Tuesday Tips: Going with the flow
Posted on | January 27, 2009
When it comes to grappling, throwing, etc going with the flow is very important. In Aikido, the person who is having the technique applied to them is known as uke. I’m going to use this term for the duration of the article, but it really doesn’t matter what Martial Art we’re talking about. I’m just speaking of grappling and the like, in a general sense.
One of the biggest key points that I’ve been learning in Aikido is to make sure that when I’m the uke, that I’m going with the flow. There are many out there who see this as unrealistic, like when they watch videos of Aikido demonstrations. Yet, the reason behind why the uke does this, is often misunderstood. I believe the leading cause to why they have concerns is because they’ve never studied in an art that covers these topics. When you’re being manipulated, the problem with not going with the flow is that you’re only going to injure yourself. That’s not to say that you can’t attempt to resist in certain ways, but you’d better move with the movement or you may regret it afterwards.
For instance, if you’re being thrown and you don’t move with the throw, it’s not going to deter the nage(person throwing you) any, at all. It’s only going to hurt you even more than if you were to move with the throw. The same applies to arm locks. If your opponent(nage) has you in an arm lock and you straighten your arm out and try to resist the lock, you could wind up with serious damage. The problem with letting your arm go straight is that it is then easy for your opponent(nage) to accidentally hyper extend your arm, or possibly even worse, which isn’t a fun thing to do.
Most people focus on simply reversing techniques or evading them, but chances are that at some point in your life(of sparring, etc) you’re going to be caught off guard and evasion is not going to be an option. It’s at times like that, that you really need to know how to make sure you limit the amount of damage that is going to happen to you. Landing wrong after a throw may not be so bad on the mat, but if it happens to you outside on the pavement, you’ll wish you had landed correctly.
Tags: Aikido > arm > flow > grapple > Judo > lock > throw > wrist
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