My gi makes me look fat.

Gis are just not flattering. Try being 6 months pregnant in a Gi and Hakama and look in a mirror. NOT flattering. LOL. Oh well. I wobble around the mat not caring one bit.

Cherie Cornmesser wrote: ........

I just guess the tangent it went off to is soooo bizarre! Which explains how differently I think than most people. I still don't get where how I feel I look in my gi turned into a discourse of femininity? It was a random observation and I thought it funny like "do these jeans make me look fat?" It turned into how a woman made judo an Olympic sport (good for her!), the ego, and why I didn't compare myself to a man (um, I'm not a man). I don't think I once mentioned that I cared what other people thought of me- hell, if I did I wouldn't look the way I do (not going to go into that but right now, I am NOT referring to weight at all).

I said I don't like how I look in my gi. I realized that everyone else looks so tiny and I marveled at it. I then realized I am not doing my best and to cut out the chocolate cake. This was never about me and you or me and that other person, but me and I need to do better. That I thought people might relate to... not into what it die.

So yeah, I'm a little upset because everyone is reading in more to it than I meant. Clearly, I did not articulate myself well enough. I'm sorry if it struck a sensitive point for a lot of you. I shall refrain from opening new threads in the future.

V, please don't self-censor or stop posting - just remember that on a public forum every reader is going to bring his or her own filters and anything ANY of us post may end up being the opening notes on which others will riff to their heart's content - and we are not responsible for which part of our posts each person will choose to riff on. If that makes any sense...

Anyhow, I totally "got" how you made the same kind of offhand comment about how the gi "made you look fat" because I had the same reaction in mine, still do 14 yrs later, and it has NOTHING to do with other people, ego, the presence or absence of mirrors, or femininity. In different garments/outfits I look like I am more or less round than I look naked, and dang it, yep, in a white gi I look fat!

Mark Peckett wrote: Just a suggestion, but try tying your belt around your hips with the knot firmly at your one point, and then tug your jacket down underneath. This might help.

Mark, those of us with hips considerably larger than our waists cannot do this. A belt tied around the hips naturally rides up to the waistline during normal movement, and simply becomes a too-loosely-tied belt. We have no choice but to tie our belts at our natural waists regardless of what our male sensei might insist is "proper."

I still don't really get why you are upset. Your last post certainly made mroe clear what you meant by your comment. Its nto so easy in this format to make humor come across if that was your intent. Well... that's why we have a humor section. So people know its supposed to be funny.

Now we understand. What you meant. Don't take the serious comment so.. well... seriously.

It still brought out a lot of very valid points. If not for you then for other people.

The only person who seems to have been hit in a sensitive area is you. I don't see anyone else getting so worked up about it.

Janet Rosen wrote: Mark, those of us with hips considerably larger than our waists cannot do this. A belt tied around the hips naturally rides up to the waistline during normal movement, and simply becomes a too-loosely-tied belt. We have no choice but to tie our belts at our natural waists regardless of what our male sensei might insist is "proper."

Which totally off topic but who cares now-

We were working with jo the other day and doing a lot Tsuki. My partner was taller than I am and I guess I need to admit that I am not all that tall. Every time he was defending, he kept getting me in the exact same spot on my left boob. Now I know him. He totally wasn't doing it on purpose- it just happened that with the distance between us and how we were attacking, that just where that jo was always landing. I finally stood up and in my deadpan way (and I know people MUST see the mischeviousness in my eyes. I know at least Sensei does) and I said to him:

"Stop stabbing me in the boob. I'm getting sore."

(which I was)

Poor guy turned beat red. I know he felt bad about it. Then I winked at him to let him know that I wasn't angry and I knew it wasn't on purpose but stop it and adjust because I was getting really sore.

But I suppose that makes up for the times I have accidentally nutted guys in the dojo with swari waza.

And to clarify- I thought of this because of Janet's comment about how women's bodies are with the belt which made me think of how having other parts can make for some amusing training sometime. Thank god everyone is so laid back and unassuming!

