How much do you train??

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[RED]

How many days a week do you train, personally? In class, out of class? How many hours per class?
Do you train even?
Are giraffe's tongues really blue?

BE HONEST!! . Santa knows the truth...:(

[Brian Gillaspie]

I usually train 3 days a week in class. Typical class is 1.5 hours but on the weekend we sometimes go for 3 hours. Don't tell my boss but I think I spend half my day at work thinking about Aikido. I also try to get to Brazilian jiujitsu classes a couple times a month.

And yes, giraffe tongues are blue.

[RED]

And yes, giraffe tongues are blue.

LIES!

[Brian Gillaspie]

Would you settle for grayish blue???
http://www.travelooce.com/giraffe-tongue.html

[piyush.kumar]

Ahhh grey area, i only train everyday but stop as soon as i think my head's going all the place and the quality starts decreasing. It kinda shows coz i start fooling around n start making up new moves or start thinking i am surrounded by enemies and i start cutting around like crazy :D. Thats when i stop, Mostly its 6 hours in class and about 14 hours on average outside in a week. Perhaps in future, as my focus increases, i might be able to do more....who knows???
They would be blue given enough jelly shots :D

[Linda Eskin]

How many days a week do you train, personally? In class, out of class? How many hours per class?
...

It varies, week to week, but here's my basic schedule:

Every Week
Tuesday - 90 minute class with Sensei
Thursday - 45 minute weapons class with Sensei
Saturday - 45 minute weapons + 60 minute open-hand, each w/yudansha

Schedule Permitting (one of both of these)
Monday - 2 60-minute classes, one w/Sensei, one w/Yudansha
Friday - 60-minute classes with Sensei

Rarely (like before holiday weekends)
Wednesday - 2 60-minute classes, one w/Sensei, one w/Yudansha

Almost Daily
A few minutes (as little as 5 minutes) jo practice at home

On average it's about 3-4 training days per week, with 4-7 classes.

[Nafis Zahir]

I can't give it to you in hours and minutes. I train in and out of class. When I am not in class, I am either thinking about it, reading, doing research, or watching videos. It is something I do just about everyday. I don't believe that training stops once you leave the mat.

[Eva Antonia]

Hi,

before having this stupid ACL accident, I trained:

Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday => 4 x 1,5 h
+ one seminar per month.

Then there was a long break, and then I started training only on Saturdays, but not as a regular student but as substitute teacher for our kids' professor who has also knee problems, but worse than mine.

Now I'm back to nearly normal (and participated again to a seminar!), but it turned out that in meantime the kids' school and music school schedules changed so that unfortunately I have to stay at home most Mondays to help them with homework.

But I think 4 x a week is fine. That allows you to have much fun and still not neglect the family (twice a week there is parallel kids' training...).

Best regards,

Eva

[Darryl Cowens]

Ummm.... not enough.... Still only doing one class a week... but, it gets me out of the house one evening a week doing something different, with different people...

One day I do want (need) to move up to two sessions a week... maybe a NY resolution... :cool:

[Maarten De Queecker]

I train five times a week: mon, wed, thur, sat, sun. Being unemployed does have its benefits.

[JRY]

At the moment train about 3x min a week.
definately Wed, Thu and Fri

Wed Weapons in the morning, Aikido in the afternoon.
Thu - Iaido then aikido
Friday Weapons.

will be stepping it up next year and including mondays and tuesdays, fingers crossed ;)
at the moment just been really busy with work, the holidays and girlfiend :(

outside the dojo I read quite abit about Aikido and try to relate most stuff to Aikido eg Taisabaki and consciousness of movement


errr... didn't know that about giraffe's tongue :S

[lbb]

I typically train three days a week. Outside of class, I have a job and a life, and that's where my focus is. If I have some thoughts about aikido outside of class, that's not what I consider "training", and if I turn my hips to get through a tight spot in the subway, that's not "tai sabaki". Body movement existed before aikido and it exists after aikido.

[Shadowfax]

5.5 hours of formal classes a week
Sunday 90 min
Tuesday 2 hours, 1 of those is weapons class.
Thursday 2 hours
Would love to add one more night ,maybe every other week.. preferably Monday...if it ever becomes available.

