Solo Training

[Bill1979]

Hi:

I'm a fairly new Aikido student, and have trained for about 8 months. Due to a recent schedule change and becoming a full-time college student, I'm only able to train formally 1 night a week. I am curious about excercises for solo training. What have members of this forum found effective for training at home?

Thank you,

Bill Callahan

[Nick]

I do aiki taisos and jo kata. Those are the only things I can do by myself that seem to help my Aikido.

Nick Porter

[Yojimbo558]

Hi Bill,

I don't do Aikido, but I do have some ideas for you. The style I train in is Bujinkan. When I'm not training with my group, I do solo training.

As was already pointed out, you can always do weapons training ( katas )on your own.

In addition to that however you can still practise your kote gaeshi and other stuff on your own as well. It's like an air guitar so to speak. Imagine your uke striking at you, as you would in class, get off line and simulate taking the attackers wrist taking them off balance and executing the technique.

Where this helps you out in your training, is that since you don't have an actual uke...you get to make sure that your aren't over extending yourself, and possibly weakening the movement by being off balance. This winds up being great feedback for when you have an actual uke.

Hope that helps,

Eric Bookin

[Mike Collins]

Practice shomen cuts with your bokken. Do them straight ahead, then while turning. Pay close attention to keeping the cuts straight up and down your centerline while turning your hips.

If you are in REALLY good shape, practice them in a hanmi, squat all the way down to your heels while cutting, raise while rising, and change hanmi and cut/squat again, all the while keeping your back naturally straight. I have a teacher who as a young man did these (he says) 3,000 times a day. I've never personally been able to do more than about 150, and my form was not great. I've watched this 65 year old man do over 200 (perfectly), and act like we were a bunch of sissies because we couldn't keep going. His movement reflects this practice, he can drop like a rock and turn on a dime.

Simple stuff can be the most beneficial and gruelling.

[astudent]

like others have said doing bokken strikes or jo exercises will help tremendously. you skill level will still improve even if you can only make it to one class.

[Ron Tisdale]

See if you can find a tape or a teacher who can show you the yoshinkan basic movements. They are great for solo and partner practise. Also, jo and boken kata and suburi practise are good. I also like the idea of the squating while cutting. One instructor used to have us put the back knee about an inch off the ground, and hold that position while cutting. All good stuff.

Ron Tisdale

[Gil Gillespie]

Hi Bill

You may find this disruption in your formal training to be a blessing in disguise. What you are doing is putting together your own Jishugeiko, your daily at home (or anywhere) practice. When you work out a regimen that works, do it every day, even when you can train regularly again. You won't believe the growth of your art.

Every post above is valid. My own routine incorporated aiki taisho (the Westbrooke-Ratti book "Aikido and the Dynamic Sphere" is a good source), jo and bokken work, and the "shadow boxing" mentioned above. Add several imaginary attacks and respond to them with your technique(s) as posted above. What you'll end up with is a series of slow studied movements not unlike tai chi!

Enjoy!

[szczepan]

You can do also some cross training - find nice kicking art and learn how to kick effectively, find nice grappling dojo and learn...try some boxing,kendo, fencing,- try some tournaments to see how it is in sparring..etc

all these disciplines will give you many solo exercises to train home.

Will you be at Sugano sensei seminar this weekend at Syracuse ?

regardz

[Bill1979]

"Will you be at Sugano sensei seminar this weekend at Syracuse ?"

I can't afford to participate, but I will be there to observe on saturday. Hope to see you there,

Bill Callahan

[dainippon99]

If there is any possible way, try to find someone to show you the tomiki aikido unsouku and tegatana dousa warm up excersises. They are great for developing good foot-leg-hip movement and tegatana dousa can be practiced with a bokken as well as free hand.