Pete Rihaczek

I used to be an avid weightlifter, but I've also come to believe that typical weightlifting is actually counterproductive if you want to develop the sorts of body skills coveted by the Asian masters. The science of sports training is not laid in stone, and the carryover and risk/benefit of particular forms of training to a specific sport is a topic of hot debate. One thing that is fairly well established is the principle of specificity, and clearly if the old masters lifted weights their bodies would look like weightlifter's bodies, and they don't. You can see in YouTube videos that someone like Chen Xiao Wang has noodle arms. I went to a seminar with Chen Bing, the body type is a result of specific kinds of training, same with Akuzawa, Ushiro, etc. Mixing weightlifting with Aikido will produce more reliance on muscling technique and typical external movement. If that's all you want to do or all you believe Aikido is (then why bother? there are plenty of more combative arts to choose from), then it should improve that. But if you're after what Ueshiba had, you would likely be heading in the wrong direction.