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Last week we got together for a little physical training and enjoy a wonderful evening watching the Golden Dragon Acrobats.
I think a few of the students realized how easy it is to get out of shape and how important it is to get a physical fitness program going.
We only did about 50 pushups, 50 situps, 50 back extensions and a two mile jog/walk, then we did a few sprints up a hill.
The training was simple, just some pushups, situps, back extensions a jog and a few sprints. Nothing special, nothing extravagant, no wild names like tae bo, pilates, Yoga...just your basic thing that could get kind of boring, but what I've discovered is that when you are in the company of friends, even the most mundane boring task can be fun!
The Golden Dragon Acrobats are truly amazing! I wonder if it would be more fun to try that out than to do Aikido?!?!?Maybe not.....Don't think my body can do what they can!
Erik Calderon, Vinny Nguyen and Rafael Garcia from left to right
When I was 13 years old, my dad shipped me off to military school. I went to MMA, Marine Military Academy in Harlengen, TX. It was, and I believe, still is, an incredible school. I learned all about discipline and physical fitness.
I went in weighting 90 pounds, three months later I weighed in at 140 pounds and I was able to do 150 push ups in a row under 2 mins.
We had a physical fitness test "PFT" every three months, if I remember correctly...
We would jog every morning, together. It was awesome. So awesome that I'm deciding to require students of mine to undergo a PFT, physical fitness test in order to proceed with rank.
I think the Aikido training in itself is enough to get one in shape, but the running, push ups, pull ups, and sit ups just makes the training a bit more exciting. And best of all, the Army has an incredible website with all kinds of awesome guidelines for the Physical Fitness Test.
Tomorrow is our first PFT training at Memorial Park....I wonder if anyone will show up!
Here's another video - I sure am having fun making these.....
Wow, how many times I've heard this from people, and especially from students who came to my class from another dojo and said, my sensei is better than you.
How misguided people can get sometimes. Aikido is an art, how can one mans art be better than another. How can one Aikido work better than another.....
So many questions, so many opinions and so many ways to judge....
I'd prefer to say some people like doing things one way, some people like doing them another. Some people like McDonalds better than Buger King.
I personally like Five Guy Burgers better than Smash Burger. AND OF COURSE, I like my way of doing Aikido better than anyone else's way.
I'd say, let's not judge one another. We can always learn from everyone....I even learn from beginners!
Well, not everything works out as planned. And they say shoot for the stars and at least you'll hit the moon. That's exactly what happend today.
After running one mile with a heavy back pack, I decided that I was not going to run the full 6 miles and only did about 2.8 miles.
I did get a 21 Mile bike ride and an awesome hour of Aikido!!
The aikido training was incredible! There is nothing like doing aikido on the hard ground with some great friends. We sure did get dirty and we threw each other around for about 1 hour.
Hopefully Matt and Ron will get into better and better shape, so that we can start training harder and harder!
Erik Calderon
www.escalderonmartialarts.com
PS. We do this on Sundays, so if you want to join in on the fun, let me know.
I actually pulled it off. I planned to bike and run this morning, but by late afternoon I was ready to go to sleep. I thought to myself, maybe I should take a break today. I've been working out everyday, but then it hit me, I was just trying to be lazy. So I comprimised with myself, and instead of biking and jogging, I just biked, I only did a 19 mile ride, which took me about 1hr and 30min through the hills of Terry Hershey park.
I'm so glad I made it out, and actually I think I may just go for a 2 mile jog tonight.
The bike ride was incredible, with thunderstorms all around and flashes of lightning with clear skies in the distance. I have to admit that Houston, Texas has some of the most incredible weather in the world. It can be pouring rain, so hard you can barely see 10 feet infront of you, and 3 miles away it's sunny. Just like last Sunday, we did an Aikido Training at Memorial Park, which was nice and clear, but 10 miles away were I live it was pouring rain.
Wow, it's great to have Aikido Friends that are willing to train at the park with me!
Sassan has started an Aikido program in Arlington. If you live around there, please stop by, try out a class and sign up.
It's nice to see two programs being run so successfully, one at the Katy YMCA and now one in Arlington.
I had the wonderful opportunity to train last night with Vinny, Rafael and Sassan. It was just awesome. It was nice to be around people that appreciate Aikido so much and really want to learn.
Getting it right, performing when the time comes, getting it down, it all feels great, but it's nothing more than hard work and sweat!
Yea, I can hear you saying that it's not how hard you work but how smart you work....yea right......but it's true, putting hard work into smart work is the combo that's needed.
If you just work hard without working smart, then it's just hard work, but hard work and smart work can really make a big success.
Do ikkyo 1,000 times in a row, that's hard work, but do it mindlessly and that's not smart!
Think about it each time you do it. Do it as if it were the very first time everytime, but put that same amount of energy you put into the class the first day of class, and you'll be working smart, again.
09-01-2010 09:42 AM 
