Aikido 2/28/09

Our Aikido class this morning focused solely on suwariwaza. We went over (I think) the first 4 techniques from Ichikata. This was pretty much an introduction of suwariwaza to me, so forgive me for not being very descriptive of the techniques. However, Pat recently wrote an excellent article on his blog about just what we did today. Please take a moment to read it here. I think we did everything except the last one he describes ("juntai timing").

More meaningful to me than the individual techniques today, was the conceptual discussion we had about the value of suwariwaza practice. Let me see if I can convey what we talked about, as I understand it. I'll extrapolate on what was discussed, based on my further consideration of it throughout the day (feel free to chime in, Pat):

We train to have a "hierarchy of responses" to aggression. We have tactics and strategies that are more preferable to employ and those that are less preferable. For instance, the most preferable way to deal with an attack would be to not be present when the attack occurs. We attempt this by trying to avoid environments or situations where attack would be likely, when possible. Now, there are times when we may not be able to avoid those environments, or when violence happens outside of its "likely" territory. So we move to the next most preferable tactic (in our system) - stay out of maai. If a bad guy breaks maai, the next response on our list is to evade (get off the line of attack). If you can't evade/escape, you may need to resort to technique "X". If "X" doesn't save your bacon, you have technique "Y", and so on ("nothing ever works").

This is what we try to internalize, not something we try to decipher if and when a situation turns sour. So the wordy process above just happens automatically, and is not an OODA loop nightmare.

Anyway, suwariwaza (kneeling techniques), remove a few of the options, so we can focus on others. For one thing, you begin well inside maai, so you're not dealing with that aspect of an encounter. Kneeling also inhibits your evasion, so right there you have a couple options gone. As Nick Lowry wrote in his great book on Aikido, "By learning to work from the worst possible position, and excel, we find it easier to function in all the more superior positions." (Aikido; Principles of Kata and Randori, p. 61) Suwariwaza puts us in a less-than-ideal position. We discussed how suwariwaza teaches us to synch up with uke's up and down motions and to "occupy the center" and how these things relate to the generation of power.

Judo 2/28/09

We started today with the "footsweep to control" exercise as usual. We practiced it with both deashi and kouchi sweeps.

We worked a lot today on kouchigari (small inner reap). Pat explained that the problem with this sweep, if it is a problem, is that it generally puts you in uke's guard. A few things for me to remember about this one: 1) sweep by stepping out to the side in the direction of the sweep, not just across the front of my body as in deashi. 2) Don't forget to "cut" in and give a little push just before the swept foot steps down. 3) Use the left hand as a feeler to tell me when uke is stepping down with that foot.

The brand new throw for today was seoinage (shoulder throw), with two variations: ippon-seoinage (one armed shoulder throw) and morote-seoinage (two armed shoulder throw). This is my first hand throw in the curriculum. One thing I noticed: My seoinage seems to throw uke around my body rather than over my shoulder like I see in most videos on the internet. If that's a problem, I guess it will get worked out eventually. Things for me to remember about this one: 1) The throw is more to the side (along uke's line of weakness) than right in front of him. 2) I need to let go of uke's lapel with my right hand before throwing. If things don't go just right, I could hurt my arm. 3) Pull IN with the right hand, don't try to "cartwheel" him. He should end up in a position that looks like he's ready to do a forward roll. 4) Once it's set up, just do a crunch (bend slightly) and turn slightly, looking away from uke.

For groundwork, we went over 6 "short takedowns" (3 pairs that work together), and did some ground randori. I still get crushed on the bottom when rolling with Pat, and today showed me I need to review and drill my basic escapes some more. For some reason, I was only trying downhills and knee-to-elbows today, and not having too much luck with either one. Pat admitted one of his weaker escapes was from the North-South position. I shamelessly took advantage - ERRR, I mean...helped him practice it a couple of times. I found I was reasonably successful keeping that position by sort of "running" on the balls of my feet while keeping weight on his chest.

I told Pat how I had caught my nephew with a few armbars, but once he started defending with a gable grip, I couldn't get past it. Pat showed me how making him raise his hands above his head really weakened that grip. That turns it from a perfect bicep situation for the defender into kind of weird rotator cuff thing.

