# MT's newest Aikidoka...



## bignick (Oct 11, 2006)

Bignick?  Though hardly new to the forum, tomorrow will mark my first Aikido class.  After recently moving and taking a job after college, studying judo and jujutsu has been hard because of a lack of dojo's.  Tonight I went to a gym and checked it out, tomorrow night I think I'll go to the beginner and start my Aikido experience.  It'll be refreshing to wear a white belt again!


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## tshadowchaser (Oct 11, 2006)

have a great time in you new art.

Putting on the white belt once again is alway an experence that brings leaning to a new level


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## terryl965 (Oct 11, 2006)

Bignick have a wonderful time and tell us how it goes afterwards


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## exile (Oct 11, 2006)

Cool---a new adventure--hope you really enjoy it!


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## Kacey (Oct 11, 2006)

Sounds like fun!  When I finish graduate school (for, God help me, the 3rd time) I would like to cross-train in something that would complement TKD - maybe Judo, or a weapon style.  Being a white belt again sounds like fun to me.  Enjoy!


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## SFC JeffJ (Oct 11, 2006)

Keep us posted on how it goes Nick!

Jeff


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## bignick (Oct 11, 2006)

Well, this will be the 5th time I've wrapped a white belt around my waist...and it is fun to really follow through on the maxim of "emptying your cup".  I'll let you know how it goes.


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## theletch1 (Oct 13, 2006)

Nick, Welcome to the world of aikido!  The fact that you already have training in a couple of styles that emphasize cirlcular motion will really help out and understanding the dynamics of a punch/kick and how the energy should feel and flow from those attacks is a true head start.  Please keep us posted on your training.

Do you know yet which sub-style of aikido you'll be training?


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## Drac (Oct 13, 2006)

The best of luck to you..


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## matt.m (Oct 13, 2006)

Dude when you are falling have the best of all good times.  Enjoy.


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## bignick (Oct 13, 2006)

OK, thoughts...

Well, honestly, it didn't start out too well.  The first person I worked with started bashing TKD before he even knew I was in it.  Not best way to get on my goodside by bashing a love of mine.  Needless to say, was not impressed with him.  However, he was a white belt and I've been around enough to know not to judge an art from the people that know least about it.  Other than that false start the night was great.  It was really good to get out and moving again.  As I've explained to others, with the Judo and Jujutsu experience it's like being able to speak Spanish but everybody is speaking to you in Italian.  It seems like it should make sense, but you can't quite figure it out.  I had a lot of fun and will probably go back.

Oddly enough, I knew of an Iaido instructor in the area, and he happens to teach at this dojo as well, so I may go check that out.  All in all, a great time...

The ideas are the same, but the movement, applications, and theories are radically different.


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## exile (Oct 14, 2006)

bignick said:


> OK, thoughts...
> Well, honestly, it didn't start out too well.  The first person I worked with started bashing TKD before he even knew I was in it.  Not best way to get on my goodside by bashing a love of mine.  Needless to say, was not impressed with him.  However, he was a white belt and I've been around enough to know not to judge an art from the people that know least about it.



Nick---just out of curiousity, what was this guy saying about TKD? I know the kind of jabs directed at it by a lot of the blood-and-guts types who are basing their ideas totally on sport-TKD, but I'm sort of curious to know what  kind of complaints someone doing Aikido would have...



bignick said:


> Other than that false start the night was great.  It was really good to get out and moving again.  As I've explained to others, with the Judo and Jujutsu experience it's like being able to speak Spanish but everybody is speaking to you in Italian.  It seems like it should make sense, but you can't quite figure it out.  I had a lot of fun and will probably go back.



Great---so it turned out positive after all. 



bignick said:


> Oddly enough, I knew of an Iaido instructor in the area, and he happens to teach at this dojo as well, so I may go check that out.  All in all, a great time...
> 
> The ideas are the same, but the movement, applications, and theories are radically different.



Sounds like good, hard, clean fun.


