After all the talk and study I have decided to give Aikido at a try. Tonight I am going for my first observation of the local school and am going to sign up for a free trial period. The guy that will be my sensai is a 2 dan and also has belts in many other arts such as BJJ and he has studied western boxing and kick boxing and even Kuk Sul Won. He says that although in theory Aikido is 100 % defensive that it can be used to make the first strike without having to bait someone into coming after you. He also leans away from the whole Ki training aspects and focuses more on having his students be ready to use it (if they should have to) on the streets in real life situations. It is funny because there are 2 other instructors at the school that teach all of the exact same moves and so on but they do not do it in a way to emphasize self defense. (I talked to him for like 45 minutes on the phone.) I just wanted to throw this out there and let everyone know I am finally in my new town and almost all the way moved in and ready to train. He also said that the quickest he has ever promoted a student from white to first Dan was 3 years and that student was going like every day so it does not sound like a mac dojo to me. Anyway any thoughts of what I should expect for the first few months? Thanks all!
