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Old October 17, 2000, 05:35 PM   #28
abrahamsmith
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 5, 2000
Location: Madison, WI
Posts: 177
Okay, so this threadis already obscenely long, but I can't resist
bringing in another element.

For starters, I'm a 19 year old male, 5'10", about 155lbs. So, I'm an
average sized guy in okay shape (I was a distance runner and distance
swimmer in high school, but have been lazy in 2 years of college).

I started studying Aikido a couple months ago. I'll skip all the
stuff about what grappling really means, how easy it is to quickly
break limbs, how any inexperienced person can be made to surrender or
die in a matter of tenths of seconds, etc...

The issue I want to discuss is this: possibly the most important thing
I've learned is how to TAKE blows, grabs, locks, etc. (known to us as
"Ukemi" or "the art of being thrown")

What do you do if you're thrown? most people would go "AGH!" and
tighten their muscles instinctively, fearing pain. This is, in fact,
exactly the opposite response that you want to minimize damage. You
want to relax, be fluid, and maximize the amount of time of impact
with a roll or a slap if possible.

These habits (and I call them habits, not techniques, since you can't
just see it and do it; yopu have to train your muscles) can be applied
to pretty much any situation. If you trip down the stairs, or you
crash on your bicycle, or some crack-crazed BG throws you over a bar
table... You can change something which would give you a concussion
and internal bleeding into moderate brusiing and a bit of dizziness.

Also important are issues like simply understanding how your body
moves when under duress.

We always say "pick a gun for self defense, then practice, practice,
practice!" We often suggest learning from experts in the CCW world.
This applies even more so to your body: practice moving your body, and
learn from people that study these things.

I could say more, but this is already too long. besides, I have to
leave for practice soon...


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