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Old 01-21-2004, 06:46 PM   #1
Justin Cole
Location: Alabama
Join Date: Jan 2004
Posts: 9
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Partners

I am having problems with partners in class. Being that I am smaller, I usually get smaller partners; most of the time it's girls much smaller than me. I find every movement I do is overpowering and I get nothing out of it. I cant feel how a real movement would feel like; it is really just killing it for me. Any sugjestions?
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Old 01-21-2004, 07:11 PM   #2
Amassus
 
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Dojo: Aikido Musubi Ryu/ Yoshin Wadokan
Location: Hamilton
Join Date: Aug 2003
Posts: 306
New Zealand
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How long have you been training for Justin?

If you are a beginner, your instructor may be trying to help you out by giving you partners of your height.

What ever the reason, the best way to deal with this situation is to talk to your instructor and explain the problem.

"flows like water, reflects like a mirror, and responds like an echo." Chaung-tse
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Old 01-21-2004, 07:18 PM   #3
Justin Cole
Location: Alabama
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Well the paired is with new whitebelts also. I've only been in for about a month.
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Old 01-21-2004, 07:19 PM   #4
Justin Cole
Location: Alabama
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on that note, their are no guys around my size
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Old 01-21-2004, 08:21 PM   #5
Amassus
 
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Dojo: Aikido Musubi Ryu/ Yoshin Wadokan
Location: Hamilton
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Ah, 1 month.

Be patient. As you become familiar with the techniques you may find your sensei changing your partners and challenging you further with people of different height to yourself.

Aikido is a long road...

Just ask some of the more experienced people in the forums (I'm not one of them).

"flows like water, reflects like a mirror, and responds like an echo." Chaung-tse
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Old 01-21-2004, 08:38 PM   #6
SeiserL
 
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Location: Florida Gulf coast
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Re: Partners

Quote:
Justin Cole wrote:
I find every movement I do is overpowering and I get nothing out of it. I cant feel how a real movement would feel like; it is really just killing it for me. Any sugjestions?
One month, paired with other white belts, and you feel like you are over powering?

Sounds right on track. Be patient.

In fact, you are right where you should be. The hardest thing in Aikido is to learn to do the technique right so you don't feel the power. The real movement will feel like you are not doing anything. If you feel power, you are probabaly thinking power and not technique. Relax and go slow, work on getting the technique right first.

Lynn Seiser PhD
Yondan Aikido & FMA/JKD
We do not rise to the level of our expectations, but fall to the level of our training. Train well. KWATZ!
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Old 01-21-2004, 08:45 PM   #7
Justin Cole
Location: Alabama
Join Date: Jan 2004
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It's not persay, over powering, just dosnt flow when no resistance is given
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Old 01-21-2004, 09:14 PM   #8
dion
Dojo: san diego aikikai
Location: San Diego
Join Date: Jul 2003
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Is this in general class? If so then try to get with the more advanced students and work with them, if your Dojo permits it.

If it's in the beginners class then just take your time and relax. Learn the movments and go slow. you'll have your chance to move up soon enough and when you do try to trian with the seniors as much as possible.

San Diego Aikikai
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Old 01-21-2004, 10:29 PM   #9
Colin Moynier
Join Date: Dec 2003
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The class I went to was a beginners class and 2 of the people (who were brother and sister) were very hard to train with. They always came about 10 minutes late and gave no effort to training, plus they were a bit shorter so that made it difficult to train with them too.
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Old 01-22-2004, 09:01 AM   #10
MaryKaye
Dojo: Seattle Ki Society
Location: Seattle
Join Date: Dec 2003
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I think inexperienced partners are probably more your difficulty than short ones. A shorter person giving a fully committed attack can really force you to use correct technique, as the 5' tall shodan in our dojo likes to demonstrate.

Newcomers can be frustrating to practice with, but if you let them know what's wrong you can hope for quick improvement. You could try saying "Please attack with commitment" if your dojo rules allow that. But really the best thing is to talk to sensei.

You probably can't vary the techniques you use in class, but if you are practicing outside of or between classes and worry that you are using force rather than technique, there are ways to work on that. Many techniques can be done one-handed and this makes them harder to force. Some can be done from kneeling, which makes them *really* hard to force (and removes any height advantage).

This week our sensei have been making us do ikkyo without the second, helping hand, and I've noticed that this gives the larger and taller nage considerable difficulty because they can no longer simply tip me over with that hand, but have to get the ikkyo right. (I am smaller and less strong than most of them, so it gives me even worse problems, but I'm working on that.)

Above all, have patience. No one set of training partners, and no one set of problems, will last forever.

Mary Kaye
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Old 01-22-2004, 09:40 AM   #11
Paul Sanderson-Cimino
Dojo: Yoshokai; looking into judo
Join Date: Mar 2003
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I wouldn't assume that women, even those substantially smaller than you, are such 'pushovers' that it's impossible to tell the difference between good and bad technique. Like Furuya-sensei once said, "It's easy to throw someone with a lot of force. Try throwing someone with no force." (For a practical standpoint, I'm assuming ... maybe rightly ... that he means not thinking of muscling, just moving smoothly in an unbendable arm kind of way and absorbing uke's energy with it.)

Not like it's easy!
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Old 01-22-2004, 10:31 AM   #12
aikidoc
Dojo: Aikido of Midland
Location: Midland Texas
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Try feeling the technique. If you are overpowering your attacker perhaps you are using too much muscle-especially if your body size or strength is considerably greater. By blending with and feeling the energy of the attack you will get a better understanding of how to manage the energy and how to redirect it.

Beginners are challenging for even seasoned instructors since they are afraid of falling, don't understand how to respond with their bodies and are often stiff and resistive. Controlling and managing the energy of such a person will be a good learning experience for the varied attackers and attacks you will experience throughout your training.
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Old 01-22-2004, 08:42 PM   #13
Justin Cole
Location: Alabama
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well if one thing, i've become beffter at falling
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