What is each aiki rank about?

A student was telling me a while back that he'd been reading a book by a BJJ instructor and that the interesting part of it was that author had characterized the different ranks as each having a different thematic focus. White belt was spent developing one particular set of principles and qualities, blue belt another, and so on...

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That student asked me if this sort of thing applied to our aikido or judo. Does each rank have some particular focus?

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Sure it does! Our way of teaching aikido mostly goes something like this...

• yellow is about fundamental motion and evasion - the aiki brushoff, etc...
• green is about atemi - attacking uke's center and driving him directly off of you if you aren't able to evade - shomenate, etc...
• brown 3 is about moving with uke using his elbow to control his motion - oshitaoshi, wakigatame, etc...
• brown 2 is about moving with uke using his wrist to control his motion - kotegaeshi, kotehineri, etc...
• brown 1 is about floating throws - particularly otoshi timing - maeotoshi, sumiotoshi, etc...
• black 1 is about refining all previous material to integrate the floating throw concept - also introducing guruma motion.
• black 2 is about variations in maai, attacks, and timing
• black 3 is about weapons and also honing that light aiki feel
• black 4 and beyond are primarily about time-in-grade, teaching, and service to the art

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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Training log

Kids' judo

• Gracie games - tackle the giant
• judo sumo

Judo

• footsweep control
• osotogari 4 ways
• ground mobility cycle
• envelope (mune, kesa, wakigatame, udegarame)

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮
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Owaza jupon for multiple randori

Sometimes someone tells you something that you already knew, but changes how they say it just a bit - just enough that it totally casts that knowledge in a different light.  That happened to me a couple of times at the recent Kondo clinic. 

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For one thing, Owaza Jupon - I've been doing this set of techniques since brown belt and It has always been my favorite kata.  It has always seemed more aiki like than the other stuff we did.

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I'd always characterized the kata as an exercise in separation (throwing as you move away from uke) and as an exercise in contrasting otoshi and guruma - and it is both of those things.  This past weekend Dr. Kondo told us that Owaza Jupon was intended to be a multiple opponents type thing.  That it is comprised of techniques that take very little time or commitment so you can do them when you are in a hurry.  That is, these techniques are good for multiple randori because you don't have to get tied up with uke for very long and because they don't tie you up with uke.

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See, I'd always known that it's a separation thing, but hadn't made the connection that the reason you separate is so that you can stay free to keep moving.  Slight spin on the idea, big wow to me.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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Helpful handful; Multiple randori in aikido

One interesting and fun and beneficial practice in aikido is multiple randori, in which 2 or 3  or 4 ukes attack one tori.  In our class we don't practice this very often but at the recent Kondo Seminar we warmed up with yonnin (4-attacker) randori.  Here's a handful of hints on implementing this practice into your class.

• Control the intensity - First, realize this is not a gang-fight pile-on simulation.  It is just a mechanism to get a little more chaos and variability in the randori and increase the intensity a little.  It helps to have a referee (not tori and not one of the ukes) to help control the intensity by giving hints to tori and ukes from the sidelines.
• Home positions - Give the four ukes "home positions" in the 4 corners of the mat.  They attack one at a time from these home positions.  As soon as tori touches one uke it is time for the next one to start from their home position.
• Fall and get back up - Uke, when you fall, roll away from tori and get up, moving immediately back to one of the corner home positions.
• Walking attacks - For all but the most advanced, craziest toris, a fast walk is a good intensity.  Ukes running blindly from all sides doesn't do anything but get someone hurt.
• Use the aiki brush-off - Tori, don't try to engage and destroy every single uke with a beautiful technique.  Brush some attacks off.  Atemi others and keep moving.  Hide behind some ukes to keep the others off of you. You might only be able to throw a clearly-defined, named technique every 5-6 attacks.  That's more than okay.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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Training log

Kids' judo

• Gracie Games - spiderkid, crocodile, crazyhorse
• ashiwaza - deashi and kouchi
• swept a ball around the mat using the deashi motion

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮 

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What martial artists should eat

Every so often someone will ask me for dietary advice, either because I'm an exercise physiologist or because I am a martial arts teacher.  I guess they figure those two domains of education and practice make me an expert or something.  Folks will ask me what I think of some particular diet, like Atkins, or what I think of a particular suppliment, like creatine.  Some folks assume that because I'm a martial artist, I must be a zen guru and therefore vegetarian.