Victoria Pitt wrote: Don't get me started on that one. Its like they wear it then stuff it in the bag until next time. Do you do that with your normal clothes? I have two gi (and will get a third in Jan because I train that much) and no more than two uses each then in the wash... sometimes just one!

Yup. I sweat a lot so I usually have a second keikogi top with me just in case. And at a minimum it is hung up outside to air dry even after one session. Two sessions max and it gets washed.

But yeah, I know what you mean. I remember one day someone showing me a photo of me doing something. That was the first time I realized I was firmly middle-aged... But it was a fleeting moment of awareness and then gone by the next breath.

And I'm with Howard otherwise -- it's all that delicious food that makes *me* look fat.

Which totally off topic but who cares now-

There ya go. Good for you. Love the post. Totally sounds like something I'd say.

Janet Rosen wrote: Mark, those of us with hips considerably larger than our waists cannot do this. A belt tied around the hips naturally rides up to the waistline during normal movement, and simply becomes a too-loosely-tied belt. We have no choice but to tie our belts at our natural waists regardless of what our male sensei might insist is "proper."

I'm with Janet on this one. I either have a tight belt on my waist or a loose belt that ends up around my boobs... I think the belt around the waist is the lesser of two evils....

Men will just never understand that..... they appreciate our waists and hips, yet fail to recognize that it causes wardrobe malfunctions in the dojo.

just wanted to say as soon as i read the name of this thread, i knew who started it :P

vic, you kill me hahahahahah

Yeah.. don't stop posting... theres something I enjoy about your posts...

Jerome Cervantes wrote: just wanted to say as soon as i read the name of this thread, i knew who started it :P vic, you kill me hahahahahah

That is only because you have the (dis)pleasure of knowing me personally.

Again, tangential but when you see me again, between practices, can you show me that move we were doing on Monday again? The one where you drop to the knee and reach over both arms because it really isn't making sense in my brain. It seems too complicated to be effective or come naturally. I know I must be missing something.

Thanks! =)

Victoria Pitt wrote: ...and I said to him: "Stop stabbing me in the boob. I'm getting sore."

If someone's hitting you in the (anything), it's because the (anything) is still there when the hit arrives.
Stop being there for him to hit. Sensei should be able to help figger out how. Isn't that what tai-sabaki and maai are all about?

Hope I'm not off base, but if someone hits me during training I look to what I did wrong, not to the person who's supposed to be trying to hit me.

walter
p.s., do keep posting...

Walter Martindale wrote: If someone's hitting you in the (anything), it's because the (anything) is still there when the hit arrives. Stop being there for him to hit. Sensei should be able to help figger out how. Isn't that what tai-sabaki and maai are all about?

I don't know about your dojo, but in my dojo when we are working with the jo, we stay still to allow them to get in the last strike during our kata. This allows them to work on their accuracy and in kata, there is usually a "winner" and a "loser" at the end. Or at least there is in my dojo.... I'm guessing Victoria's is the same way, but not sure.

Keith Larman wrote: And I'm with Howard otherwise -- it's all that delicious food that makes *me* look fat.

it's not the foods. it's the gi and the mirrors conspire together to make us all looked fat. one of the reason why i like to practice without gi and not in-front of the mirror.

Ashley Carter wrote: I don't know about your dojo, but in my dojo when we are working with the jo, we stay still to allow them to get in the last strike during our kata. This allows them to work on their accuracy.

Different dojos, different rules, so no one answer..... In places I've trained, if the jo, "for accuracy," is actually going to strike me, my role as the partner being accurately struck at at this point is to get the hell out of the way, usually taking a back fall.

We take the strike for accuracy and then do break fall. It makes nage have to extend fully into tsuki and uke to know how to absorb the strike. At speed I would take a break fall but I'm still new and jo really isn't my thing so we do it slow which means jo in boobie.

More motivation to get it up to speed and take the break fall.

But that won't stop the abuse my boobs sometimes take. I swear sometimes when I get pinned, the person sometimes has their knee on top of the side of my breast. I'm slapping the floor because THAT hurts, not my friggin' arm lock!

Heh... girls and martial arts. Awesome. I'd still rather have my problem than the knee to the groin though. Just saying.

But remember:

"Knee to the groin is not Aikido".