Informally?
God I have no idea. Last night I practiced in my dreams all night and that happens a lot... does that count? I also will daydream practice, visualize myself going through movements .. .... at work or any time I am not mentally occupied. And I do a little jo 10 -20 minutes 2-3 times a week in the back yard or at the barn in the arena. Sometimes a 10-20 minutes of shadowing technique or some other excercise like tenkan practice.

And giraffes toungs are more purplish than blue to me. And very like a cats, coarse and scratchy. Don't let a giraffe lick your hand... they slobber. :p

[ninjaqutie]

My schedule is:

Tuesday: 5:30 - 7:30
Wednesday: 5:30 - 8:30
Thursday: 5:30 - 7:30
Saturday: 8:30 - 9:30 and 10:15 - 11:45

They also have classes on Monday and Friday, but I never usually go to those. I only go on Fridays if my husband is working. Otherwise, I am home with him. :D

[Chris Covington]

When the stars align I practice/teach Daito-ryu twice a week for about 1.5 - 2 hours on Friday evenings and Sunday mornings. Some Fridays we have two guys come up to train with us from central VA. They drive about 2+ hours each way for training so I'll give them about 3 hours or more to make it worth their time. Saturday mornings I learn Jikishinkage-ryu under my teacher for about 2 hours. I consider my gym work, running and suburi training at home part of my budo keiko as well.

[Kevin Flanagan]

At my home dojo, Monday for 2.5 hrs, Thursday for 1.5 hours. that is all the class time that we have.

After my first year, I felt ready for a third day of training. So I started visiting other dojos. About once a week. I found another dojo that I liked and started going there twice a week.

Four times a week was too much for me. My wife started calling herself an aiki widow. My body wasn't recovering enough between classes. I found that I was stagnating instead of growing. So I have backed off some.

I also go to a seminar about once a month.

My primary sensei told me that eventually, I would become much more selective about with whom, and where I would train. I have found that to be true. But I still feel a real need to experience as much variety in training as I can handle. Aikido, like the universe, seems to be infinitly complex. Each teacher has a slightly different emphasis and a slightly different way of explaining the way.

[David Maidment]

I train on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays (90, 60 & 60 minutes respectively). Sometimes I make it to a 90 minute class on Tuesdays and once in a blue moon I wake up early enough for the 90 minute Sunday class.

Monday I train for an hour in Iai, and I try to do 15 minutes after each Aikido class.

At home I do whatever I can with a sword, jo or my shadow for a few minutes a day.

[RED]

Would you settle for grayish blue???
http://www.travelooce.com/giraffe-tongue.html

The conspiracy is perpetuated!

[Brian Gillaspie]

The conspiracy is perpetuated!

yes the infamous blue giraffe tongue conspiracy....I believe it ranks right up there with "Did man really walk on the moon" and "was there only one shooter in the JFK assassination".

[mickeygelum]

Six days a week, Sundays I clean my dojo...I train in three disciplines...two of those I teach.

Train well,

Mickey

[Anth]

1.5 hours of aikido a week with 4 hours of karate (2hrs Monday and Tuesday) when I'm not injured as I am now. Once I pass my driving test I'll be giving it another 1.5hrs of aikido at another club.

That's not including random things like using unbendable arm to open doors or practising tai sabaki when I'm walking around the house.

[RED]

yes the infamous blue giraffe tongue conspiracy....I believe it ranks right up there with "Did man really walk on the moon" and "was there only one shooter in the JFK assassination".

Worse of all, "is there an Idaho at all?":cool:

[ramenboy]

The conspiracy is perpetuated!

and the chow's tongue is the same color!

regards to bernath sensei

[RED]

and the chow's tongue is the same color!

regards to bernath sensei

Yeah I know that's freaky....

Peter Bernath Sensei's tongue wasn't nearly that color when he visited :blush: ...but now I think about it Penny's cocktail dress at winter camp was almost that color....must all be part of the dreaded blue tongue conspiracy: confused: .

[CarrieP]

I train 2-3 days a week, between 3-6 hours a week on average.

I am trying to do more training at home, weapons/suburi, strength training, aerobic conditioning, but that varies depending on schedule and motivation. I'm well aware I need to increase the off-the-mat practice. I've noticed that the two times I've trained more than my average (this last week, a summer camp in July), I've seen and felt huge improvements in my body movement. Like huuuge. It makes me feel like a super hero.

Since it's not feasible to train much more than my average most months due to our dojo being small, then I've got to figure out how to make the most of my time off the mat.

