Beginner question

[charyuop]

Hi everyone. I am a Tai Chi practitioner who decided to start taking Aikido classes (to be exact it is an Aikikai school). Now, I am not one of those "athletic" persons (let's say I am in kinda good "round" shape) and in Tai Chi what it's primarly needed is good balance and strong and flexible legs.
As probably all new beginners now I am spending time from now till the first class (which is Wed or Monday if I can get free from work) wondering what it is gonna lie down in front of me.

Seeing vidoes of Aikido it doesn't seem to have in the Art much Acrobatic stuff in it (phew glad), but of course in video demos not the whole art and preparation is included.
So I was wondering if some of you already practitioners of Aikido/Aikikai can give me a picture of what I have to expect during classes...(LOL basically if I have to be scared or not J/K).

 

[suicideducky]

hey i just started aikido and had my 4th lesson today, so im not a great example but from what ive seen / experienced in my short 8 hours has been pretty cool. my dojo's style is something like ki society (?) and it involves alot of techniques using 'ki' only (so no strenth - well theoretically) it was difficult to grasp because its usually a 'soft' style but i would recommend it to almost anyone even those with very little or no experience in MA.

but to sum up some techniques, you learn alot of:
wrist locks
wrist manipulations
rolls (in my style we also do a little breakfalling)
throws (using your oppenents ki against them)
'blending' (as opposed to blocking)
an this is all in my 1st 8 hours yay got more aikido tomorrow!

sorry i couldnt be much help, hope you do make the right choice :') (J/K) (-mostly) and become a fellow aikidoku

 

[charyuop]

Coming from Tai Chi I have a little bit of knowledge of soft Arts. Practicing Tai Chi forms teaches you to be relaxed and not use the muscle power. As per the techniques some of them are very similar.
A friend of mine who did Aikido for some time showed me some of them. I could find a similar application for every move he showed me with slight differences. Just in Aikido they seem more "spontaneus".
The main difference I notice from seeing moving him and me was the principle. In Tai Chi we use low stances and the movements are dictated by the body, instead it seemed to me that in Aikido the movements are more dicteted by the arms/hands.

 

[morph4me]

All aikido techniques are supposed to be done with the body. In any aikdo dojo, the first thing you should learn is how to fall safetly, after that it will probably depend on the instructor and the style.

 

[theletch1]

If you're concerned with whether or not you'll have to do a kenpo style cardio warm up or not...I wouldn't be too worried about it. As Tom said, it will depend on the dojo but aikido dojo are not known for overly strenuos warm ups. Why? Because, unlike kenpo or karate or some of the forms of kung fu, you won't need the sheer force for the strikes. The perfect aiki practitioner should be able to defend for a very long time without ever breaking a sweat. Nope, not there yet...nor do I ever expect to reach that point. Expect a good deal of wrist stretching, rolling, falling and a light cardio warm up before class. During class the greatest work out will come from picking yourself up off the ground a hundred or so times. Until you learn to blend, breathe and use ukes energy against them to better degree you'll find yourself using alot of energy during class. The better you get the less energy needen to do what has to be done and the more able you'll be to focus on technique. Aikido is not a "quick" art to become proficient in. Takes more time than most others as a matter of fact. But for me every minute has been worth it. Best of luck and, no, you don't need to be scared of turning into a gasping lump on the mat before class even begins.

 

[charyuop]

If you're concerned with whether or not you'll have to do a kenpo style cardio warm up or not...I wouldn't be too worried about it. As Tom said, it will depend on the dojo but aikido dojo are not known for overly strenuos warm ups. Why? Because, unlike kenpo or karate or some of the forms of kung fu, you won't need the sheer force for the strikes. The perfect aiki practitioner should be able to defend for a very long time without ever breaking a sweat. Nope, not there yet...nor do I ever expect to reach that point. Expect a good deal of wrist stretching, rolling, falling and a light cardio warm up before class. During class the greatest work out will come from picking yourself up off the ground a hundred or so times. Until you learn to blend, breathe and use ukes energy against them to better degree you'll find yourself using alot of energy during class. The better you get the less energy needen to do what has to be done and the more able you'll be to focus on technique. Aikido is not a "quick" art to become proficient in. Takes more time than most others as a matter of fact. But for me every minute has been worth it. Best of luck and, no, you don't need to be scared of turning into a gasping lump on the mat before class even begins.

Thanx, your answer gave me a good picture of what I am going to face. I knew Aikido as a soft art, but I actually didn't what was lying "behind
the scene" as in the preparation.

I must be a complicated person, I went and pick 2 MAs (Aikido and Tai Chi) which are considered amongst the Arts that take the longest time to learn LOL.

 

[theletch1]

Not necessarily "complicated". Think more along the lines of "laid back", introspective, flowing, what have you. Aikido isn't complicated at all once you begin to get the hang of it. It's actually very intuitive. Very much counter-instinctive but very intuitive once you've reprogrammed your response to an attack from "step back, hard block, counter punch" to the aiki "blend, redirect, control". I think that, having done tai chi, you'll really enjoy and appreciate the aikido. Again, good luck.