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Old 04-29-2012, 12:47 PM   #8
Shadowfax
 
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Dojo: Allegheny Aikido, Pitsburgh PA
Location: Pittsburgh PA
Join Date: May 2009
Posts: 948
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Re: My aikido is at the crossroads

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Anonymous User wrote: View Post
Thanks for the replies so far but I need to clarify a little bit.I can take the ukemi fine but I just don,t see how I,m going to get better training this way.
Why do you think that throwing hard and fast is better than slowing down and focusing on accurtate and correct movement? This is a topic I have been struggling with for a while. Not because I think fast is better but because it is so hard to slow down for me. And the faster I move the more aggressive I am and the more often I fail. Yet when I slow it down and feel the technique things go much better both for me and for my training partners. This really is a topic you need to address with your sensei. I have been fortunate to have a teacher who really makes me focus on slowing down and doing correct technique instead of just slamming my partners around.

Sensei Matt often says slow is smooth smooth is fast.

You can't go fast until you can be smooth. At 4th kyu... I guarantee you that you are not yet smooth. I am approaching 2nd kyu and I know I am not smooth. I can sometimes throw with a ton of power but boy if uke is not on their game I could really hurt them because I'm simply not that good.

And as sensei says in class... if you break your ukes you soon have no one to train with and thus you can't practice.
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