Self-defense and martial arts

[danaeris]

So after all of joedecker's shameless plugs, I think I'm going to sign up for a Bay Area Model Mugging course. Ironically, I'd been seriously considering it for the first time on my way home. Now this experience has clinched the deal.

Anyone want to take their class with me? There's one coming up in SF proper running for 5 Sundays: Oct. 26-Nov. 23, 12:30-5:30 p.m. (except the third day runs approximately two hours longer than that). Unknown rates, but I will call and find out tomorrow. I will email the cost to anyone who expresses interested in taking it.

Also, if I should want to continue afterwards by learning a martial art, I have a small problem. Bad knees. I tried aikido very briefly once, and really liked it. The sensei tried to talk me into continuing but I just didn't have the time. But I'm really not sure WHAT martial art would be lowest impact on my knees. Suggestions? I figure its a life skill and exercise, all in one. How can I go wrong with that?

Oh, and my e-mail is working again. Go digitalsidhe go!

But my back is fucking killing me. I wish I had some aleve.
Edit: My back has been hurting all day; it has nothing to do with the assault. It's my upper right back, near the shoulder.

Comments

OK, did your spine get compressed?

[redhead33.livejournal.com]

Vertebrae are bones and they do crack. Discs are fragiel and they get squished. Definately get some motrin delivered to you, (it is a sweeling reducer, they call it an 'anti-inflammatory'), take a COLD bath in a few inches of water and get your back and neck COLD. Do not heat anything, it only increases the damage and the swelling. You can take 2400 mg a day. I break it into 800 mg three times a day, you can do that for a good two weeks if you want, (I've done it for years and my liver tested fine- I don't recommend it though).

oh yeah and I'll take the class with you when you recover

[redhead33.livejournal.com]

Dom offered to pay for the class. Plus you'll feel more comfortable yelling because you'll need earplugs to survive my yelling.

Aikido aikido aikido!

[zyxwvut.livejournal.com]

And, while we're at it, aikido!

I know a great dojo in SF. (Haven't visited there in far
too long.) If you go, tell Sempai Geoff that I said hi.

Am available to talk your ear off on the subject... %-}

Z

P.S.: Or, if you wanted to visit my dojo...?

P.P.S.: Great advice, written by my sensei, for shopping
around for a dojo (aikido-specific, but probably portable
to other arts).

Re: Aikido aikido aikido!

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

I think I'm definitely going to do this. I might have to wait until after the BAMM course because the beginning courses at the Mission dojo seem to include a Sunday class which overlaps with my BAMM class.

I'd love to sit down and talk to you about it at some point.

Re: Aikido aikido aikido!

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Hm, I just looked at that dojo's website and I'm a little disappointed; their next class begins soon (yay!) but overlaps with BAMM, such that for the first 4 weeks I'd be missing half of the classes (the Sunday ones), which is kind of suboptimal (boo!).

It's also all the way south at Cesar Chavez, which is a bit of a trip on the Mission bus. I'm not sure how early I'd have to leave to get there by 6 on Thursdays... going to your dojo while more expensive might actually be just as fast... where is it and does it have a website so I can see if its beginner class has an amenable schedule for me?

Re: Aikido aikido aikido! (particulars)

[zyxwvut.livejournal.com]

www.aikiarts.com[*]

I'd say that perhaps the Beginner Class being inconvenient (for an
8-week schedule?) is secondary, compared to the Basics Classes that
you'd be going to after you get off of "the bunny slope"... no?

You are welcome at my dojo; I can "card you in" at the Y a few times
so you can get a feel for the place. Not sure if W 8-10pm or Sun
11am-12:30pm is going to work with your schedule (I miss our 4pm
timeslot, but that's from so long ago as to be somewhat silly.), but
let me know.

Z

P.S.: * -- you didn't read the above-mentioned essay, did you? %-}

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Yay, I hope it's great for you! I wish I could take it, but I can't because my joints can't tolerate it.

If you can, get your back looked at before you do MM -- if there's something minor wrong now, it could get exacerbated.

[auros]

A really good sensei will know how to adapt his art to different students. The dojo I studied in back on the east coast (ninpo taijutsu, a.k.a. ninjutsu) included, by the time I left, an 80-year-old black belt, a wheelchair-bound black belt, a deaf black belt, and a mostly-blind black belt. And honestly, I hated sparring with any of them, because they were only maybe marginally easier to hit / throw / etc than the typical person at their training level, and when they did something to you, they tended to have a bit less control and more... enthusiasm, shall we say?

I need to go check out the dojos run by Dale Seago and Ken Lux out here... Seago's (which is in SF) has been recommended to me by a couple of sources...

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

Aikido's fairly low impact, and would probably work best with bad knees.

Although I do agree with what others have said... a good teacher can work around these problems. My old dojo in Allston had a running joke that you needed some major injury to take classes there (three people with bad knees, one bad back, etc), and it still worked well. Finding an art that works for you with a good teacher is tough, but key.