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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nOn the surface of it this is a good thing. The whole point of aikido is that you do not get hit. If you are being hit then you are messing up on Rule #1. I completely accept that and do actually agree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Obvious Problem<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
There is a downside to this though, and it\u2019s actually a really serious one. What we have created is a large body of martial artists that train in an empty hand system that do not understand what it\u2019s like to be hit. This is a very bad thing for several really important reasons. We\u2019re going to examine the martial aspects of it here, there are philosophical ones too but if you can understand the martial ones the philosophical ones should be clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first, and most obvious then, is that if you\u2019ve never been hit the first thing that happens when you are is that you freeze up. You have to mentally process the fact that you\u2019ve been struck by another person and get past it. That\u2019s actually not as easy as you might think it is. It takes time. It takes enough time that when you finally get around to responding the second (or more likely third or fourth) strike will land. Not exactly conducive to your continued survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Secret<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The second thing that we never learn is a strange one. I learned this lesson a long time ago through being ambushed and getting in fights (I never started them, I just looked like an easy target before starting aikido). This one is really important and unless you experience it for yourself you won\u2019t quite get it. Here goes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Being punched in the head doesn\u2019t actually hurt.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re wearing glasses then yes, it hurts, but that\u2019s because you\u2019ve been hit with a weapon (think of the glasses as a weird type of knuckle duster, essentially you\u2019ve been hit with a piece of metal\/glass). Being hit doesn\u2019t actually hurt. Not at the time anyway, the pain you feel comes much later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The only way to really learn this one, is to get hit in the face and find out. As a learning experience it sounds like a pretty horrible one, and it is. It really isn\u2019t a lot of fun. After all, you\u2019re getting punched in the face. It is of course, entirely possible to go through this experience as nicely as possible. There are ways to do it and I\u2019ve found one that seems to be working.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I went along to the local Muay Thai club and joined. At 40 years old (and very overweight) that was a pretty daunting prospect and I had a fair amount of trepidation stepping through the doors of the gym. They are, unsurprisingly, a nice bunch of men and women. They even teach a kids class (under 10\u2019s). It\u2019s one of the best workout\u2019s I\u2019ve had in years, and nobody seems to be a psychopath, which is nice. Several months in and I am achieving my goal. I am learning what it is like to have somebody actively try to hit you (and because I have a shitty guard succeed).<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s gentle, they hold back on me and don\u2019t hit as hard as they do at each other, so far. It\u2019s a fact that I think would go unnoticed by most people but after years of scaling ukemi to a nage\u2019s level I can spot it a mile away. As you can imagine I greatly appreciate this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s a lot I could say about this experience. Numerous things I have learned about in a very short space of time but there are plenty of blogs and vlogs out there of aikidoka doing something similar, having an epiphany, and proselytising how aikido needs to modernise. I\u2019m not going to do that because a) I\u2019m not that guy, and b) I think they\u2019re wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I will say about it though is this. I am putting myself through this experience for a very singular reason, and it\u2019s one I think that all aikido sensei should do for their students. Aikido is a martial art and many people train in it for self-defence. If you don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like to get hit then you\u2019re making that aspect much more difficult if you ever need it. I think all aikidoka should know what it feels like to have someone try to hit you. As such I am attending Muay Thai classes for one very simple reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to learn to spar so that I can do it with my students in a safe manner. I want to take one student each week and spar with them gently so that they can experience what it\u2019s like to be hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I could achieve this very easily with a pair of gloves and the instruction, \u201cStand there while I hit you.\u201d I\u2019m not going to do that though because I believe that would be counter-productive. This lesson is about helping them understand it\u2019s not that bad, to break through panic, to respond. It\u2019s not about teaching them how to take a hit. It\u2019s about teaching them what it feels like to be under a sustained, continuous assault, with zero avenue of retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In time, I expect them to start using their aikido skills to their advantage during this. Many people say this cannot be done, from the anecdotal perspective of personal experience I say it definitely can.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From a martial stand point the benefits of this exercise have been numerous and I hope to pass these on to my students. In no particular order: <\/p>\n\n\n\n That last one, did not come easy. It has taken a few months before I was relaxed enough, and comfortable enough, to be able to use the skills I\u2019ve developed over a couple of decades in a different art. As an example I have been able to slip past a jab and enter deeply enough that I could have done irimi nage. I didn\u2019t, because that\u2019s against the rules, but I could have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not all sunshine and roses though. There have been, and will continue to be, downsides. I\u2019m getting punched (and sometimes kicked) in the head. This is not a fun experience. While the blows are pulled (and thankfully you don\u2019t use elbows in sparring) this doesn\u2019t change the fact I\u2019m taking sub-concussive blows. That\u2019s not a healthy thing. You can limit the damage through frequency of training but you are still taking damage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m getting hurt. Not intentionally or through malicious behaviour, but just through the very fact that it\u2019s a contact sport. Bruises, aches, pains, these are all par for the course and I fully expected them. In truth I\u2019ve had much worse in aikido classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A final downside to mention is that if you\u2019re not careful about how you do this there\u2019s a strong possibility that you\u2019ll end up deciding aikido is bullshit, quit, and do something else instead. If you\u2019ve spent any time on social media and are aware of certain individuals then you\u2019ll know exactly what I\u2019m referring to. If you were to go into this with high expectations of what you\u2019ll be able to do, with false expectations of how aikido can be used, then you\u2019re in for a rude awakening. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance when starting out in sparring I was tense, \u2018keyed up\u2019, and incredibly static. Moving off the line wasn\u2019t an option, because I genuinely couldn\u2019t. I just didn\u2019t have the ability to do it. After 2 decades of aikido that\u2019s a pretty difficult thing to admit, but it\u2019s true. With experience that has now changed, but at first it wasn\u2019t possible. To illustrate this point, during my first sparring session I took a left hook to the head. I didn\u2019t even see it coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At that point it would have been so very easy to decide I\u2019d wasted over 20 years of my life on a bullshit martial art. The reason I didn\u2019t was that I was expecting it to happen that way. I was expecting to do a human impersonation of a punch bag. At least at first, and I was right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My theory then, and according to my sample set of one seems to be true, is that engaging in sparring in a totally different art will provide transferable skills that I can take back to my aikido and pass on to my students. Passing these skills on is the next stage. One student, each class, will be taught the basics and get to spar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In case you\u2019re wondering the reason I don\u2019t just send my students to a similar class themselves is that I genuinely do not believe cross training in another art is a useful experience before black belt (or equivalent) level has been attained. That\u2019s a whole different topic in itself though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A final observation I would make is that, unsurprisingly, it\u2019s hard to mask training in another martial art. They could tell I had training in something and asked about it. I was completely open about my background and why I was there. The most interesting aspect of that conversation went like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I said, \u201cYeah, so a fundamental principle in aikido is that you move off the line of attack, that you never get hit. This means that as a group of martial artists they\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHave no idea what it\u2019s like to be hit,\u201d was the interruption.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They saw the problem, and they saw it instantly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you can afford it, and would like to help out, How to Learn the Secret<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
What Can You Learn?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Spar With Your Students<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Some Downsides<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nAccept that you’ll suck at first<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Why not send your students instead?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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consider donating some brain fuel!<\/p>\n\n\n