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Old 01-27-2015, 06:20 AM   #124
carpeviam
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 11
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Re: My Experiences in Cross Training MMA with Aikido

Thanks for this article. My sensei recently introduced sparring to my dojo. He used to spar a lot in his youth and is a big proponent of cross training. I love it--and I feel like I now have a great opportunity to field-test some of the things I've been learning--but it seems like I'm starting from square one again when I step up to spar with someone else. Whereas in aikido, I'm guided toward learning connection, smoothness and flow, on our sparring nights, I'm told to learn taking a new angle, keeping my guard up, following up a strike with another strike. And while I know that, theoretically, taking a new angle = stepping off the line, and following up with a second/third/etc strike = maintaining flow, I haven't been able to unify the two practices in the real world yet. Most of the time, aikido practice is so slow and thoughtful, while the sparring is so fast and instinctive. But it's good to know that the unification is out there. I assume that, with enough mat time, I'll be able to put the flow and connection of aikido into my sparring training and the speed and proactiveness of sparring into my aikido training.
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