I attended the Atlanta seminar too, and could not agree more with David's post. And I saw Akuzawa do that bo push against David, who outweighs him by maybe 50-70 pounds (hope that is right David
) but was "displaced" a good 15 to 20 feet before landing. Sweet fall, too!
Akuzawa did a sort of kotegaeshi on me, not really torquing or rotating my wrist in any way, just basically flexing my wrist/arm together while walking towards me. It somehow felt like iriminage, no wrist pain or tension or anything at all, just a huge, unstoppable force projecting through me. I never felt anything like it before at all. He also did a sort of sokumen thing against me while I resisted, and again, it felt like suddenly every limb in my body had to support a massive weight and just collapsed. Again, no pain, just power felt.
He emphasizes repeatedly that he is not truly generating power, just using his body with efficiency. And he says, and shows, that this can be done by pretty much anyone with the proper training. Yes, it is hard. And I can see where some people just don't have the desire to train this way. In a way, it's a little like distance running. A lot of people would like to run like the Kenyans, but not many people want to train like them. And by the way, 45 minutes of running/cardio a day does NOT prepare you for Ark's training.
There were no waza, no angles, no leverage, no atemi, and no mystic language or ideology emphasized during the training. There was extensive explanation, demonstration, hands-on correction, generous teaching, genuine good nature and sincerity. I whole-heartedly agree that ANYONE who is at all serious about martial arts training, but does not just want simple endorsement of their prior experience, go to these seminars. If you want to be told that everything you are doing is just fine, look elsewhere.
John