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So I thought I'd post my professional opinion (from both professions - physiologist and martial artist).  I try to be Flexitarian, A.K.A. Omnivorous - but within the general guidelines espoused by Michael Pollan in his excellent books.  And if you are at the stage of your life that you are interested in eating sanely, Pollan's books might help you too.

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Pollan's basic thesis is that we should, "Eat (real) food, mostly plants, and not too much."  If that general plan sounds pretty good to you and you want more details, Pollan's book, Food Rules provides great guidelines.  If you want more than the basic guidelines, you might enjoy In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto.

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Either way, These books describe my philosophy of nutrition, which I suppose you could call something like, "Read Pollan and eat sanely" (the RPES diet plan).

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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Kondo Clinic - June 2010

Just returned and started recovering from the recent Yoji Kondo clinic. An excellent time was had by all and we certainly learned a lot. I'll be giving me a lot to work on and a lot to blog about for a while. Today I thought I'd do a quick recap.

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Day 1 -

• yonnin (4-opponent) randori
• owaza jupon - with some interesting twists
• toshu randori

Day 2 -

• junana hon kata w/ emphasis on small action and practical, intuitive aikido
• goshin jutsu
• judo newaza

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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What is karate?

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮
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The first and second rules of judo

So, a while back I mentioned my fledgling Judo Catechism that I'm doing with my judo kids.  It gives us something to talk about during warm-ups.  It begins...

• Q: What does the word judo mean?
• A: Soft Art
• Q: What are the two most important things to learn in judo?
• A: How to fall right and how to act right."

Lately I've added the "First rule of judo" and the "Second rule of judo."

• Q: What is the First Rule of Judo?
• A: "You and me both win"
• Q: What is the Second Rule of Judo?
• A: "Find the easiest way for both of us to win."

Hmmm... Where have I heard those before?  The kids are making great progress learning these.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮 

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Zappo's dojo kun

A dojo kun is a set of aphorisms or proverbs that describe the desired ethos of the dojo - the way the dojo and its denizens are supposed to be.  The following is roughly the equivalent of a corporate dojo kun - Zappo's 10 Corporate Values (proudly stolen from Zappo's by way of Tom Peters)

1. Deliver "WOW!" through service.
2. Embrace and drive change.
3. Create fun and a little weirdness.
4. Be adventurous, creative and open-minded.
5. Pursue growth and learning.
6. Build open and honest relationships with communication.
7. Build a positive team and family spirit.
8. Do more with less.
9. Be passionate and determined.
10. Be humble.

I really like this.  I think it pretty much describes how Mokuren Dojo (both the blog and the dojo itself) is supposed to work.  What about you guys (Dear Constant Reader), what do you think?  How do you think Mokuren Dojo is doing wrt these values?

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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Something for the joke-doka in you

Q: How many judoka does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A: FIVE... Two wrestle with the bulb, one says, "That grip is against the rules," one says, "That's not how my sensei does it," and one yells, "Waza-ari," when it's finished.

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮
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Interview: Rener Gracie on Bullyproof

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to purchase the new Gracie Bullyproof DVD set, and it turned out to be all it was cracked up to be and much more - a really excellent set of DVDs about teaching kids to grapple and helping them to avoid bullies and other common predators.

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Today I had the fortune to be able to have a brief email conversation with Rener Gracie, son of UFC creator Rorion Gracie, and one of the instructors on the Bullyproof DVDs. I got to ask him some questions about teaching kids to grapple and he let me post it here as a short interview.

PATRICK PARKER: Thanks Rener! I really appreciate you taking some time from your busy schedule to answer a handful of questions for me and my readers. I wanted to start by congratulating you and thanking you for such a fine instructional product as Bullyproof. My kids and I have really been enjoying working through it together. Were you or your brothers ever bullied at school or did everyone around know not to mess with "those Gracie guys?"

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RENER GRACIE: I was 10 when my father created the UFC so people knew who we were..

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PATRICK: Other than just playing the Gracie Games with y'all, how did your dad and grandfather motivate you and your brothers to want to make jiujitsu such a large part of your lives?

