Kaze Uta Budo Kai Forum Archive

So I guess I'm addressing those that do multiple arts. How do you address the mental overload from studying multple arts? I'm sure the sense of overload is not do solely to just practicing multiple arts, but having to teach a new subject at school coupled with having a new baby.

So I have recently begun studying san-kata along with owaza ju pon in preparation for nidan. On a side note I had the opportunity to work with Prentice Glover last week on the 23. I must say I've never worked so hard to stay so light. It totally blew me away that if I added anything to the system he would have the upper hand. Most of the time I didn't even know I was adding energy until he told me where and how I was doing it. So just in Aikido, I've undertaken the task of learning new material and having my mind blown by Mr. Glover.

I've also been thinking alot about different ne-waza techniques. One move being the polish wizzar, which has opened a pandora's box of lessons and cool finishes. I've been trying to work on a kami-shiho/juji-gatame gizmo. And then Kyle and myself stumbled across kimura from standard kesa-gatame, so I'm sure we're going to explore this some more.

I'm also reading and looking at Jyodo kata because it just looks cooler than all get out, the biggest problem here is staying for class on Saturday's. This goes back to having a newborn at the house. But I'm working on getting my kitchen pass extended, just need to get a routine established between the wife and myself and we should be good.

So to recap, multiple arts, new responsibilities at work, and a newborn at home. How do you guys handle the chaos. Hopefully I'll find a rythm sooner than later.

Studying multiple arts can lead to real overload. The majority of folks at our dojo study one art. There's a handful that study two arts, and an extreme minority that study all three. Being one of the wacko's, I can attest that you'll find yourself drinking from the fire hydrant of knowledge often.

I mainly try to focus on concepts, or spend my time really engaged in one art. My Judo has really made a lot of progress in the past few years, but my Jyodo and Aikido progress during this time frame feels very, very slow. Sometimes you find something cool, something that really trips your trigger (boils your crawfish, floats your boat, etc.) and you get lost exploring that for a while.

How to balance the insanity of studying three arts, along with job & family? Well.... when you figure it out lemme know. Right now I'm trying total immersion. I totally focus on Aikido during Aikido time, totally on Judo during Judo time. There are crossover elements, and if possible I try to look at them outside normal class time. I find myself cheating in Aikido quite frequently, and if I'm with a Judo player we cheat and often fail to recognize it. So, for Aikido I am trying to focus on principles (unbendable arm & maintain maai mostly). In Jyodo, I am just working on my feet and hoping they land at the appropriate time.

Currently I feel that my Aikido skills are not where they should be, so I've been trying to concentrate on Aikido. I've always dedicated my energy towards Judo and I think my Aikido has suffered for this. In the past I have treated Aikido as a good warm up for Judo. Having this mentality has really hindered my Aikido development. But on the other hand I want to continue to develop my Judo skills and not just maintain.

I don't feel my skills are as sharp as they could be either. I'm trying to not let myself cheat as much, or really pick something to focus on for the entire class -- pick a principle, try to get light, etc. This is starting to pay off a little.

One of the common mistakes is to not practice what we're bad at. We like to do things where we are successful. I hate my hiza-guruma during nage-komi level play. When it comes out of me spontaneously during randori it's pretty nice. So, I try to make myself work on developing my hiza during nage-komi. Obviously, I'm missing something. I've also been focusing on the handwork in Judo a little more lately, and that's starting to bear a little fruit too. So, buckling down and doing the things we suck at is very beneficial long-term -- sucks for the ego in the short-term though.

i learned form chuck to sort of interanlly compartmentalize-- practice all three but give your mental focus to one area for extended periods of time (he cycled on 1-3 month increments-- my cycles vary)-- works pretty good over the long haul

nick lowry wrote:i learned form chuck to sort of interanlly compartmentalize-- practice all three but give your mental focus to one area for extended periods of time (he cycled on 1-3 month increments-- my cycles vary)-- works pretty good over the long haul

That's what I do... and my cycles also vary. Interesting. I haven't thought about what that love/hate or love/disinterest cycle is based on - what makes it cycle in weeks or months or years?

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Thanks for all the input. I think I need to take a more proactive approach in determining my "cycles". (Save the jokes for judo) Maybe I can go by dates or class hours? I just need a system that I can stick with. My OCD (go figure, a math teacher that has OCD) can't handle a whole lot of randomness, 1 month here, 3 months there. I think for right now my concentration needs to be on Aikido, and once I make nidan I can transition into something else.

Ah, the saga continues.

I also think it's be interesting to figure out what sort of time periods your interest/disinterest cycles go on. The problem that I see is with me it's never an on-off sort of thing. my passion for each art gradually waxes and wanes until one day I think to myself, "Hmm, I'm much more excited about judo than aikido these days." Hard to pin down when you go from one ot the other.

the only solution I know of is to just do both and just go thru the motions when you have to and devour it when you feel like it .

Patrick Parker wrote:Hard to pin down when you go from one ot the other. The only solution I know of is to just do both and just go thru the motions when you have to and devour it when you feel like it .

Yep, that's pretty much me, too.

Patrick Parker wrote:I also think it's be interesting to figure out what sort of time periods your interest/disinterest cycles go on. The problem that I see is with me it's never an on-off sort of thing. my passion for each art gradually waxes and wanes until one day I think to myself, "Hmm, I'm much more excited about judo than aikido these days." Hard to pin down when you go from one ot the other.

the only solution I know of is to just do both and just go thru the motions when you have to and devour it when you feel like it .

I've been starting to notice the same exact thing. For me, my main focuses have been in Aikido and Jyodo with a little bit of Judo on the side. Once I got to Nidan in Aikido and Jyodo, I started playing more in Judo and right now I am doing more Aikido and Judo and less Jyodo. Having been extremely passionate about going to class as much as possible for the last 2.5 years, I found it somewhat frightening to notice myself starting to wane in passion. Glad to hear it's a phase and that I'm not the only one who goes through the waxing/waning of interest.

I know I'm resurrecting this post but I wanted to add my .02.

Try 4 arts!!! Which is why I'm still only a Nidan in Aikido. I started Jyodo a bit after then my son who was 10 at the time wanted to do Kendo...so I thought that was cool and joined with him...this conflicted with Jyodo practice so Jyodo took a back seat. After about 8 mmonths of Kendo I wound up with a stress fracture on my foot and had to stop. Well..since I wasn't doing it anymore...Ben didn't want to do it either and we never went back. Which was fine because I had then stumbled across Iaido and again Jyodo almost became non-existent and Aikido was whenever I could drag myself in to class..and of course retiring from the AF was a big mental drain on me. Then Ben starts doing wrestling in HS and wanted to try Judo...so without really thinking about it I said...hey, I'll do it with you. I was almost done with Iaido because I thought Susan wasn't going to teach anymore and I'd pretty much given up Jyodo. Judo was something me and my son could do together and then he quits and I find myself not wanting to quit. Now I am doing all 4 at some reasonable rate. I go back and forth which one I am interested in. Sometimes Aikido seems the answer to all....then sometimes it's Judo. Iai and Jyodo are just too cool in themselves though the elitism in Iaido is really irritating and why Mary quit.

I would like to find the line where I feel like I am just doing Budo...and whatever class I am in...that's what I am focused on for that time. This raises a question I have for those of you who do Judo and Aikido. I'll post it in the Judo section and you can reply.

Sorry for the rant.

nick lowry wrote:i learned form chuck to sort of interanlly compartmentalize-- practice all three but give your mental focus to one area for extended periods of time (he cycled on 1-3 month increments-- my cycles vary)-- works pretty good over the long haul

This seems to be currently working for me.