Friday, September 18, 2009

4th Kyu Test

Greetings





An update on my Aikido training. As of 9/17/09 I have been training at Carolina Martial Arts under Sensei Orlando for 6 months. I was tested for 4th kyu on Tuesday night of this week and received my new stripe last night. Now it is onto the next step which will be brown belt. The new techniques are the twenty two. At this point we go from a static starting position to Uke attacking from a moving or fluid attack. This should really help me to improve my free style and become more fluid myself. Hopefully the next six months will allow me to learn to relax more, be less stiff and more circular in my movements...


I have enjoyed the first six months, the class is good. Maybe a bit too slow paced at times for me but overall I am well pleased. I intend to train hard and reach brown belt as soon as I can, perhaps in six months or less.


I have stayed injury free for the past few months and I hope it continues. I really need to work on my cardio but my flexibility is really good now compared to the beginning. My goal of black belt is in sight and I hope to reach it in three years or less. Many have said that this particular martial art is very difficult to learn and I felt that way at first but now I am feeling much more confident about my own ability to learn Aikido.


I am also working with another friend of mine who is a 2nd dan in Combat Hapkido. I attended a seminar in High Point NC about a month ago where I met and trained with Sensei John Pellegrini, Grand Master of Combat Aikido. It was a great seminar and I am now working with Sensei Flagg to learn this art too. I hope to move into this art as soon as I can for certification. I will train in both arts for now but my goal is to reach shodan in both forms of Tomiki Aikido and Combat Hapkido.

In fact I am traveling to Mooresville tomorrow morning for a two hour work out with Sensei Flagg, this will be my second work out with him since the seminar.




Peace