Hello, I\u2019m Erik Calderon and I’ve been doing martial arts ever since my dad stuck me in some classes when I was 5 years old. At 20, I moved to Japan for the sole purpose of studying Aikido. I trained on average 3 to 5 hours per day. I chose Aikido because I like it\u2019s philosophy and I saw it as something I could do for the rest of my life.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While at the dojo, I often saw students in their 70\u2019s and 80\u2019s training on the mat, and they were training with 20 year olds. That really impressed me. They looked and acted \u201cyoung.\u201d I thought to myself, wow, I\u2019d like to be like that when I\u2019m 80! So I stuck with it, trained even harder and am grateful everyday.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So the three things you should expect as a beginner to Aikido\u2026.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#1 and the hardest to overcome is Frustration, and lots of it! Everyone I\u2019ve seen start Aikido suffers from serious bouts of frustration. The techniques are not intuitive, or are they, and we\u2019ve just lost that intuition\u2026
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Either way, expect to be frustrated. Learn to live with that frustration. I think it\u2019s a huge part of the spiritual development of Aikido. Aikido is about letting go, and we\u2019re so busy trying to control. We want things to work right now, we want to be the end product without going through all the pain and suffering. We want to be fit and skinny without having to work for it. We want to be strong without having to do 100\u2019s of pushups.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, Aikido is not a fast and quick remedy to learning self-defense. Just think about how long it took you to learn to walk. For most babies, they\u2019ll take their first steps between 9 – 12 months and start walking around 14 – 15 months. That\u2019s over a year to be able to walk. Aikido is no different. It\u2019ll take you a year just to learn to take your first steps. Wow, that is frustrating!
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#2 You better get used to hitting the ground because you will be thrown around in every class. Falls, falls and lots of falls. You\u2019ll be doing back falls, back rolls, and front rolls. And every time you fall, you\u2019re going to have to get back up again! That\u2019s a lot of energy. That\u2019s a lot of exercise, that\u2019s a lot of calories.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You know that saying, the bigger they are, the harder they fall! You\u2019re gonna have to get used to that too. But, definitely all those falls, will make you lose some weight. While living in Japan, I\u2019d weigh in before and after class, and usually I\u2019d drop 10 pounds (most likely in sweat..)
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of course, that\u2019s the first thing you\u2019ll have to learn when you start Aikido Classes, is how to fall without getting hurt. \u00a0It\u2019s an art. It\u2019s also very important for self-defense. According to the CDC, Falls are leading cause of injury and death in older Americans (https:\/\/archive.cdc.gov\/#\/details?url=https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/media\/releases\/2016\/p0922-older-adult-falls.html<\/a>) \u00a0So, Aikido is a great art to learn, even when you\u2019re \u201colder.\u201d \u00a0 I\u2019ve personally used my art of falling to protect myself many times. One day I was riding my bike to Memorial Park and it had just rained. I was cruising at about 27 miles per hour and my front tire hit some mud on the road. My front tire slid straight into to the curb. I flew off my bike onto the concrete sidewalk. I had a split second to think about what I was going to do. I tucked my head, extended my arms and did a front roll and jumped to my feet. My only injury…the inside of my knee came into contact with a piece of metal on my bike and caused a small scrape. And, that\u2019s not the only time a roll has saved me! OK, the 3rd thing you can expect as a beginner in Aikido is doing techniques on your knees. Sitting on your knees, and walking on your knees. Here\u2019s a scene from one of Steven Segals movies when he performs a technique on his knees, it\u2019s a fun watch: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n