extra training

is there any practices one can do at home to enhance his techniques?????????

If you study Iwama style you can practice your weapons kata.

There's plenty!
Tai-sabaki (body movement): normal stepping, sliding step, knee walking, irimi, tenkan, irimi-tenkan, etc...
ikkyo undo, shiho giri (with or without bokken), shiho tsuki, the rowing exercise; basically all the aiki taiso exercises
And that's just the basic solo exercises.

Joep

ps.: If you don't know what some of those mean, just ask.

Tenkan, tenkan, tenkan.
Relax, breath, keep posture/alignment.

Joep Schuurkes wrote: There's plenty! Tai-sabaki (body movement): normal stepping, sliding step, knee walking, irimi, tenkan, irimi-tenkan, etc... ikkyo undo, shiho giri (with or without bokken), shiho tsuki, the rowing exercise; basically all the aiki taiso exercises And that's just the basic solo exercises. Joep ps.: If you don't know what some of those mean, just ask.

wow thnx man........well idon't know what is the ikkyo undo, shiho giri, and the shihu tsuki , but i think i know the rowing exercises it's when u move ur upper body fowrward and ur arms pointing forwards then retuning backwards right what's it for any way??

dunno maybe im wrong but couldnt you practice the teniques? just like the motions over and over? get them ingrained in yer head?

Yep, I agree with Brian. I once asked my first instructor if we had and kata for solo practice like Karate. He responded that all kata were were techniques done without a partner strung together so there's nothing to prevent you doing that yourself. It helps you get your foot work down and work on your balance in motion. Great stuff.

Brian Dunlap wrote: dunno maybe im wrong but couldnt you practice the teniques? just like the motions over and over? get them ingrained in yer head?

Training without a partner is essentially a dead practice. All you are doing is ingraining a set of motions which will have no bearing on reality the moment you have a partner to train with. Their posture, movement and 'energy' dictate your response, not vice-versa.

Aikido is a live practice, you need to feel the relationship between yourself and uke. Every partner you train with is different, thus this 'relationship' changes from person to person, as it even does with the same person from one moment to the next.

Sorry if that's not very clear.

yes and no. Training the basic forms can make you lighter on your feet, more able to keep your balance as you shift and turn. What that means is that when you come to train with a partner you are in better control of your body which = increased ability to move and blend with theirs.

Michael Fooks wrote: yes and no. Training the basic forms can make you lighter on your feet, more able to keep your balance as you shift and turn. What that means is that when you come to train with a partner you are in better control of your body which = increased ability to move and blend with theirs.

I guess we're just going to have to agree to disagree.

The point I was trying to make, admittedly not very well, is that while you can train the body to move from A to B to C as per the basic form of a technique, most likely what will happen when training with a partner is that you will try to make them do the same. Because through repetition you have taught your body to move to these positions irrespective of the dynamic relationship between yourself and uke.

Karim Saladin wrote: idon't know what is the ikkyo undo, shiho giri, and the shihu tsuki , but i think i know the rowing exercises it's when u move ur upper body fowrward and ur arms pointing forwards then retuning backwards right what's it for any way??

Doing exercises you do in you dojo is probably best. Your teacher thinks they are important and he can correct you when you do them in class. And yes, that's you rowing exercise you described.

Ikkyo undo: is doing the first movement of shomen uchi ikkyo omote by yourself. You stand in hanmi with your arms by your side, shift your weight forwards and raise your arms/hands to eye level, return to begin position. Think of it as the rowing exercise with a vertical direction added.
shiho giri: striking (shomen uchi) in the four directions, normally with a bokken, but without is fine as well
shiho tsuki: tsuki (a 'punch') in the four directions with a jo, haven't found a decent way to do it without jo, though

Get a friend to come to class and then go over the techniques/exercises in your own time (if it's possible). I started with a good friend of mine (who has since quit training) and with the help of 'Total Aikido' by Shioda et al (whom we held in superstitious awe, after reading angry white pyjama's) which was our bible, we would refresh our minds on things that we had learnt in the previous class.

