More test training

I came into the dojo today and it was empty. "Am I training alone today?" I thought. So I turned on the lights, and started to change, but soon enough, Sao-chan, Oxford, and the guest Black Belt arrived. I wasn't alone after all.

Like the title says, I did more test training today with Sao-chan. She's agreed to be my uke for the test, so it was good to have this opportunity to practice with her before the big event. I was able to get some good advice on the techniques as well as refine my kamae. Overall, a productive class.

I read one of Stumpy's blog entries yesterday and he talked about how important it is to have your own goals in mind while training. Up until now, I focused on what the sensei was trying to teach, and of course, it's important to work on that as well, but while the sensei is setting up a focus for the class as a whole, you can still be working on what you feel is an aspect of your Aikido that you want to improve. It can be something that was pointed out in a previous class, or just something you observed in someone else's Aikido.

I think it was last week as I watched Oxford doing a technique, an iriminage. I noticed how he was keeping his weight forward through the whole technique. When I noticed this, I thought that that's what I need to be doing. It's easy to get lazy and "sit back" during a technique, but keeping your weight forward keeps your momentum moving forward and help keeps the uke off balance. So that's my personal focus for now, to keep my weight, and thus the force of my technique, moving forward.