Quote:
Richard Stevens wrote:
However, I cannot accept that a focused and dedicated person attending classes twice a week would not be able to attain the same skill level as they would if training three or even four times a week. It would simply take them more "years" to put in the same hours to get there.
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If they're so focused and dedicated, how come they're only in class twice a week?
It's a physical art. I don't think you'll find any teacher or coach in any physical art, from recorder playing (Hi Pauliina!) to baseball, who will agree that twice a week is enough.
In my own experience, I plateau at two classes a week. I make steady progress at three. I make faster progress at four, but can't sustain that for long before other parts of my life suffer more than I'm willing to allow. Other kinds of off-mat physical training help me maintain my conditioning, but they don't help my aikido much.
Katherine
Full disclosure: I am one of Ledyard Sensei's students, and followed one of his emails to this thread. But I agreed with his perspective on this before I'd ever met him.