Aikido Beginner

Aikido Beginner

Is Aikido supposed to hurt so much?

Ok, I just had my very first Aikido lesson yesterday, and the minute we wrapped for the hour I felt crazy soreness in my thighs. I could barely make the walk back to my dorm (wincing the whole way, nearly collapsing a few times cuz I couldn't hold myself up properly), and it hasn't gotten any better today. I've been limping about all day, and I'm in severe pain going up AND down stairs, and when I'm kneeling down. I'm just hoping this kind of pain is normal for first time, out of shape Aikido beginners, and whether or not it's going to hurt less once I've been training for a while? Did I overdo it in my first lesson or something?

Get ready for an essay! LOL

First off - ask yourself this: is the pain from just working muscle groups you don't normally work or is it from an injury?

Second - Yes, this is very normal. Everyone I've ever seen start class (be it Aikido or when I was a kid, Karate) was sore the next day. Its just like any other activity... If you are not used to the work out, your body takes a while to adjust.

Third - pain is not your enemy - its a learning tool to help you understand your body's limitations. You have to accept a bit of pain before you get to know the line between being ok and being injured and its good to know where that line is. That's one of the points of training.

You have to be willing to give a little pain to learn what that line in another person feels like to you as the person performing a technique.

Where is that line between compassionate control and needless malice? Its the line between injured and not injured - its not the line between pain and no pain.

Fourth - Dealing with pain - whether its from injury, a paper cut or anything else. As a kid, I was sparing with another student my age in karate, we both went for a punch and our fist collided. We both broke fingers and were in huge pain at the time. Sensei walked over to us and leaned over our agonized 14 year old bodies and said "Pain is nothing more than intense pleasure." He then smiled and walked away.

We both just kind of sat up and looked at each other. The statement Sensei had made was so baffling at the time to me that my mind stopped listening to my body and just tried to analize what he had said. All of a sudden, I had forgotten about the pain I was feeling because I was concentrating on something else rather than letting the pain dominate my mind.

We both finished class - I guess neither of us wanted to quit for whatever reason. Then our dads took us to the clinic and we got splints. Call it mind over matter, call it masochism, call it stupidity still, it was a powerful lesson.

My current Sensei said the other day that to really learn Aikido, you have to at some point become a bit obsessed with it.

There is the power of the mind for you. If you stop because of injury, that is smart, but if you stop because of pain, you are never going to learn to differentiate between the pain from soreness and pain from injury.

I've never forgotten these kinds of comments I've heard through the years and I think my ability to judge between pain and actually injury has gotten better because of it. The mind is the big part of pain really. Its not that it isn't there, but if you allow your body to dictate how your mind deals with pain, you will not be able to deal with pain. Yes, its unpleasant, but I'd rather deal with the worst physical pain than a minor emotional pain any day of the week. Besides, the more you train, the less minor pains will bother you. Injuries, sure, but pain, no.

Fifth - Ukemi - the art of 'taking the fall' so to speak. Underrated in importance quite often from what I see written on the internet.

When you are training, your job as Uke is to take the fall, but that doesn't mean to just give it to your partner. Sensei CONSTANTLY talks about the art or Ukemi being the other half of Aikido. Ukemi is about moving to a safe place, protecting yourself and admitting that your own safety is more important than trying to 'win'. In fact, if you walk away unharmed, you won as self defense is SELF defense which doesn't necessarily require destroying the attacker.

Let me ask you this - if you were in a fight and had to choose between getting a punch in there while breaking your arm, what would you choose? If you would break YOUR OWN arm by making a stupid move, you are in for lots of injuries. If on the other hand, you hold the punch to save yourself, you will avoid being injured.... AND in a position to reverse the situation.

I would say that as a beginner (at least this is how it was for me for a while) Its all about taking it easy because the techniques are difficult and the Ukemi more so - push yourself to the point of pain so you can learn, but not so far that you get injured. Its a fine line, but that's the point of training, to get better and better at that balancing act. Learn the mechanics, think about foot placement. Think about the step one, step two, step three aspect. Your body hasn't integrated the techniques much yet so let it do so!

Your senior students should be aware of this and adjust far more to protect you. If they are not taking inexperience into account, sooner or later, you will get injured - don't train with those people.

Bottom line - don't look for the throw or look for the fall - let it happen naturally. Its just going to take a while for your body and brain to learn how to handle that so just ease up and give it time.

On the other hand.............

If its just general soreness, don't worry about it. My first class put me in the same boat. Now I can honestly say that I haven't been sore from physical activity for years. My body is just used to it now I guess - just as your will be.

It didn't take long either - at the beginning, I trained about twice a week - after a month, I wasn't sore anymore. Now I train around 4 to 8 times a week depending on my schedule and still no soreness. Results may vary, but stick with it and you will get there.

Don't let the inner ghosts (your worries apprehensions and such stop you - that is what loosing is because true victory is victory over yourself - THAT is the real lesson that will serve you in all aspects of your life)

The 'Way' IS the goal. The path IS the destination, and the only way to fail to follow the 'Way' is to stop training. Its not about rank or skill its about tenacity and determination - the inner ghosts (like pain for one or the "what's the point, I suck at this and am never going to be Bruce Lee" kinds of thinking - the "Am I going to make it through the next lesson? the "I haven't given my legs enough rest." - the ':(... *gulp*) are the real enemy and they never give up. Defeat them and you have passed the truly important tests of character and spirit. They will be back, but you have defeated them once, you can defeat them again.

Welcome to a different way of thinking - I hope it helps you to know you aren't alone.

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