If You Want Effective Aikido, Uke Must Attack The Nage
There is a fundamental aspect of aikido that is seldom discussed and often ignored. Uke should attack the nage. This is something that rarely happens in aikido. If you look at the countless hours of online footage you’ll realise that most uke do not attack the nage. Intriguingly, Tomiki aikido represents an almost universal departure from this. An uke from the shodokan style definitely attacks the nage. The rest of us though, we have work to do. The Job of Uke There are several important aspects to uke’s job. The…
Why it’s important to train with stiff uke
There is something that most aikidoka hate to do. It can’t be avoided but most people do try to get out of it. Training with a stiff uke. A large number of people just do not like to do it. Understanding why is not difficult at all either. In contrast to a flowing uke, training with stiff ukes is never really fun. It’s hard to make them move, techniques don’t flow, everything becomes gummed up and clunky. Training with a stiff uke is the worst. The problem with this view…
For Good Ukemi, Uke Needs to Move
There is an aspect of aikido that is at least as important as the techniques. It’s called ukemi. There are some basic principles that apply to it that are universal regardless of the type of aikido you practice. Today, we’re going to consider just one of the most basic aspects of it, but it is also one of the hardest to get right. Quite simply, you have to move. An awful lot of ukemi is performed from a static position. Much of the rest becomes static after the initial attack…
Your Stupidity Should Be Painful
I recently came across a really great concept that in my head immediately related to the practice of aikido. Not just one aspect of it though, but pretty much right across the board. It’s pretty simple and goes like this: Stupidity should be painful. Initially as an uke, then even further as a teacher, I’ve learned that one of the quickest ways to teach somebody that they shouldn’t be in the position that they are is to hit them. For example, if they are standing right in front of you…
What will aikido look like in the future?
Another question that has come up on social media recently was, ‘What would you like aikido training in the future to look like?’ Again, this was an interesting and thought provoking question that prompted many responses. I’ve expanded on my thoughts on this topic here. Unsurprisingly, there’s a few factors to take into consideration on this subject. Self-defence The first and most obvious is the self-defence aspect. 99% of people (and that’s being generous) have no real concept of what self-defence actually is. This includes the vast majority of self-defence…
What About Pressure Testing in Aikido?
There is an idea that keeps cropping up in aikido at the moment. I’m not sure how long it’s been rumbling along for, but it seems to have come to the forefront of social media in recent times. The argument runs a bit like this – Aikido training is worthless because it does not include pressure testing. The first thing to address with that statement is what, exactly, is meant by pressure testing. This is where things start to diverge a little. It may not surprise you to learn that…