rowing exersize
hi
my senei has encouraged us to do the rowing exersize for 40minutes. which i have tried to do but got board! what is it that i am trying to achieve with this exersize. when i ask sensei is obscure, "you wont know till you have done it!". fair enough i suppose. but i don't even know how whether i am doing it right. i keep loosing balance slightly every 4th or 5th cycle or so. i take it i have to concentrate on moving from the centre/hips? sim |
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To make a long story short: Hips then hands and maintain your center of balance.
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40 minutes of funakogi undo??? :eek: That's nuts!!! But hey, "practice makes perfect"
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Hmmm... you might want to checkout the baseline skillset thread.... because this exercise is the one of the fundamental ways of developing kokyu power. Your "sensei" should have told you that :rolleyes:
But a quick pointer. To start, just keep your hands/fists out in front of you and do not move them. Then simply rock your weight forward and backward whilst keeping your hands/fists in place. Focus on the feeling of pressing against the ground, and of transferring your weight forward and back. DO IT SLOWLY. Soon you will start to feel how the feet are connected to the hips and how the hands (which are not moving) are displaced as a result. Once you feel comfortable with this, start adding the rowing motions (GENTLY), throwing your fists out as you rock forward, and pulling them back as you rock backward. AGAIN, DO IT SLOWLY. |
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If you do it right, on the forward push your fists would BE your hips pushing; on the backward pull, you hands would BE your obi pulling. :) Mike |
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Simon, this exercise is fundamental in developing your breathing coordination, moving from your center, and maintaining your connective posture with the ground. It's by far not the only way, but it is a very good one. You should attempt to lose yourself in the exercise, empty your thoughts, and just move and breathe. Soft and rhythmic music in the background is one way I learned to enjoy it. Have patience, Grasshopper.
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Best. Mike |
Re: rowing exersize
Empty mind = empty head (euphemism for "dullard")
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I did boat rowing ( funekogi) for years with an empty mind, scarcely paying attention, thinking it was just an interminable formality i had to get through to get to the good stuff. And then when i finally started paying attention, i began to realize that funekogi IS the good stuff, part of it anyway, and the ability to do the waza well is a byproduct of doing the basic warmups like funekogi and kokyu ho with intent and sensitivity to one's own body.
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Ask Rob. He's begun using it in BJJ. Mike |
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that sounds more like channelling strength to the appropriate job? In my experience the more you tell people to relax the less relaxed they become - which is why "focus on relaxation" sounds a bit like "relax harder" to me....
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It seems best for me when I limit my thoughts to my breathing. |
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http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showth...light=torifune which in turn spawned this thread http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showth...light=torifune |
Re: rowing exersize
Interesting thread.
I just figured out that in BJJ we do a standing up swimming exercise where you and your partner move your arms over and underneath each others arms. The goal of this exercise is to acheive dominance in the clinch with underhooking your opponents arms. (ikkyo). Done correctly, it is rythmic and you must breath correctly and move from your hips with balance. We do this exercise sometime for like 15 or 20 minutes at the beginning of class. I never really thought about it before, but it really is kind of the same thing except done with a partner. It helps you figure out how to connect your movements, breath, and move from the center...all necessary elements of kokyu. sometimes I will have my BJJ students practice the rowing exercise as a warm up, especially when they are being external in their approach to study. It helps them find their center and attach their feet to the ground and become more aware of the source of their power. I don't explain anything to them about it, nor do they care much...they just do the exercise for a few minutes and then we move on to other things. I think it helps them, even if they don't tacitly understand what is going on. |
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15-20 minutes, man I don't think I'd be down for that. 5 minutes is enough, then lets start actually working for underhooks for another 5 minutes. It is an important skill, and very good to practice. But my classes are an hour and a half long. I wouldn't want to waste 20 minutes of my time doing an exercise I can do at home. I'd rather have my technique critiqued, or spar.
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Actually, I should have explained that we interwork it with working underhooks and taking/breaking balance. I will come back to the basic exercise though so they "reset" to using their hips again as they tend to start fighitng and trying to use strength and getting out of alignment.
It is not 15 or 20 minutes straight of pummelling/swimming...that would be alot! :) |
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Kevin,
If you really think about it that pummelling exercise is alot like sumo. And its learning to pass the power of the other person, through your body to your feet, while not leaning and losing your own balance, or being pushed over. |
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yeah I agree, I never saw that in sumo until just recently, all I saw in the past was a bunch of shoving and pushing. Today I see it in a whole different light!
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Secondly, while I totally agree that "Some teachers like their students to figure stuff out on their own", I would add for clarity (just for the sake of any neophytes that read here) that a teacher is just another human being and there are a lot of them who say things cryptically (in all m.a.'s) not because they're deliberately trying to get the student to think, but because they themselves don't really know the material deeply. And I only say that to balance the statement; no inferences at all. Best. Mike Sigman |
Re: rowing exersize
hi thanks for the advice.
when in right stance i am really struggling with this exersize because i have a very stiff left ankle since breaking it 3 years ago so i cannot shift my weight back easily without lifting my left heel off the mat. should i change my stride length to try and keep my feet on the floor or should i try to find a way of maintaining balance and moving from the hips that takes account of my slight 'disability'. does anyone else have an experience of trying to modify technique to accommodate physical problems? sim |
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Simon, if you think of your ankle's tendons, sinews, muscles as connecting to your leg and into your body, then you will be able to benefit from a lot of the leg-straightening exercises seen in Pilates or ballet. Flexing is clearly difficult for you now since the range of motion is not large enough to enable you to do rowing well. Straightening, which means both a twist out at the buttocks and knees and ankle, and a pointing of the toes (the top of the foot is curved as much as you can) and stretching of the back of the knee, will help to increase the range of motion. In that same position try flexing the ankle as much as you can, slowly. Although I said twist, the stretch is linear, the twist is only for alignment.
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Years ago when I had a bunch of ankle problems (b/c of high school track), our coaches used to tell us to "write the alphabet in the air with your foot." So we'd sit in a chair and just flex the ankle/point the foot through all 26 letters. It worked pretty well to get range of motion back.
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had 24months of extensive physio, physios and orthopedic drs reckon the range of movement i have now is all i'll get... we'll see eh!?
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