Who's Responsible?

I firmly believe that anytime that you are on the mats you should learn something. One of my instructors during the senshusei course used to say "You only have a 11 months. Don't waste any of it!" so I guess I come by that belief honestly.

By saying this every chance he got this instructor reminded us that we are responsible for our own training.

It is very easy to go to class and only focus on the concept that the instructor is teaching. When you do this every class you are letting the instructor take control of what you are learning and what you are focusing on. Your input into your own training is minimal.

This is how I trained in Canada and it was enough at the time. However, there are two problems with this passive approach:

1. The instructor will often show and demonstrate concepts that they are personally working on and that you may not have the experience to understand.

For more than a year, one of my instructors used to end every class with 10 minutes of kokyu nage because he was trying to improve his own timing and the subtlies and nuances that he was describing were beyond me. It benefited my training because it was time on the mat, but it didn't improve my kokyu nage as much as I thought it would. I just wasn't there yet.

2. Everyone has different things that they are working on at different times and the instructor has to teach to the whole class and not to one particular person. The instructor also must try and teach a variety of concepts and techniques in subsequent classes so you may not get a chance to have an instructor lead class on a particular concept more than once every so often.

The alternative and more active approach to training is to assume responsibility for your own Aikido and to train every class with a clear vision of what you want to practice. You do this in conjunction and at the same time as practicing what your instructor is showing.

This makes your training session a little more mentally challenging, however the fact that you work on your own major weak points every class as well as the concepts and skills the instructor is teaching will really improve your Aikido. I have found that it is best to focus on one thing (the concept or skill I am taking responsibility for) for weeks or even months at a time.

If you take the example of my instructor who spent more than a year pushing us through kokyu nage for both his benefit and ours you can see how long this might take.

It's difficult to decide for yourself some concept or skill to focus on every class. It is much easier to let only your instructor dictate your training. However, if you can focus on both your own weak points and the lesson planned by your instructor you will improve at a much faster rate.

Sometimes I forget to do this and when I remember I berate myself for it. Think of the mat time I wasted!

Some examples of things that I focus on at different times are:

1. Suriashi when moving
2. Back leg straight throughout every movement
3. Weight forward at all times in every technique
4. Strong kiai with every strike
5. Move into uke at beginning of every technique
6. Never look down during a technique
7. Always get uke to move in front of you - never pull
8. Use as little strength as possible for every movement
9. etc...