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Old 01-10-2005, 11:53 AM   #19
paw
Join Date: Mar 2002
Posts: 768
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Re: Aikido & Pilates

Quote:
Tim Heckman wrote:
Paul,

I am curious as to whether you have any suggestions for improving flexibility/core strength specifically for aikido.
I have none. As far as I know, no one has studied aikido in depth enough to make suggestions for specific physical development or training routines. In contrast, Wayland Pulkinnen has studied judo enough to make suggestions, as he does in his book, The Sport Science of Elite Judo Athletes.

Quote:
Tim Heckman wrote:
I'm an occasional practitioner of yoga, and as mentioned in the opening post, have only taken one pilates class. However, at thirty-five years old, and having worked in a lot of jobs involving repetitive motion, my body has a lot of flexibility/muscle pain issues which an aikido practice of several hours a week has not improved significantly.
It's one issue to say yoga improves flexibility or decreases muscle pain issues for you or for anyone else. Obviously, if yoga is working for you, my advice is to keep with it, provided your doctor agrees.

It's another issue to suggest that yoga is the only way to improve flexibility or decrease muscle pain issues. It's another issue still to suggest that yoga is the "best" way to improve flexibility or decrease muscle pain issues. It's yet another issue to suggest that yoga is the "best" way to improve flexibility or decrease muscle pain issues specifically for aikido.

I suppose that my posts on this issue appear that I'm anti-yoga/pilates/gyrotonic. I am not (though you may not believe that). I do object to the misleading (at best) terminology of "lengthens muscles" as I hope I explained previously. I also object to the idea that "activity X is the best for developing attribute Y for aikido" as I don't believe there's any real basis to make that statement.

Regards,

Paul
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