Lastly, we talked about how having your opponent in your guard is not a time to rest or catch your breath, but to keep moving, defending, etc. I'll be glad when my endurance is equal to the task.

It was another really fun, really exhausting lesson.

Friday Night Video 2/27/09

These were a couple videos that made me laugh:

Thursday Thoughts

"Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit softly"

~Theodore Roosevelt

Push and Deny

I recently read a post from the 24 Fighting Chickens Blog about what it takes to become a world champion. While I have no interest in becoming a champion fighter, one thing he said jumped out at me:

Self-discipline...consists of two different components:

Push - The ability to make yourself do something you want to do
Deny - The ability to not do something that you want to

Each of these two components is completely separate from one another. Some people are gifted with push, and others with deny. After observing people doing karate for three decades, I feel very comfortable saying that some people are gifted with push, some with deny, some with neither, and some with both.

I was thinking about this in regard to my quest for fitness. I seem to be better at "deny" than "push", but frankly, I find I lack both. Thinking about it in these simple terms may help me improve at things like getting out of bed, and skipping dessert.

Submission Master Grappling Dummy

I'm trying to sell my Submission Master grappling dummy, and thought I'd let my readers have first crack at it before I put it on ebay. I've only had it for about 7 weeks, but for a few reasons, I need to sell it:


1) I don't find I have that much time to work with it at home. Not enough to justify having it.
2) It's about a size too big for me, but that's the only size they come in. It may squish down in time, with use, but see #1 above for the reason that may never happen under my roof. I haven't even really broken it in yet.
3) It's about 85 pounds, and it's getting old dragging it from the back bedroom where I store it, to the living room, where I use it.


I'm selling it ridiculously cheap compared to how much they cost new, although shipping may be a lot (as I said, it's about 85 pounds). Shipping should be about $100 bucks or less, based on the estimate I got from my local shipper.

Please see this post for pics, more information, and a demo video. Let me know if you're interested! I'd be happy to do it through a Buy-It-Now auction on eBay if you'd like to do it through a secure method.

What I'm Reading

I thought I'd try to comment on my "just finished reading" list once in a while...at least the books related to martial arts. Not so much reviews, sort of "micro-reviews" unless I just really feel like ranting about something.


I just finished Karate-Do: My Way of Life by Gichin Funakoshi. It was a decent read.


Am I glad I read it? Yes.


Will I read it again? Probably not.


Reflections? I was surprised at how recently modern karate was popularized. Some of the stories were pretty humorous.


Recommended? Yes.

Judo/BJJ Study Group - 02/23/09

Cody and I only had about an hour and 15 minutes to play tonight, so we got right to the ground work after a quick warmup by way of reviewing the 5 throws from my yellow belt level. We reviewed the scissor sweep from Roy Dean's DVD, then learned the next sweep on the disk, the "Knee Push". We found this very similar in principle to the scissor sweep, and it helped to think of it as just a different flavor of it. We also learned the "Hip Bump" sweep, which was next on the DVD.

After several reps drilling those, we switched to my Saulo Ribeiro DVDs. Saulo doesn't name the techniques he's demonstrating on these disks, but they're the first 2 sweeps on the "Guard" disk of his Jiu-Jitsu Revolution Volume 1. The first was a response to the "knee-in-the-tailbone" guard pass, and worked pretty simply. The second was an option in case top guy's knee isn't quite in the middle of your butt for the guard opener. It involved sweeping with your leg up on top guy's shoulder...I'll have to see if I can find some video of something similar to post here so you can tell what I'm talking about.

So we drilled the 4 new sweeps for a while, then moved to ground randori. We're playing with a few submissions now, instead of only going for position. We both still stink at subs though, so it's still a lot of pinning and escaping.

