Begginers, what you can expect

If anyone has any first day of training stories they would like to share please send them to me at [email protected] and I will add a section for them and put them on the web page.

I know that alot of people on there first day of starting out with a martial art especially if they have had no prior experience can be a little nervous as they do not know what to expect. So I thought I would write a little piece to beginners and people wishing to start hopefully to ease there minds a little.

Firstly, Aikido is for anyone, it doesnt depend on how big you are, how small you are or your sex.
If you read the section posted on etiquette then this should also give you a summary of some points you should have in mind when you train, forgetting these things espescially on your first day wont mean that you will get your head bitten off.
Turning up at the first training session you should be wearing a T-shirt and jogging pants. Some instructors dont like you to be wearing shorts, so it is probably best to wear something long. If you already have a martial arts outfit, from judo or karate etc, then you will be able to wear it.
The dress code doesnt seem to change much from club to club, so these things should be ok.

Ok getting started, walking into the training hall you will notice that people are bowing on entering the dojo (training hall). This is showing respect and you just follow there lead.
once on the mat everyone will line up on the mat opposite a picture of the founder of aikido, in order of rank, lowest grades on the left highest grades on the right. So on your first day I would sit on the end on the left.
everyone will kneel at the beggining of the class. The instructor will sit opposite facing you. he will then turn and face the picture of O'sensei (the founder). He will then clap his hands a number of times and everyone will bow showing respect to the founder. To bow whilst kneeling place your left hand on the mat in front of you and then your right, and bow bringing your head down to your hands, then come back up.
the instructor will then turn around facing the class and everyone will bow to him, showing him respect also.

Now it is time for the warm ups. This is basicly a case of follow the leader. whatever the instructor does you follow, if you ever dont know what he is doing someone will usually spot you and come to your aid, if not dont panic just try and work it out. it is only your first week you have a long time ahead of you to practice it and get used to it. As part of the warm ups most instructors will include practicing some body movements that are needed for techniques, known as taisebaki and tenkan. These two movements are found in the majority of techniques. Just follow what everyone else is doing. Someone will come to help and dont worry if you dont get the hang of it straight away, when you first start out everything is harder than it looks for most people.

after the warm ups, sometimes as part of the warm ups, comes the rolls (known as Ukemi). This is a very important part of training as it teaches us how to take a fall in a way that we dont get hurt. Take it slow as it takes some people a while to get used to it, and you wont be expected to get the hang of it straight away.
The instructor will no doubt come over and walk you through it.
Dont feel bad over not being able to throw yourself around like other people may be doing on the mat, everyone was at the stage that you are at some time and it takes practice.

Then comes the training in techniques.
Every instructor is different and has different teaching methods.
what is common to all aikido, I have seen, is at this point everyone sits crossed legged or kneels along the edge of the mat (it doesnt matter about ranking order) and the instructor will get a person up from tha mat, one of the higher ranking students and tell that person an attack in japenese. The person attacking (the Uke)
will then attack and the instructor will demonstrate the movemtns and technique that you are going to practice.
Watch and try to take in what he is doing.
It may be the case that the instructor splits you from the rest of the group so that you can train in the basic techniques, but this is not always the case.

In any case you will end up partnered with someone and will have been told and demonstrated what you are going to do.
The first thing you do is bow to them, showing them respect and thanks as you are about to use each others bodies to practice and train with.
The person with you will most likely know what he or she is doing and will be able to teach and walk you through it. This is the point where alot of begginers start to feel very clumsy, as they are using body movements and body co ordinations that the mind is not used to. Dont worry over how you look, everyone has been there. It takes a couple of weeks before the body really wants to co operate.
Whilst training you will take it in turns to be the person doing the technique (Nage) and the person having the technique done on them (Uke). This is where the rolling and body movements that were practiced in the beggining come in handy. When having the technique done on you will have to roll for many of the techniques. take is slowly, its all about not getting hurt. and when you are doing the techniques you will notice that you feet are moving in the same way as they did during the body movement practices in the warm ups.

Alot of Japanese words are going to be thrown at you, and alot of things that you are not used to. The japanese words although you should remember them, are not the most important thing first of all. The words get associated to the techniques as you practice and so they get learned automatically. Just listen to what you partner is saying and dont worry over getting it wrong or making mistakes. Everyone does it.
At some point the instructor will clap his hands you bow to your training partner and  line up along the edge of the mat as before. and another technique will be demonstrated in the same manner.

That is the basic content of the training, and will no doubt change slightly club to club and instructor to instructor.
At the end of the training you line up as you did at the beggining in order of rank, kneeling facing the picture of the founder and your instructor.
You bow to your instructor showing repect
The instructor will turn and clap his hands a number of times at which point everone will bow to O'sensei.
the instructor will then turn and dimiss everyone from the mat at which point you bow again.
Then you get up and leave the mat, it is customary to bow before you leave the mat also to the picture of Osensei.
Then in our club it is time to go off for a drink together, I find it is easier to train when you know everyone, and are friends and comfortable with them. Remembering to bow before leaving the Dojo