Forum Overview :: OMM and Caltrops History :: Aikido Tales

[quote name="McMoo"](Sort of) After my relationship meltdown left me homeless and broke, I relocated to Goderich to START ANEW. There is a boxercise class or ju jutsu. Needless to say I started taking ju jutsu - not to be confused with jujitsu - this is a Japanese martial art related to Aikido. We wear a Gi and drill in the Uke/Tori positions. As beginners, everything is half-speed. Our instructor does a lot of combatives seminars for police and first responders - in Canada there is a lot of focus on "appropriate force" so we focus on locks and pins; not breaking or choking. The technique vs brute strength is very important, so that's why I've stuck with it, but I also notice when we run through the drills quickly I often just sidestep and counterpunch/kick instead of trapping a limb. Anyway after about my first month we had grappling one night - you sit on the ground legs out back to back with you opponent. The judge signals a start then it's a 2 minute round to get a pin or submission. I found it funny that suddenly everybody (below black belt, anyway) forgets about locking limbs and just goes for mount, at which point they get lost and go for the lamest kimura attempts possible. Which was basically what I did because I went against the instructor first, then it turned more into a wrestling match. After that I was paired against another white belt, who probably has another 20 pounds on me and I tweaked my shoulder escaping from a triangle, got smashed in the face from an elbow scrambling from the bottom, then finally choked out from the bottom in north/south. It's always fun meeting with clients when you have a big gash in your face. [/quote]