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Old 05-13-2011, 02:39 AM   #99
Alberto_Italiano
Join Date: Dec 2009
Posts: 296
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Re: bad technique vs. resistance

Quote:
Graham Christian wrote: View Post
(...)

Dave hadn't connected once and stopped and said it was like it wasn't fair as he wasn't fighting back.

The point here is that firstly applying that one principle (and being very good at it) leads to a condition of no fight.
(...)

Food for thought?
yes of course. Actually that seems the only viable aikido - no aikido at all, and only maai

(albeit a boxer can get at you anyway - maai exists also in boxing, and it is performed actually within the shortest range which is the most difficult maai to keep because a maai that can afford the long distance is, of course, much easier: bringing here an unfair example, the absolute master of boxing Maai at close quarters was Cassius Clay... lol).

However I am envisioning a situation where I have to fight - limited space to move by, for instance.
I am striving for an aikido that accepts the engagement. This not only makes things very difficult, but it is clearly too ambitious a goal for my bad aikido.

But that's what i want, that's why aikido fascinated me - you see, the idea of accepting close quarters and high dynamism without having the option of hitting back.

If you attempt aikido in that setting (and a Martial Art should find itself comfortable in both settings), it all becomes nearly impossibile to me.

These guys are too fast, they won't let you go lateral because they move with you and keep facing me, and even when I grab an arm, they immediately prove to me they have two and the grabbed arm has a high resistance level, and well the whole is a mess.

It ends up like in Reuben's video - you go for ikkyo (oooh! ikkyo! lol ) if you can, or you do things that can be dubbed "iriminage" but actually are chokes.
And it's no Reuben's fault!

Let me add a small story myself.
About 6 months ago I was in this ki-dojo. I can't remember right now what technique we were trying, however the dan guy could not place it on me.
This not because of any active resistance on my part (I never stay rigid just to prove a point) but simply because I was keeping a natural dinamysm - if you attempt to grab my arm, hey I withdraw it quickly in randori...! It won't stay there to await technique.

We came to a stall and i ended up saying to the guy "ok, don't worry if the technique failed. We're all here to learn. Now, just do something. Do something else. But do something, say: what comes to your mind?"
He said "well, this" - he produced a bear hug, lifted me from the ground and threw me away.

I got up and smiled: "that's quite something - however, when i said do something, I meant: do something that is Aikido"

This means only this: when we face an opponent determined not to please us, many of us, incljuding dans, end up doing things that are not aikido.
Go figure me with my incompetence!
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