Solo Practice

What makes a martial artist good? Look at your fellow students in your dojo, which of them would you consider to be fine examples of your martial art? I don't just mean the black belts or senior members. Looking as objectively as you can, which individuals stand out, no matter what the experience?

I can remember a particular black belt that got me into aikido, he had been practising something like eight years before I joined. Even though there were other black belts around, he stood out for me. His posture was always good, his technical ability was sharp and he would not let me slack off on naming the techniques in Japanese or on poor form, he always strived for perfection. On top of all that he was a humble, gentle guy.  

In my current training in TSYR obviously my instructor stands out. He has many of the same attributes as the person I mentioned above. Our headmaster of the school has even called him a 'freak', but in a good way, he  learns new things, fast.

Why do these guys appear to be a step above the others, even of equivalent rank? 

First and foremost, they are talented, there is no question. They learn by doing (kinaesthetic learners). The teaching of martial arts happens to coincide with the best way that they learn, by repeating movements of the body over and over again. They can watch someone else do the movement and pick it up very quickly.

However, there are plenty of talented people in the world. The one factor that I think sets them apart is how  and when they train. They train earnestly when they are in the dojo, they use every moment to progress while on the mat. They always believe they can do better. But this is the big thing...they train outside of the dojo, often by themselves - solo work. 

The aikidoka I mentioned often practised his weapon work at home by himself, going over the kata, refining each one. He would come to the dojo with questions about his training for the sensei. I asked my current instructor what he valued most in his training and he showed me a series of exercises he uses to maintain mobility and keep a strong centre. He has been doing them for years and learnt them from a guy in Thailand.

You are your best teacher. You know yourself best. Solo training, in my opinion, is key to progressing towards excellence in your chosen martial art. 

The challenge of course is finding time. Once you take into account work, family and your normal dojo hours, where do you find the time (or energy) to do solo work. I have set myself a goal. To do the conditioning exercises of my art at least three times a week. One of those times will be in the dojo, so I need to find about 15 minute blocks outside of the dojo in the rest of the week to do this. Incorporated into my own training are the other exercises sensei showed me. I use these as a warm up before the conditioning exercises. I find after 15 minutes that I have quite a sweat up. As time allows, I'll move into doing these exercises every day. Some days this won't happen but that is OK, provided I achieve my three times a week.

Idori

In TSYR idori is the practice of doing empty-hand techniques from the kneeling position. In aikido this same practice is often called suwari waza.

Why do we train in this manner? What is the point of trying to neutralise an opponent while kneeling when we would not find ourselves in this position on a day to day basis? Of course, the answer lies within the context of which we train. Aikido’s roots can be traced back to Daito Ryu, an older, more traditional martial art, TSYR is itself a koryu (old school). Both these arts trained their students based on what was required at the time. Japanese warriors would often find themselves kneeling in the house of a higher ranking lord as it was considered rude to have one’s head above a superior’s. Kneeling, instead of sitting, was common place. Therefore, it was prudent to learn how to defeat one’s opponent from this position. So what value does this type of practice present to today’s student? I believe kneeling practice has great value. First of all, leg strength and flexibility is developed. Secondly, powering techniques from the centre (hara) is developed as it is harder to ‘cheat’ with these techniques by just using arms or changing angles.

What interests me about kneeling techniques is that in both TSYR and aikido, traditionally they were taught early in a student’s training along with and often before standing techniques. However, as time as gone on this seems to have been reversed, perhaps to satisfy the western mind-set or to accommodate the westerner’s lack of flexibility, I’m not sure which. I might go even further to say that in aikido, suwari waza training is reduced as certain instructors age and find their knees are damaged and so they can no longer demonstrate the techniques. Whatever the reason, idori/suwari waza has taken a step back in the training sequence. There has been some discussion in TSYR of ensuring beginning students are exposed to idori and the headmaster of the school has allowed some instructors to teach from the chuden curriculum to ensure core skills are developed. It is my understanding that some of the kneeling techniques were originally in the shoden curriculum. Also, a few aikido instructors still incorporate suwari waza from early on in a student’s training as these instructors see the importance of the training. During demonstrations Morihei Ueshiba (founder of aikido) always started with suwari waza before moving on to standing taijutsu.

There are many things to learn in kneeling practice, just simply moving out of seiza to attack while keeping your base is a challenge, initially. This practice alone is a fundamental skill and key to hara development in my opinion. Should you rise incorrectly your attack will be weak and your balance compromised easily and quickly. Rising to receive such an attack also must come from a strong base powered by the hara otherwise the attack will succeed or even if you deflect the attack your balance is lost and you present openings to your opponent.

Kneeling practice is hard. In today’s world we do not sit in seiza very often, let alone move about on our knees. Some aikido dojos drill shikko (knee-walking) where the student s are expected to move up and down the dojo on their knees. The goal is to do this in a smooth manner where the hips do not bob up and down but move on the same horizontal plane. This is difficult but very useful for kneeling practice. I was in such a dojo and value the training greatly. It has enabled me to participate fully in TSYR idori and maintain my structure throughout the movements.

I recommend to anyone reading this to persevere with this training despite the immediate discomfort it brings. Do a little often and over time your tolerance will increase until you can practise these techniques for an hour without complaint.