Aikido Warm Up Exercises

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[dps]

I found this video of Aikido Warm Up Exercises

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1vSftD2Sq4.

What warm up exercises do you do?
Are they similar to the ones in the video and how long do you take to warm up?
Do the exercises help you learn the principles and techniques of Aikido?
Does the warm up exercises depend on what you will be practicing on in class?

David

[Shadowfax]

Some of the things on that vid are similar to what we do but not much. Warm ups reallyget the blood moving and things stretched out a bit. Where I train a lot depends on who is teaching. If its Tara we generally have a more rigorous warm up with things like tenkan undo and tenkan in 4 directions I generally use up a lot of energy just warming up with her, with Garth its more deep slow stretching which seems to really work best for my body.

Generally I am pretty early for class and I'll go ahead and start some stretches that I know will be specific to my needs. Its really not so much what specific things you do for the most part as long as the individual takes time to do the things specific to their needs ahead of time.

The one thing that is always done, no matter who teaches, is the wrist exercises. But I noticed on the vid that that sensei does even those slightly different than we do. Not that one or the other is wrong, Just different.

Warm ups with Ikeda Sensei were pretty simple basic things like deep stretches of the knees and shoulders.

In all of the cases I've experienced so far warm ups last 5-10 minutes maybe.

[Cynrod]

I found this video of Aikido Warm Up Exercises

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1vSftD2Sq4.

What warm up exercises do you do?
Are they similar to the ones in the video and how long do you take to warm up?
Do the exercises help you learn the principles and techniques of Aikido?
Does the warm up exercises depend on what you will be practicing on in class?

David

Thank you very much David on this one :) .

[dps]

Thank you very much David on this one :) .

Your welcome,

When I first started Aikido we did almost the exact routine with a few more exercises. After this we would do rolling leading up to break falls. We would spend the first twenty to 30 minutes of practice doing these. Everything was to be done slowly.

Once you remember the routine then it is a good idea to do this at home every day.

David

[Janet Rosen]

These Ki Society style warmups are, to me, the healthiest and most logical type to do: they involve dynamic range of motion more than stretching, moving and warming the muscles while rehearsing the movements that will be used during training.

[aikilouis]

Not much to say on the warm up exercises, but I'd like to remark that I find those soft deep mats dangerous. I would seriously hesitate to train on them.

[dps]

What I have been reading lately indicates it is better to do aerobic exercise to a light sweat to increase blood flow to the muscles as a warm up. Then at the end do the stretching as your cool down.

The idea is that once the muscles have been enlarged because of increase blood flow, slow sustained stretching allows the facia to stretch and fit the new shape of the muscle. An extended stretch conditions the facia to stay at the new shape of the muscle, otherwise the facia tries to return to its prior shape.

David

[dps]

From Anatomy trains website.

A twenty minute section of a podcast on Fascia & Yoga.
I would recommend listening to the whole thing. Approximately the middle of the podcast is a description of what happens when you stretch concerning the muscle and connective tissue ( facia) encasing the muscle.

http://www.anatomytrains.com/explore/galleries/show/id/64

David