Preparing for 5th kyu grading

Fri 20/11/09 Semenyih Dojo

There are only 7 techniques to do in the 5th kyu grading. After about two months of consistent training the serious student should be able to pass his exam with ease. In the two hour session tonight I went through 6 of the 7 techniques with Ilham. The 1 remaining technique that I couldn't do with him was Sanin Gake Shomen Uchi Iriminage, multiple attack using shomenuchi attack and iriminage defence. This was because Ilham was the ony student training tonight.

Tonight I taught Ilham one more additional technique that I have been quite reluctant to teach in the dojo. The technique is suwari waza ryote tori kokyu ho. Why so reluctant to teach this particular technique to the students?  The reason is that this particular technique requires moving on your knees and because we train on the hard concrete floor without the benefit of mats the body weight bearing on knees and rubbing on the hard surface can damage the knee cap in the long term. I am also not certain if the adult students can accept this type of training stress on their knees.

I was also quite worried if I could walk on my knees as I had sprained my left knee and still experiencing some pain whenever I flex my leg. However the knee guard that I wore tonight provided enough support to enable me to move without too much discomfort.

As I watched his movements I was confident that with two more sessions he should able to acquire enough skills and confidence to pass the 5th kyu test.

Knee woe

8.00pm. Aikido class. Semenyih Dojo.


As I was sitting down in seiza on the hard floor to start the class I felt a sharp pain at the back of the left knee. From the back of the left knee the pain radiated upwards to the caft and tight till it disappeared at the buttocks region. Trying to distribute the weight equally between the two legs didn't bring any relief. Finally transferring most of my body weight to the right leg gave some relief. I wondered if the student noticed that I was sitting not upright but slighting tilting towards the right.

The first time I experienced some pain in the left knee was one week ago during the Aikido seminar in Melaka. As the pain was not bothering me I dismissed it as sore muscles due to sitting in zeiza for too long. Then the next morning I felt the pain shooting up the left tight and the leg becoming a bit stiff. The Hulu Langat traditional Chinese medicine massage therapist whom I consulted said it was muscle sprain and after more than one hour of massage I experienced tremendous relief, as if some weight had been removed from the tired leg. The therapist said that I would have to return for more massage treatments in order to heal the injury completely.

In retrospect I am not sure how the pain came about. I don't recall ever hitting my knee cap on the floor due to a bad fall. Maybe as I am getting on in years, the muscle-skeletal and the nervous system are starting to degenerate as well. Well, I will have to find another way of sitting in seiza until the left knee recovers.

Danger of slapping forcefully on the mat

At the 3rd National Aikido Seminar in Melaka 7/11/09 and 8/11/09

I noticed many students habitually slapped with great gusto on the mat without regard to the health of their limbs. It is as if banging forcefully on the mat is the only acceptable way of taking ukemi. If the floor had been concrete instead of tatami mat slapping forcefully on the hard and unyielding surface will surely damage the limbs in the long term. Even one sensei opined  that  by banging hard and loud on the floor it would impress the public with the power of Aikido while falling and rolling softly and quietly would make Aikido appear as dull and uninspiring.

In Semenyih dojo where the trainees practice on a hard concrete surface with no mats, such reckless floor slapping antics are actively discouraged. Instead the trainees are taught how to relax and soften their bodies so as to resolve the impact of bodies crashing on the floor. In addition the trainees are also taught how to exhale just before hitting the fall. In my experience slapping is probably safe if you are in the prime of  your youth but as you grow older continuous slapping the floor can lead to bone and tissue damage.

Featuring in FaceBook

Am considering publicising the Semenyih Dojo by creating a Aikido group in FaceBook. What should I call this group? I have just created the group with the name of SAG. SAG stands for  Semenyih Aikido Group.

The danger of slapping the floor

At the 3rd National Aikido Seminar, Melaka, 7/11/09 and 8/11/09

I noticed many students habitually slapped the mat with great gusto when performing their breakfalls. This kind of practice will lead to broken bones if performed on a hard surface. One sensei even commented that slow, soft and quiet rolls would make Aikido appeared as unworthy of sturdy.

In the Semenyih Dojo where the students and their instructor practice on the hard tiled concrete floor, such reckless practices are actively discouraged. Instead students are taught how to breath, soften and relax their bodies whencrashing on the floor.

Girls can box

Wed 30/9/09. INTi Dojo

I, the new girl who signed up for Aikido  last week joined the SySSDA class. She is about 165 cm tall with a fair complexion and wears her hair shot. About 55 kg she is of regular built in relation to her weight but certainly looks heavier than J1 and J2 the two senior girls in the club. 

For a long time all the girls who have ever join the club for Aikido and SySSDA training were rather girlish, soft and weak due to their Asian culture, upbringing and famine nature and I thought this one was no exception. I soon found out that sometimes you can't judge a book by its cover.

I was quite amazed by her strength and precision when I asked her to deliver a punch to my body in the strike receiving exercise. Although not hurting I could feel the intent, concentration and power of her punch that even exceeded some of the striking ability of the guys.

Normally the typically beginner would try to hold back his strike for fear of injuring his partner or the teacher, This applies to both the guys and the girls and I would have to remind them over and over again to hit harder to no avail. However when I asked her to strike with realistic force this girl literally took my word to heart. Without hesitation and forethought, not even a flinch, she spontaneously fired one power shot after another at my body repeatedly. Wow! I was impressed. It has been a long time since I received power shots from the students. Always inevitably I sense the intent of the students momentarily holding back the strike during impact with its target due to fear of hurting their partners.

"Have you practiced any martial art before you joined the Aikido club?" I asked  rather amused after the strike receiving drill had ended. "Yes. I practiced taekwondo until I attained yellow belt rank." she answered with a nod. "Not bad, even for a yellow belt in TKD." I thought to myself.

"Hey guys. All of you should train with this lady!", turning around to face the rest of the class I proclaimed with a knowing mile in my face.

National Kyu Grading on 27/09/09

Sunday 07/09/09 MAA HQ Dojo

More than 50 candidates from various dojo affiliates reported for grading from 5th kyu to 1st kyu. The majority of the candidates were taking their 5th kyu tests. Candidates from all the university dojos namely MMU Melaka, MMU Cyber, IMU and INTi were represented. From INTi Dojo I entered 4 students for the tests, two for 5th kyu and two for 3rd kyu.

As were past practices I conducted the 5th and 4th kyu tests while Tony Sensei and Low Sensei handled the 3rd , 2nd and 1st kyu grading. Due to the large number of candidates the whole grading exercise lasted about 4 hours. We started at 10am and by skipping lunch managed to wrap it up at 2pm.

I was very happy that all the 4 INTi students passed the tests in their respective class. The two 5th kyus were performing up to expectation in their 5th kyu exam. However for the 3rd kyus there were a few anxious moments. M appeared to have forgotten to do the ura version of some of the techniques and momentary lost his concentration during the grading. This was probably due to the fact that he was unnerved by Tony Sensei for the way he called out the techniques in an erratic manner. Finally all ended well as the committee  decided to pass all the 3rd kyu candidates, including the two from INTi.

For the past two weeks, I had been training the INTi students up to 3 times a week to prepare them for the grading. From the begining of the month even the Wed SySSDA training was temporarily suspended in favour of intensive Aikido training. It would be a real let down for me as well as the students if after all the effort some could not make the grade.