# First Aikido class



## Vhaen (Feb 16, 2014)

Iwama ryu.

And I'm hooked. I haven't the faintest idea what I'm doing, everything is new, awkward and confusing and I managed to trip and throw myself at least once. I think I even jammed my own footwork by treading on my toes.

I can't wait to do it again.

Thought I'd share my enjoyment and maybe encourage others to think back on their first experience. I'm fairly confident I'm not the only one who felt clumsy and uncoordinated :boing2:


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## seasoned (Feb 16, 2014)

Please keep us in the loop on your progress. Your comment sounds pretty common for a first time venture but it sounds like you have commitment. May the good luck be with you...


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## K-man (Feb 16, 2014)

Actually I remember my first Aikido experience. I threw the guys, including the Sensei all over the place. I locked them all up in holds where they just couldn't move, then the alarm went off and I went of to the class.


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## seasoned (Feb 16, 2014)

K-man said:


> Actually I remember my first Aikido experience. I threw the guys, including the Sensei all over the place. I locked them all up in holds where they just couldn't move, then the alarm went off and I went of to the class.


Fiction and reality come together...


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## Vhaen (Mar 21, 2014)

Well one month in and I've just gotten back from class.  Training on average 2 1 hour classes a night 2 nights a week.  There are another 2 1 hour classes that i can't attend due to work, but I'm going to see if I can call in a favour and fix that.

its been an interesting run. I've had one atrocious class. I've had one amazing class. But one thing remains constant throughout all of them and that is the challenge factor.

it has me (metaphorically) banging my head against the wall how something so effortless and simple can at the same time be so difficult and exacting.  I really hope that as I progress and improve this challenge factor stays the same.  It's equally so fun and frustrating. Kind of like the girl who you know is trouble but you just can't seem to stay away :uhyeah:.

I've tried my hand at a lot of different systems and styles over the last 20 years or so (and absolutely loved a couple) but none have really grabbed me the way Aikido has.  I can't put my finger on it but no matter how tired or lazy or frustrated I feel I find myself counting down the days to my next class.


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## wingchun100 (Mar 21, 2014)

Vhaen said:


> Well one month in and I've just gotten back from class.  Training on average 2 1 hour classes a night 2 nights a week.  There are another 2 1 hour classes that i can't attend due to work, but I'm going to see if I can call in a favour and fix that.
> 
> its been an interesting run. I've had one atrocious class. I've had one amazing class. But one thing remains constant throughout all of them and that is the challenge factor.
> 
> ...



That's the kind of fire that will keep you going there.

As for me, aside from some of the more "acrobatic" moves I had to do at some schools I attended, I never really had an awkward day. (I took judo, wushu and wing chun.) I remember the teacher at the wushu school wanting me to do a one-handed cartwheel, and it just wasn't in me. I don't like flashy stuff like that, which is probably why wing chun is such a good fit for me.


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## Vhaen (Mar 22, 2014)

Yeah I did Wing Chun 6 days a week for two years and I loved it.

By the end of the second year I was horribly burned out and took (what I had originally planned to be) a 3 month break. It spanned out to a couple of years due to personal reasons and then I had a back injury which made the Wing Chun stance* impossible.  I couldn't even complete Sil Lum Tao.  I took the lessons I had learned and moved on.

*The "Wing Chun stance" to which I refer is the same stance used in Sil Lum Tao.  

My lineage was Tsui Sheung Tin. I do miss it but I've done pretty much nothing but striking systems all my life so I guess the throwing element of Aikido is a big part of what draws me in.  If there's one thing I will give Wing Chun though it's that it meshes almost seamlessly with other systems.


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## Melderv (Mar 28, 2014)

In my first Aikido class, I did what others wouldn't recommend. I pre-studied. At first, this got me impatient, but I benefited a lot because I had a simple run-down of the techniques and adjusting to the specifics of what my Sensei taught was my only goal. 

Techniques were not my first class, though. He had me and my girlfriend do rolls the entire class. Still and with respect, I didn't learn much from that Sensei. Just as a guide, make sure you are learning enough and not just trying things out as one had shown you (especially improperly). Even the most basic things have fine principles you can get wrong and make bad habits out of. 

Oh, and if you have problems doing Aikido ukemi, try researching parkour rolls. They are different yet similar at the same time. I realized this after moving on to harder surfaces, and they hit my points in my pelvis (only then did I realize what the hip guard was for, black belters). Parkour rolls allow you to roll without hitting them, removing the need of a hip guard and fine-tuning your rolls for use in the streets.


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