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Old 04-01-2007, 10:26 AM   #9
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
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Re: Aikido, Weight Lifting & Flexibility

Quote:
Demetrio Cereijo wrote: View Post
The story Saito Sensei told was that he used to accompany O-Sensei on many trips. In the beginning he wasn't that strong, and had trouble handling some of the trainees in the places they visited. So, he took up weightlifting to build himself up. He couldn't afford a barbell of his own, so he worked out using a railroad rail that he got from work.
Heck, I use weights, too. But I use them in a quite different way from what a weight-lifter does. Your story is good, but you have no real idea of whether Saito (1.) had good internal skills or not (notice that none of us hold him up as an examplar of internal skill; we don't know or (2.) whether O-Sensei coached Saito in using weights correctly or not.

I.e., this is a more complex discussion that a few simple anecdotes are going to cover.

Regards,

Mike Sigman
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