If we look at humanity’s slow rise from prehistory, there have been three waves ofevolutionary acceleration. The first was the transition from hunting-gathering to the development of the agricultural age. This happened roughly a few thousand years ago. The second was the industrial revolution, propelled by the invention of automation and standardization. This happened a few hundred years ago. And the third is the “digital” revolution and this started a few decades ago.
One of the dificulties in the process of Evolution is the concept of Conservatisme. This is not always to be bad, but to keep going on and to improve your way of life we need the concept of Evolutionary Innovation.
Evolutionary innovation focuses on orientation TOWARDS today’s way of life and improving it.. To use this concept we have to accept the idea that we sometimes have to leave the “fixed” path of our predecessors.
“Revolutionary ideas rely on evolution to survive”
It is a fact, most people cannot surpass the concept of a fixed or so -called standard form. Although we need a fixed form to pass on the concepts and techniques of a martial art, it is important at a certain moment in our training to forget the fixed form and start your own method based upon movements stored in your subconscious mind. This is already discussed in blog posts concerning “katachi” and “kata”. Also the post about “Matrix Aikido” can give you some insight.
Using equipment from other disciplines
When we don’t have a partner to practise our waza, we can use a tool to mimic a body-part of the opponent. The tool in my mind has to mimic the fore-arm of an opponent and the idea is to practise arm and wrist techniques. This is not a new idea because other Aikidō sensei are also using such a tool. For example a “Neribō”.
Neribō (neri:to knead & bō:wooden stick)
The Neribō stick was introduced in Aikidō by Hiroshi Tada (Aiki-Kai)
The neribô is a tool that can be used in the practice of aikido solo; it is a wooden cylinder with a variable diameter and a length of around half a meter, with rounded edges to avoid hassle in operating it. Simulates the uke’s forearm , so you can train with neribô to perfect mainly the basic or gokyo techniques ( ikkyo , nikyo , sankyo , yonkyo , gokyo), to keep the level of execution unchanged, or simply when you have the pleasure. Its use is useful especially when you consider training time on the tatami insufficient to achieve your goals , but also when you want to intensify the study of a technique, nikyo for example, which is unthinkable to replicate for dozens or even hundreds of times on an unfortunate human uke .
Because the arm of an opponent is not so stiff as the wooden Neribō, an alternative can be found in the use of a TheraBand FlexBar Resistance Bar.
TheraBand FlexBar® to improves grip strength in the arm, hand and shoulder. The resistance level are: yellow (6lbs. of force), red (10 lbs. of force), green (15 lbs. of force), or blue (25 lbs. of force).
As you can see, the FlexBar is a flexible tool with a resistance degree depending on the kind of FlexBar. You can bend the FlexBar, but you also can twist the tool. The moment when you loose the bending or twisting power, the FlexBar returns to the original shape.
Of course it has not the same feeling as the arm of the opponent, but playing with the bending or twisting power will improve your grip on the arm of an eventually opponent. The control of you power is increasing when practising often with the FlexBar.
Tomiki-Aikidō waza with FlexBar
These are some examples how to use FlexBar with Tomiki Aikido waza. Use your imagination to develop other methods to use FlexBar. Have fun…
Study Group Tomiki Aikido 