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Old 05-08-2006, 01:50 PM   #16
Robert Rumpf
Dojo: Academy of Zen and the Ways
Location: Kailua, HI
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 164
United_States
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Re: Aikido internal and slow?

Quote:
Sebastian Brukalo wrote:
The other day I was trying to get one of my friends to visit the dojo I practice at and possibly join it if he likes it. Apparently he consulted some of his "Asian friends" - that's the term he used, and came back with the following response:

"[]..... Its [aikido] a very slow art and takes a looong time to learn and is more "internal" from what they tell me."

Since I am myself a beginning student, it was very hard for me to comment on it.

Please do.
Compared to what.. jogging? Tai-chi? Judo? MMA? TKD?
Context for this type of statement is important.

Still, I'd pretty much agree with that crude estimation.

Aikido seems to take a long time to learn (its been years and many dojos and instructors, and my tenkan is still lousy), there is often an emphasis on things other than kicking ass (aka it is "internal"), and it can be physically slow for beginners due to those two factors. Aikido tends to speed up more though when you get decent at the basics, or when you are on familiar ground.

One person I knew once who didn't know Aikido, but who studied arts such as muay thai and other arts deemed more "effective" said that Aikido was the calculus of martial arts - crucial, hard to learn, and hard to intuit until you just get it. A surprisingly clever statement, and one that I hope is true.

It may also explain why so much of Aikido is criticized - maybe Aikido people are often are trying to do calculus before they can add.

My response to your friend would be: "so what? you in a hurry?" You could always send him some clips of prominent Aikidoka doing Aikido techniques that are on the web if he wants to see what it looks like when people get good.

I'd spin it like this if you want to get him interested - next time you test, ask him if he wants to come watch (or to see the tape, if you have one). He'll either be interested or he won't. Seeing a beginner's test and explaining how much training that took is probably the best way to give him an honest impression of what Aikido looks like. If he wants to come watch a class after that, than he may be potential student.

Rob
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