Yes, its possibly dangerous, yes we made mistakes without the supervision of an instructor, but, overall it was a very positive experiance that contributed greatly to me advancing in the very early stages of my training.

There is plenty of Aikido based Qi gong that you can do at home by yourself to improve your coordination and posture, and to really center your energy. it looks a bit more like tai chi than Aikido but it's really good to do. It really helped me anyway.

Lnr

Eleanor Higgins wrote: There is plenty of Aikido based Qi gong that you can do at home by yourself to improve your coordination and posture, and to really center your energy. it looks a bit more like tai chi than Aikido but it's really good to do. It really helped me anyway. Lnr

There are?
Where can I find more information about these? I mean, I've been following all the Qi gong threads going around, but I didn't know stuff was actually done.

Just a quick note, It never hurts to practice your ukemi where ever you are. i practice in my basement without any pads. The way i see it, if you can fall alright on cement then you can fall anywhere.
As for other techniques, shore you can practiceany of your techniques anytime. All you have to do is try to invisualize your opponets. I recomend the computer program aikido 3D, it is truly a great program.

What can you practice alone. We do a good deal of weapons at Calgary Aikikai. which allow one to practice footwork and positioning while alone. Although we don't practice any "kata" ( by this is mean a set form or hand technique moves with an imaginary uke) we have had Sugawara Sensei visit us for a seminar where he introduced us to some of his ideas. (Taichi style Aikido 42 Forms) This web site might be of interest

http://www.santarosaaikido.com/sugawara.html

All aikido techniques are Kata (paired though they may be) but it is of course possible to do it alone. Ukemi at home is also good training as long as you dont injure yourself. I used to roll in my living room on carpet over a wooden and concrete floor and flip in the back yard onto grass just fine. Be careful though

The set of movements i would do most regularly at the moment are called Hachidankan the eight silk brokade, I don't really know where to find out about them but i hope ou can track them down.

Lnr

That doesnt make any sense Eleanor, where did YOU find out about them? Qi Gong in aikido sounds sus to me. Ki/Chi, yeah. Yoshinkan hiriki exercises, yeah. Ki society exercises, yeah. But this sounds a bit bizaare to me?

Right effort is to get rid of everything extra. I didn't learn that until after more than 10 years of fiddling around with extra things. I wonder if that is why it is best to stick with just one thing for ten years first? Usually after ten years, the next step is to go another ten. The second ten is easier than the first. In gassho

Eleanor Higgins wrote: The set of movements i would do most regularly at the moment are called Hachidankan the eight silk brokade, I don't really know where to find out about them but i hope ou can track them down. Lnr

Kanetsuka Sensei used to teach the hachidankin as a preparation exercise. He learned it from Kanazawa Sensei of the Shotokan, whom he knew from University in Tokyo. Kanazawa Sensei in turn learned it from Yang Ming-Shi, a tai-chi teacher who is originally from China but lives in Japan. He wrote a book showing all eight of these exercises, called "Illustrated Tai- Chi Chuan for Health and Beauty". It's published by Bunka Publishing Bureau, Tokyo.

Alex

Aha, that makes sense. So it's a Tai Chi/Qi Gong exercise that some people have incorporated into their arts, not an aikido exercise perse...

Yeah, the 8 silk broadcade (sp?) is pretty standard fare in Qigong that you find in a lot of Chinese systems.

Chill Nick, you needn't get all het up about it! it's just what i do and i said it was like tai chi anyway but i learned it as an aikido exercise so sorry if you don't like that i'll be sure to run everything by you in future before i try and help someone else... oh wait no i won't!

Lnr

Pardon? Chill? Het up? Whos aggitated here? I was merely confused by hearing of a 'qi gong aikido exercise' when to my mind they are separate arts, thats all. Im not trying to push my definition of aikido on you, I was merely interested in where this exercise came from. As I imagined, it's from another art and some people incorporate it into their aikido training. The 'YOU' looks a little aggressive, I didnt mean it that way, I just meant were did you learn it from, because you didnt offer any explanation as to where information on this exercise could be found. I forget that Mark studies aikido too...