jonreading

Since we are all in isolation...

I tried to start this thread yesterday, but couldn't get my thoughts together enough...

One of the things I have noticed about aikido is that many of the movements stray from common athletic movements. I understand that some of the movements are dictated by kata, but I am not sure that is the entirety of the reason and I am curious about what other people think. Bonus question - how does this stray affect the positive effects of training for health?

To create some ground rules... I consider the "athletic position" as the generally held status quo for an athletic posture. We see some variety of this position in most sports and many martial arts. So, I am comparing our posture and movements against the athletic position. I do not expect aikido to be a "all-in-one" solution for body health, but if one of our tenants of aikido is to promote aikido for health, then we should be able to show that in comparison to other activities.

Its only fair that I go first...
I don't like the lack of athleticism in aikido; and, I believe there is a lack of athleticism in aikido. It's always been a problem for me, but I have been fortunate to be around people who shared that perspective. And, I don't mean running around like fools on the mat; I mean the ability to make power and use your body in action. I came to aikido from a sports background and it still makes me cringe to hear an instructor correct a student to stand with a straight back. After being exposed to other arts and and art-related health activities (like yoga), I came to realize that many other arts have an athletic component that I don't see in aikido. Related is the lack of athleticism in our movements - we've all seen/been the heaving nage in the middle of an intense randori because we don't know how to breath. And while I can still hear the side comment, "you do your best randori when you are exhausted," I have never heard a side comment like, "you do your best tennis when you are tired," or "defensive backs are at their best when they are tired." In a similar vein, I think many of our movements focus on using the least amount of energy, rather than the most efficient use of energy. Since athleticism is about making and using power in your body, I don't think there is enough emphasis on it in our training. I am not saying that we all need to add 60 minutes of pushups into class, but I do think we have prejudice against using power in our training that has influenced our curriculum to the point where athleticism is not present in much of our movement. I want to open the spectre of implication that maybe some of our kata and movements have been... modified, and, not for the best from the perspective of athleticism.

For my bonus question... I think activities like aiki training have done wonders to show me just how much you can change your body by slow posture training. Yoga training, too. I am getting too old for the crash and bang aikido of my early days and I want to have all of my knees, shoulders, and back when I am 65. But what do I see in aikido? Lots of broken people who can't sit in seiza or lift a sword, or take a fall. I love aikido; I will love more being able to pick up my grandchildren because I have two working shoulders. I want to see my aikido fall closer to the athleticism I see in aiki training or yoga.

This is what happens when you are trapped in a house with 100 martial arts books and nothing to do for 3 weeks... Also, because 10 years ago I routinely made fun of yoga people, I am sure you can dig up a post that would make me eat crow. Sigh.