Aikido (Was: Books/Articles/Web links etc)

[Guest guest]

I have actually given this subject considerable thought, as I trained

in Aikido for about 8 or 9 years. I found the lack of basic knowledge

about contemporary science-based fitness training in Aikido and other

tradition-based arts quite exasperating.

In my view, the most important problems were the lack of attention to

proper conditioning and warm-up practices and the related high

incidence of injuries I saw. Especially worrying to me was the nearly

crippling accumulation of chronic injuries I saw in most anyone who

trained extensively for more than a decade or so. In my view, this

kind of " remedial " knowledge is much more important for a traditional

martial artist to pursue than the sort of elite, performance-enhancing

knowledge mostly discussed on Supertraining - especially for teachers.

A few top students might get a little benefit from performance

enhancement training, but since Aikido isn't generally practiced for

the purposes of fighting or competition, I don't think it is a huge

issue. I think the main training focus should be getting people in

the proper shape to practice and keeping them safe from injury.

My main areas of concern as far as what I have seen are:

a) Warmups that are inadequate, counter-productive, or even outright

injurious.

Practices that obviously do not accomplish what they are supposed

to according to exercise science principles. Again, sometimes these

are bad enough to be outright injurious.

c) Lack of basic preparatory and supplemental conditioning for most

Aikidoka.

*

Let's start with some expansion of a). What is a useful warmup? Most

people seem to think static stretching is the primary element, usually

in geometrically pretty positions that have little to do with

functional flexibility. Most warmups I've seen are almost all

passive, static stretching, with a few strength-endurance exercises

and mild aerobic movements - all mixed together haphazardly.

Unfortunately, brief static stretches prior to activity are nearly

useless, the stretches chosen are largely irrelevant to Aikido

movement, and the strength-endurance movements don't make any sense.

Some practices, like precussive self-massage, are actually

contraindicated as such massage actually impedes blood flow to muscles.

A good warmup is not so esoteric. It is basically a logical

transition between standing around doing nothing and doing whatever

the activity is that you are warming up for. A good basic pattern

would be a few minutes of aerobics to gradually increase blood flow

and heart rate, followed by dynamic stretches, which are basically

self-powered limb movements out to the edge of used ranges of motion

with a mild elastic bounce at the end. These are essentially

toned-down previews of the type of stretch that might/will be

experienced during training - a transition stage. After that,

mellower versions of specific movements about to be trained should

precede each new activity - a gradual transition from not doing it to

doing it.

*

As for , the 1000 cuts mentioned somewhere in this thread is a good

example. Although this practice may have some mental value, it is

hopelessly misguided from an exercise science perspective - as silly

as performing 1000 consecutive snatches or shotputs. People claim

that as you fatigue you will perform the cuts better due to more

" relaxation " , but this is ridiculous.

In fact, as you fatigue, your form will deteriorate horribly. The

energy systems and neural freshness you need to perform a cut with

speed and precision are out of the picture after only a few reps.

After a few dozen, the muscles and nerves will be so fatigued that

you'll start using different muscles and improvising completely

different neural patterns to get the sword up and down by hook or

crook. If the limp, slapdash movement you are performing at rep 1000

is actually better than the first few, you need a new teacher.

Worse, this kind of practice is an express ticket to tendonitis, an

incredibly frustrating injury that takes a long time and careful rehab

from which to recover.

*

c) is more of an off-the-mat issue, but probably the most important

one for serious students. I never had the proper conditioning for

Aikido myself. I was always going through some kind of yo-yo with

chronic injuries, and I did more supplemental conditioning than most.

What most students I've seen need is to either stop Aikido or delay

starting, and spend 6 months to a year to focus exclusively on getting

into shape - it's what I'm doing right now.

This is not a popular suggestion. If you look at the Russian system,

you see them training kids for years with general exercise before they

ever even let them touch a ball or a piece of gymnastics equipment,

even though they have already been genetically screened and destined

to do that particular sport. Aikido is practically acrobatics, yet

people think they can just do it with no preparation. Some can, but

most can't. Some of the latter just quit, and the rest muddle along

with yo-yo injury problems, mostly ignoring pain and problems until

they end up hobbling around with chronic pain and severe movement

restrictions by their early 50s.

What a serious student needs isn't that complicated, but it requires

knowledge and patience. Good preparation would be building up some

strength in a few basic compound weight movements, finding and

permanently correcting flexibility imbalances/problems (my issue), and

building up some aerobic and anaerobic endurance with varied interval

training. Once a basic fitness level is reached, it could probably be

maintained along with Aikido training with as little as two short

sessions per week, maybe even just one strength session if the Aikido

is vigorous enough.

*

Anyway, those are some introductory thoughts on exercise science and

Aikido. I'll be happy to talk with you about it more, either on the

board or off, if you'd like to send a private message.

Good luck.

Wilbanks

Wisconsin, USA

>

> Greetings Everyone:

>

> I apologize if this question has been asked and answered before. Is

> there a list of essential books that you think one should read for

> high-level (super-)training? From reading some posts (I am a very new

> member), I am thinking Mel Siff, and some Russian authors (Coach

> mentioned them) seem required reading. Is there a list

> somewhere on a website or on Amazon that I can refer to? The problem

> is many times there is a lot of over-commercialization and selling, so

> it is difficult to find out what is good and what is not.

>

> Also, are there websites where one can get at least some of the

> articles that many people refer to. Google is on a project to digitize

> all books/articles but we are not there yet. I am interested in many

> sports medicine/performance articles but it is very difficult to find

> esp if they are published in other countries. Not working in academia,

> it is difficult to get access to the best journals/books etc. Please

> advise if you can.

>

> My primary interest is martial arts (aikido, iaido, aikijujitsu,

> tai-chi) and not weight-lifting/powerlifting, which seems to be the

> main focus here. I'd think principles of optimal performance are

> universal, hence my strong interest in joining this group.

>

> Best regards and thanks

>

> Jaideep Mukherjee, Ph. D.

> Houston USA

>