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RENER: In the early years it was just the Gracie Games. Around 6 or 7 years old, is when the real learning began. The key to making sure that we stayed motivated was the use of the Golden Rule: expect nothing, praise everything. He never condemned us for not meeting his expectations so we never felt like we were letting him down.

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PATRICK: Was it expected of you, like "You're a Gracie so you will do jiujitsu?"

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RENER: He never forced us to train (although he did have to bribe me a few times).

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PATRICK: Did any of y'all decide, "No, I don't want to do jiujitsu?"

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RENER: Some members of the family are less involved than others, but all of them know enough to defend themselves and that's what matters most.
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PATRICK: That's exactly right. In the Bullyproof program you have the child paired with an adult partner who is always adjusting the intensity level so that the child always succeeds. When do you start emphasizing randori or sparring or more competitive games where the kids compete against each other?

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RENER: As soon as a kid feels like he/she is "not good at it" they will want to quit. So it's our job to make sure they are never in over their heads. As a result, we don't let kids do live sparring exercises until they have trained for several months and we can see that they have a very dedicated learning spirit and, more importanly, they can lose without taking it personally. All kids start in a program based on the fundamentals, with no competitive sparring, until they display a very mature learning attitude, and then we send them to the "Black Belt Club" where they learn more and train harder. All it takes is one bad experience for a kid to quit, so we are very careful to manage the intensity in our classes.
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PATRICK: A while back I interviewed Dave Camarillo, and he said he thought it was probably better to start kids in judo and graduate them into BJJ later. But your generation of Gracies seems to have had pretty good success starting young in BJJ and (I suppose) cross training some later in judo or wrestling, etc... What are your ideas about the path kids should take in cross-training these martial arts?
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RENER: I can certainly see the benefit of the path Dave describes, and from a technical standpoint I don't think the order matters too much, but from an engagement standpoint I think that starting with GJJ is the best option because any kid can do it and it's simple, fun and low impact, resulting in less injuries, therefore a child is less likely to quit in the early stages.
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PATRICK: Wow, Rener, that was some really great info you just gave us. Thanks! I've had a blast chatting with you and I know my readers will love reading about your ideas.
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To learn more about the Gracie Bullyproof at-home training DVDs please visit: http://www.graciebullyproof.com/

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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Training log

Kids' Judo

• Gracie Games - bulldozer (should have been named steamroller), crazyfeet, basebattle (we called it, "Pulling weeds")
• push hands (randori with object of making opponent move a foot off of a tape mark on the floor)

Aikido

• kotehineri, kotegaeshi, tenkai kotehineri, shihonage

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮
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What membership doesn't do for you

The phenomenon of martial arts organization membership is kinda funny to me. Some folks see organization as this official recognition thing, where you pay your dues and thereby earn the right to use the organization's good name in your advertising.

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Others see organization as this loose, organic affiliation thing where you might work out and talk more with members from clubs A, B, & C more than members from clubs D, E, & F until it suits you to avoid club B people and hang out some with club D people.

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To folks that think more organically, the other folks sometimes seem like kool-aid drinking cult members, while the kool-aid drinkers often see the other folks as disloyal opportunists.

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Funny thing is how organizations separate people rather than uniting them.

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Off the top of my head, here are a handful of things that being a member of a martial arts organization does NOT do for you.

• It doesn't make you any cooler (except in the opinion of the leaders and perhaps some members of that organization)
• It doesn't make you any more "official" to call yourself a "Gracie Barra" school or an "Aikikai affiliate", or a "USJA club" or whatever...
• It doesn't make your practice any more authentic. Either you practice and get better or you don't.
• It doesn't make you any more skillful. Martial arts is not something that someone else can do for you, and even if they could in some sense do it for you, they couldn't sell it to you in the form of a certificate or license.
• It doesn't allow you to tap into the skills or wisdom of some long-dead instructor, founder, guru, or practitioner

So, what might membership in a martial arts organization do for you?

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Patrick Parker is a Christian, husband, father, martial arts teacher, Program Director for a Cardiac Rehab, and a Ph.D. Contact: mokurendojo@gmail.com or phone 601.248.7282 木蓮

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