It's been a long time since I've had a m...
It's been a long time since I've had a muscle pain after aikido
sessions, but today I do. On Thursday we had a special session when our
trainer made one of the best students lead the training and joined us in
exercises to "get us know better" :)
In our training we have an
emphasis on how the uke (the attacker, who is then being thrown around
by the one doing the technique) must help nage (the one doing the
throwing) to do the technique properly by only reacting to a proper
technique. That means to not fall if you're not out of balance or in
pain.
So, then the trainer paired up with me for one of the
techniques. We bowed and started the practise. I was the uke, so I
attacked. The trainer caught my wrist and twisted my arm. I just stood
there as there was no pain - he didn't twist it enough. The trainer
looked at me, looked at my arm, said "Hmm" and we started over. Again
attack, grab, twist (as hard as he could) and again a "Hmm" - this time
a much louder one.
It appears that during the year and a half that
I've been showing up to the aikido sessions (very irregularly) my joints
have gained really impressive flexibility and some of the techniques
just don't work on me anymore (I have been commented on my flexibility
before - in a mountain climbing class). So the trainer spent next 20
minutes trying out all the extreme variations of the technique we were
doing trying to find a way to bend my arm further. He got to try every
one of the dangerous moves he always wanted to and many times I managed
to escape grips that he thought were solid as rock. At few point the
rest of pupils stopped doing their exercises and just watched me and the
trainer rolling on the floor in a deadlock (usually with few of my limbs
bent far beyond the angles they were designed for, but still
resisting).
It was a really great fun both for me and for our
trainer. Except for the muscle ache that for a strange reason only
kicked in yesterday evening and really shines today. Ouch. :)