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Old 05-09-2001, 10:31 PM   #4
neil
Dojo: Pacific Aikido Kensankai
Location: Vancouver, BC
Join Date: Jul 2000
Posts: 2
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1) As far as the technique goes, I am used to making only a slight move in with the forward knee, followed by the major movement as the rear knee drives in and I tenkan. Not much to suggest except to carefully observe your sensei or ask for help.
Hopefully I can be more helpful on the knee issue...
2) I have been taught to keep my heels tight under my bum. Movement comes from the hips pushing the legs forward not from walking on the knees - this keeps most the weight off the knees and means they suffer less trauma. I found that this really improved for me when I took to practising a little every day (rather than a lot whenever the teacher decided it was a suwari waza class). 5 minutes every day going forward, backwards, irimi tenkan and sideways really paid off very quickly.
3) I too have suffered the skin loss thing. Not pleasant and there is a big risk of infection. (I have ended up in hospital with a leg infection so do not take it lightly). Firstly I find wearing a hakama really helps because it provides an extra layer to slide over my dogi pants. If you are not allowed to wear hakama then another thing you can do is shave or wax your knees. I know this sounds strange but it worked for me - much of the trauma can be due to the hairs being pulled out. Each time this happens a little bit of skin goes with it. Racing cyclists shave their legs for exactly this reason - the lack of hairs reduces road rash if (when) they crash. I used wax strips just on and around the knees, and found that it helped a great deal and enabled me to build thicker skin over the knee too. Now I wear hakama I don't need to bother any more.
Finally a word on the "wussy" thing. I know of two senior sensei who are no longer able to do suwari waza, or even kneel in seiza, because of knee problems. They probably wish now that they had been more lenient on their bodies. Personally I want my body to last at least another 60 years and after some years of pushing it hard have realized I had better be kind to it. So I don't see anyting wrong with looking after your body and if anybody thinks you are wussy for it then that is their problem, right?
Neil
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