Hm. I feel a new post coming on.

[Melchizedek]

No disrespect to all poster above but training is constant.

[lbb]

No disrespect to all poster above but training is constant.

Well...that's your view. That's how you see it, and I know that others like to view their entire existence through the aikido paradigm, where you believe that your every thought or action is somehow aikido training. I don't see things that way, nor do others, and I think that that difference needs to be acknowledged in order for a discussion to be at all useful -- otherwise you've got one person who says "I train six hours a week" and another who says "I train 24 hours a day, every day", when in fact both of them are doing the exact same thing in terms of how they spend their time. I don't know exactly what OP was looking for in asking the original question (maybe just to get an idea of how much time spent in training, oops, I mean on the mat, is optimal), but somehow I don't think it was to find out who could do the best Yorkshireman sketch about their aikido "training".

"I get up and start training at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I go to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid as a form of misogi, practice tai sabaki twenty-nine hours a day as I work my job at the mill, and when I get home, my spouse tests my zanshin by walking into the room unexpectedly as I prepare dinner. Oh, and two or three times a week I go to class." :D

[Melchizedek]

Well...that's your view. That's how you see it, and I know that others like to view their entire existence through the aikido paradigm, where you believe that your every thought or action is somehow aikido training. I don't see things that way, nor do others, and I think that that difference needs to be acknowledged in order for a discussion to be at all useful -- otherwise you've got one person who says "I train six hours a week" and another who says "I train 24 hours a day, every day", when in fact both of them are doing the exact same thing in terms of how they spend their time. I don't know exactly what OP was looking for in asking the original question (maybe just to get an idea of how much time spent in training, oops, I mean on the mat, is optimal), but somehow I don't think it was to find out who could do the best Yorkshireman sketch about their aikido "training".
point

"I get up and start training at ten o'clock at night, half an hour before I go to bed, drink a cup of sulphuric acid as a form of misogi, practice tai sabaki twenty-nine hours a day as I work my job at the mill, and when I get home, my spouse tests my zanshin by walking into the room unexpectedly as I prepare dinner. Oh, and two or three times a week I go to class." :D
well thats funny ^^...

Always and always,
Pour yourself into technical training
To face the multitude as if it were one
Is the Way of the Shugyo-sha.

- Morihei Ueshiba

cheers!

[lbb]

well thats funny ^^...

Glad you liked it, but all I can take credit for is a little aikido-related cut and paste :D Here's the original: http://www.phespirit.info/montypython/four_yorkshiremen.htm

[Melchizedek]

hi, Mary

i even read the "Oscar Wilde" and "Are You Embarrassed Easily?" that's really frolic thanks for lightening up a bit i needed that.

in exchange watch this: (http://www.youtube.com/user/03sankyu#p/f/35/_8jyGbgjTAA)

:ai:

[Infe4no]

I Am training 3 times a week.
Monday- 2 hours
Wednesday- 2 hours
Friday- 2 hours

I'll start training at home, from tommorow.

[Andrew Macdonald]

the chance is there to workout everyday

i usually get to 5-6 classes a week around 2 hours each

leaves not muich time for personla training whcih i aim to fix this year, but my personal time i usually concentrate on bokken work and tenkan as well as some other MAs

[MattMiddleton]

I attend classes twice a week. Tuesday is Basics class, followed Weapons class; Thursday is Basics class, followed by All Levels.

This has been my training schedule since September, though December was a bit of a write-off (skipped some classes in the 1st half, was out-of-town for the 2nd half). Looking forward to some seminars in February and March, as well as possible weapons purchase! :D

[tarik]

Right now, my training time is much reduced.

In formal class: ~6-8 hours per week.

In the dojo, but not during class: ~1 hours per week (typically when I take the kids to play we work on stuff even though they're too young for anything formal)

Out of class: Immeasurable. I work on various specifics all day long in my posture and movement that are deliberate and have a direct effect on my training goals. I do various exercises pretty much every day in various forms, but not longer than 20 minutes per day, usually.

Best,

[Risu]

I train every day of the week most of the time.

Sunday- 2hrs. free practice
Monday- 4-5hrs.
Tuesday- 1hr.
Wednesday- 2hrs.
Thursday- 1hr.
Friday- 2.5-3.5hrs.
Saturday- 1.5hrs.

I think I average about 13.5-14hrs. a week.

I have no idea about off-mat.

-Risu