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lizardjayI went to my first aikido class yesterday!
It.... wasn't SUPPOSED to be my first class. The website said it was fine to just come and observe a class first, so I did, in my work clothes. I got to talking with the sensei, and then other people showed up and got dressed, and then they went ".... we have a loaner gi. You want to get on the mat?" So like. I had to :D but I wasn't planning on it!!! My bodyyyyy.......
Class was pretty small, five including me. All older guys 😅 supposedly there's a 16yo who comes sometimes, then the next youngest is 32. Three of them were black belts so it's an experienced class! They mostly had me practice with the black belt guys.
Structure of the class:
The moves from memory:
It was super fun! It was fascinating how... as I was trying to do the move on one of the guys, E, the first couple times he completely moved with me. Then, he just wouldn't, clearly as a teaching method to get me to improve something. Like "no 😇 you're not doing it right yet." Obviously not expecting anything near perfection; when I improved my stance or lifted my arm or whatever I was supposed to be doing, he'd roll to the floor even though I definitely didn't make him 😅 it's baby steps! And when we switched, he was being very Clear with the motions as he dropped me; he alternated going fast and going deliberately slow. Unfortunately, I couldn't put a lot of it into practice! But it was fun anyway. He also did a thing where he started one of the moves BEFORE I grabbed him, which made a lot of sense with the movement.
The other guys were good too :D they just told me more stuff out loud.
I'm not in great shape, but luckily it's the kind of exercise where you only realize how winded you are when you pause for a second. (This is why I hate running; you're aware the whole time of how miserable you are.) E was giving me some tips and I was thinking "oh man I went way too hard I'm 5% nauseous" so I'm glad he stopped us. Falling down and getting up every fifteen seconds really gets you! Wearing a mask doesn't really help with breathing either.
There's a fair number of wrist/arm twists and things that cause discomfort/slight pain in the moment, but nothing lasting. It's fascinating! It did make me a little afraid to go super hard on some moves because I have no idea where the line of pain is on someone else yet. So I went a little too gentle probably.
(I've seen other people online refer to the grabber and grabbee with other words. I have no idea what words we use here. It didn't come up 😅)
Next day report:
I really like the vibe of the place. There's no contract, you just pay month to month and it's not that expensive. If you need a minute you can just sit down or get some water, it's not super formal. (I guess I'm contrasting this to gym class or marching band practice where you weren't supposed to do that unless you were having a serious problem.) We had a good class but nobody was trying overly hard to sell the place to me. And they seemed excited to have a new person who hadn't learned at all before! So hopefully they will continue to be patient with me as I bumble around.
Somewhat TMI note: I remembered halfway through class, while wearing the white loaner gi, that my period is due any day now. The fear was IMMENSE. But all was well!
It.... wasn't SUPPOSED to be my first class. The website said it was fine to just come and observe a class first, so I did, in my work clothes. I got to talking with the sensei, and then other people showed up and got dressed, and then they went ".... we have a loaner gi. You want to get on the mat?" So like. I had to :D but I wasn't planning on it!!! My bodyyyyy.......
Class was pretty small, five including me. All older guys 😅 supposedly there's a 16yo who comes sometimes, then the next youngest is 32. Three of them were black belts so it's an experienced class! They mostly had me practice with the black belt guys.
Structure of the class:
- warmup stretches. Did my best to follow. There were a lot of wrist stretches (which they did explain for me, unlike the other stuff which was straightforward) and I didn't understand all of them. It makes sense though with all the wrist twisting involved.
- I think it was at this point that we did a quick bow? Might have been before the warmups. We ended the class like this too, and also bowing to each other as training partners. So polite! Other than that though, things were pretty casual.
- S took me aside to learn falls. Just rolling onto my back for now, nothing else. (When we did a move later with front rolls they only let me be the one to do the move, not to roll. Safety first.) He tried to teach me the importance of which knee to lower first, but I still did the wrong one about half the time later on 🥲 and sometimes I fell wrong and went more flat on my back instead of rolling rounded. But nobody was putting me down hard, I was more choosing to sit to get away from having my arm twisted, so it wasn't like I was dealing with a lot of force.
- Moves! Demonstrated once or twice in front of everyone, and then we paired off. There were 5 of us including J-sensei so he walked around and gave tips, or if he was with me the other three traded off. We did like.... idk, four different moves? I learned the name of none of them. They all involved a wrist grab to start. This was most of class. Apparently the rhythm is you go four times, then you swap who's the attacker. Repeat. I didn't have an internal sense, I just grabbed until the other guy grabbed me, and sometimes even when he did until he'd say it was my turn. Too much information! My brain is soup! I think right now I like being thrown better because I can follow the other person's movement. I'm still doing things wrong, but at least there's a guide for WHAT I'm doing wrong. When I'm trying to throw I'm sitting there going "ah shit which way" until I just try something and then it's very clear I've gone left when I'm supposed to go right. Still, it all goes so fast that once I know I've done something wrong, the next time is coming up ten seconds later and I just have to try to improve with the next repeat.
