, but hard and fast enough to induce a very loud, very painful popping noise that the guys could hear from across the room). He felt really bad about it, poor guy. I got home to find that my dojo shirt with "I *Heart* Randori" on the back (the heart has a Band-Aid on it, incidentally) just arrived...that cheered me up right away. The next morning, I went to Urgent Care to have my wrist looked at, X-Rayed and generally prodded at. It's still a little sore in some places (especially doing Kotegaeshi, Sankyo, and Nikkyo on it --- at least more than usual). Otherwise, it seems to be healing up nicely. I'm hoping that it'll be close to 100% for the seminar this weekend.

That's the other thing. We (albeit a smaller crowd than last time) leave tomorrow morning for Saskatoon again. No one's testing this time, which means that I can go all out instead of having to pace myself so much. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone from another dojo will be testing whom I can take ukemi for...call me crazy, but I love it. Let's face it. You don't often get to see too many female Aikidoka out my way who take good ukemi, and I think it's high time folks saw it happen. So I've got a bit of dojo pride in me. Why not? I'd like to think it's a testament to having such a great teacher and such excellent training partners --- how can I not be proud to represent?

I'm thinking especially of all the awesome exercises we've been doing lately to keep things "real" on the mats --- I'm particularly enjoying the back and forth, one-on-one exchanges where we slowly try to perform technique while our partners try not to let us get away with it too easily; we end up doing a lot of blending and reversals, which I've always found both fun and fascinating. I think I've described it before...it's like a moving puzzle.

Okay, I better get to bed...especially if I'm going to get up early to work out tomorrow, do laundry and get packed before the long drive out West. Among the books I intend to read to Sensei while he's driving include my recently-obtained copy of Wayne Belonoha's "The Wing Chun Compendium" (which I'd been drooling over since Christmas). I swear --- the second Sensei saw it, he said, "Uh oh. Now we're gonna get it." I'll be sure to let you know if and when they do, and especially how. :-D Have a great weekend, folks!

---
Status Report...
Just finished reading: "The Science of Martial Arts Training" by Charles I. Staley, "Strength Training Anatomy" by Frederic Delavier
Just finished watching: Donovan Waite's Ukemi Video (Part One)
Views: 950



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