Now Cody is stronger than a dose of coal oil, and faster than corn through a sick goose, so he really gives me a workout, but I tend to hold my own. He got a lot of scissor sweeps on me tonight, but not as many upas as he usually does, as I was looking for them and wouldn't let him trap my leg. I was not as successful with scissor sweeps tonight, but maybe that was because I had 4 new ones on my mind! Maybe next time, we'll only try for 2 new techniques. I think I got one knee push sweep, and a hip bump sweep that was probably only so by the most generous of definitions, but hey, it worked. I was trying like heck to sink some collar chokes, having just learned them, but I still suck at them. I was, however, able to make use of the choke attempt / armbar combination several times. I think I caught him with it 3 times in rapid succession, but then he got wise and defended against them fiercely...probably because he realized my chokes were really no threat to him. I tapped to a rear naked choke to end our time.

I'm doing these study "groups" (do 2 people make a group?) for a few reasons:

1. To practice what I'm learning in class
2. To discover what I actually understand from class
3. To discover what I must not be understanding from class...deficiencies in my game that I need more help with
4. To practice some of the things from my DVDs so I can ask Pat about them later
5. It's darn FUN!

So what did I observe from tonight?

• I think we were both able to roll a bit longer than we have been able to before giving up due to exhaustion (endurance increasing)
• My chokes suck
• I'm getting slightly better at being able to survive on the bottom
• I still suck when caught in half guard
• I was able to gain and retain mount a little better tonight (although I gained it through trickery half the time, feinting one way, then going another)
• On the same note, I think I was thinking a little more this time...trying to lure him into certain situations...remembering to use my knees to move his arms out of my way...baby steps, for sure, but encouraging.

Wife's Blog

I'd like to advertise a bit for my wife's new blog. It will have nothing to do with martial arts, but she is a professional artist and educator, and if you or someone you know are interested in arts and other creative endeavors, you may enjoy it. Most of the posts lately, however, have been about our 9-month-old daughter. Stay tuned for more posts about about art, photography, education, etc. Click here to visit.

Jodo, 2/21/09

Today, I had a Jodo lesson with Pat in lieu of our regular Aikido class. This was my first Jodo lesson, and I gotta say I really enjoyed it. I don't know if I'll find the time to study Shindo Muso Ryu / Jodo regularly, but I wish I could. Pat says it's a great compliment to Aikido, and can refine one's Aikido. That, I'm definitely interested in. And it's just plain fun, too.

We started out with 4 basic bokken strikes (from kendo). Men, a strike to the head when your opponent drops his sword to your left. Kote, a strike to the wrist when he drops his sword to your right. Do, a strike to the side of his abdomen if he raises his bokken to strike. Finally, tsuke, a thrust to stick guy's throat, in response the the same motion.

Next we worked on honteuchi, one of the basic strikes with the jo (normal grip strike).

Finally I learned the first of the seitei kata in Jodo - tsukezue ("the reaching stick").

Some things I need to remember:

• Keep my shoulders square, particularly when lifting the jo to strike.
• The top hand lifts, the bottom hand strikes, and the top hand catches (stops the falling motion of the weapon).
• The hands should work in conjunction with the foot steps while performing their specific roles. This is hard to explain, but I'll try, because I'll need to refer to this later. I'll use the bokken strike for an example. When the bokken is overhead, right hand higher on the handle than the left hand, as the left foot pushes the step forward, the left hand supplies the force for the strike (not a ton of force, just enough). As the right foot "catches" or stops the forward step, the right hand catches the weapon and stops the motion from the strike. As the right foot pushes the step backward, the right hand lifts the bokken overhead again.

Some important things for me to remember about this: 1) the "same hand, same foot" principle from Aikido applies here, and 2) When one hand is not doing something (the left hand, in the case of lifting the bokken), that's a good opportunity to make any corrections needed in the grip. In fact, I found myself almost letting go with the "inactive" hand, to start training my hands to each do their own job.

One other note: I realize the kanji in the picture at the top of this post has nothing to do with Jodo or SMR. It's actually Japanese for "Mercy, Grace, or Kindness". It's the inscription burned into the jo I got from Kingfisher Woodworks. The main reason I chose this inscription was to remind me once again, that I need (and have received) much mercy, grace, and kindness, and to remind me to be merciful, gracious, and kind. The other reason is that I found it pleasantly ironic to have that meaning on a weapon.