- We paired off and knelt and like. Grappled? Just for a few minutes. This was confusing but fun. I need to figure out a way to kneel that isn't uncomfortable on my feet though. They asked me how my knees were doing; I have no problem with my knees! But the tops of my feet..... I do have VERY tall and arched and bony feet so that probably doesn't help. But maybe I should center my weight forward more? Idk.
- Pair up, go back to back, one person drapes the other over their back in a backwards bend. My back popped SO much. When we did it the other way I didn't get quite low enough so we weren't steady :D next time! I don't lift people very much so I was a little nervous, because I'm pretty sure he had at least 50 pounds on me, but it felt like it should be doable.
The moves from memory:
- wrist grab. The grabbee rotates around the grabber's outstretched arm until they're facing the same direction. Push like a shopping cart. This is the one where they roll forward so I didn't get to roll or do it that many times.
- wrist grab. Some footwork I don't remember so you're facing the same direction, kind of behind them. Grabbee puts other hand on grabber's elbow and pushes up and pulls with the grabbed hand.... I think this is the one that ends up with grabber face down on the floor after you take a big step forward and bump with the hip. Arm held out to the side in an uncomfortable stretch. This one was a lot of fun to fall for because it's easier :D you just go down on one knee and then they drag you to be flat. (I still picked the wrong knee a lot though.) Because it's easier, E went a lot faster and harder for it. It was fun!!!
- I don't remember the other ones. One has a nasty wrist twist and you just fall to get away from it. Another one..... some motion in it involved moving like you were trying to hit the grabber in the face, but you use that motion while they're unbalanced so they fall to the floor. So I guess you pivot to the outside of their grabbing arm, one hand on neck/shoulder, lead them into their reach, and then push their top half.
It was super fun! It was fascinating how... as I was trying to do the move on one of the guys, E, the first couple times he completely moved with me. Then, he just wouldn't, clearly as a teaching method to get me to improve something. Like "no 😇 you're not doing it right yet." Obviously not expecting anything near perfection; when I improved my stance or lifted my arm or whatever I was supposed to be doing, he'd roll to the floor even though I definitely didn't make him 😅 it's baby steps! And when we switched, he was being very Clear with the motions as he dropped me; he alternated going fast and going deliberately slow. Unfortunately, I couldn't put a lot of it into practice! But it was fun anyway. He also did a thing where he started one of the moves BEFORE I grabbed him, which made a lot of sense with the movement.
The other guys were good too :D they just told me more stuff out loud.
I'm not in great shape, but luckily it's the kind of exercise where you only realize how winded you are when you pause for a second. (This is why I hate running; you're aware the whole time of how miserable you are.) E was giving me some tips and I was thinking "oh man I went way too hard I'm 5% nauseous" so I'm glad he stopped us. Falling down and getting up every fifteen seconds really gets you! Wearing a mask doesn't really help with breathing either.
There's a fair number of wrist/arm twists and things that cause discomfort/slight pain in the moment, but nothing lasting. It's fascinating! It did make me a little afraid to go super hard on some moves because I have no idea where the line of pain is on someone else yet. So I went a little too gentle probably.
(I've seen other people online refer to the grabber and grabbee with other words. I have no idea what words we use here. It didn't come up 😅)
Next day report:
- My thigh muscles are SUFFERING. It wasn't so bad this morning but it's gotten worse throughout the day. I am weak D: Lowering myself to sit is a struggle.
- bruises (not bad) on the knees
- low level muscle soreness everywhere tbh
- that's it!
I really like the vibe of the place. There's no contract, you just pay month to month and it's not that expensive. If you need a minute you can just sit down or get some water, it's not super formal. (I guess I'm contrasting this to gym class or marching band practice where you weren't supposed to do that unless you were having a serious problem.) We had a good class but nobody was trying overly hard to sell the place to me. And they seemed excited to have a new person who hadn't learned at all before! So hopefully they will continue to be patient with me as I bumble around.
Somewhat TMI note: I remembered halfway through class, while wearing the white loaner gi, that my period is due any day now. The fear was IMMENSE. But all was well!
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Date: 2023-01-28 12:04 pm (UTC)Haha the testing is a placeholder that's been sitting there for.... a while now. I should do something about that 😅 technically skateboarding Sasuke is also a placeholder but he's grown on me.
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Date: 2023-01-28 01:37 pm (UTC)