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## theletch1 (Oct 14, 2006)

A great many techniques in aikido are drawn (pun intended) from the sword arts.  If you get the opportunity to train with the iado instructor once in a while go for it.  It'll help some of the movements in aikido make more sense.


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## bignick (Oct 14, 2006)

exile said:


> Nick---just out of curiousity, what was this guy saying about TKD? I know the kind of jabs directed at it by a lot of the blood-and-guts types who are basing their ideas totally on sport-TKD, but I'm sort of curious to know what  kind of complaints someone doing Aikido would have...



Pretty much the same crap I've heard before regarding sport oriented gyms.  Not that I don't have my own complaints about such places, but the summary judgement and dismissal of an entire art like that almost set me off.  Not to mention the fact this guy literally didn't even crack 5 feet.  I was tempted to stomp him and, "Oops...didn't see you there" :angel:


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## exile (Oct 14, 2006)

bignick said:


> Pretty much the same crap I've heard before regarding sport oriented gyms.  Not that I don't have my own complaints about such places, but the summary judgement and dismissal of an entire art like that almost set me off.  Not to mention the fact this guy literally didn't even crack 5 feet.  I was tempted to stomp him and, "Oops...didn't see you there" :angel:



LOL! Understand your reaction perfectly. Bet you won't  get any more of that from him, though.  Sounds like things there are going to be really interesting!


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## theletch1 (Oct 14, 2006)

bignick said:


> Pretty much the same crap I've heard before regarding sport oriented gyms. Not that I don't have my own complaints about such places, but the summary judgement and dismissal of an entire art like that almost set me off. Not to mention the fact this guy literally didn't even crack 5 feet. I was tempted to stomp him and, "Oops...didn't see you there" :angel:


Every art has it's detractors.  Be prepared for some "Aikido won't work on the street 'cause there ain't no punchin' or kickin'" stuff as well as you follow the aiki path.  Just as with every other art you've ever studied, enjoy it, follow your own path and recognize that the ignorance of others is their roadblock.


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## exile (Oct 14, 2006)

theletch1 said:


> Every art has it's detractors.  Be prepared for some "Aikido won't work on the street 'cause there ain't no punchin' or kickin'" stuff as well as you follow the aiki path.  Just as with every other art you've ever studied, enjoy it, follow your own path and recognize that the ignorance of others is their roadblock.



Here's something weird: I was just looking at a clip of a kenpo sparring tournament over at their forum... it looked almost like a WTF TKD match, I'm not kidding! Relatively little hand action, mostly poinnt-sparring `foot-tag', and the discussion around the clips touched on the disparity between kenpo's blood-and-guts reputation on the one hand vs. the street-uselessness of the kind of high-kick-and-go exchange shown on the clip. And we know that sport karate brings on the same kind of agonizing amongst karateka... 

I'm coming to the conclusion that it's a general problem for MA: if you have a competitive tournament version of your art, a sport version, you're gonna get badmouthed by people who don't have a clue about the other side of it. As you say, the guy who was putting TKD down to bignick was just showing how much he didn't know about TKD's combat toolkit. It's going to be like that till the end of time, probably.


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## theletch1 (Oct 15, 2006)

That's what makes MT a great forum.  Those of us who are lacking knowledge about a particular art have the opportunity to learn about it from those who study it and not have to rely on rumor from others who are just as clueless as we are.  I'll be the first to admit that I used to have a very poor outlook on several other arts until I got the chance to discuss those arts with some great people here.  Sometimes I wonder if being a MT member should be part of school curriculum around the world.


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## exile (Oct 15, 2006)

theletch1 said:


> Sometimes I wonder if being a MT member should be part of school curriculum around the world.



 !


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## tkd_jen (Oct 18, 2006)

Sweet, Mr. Nick will now have even more to share at Black Belt classes (December 3rd, ahem)!!


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## Shirt Ripper (Oct 18, 2006)

Sounds you've enjoyed it...  If interested I believe my books are up at school here, so when you're in town...

(yes, I still read MT from time to time)


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