Martial Arts and Cycling

[Trek420]

The teacher is the most important.

At their most advanced the different arts are more alike than not. Find a teacher and school you like.

"Hard styles" like TKD, Karate, Kempo have softer, flowing subtle moves. "Soft styles" like Aikido, Tai Chi, Judo have deadly direct moves.

Aikido, often called "dance like" advanced techniques are very direct, often one barely touches the opponent or even don't at all .... just go right through 'em.

Find a teacher and school you like. Watch how they treat beginners. You're going to be on e for a long time. Watch and advanced class, you should feel a tinge of awe "I want to do that" Is there anyone with an injury? How are they treated? Are warm ups and cool down done?

It's not something you can just do like a spin class, it's a lifetime of learning and growing, never stop learning.

And about the self defense aspects I think I can speak for all the advanced students here and our teachers. I train for love of the art, self knowledge, those "ah hah" moments of "hey, that's how that works" and sometimes those "doh" moments.

My goal and hope is that I never ever use it .... again.

The fight you avoid is the one you win

Also I feel strongly that especially for women anything you do that makes you feel more confident in your body makes you that much less of a target. So you don't want to do MA? Ride on!!

www.ai-ki-do.org

Knott, Shihan (a term of respect for a master instructor) Frank Doran will be at the LAD (local Aikido dojo) near you in November. You and SKnott should go just to see him in action.