*grumble... but it works... grumble, grumble*

Phi Truong wrote: it's not the foods. it's the gi and the mirrors conspire together to make us all looked fat. one of the reason why i like to practice without gi and not in-front of the mirror.

Ah, nude public training... Good plan...

Walter Martindale wrote: If someone's hitting you in the (anything), it's because the (anything) is still there when the hit arrives. Stop being there for him to hit. Sensei should be able to help figger out how. Isn't that what tai-sabaki and maai are all about?

It's not aikido, but . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fopdncdNG2Y

Okay, white hakama +white dogi top = super stay puff marshmellow man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-sALU_hveA

Victoria Pitt wrote: We take the strike for accuracy and then do break fall. It makes nage have to extend fully into tsuki and uke to know how to absorb the strike. At speed I would take a break fall but I'm still new and jo really isn't my thing so we do it slow which means jo in boobie

OK...and at slow speed (which is the only speed this decrepit budubabe recognized besides "off") you can't either step back off the line or drop to take a little backfall?

Janet Rosen wrote: OK...and at slow speed (which is the only speed this decrepit budubabe recognized besides "off") you can't either step back off the line or drop to take a little backfall?

In this scenario, I am uke. I'm not stepping off the line because I'm making the initial strike. Nage (in one version that we were practicing) steps off the line and does tsuki into me instead. Nage needs to actually connect with me so that he's getting an idea of timing/distance. I am not just standing there and having him dig the jo into me. I am backing up as the jo is connected to me and will take a step back (or backfall) at the last moment I feel I need to.

If I were to not let nage ever connect with me, he'd never get an idea of where the jo should hit as that I would be a puff of air by then. In a real situation, of course I'd get off the line, counterstrike, etc- I'm not one to allow myself to get stabbed- but for the purpose of the exercise and my extreme novice level, I don't get too fancy. When the yudansha do it, they go for it, breakfalls and all that fancy matrix stuff. I'm just a no rank still. I consider a good day if I haven't:

Dropped the jo
Whapped myself in the face with it (or the shin)
Accidentally thrown it at another person.
Threw the jo at the shomen.
Tripped on it.

So we K.I.S.S. for me for now

(though I have a feeling that my days of getting away with sucking super bad are just about over since it was observed that I can in fact take a roll at full speed now as that my back seems to have healed up. I was hoping to still keep that a secret. =/ LOL )

P.S. One more thing:

Please keep in mind that I've been training for a little under a year and due to travel/injury had to miss out on some classes. I don't want anyone here to think when I am describing something that I am describing it correctly or well. This is still new to me and I have much to learn. I absolutely do not want to do a disservice to my dojo or my teachers by giving the impression they are teaching me incorrectly. My teachers are awesome and I have nothing but the greatest trust and respect for them. I am in the wrong 95% of the time still and by no means mean to give advice on how to do proper technique as that I still don't have a clue (of how to even hold a stick, apparently).

Victoria Pitt wrote: ...I consider a good day if I haven't: Dropped the jo Whapped myself in the face with it (or the shin) Accidentally thrown it at another person. Threw the jo at the shomen. Tripped on it.

OMG. That sounds familiar. When I first tried jo we did ushirto tsuki (the one toward the rear - I hope I got the name right), and I nearly launched the jo out the back door of the dojo. Caught it with my forward hand as it slipped through. Whew! I figured that (like dropping guitar picks occassionally) that was a good sign, that I didn't have a death grip on the thing. But still...

In the most recent weapons class I did there was someone sitting in the chairs off the mat, right behind me, completely trusting and/or naive about the possibility of flying weapons. I made darned sure I didn't lose the thing then!

I've never seen a weapon dropped or thrown in our classes yet, and I don't intend to be the first to do it.

Victoria, we do that exact same exercise since it is one of the basic responses to tsuki. I guess our dojos have a lot in common, but you are aikikai too aren't you?

Linda Eskin wrote: ...When I first tried jo we did ushirto tsuki (the one toward the rear - I hope I got the name right...

D'oh! No, I did not get the name right. For the benefit of future generations, it's: ushiro tsuki. Duh...