more of a rant than anything (sorry if its in the wrong place) i'm bored of my classes, mainly cause my training partner has all but given up due to illness so i get flug around people i don't know and im not good at making friends (bleh) so i tend to end up either training with people who are alot better than me - or with new people which just tends to end up with me playing yuki all night. Isn't too bad but last time i got put with a semi new guy who insited on doing everything at speed although he couldn't do the moves.. which ended up in me getting alot of pain - i landed about a foot below where the floor started and he nearly did some serious breakage to my leg which he wouldn't have done if he slowed down but he kinda refused to :bang: i think cause everyone else could do it that fast. though it is kinda preferable to the people who refuse to try to hurt me. one guy i trin with sometimes refuses to hit me harder than a light brush on account of i'm a girl and thus will shatter if he does any harder. I did ask him to do it alittle harder but he kinda looked a me as though i was crazy. the annoyed bit comes in cause (and yes this is really petty) i've been training for a year and a half and only have a 9th kyu which wouldn't bug me but my sensi has been threatening to grade for 8months. it's got to a point were the people who joined just after i got my 9th are now going to grade with me.. yes it's petty but it bugs me i do love ninjutsu and my dojo but i can't cope with doing this every week :cry: ok i'm done
Arr! I hate that! It's so annoying!!!!! I find that it's not just guys though. Some people are just too paranoid of hurting the other person. Then on the flip side there are the psychos who will try and hit you hard when they aren't even suposed to be. Um, that was a little off-topic. I don't think you should be afraid to try new partners though. I mean, if you only ever go with one person than I think it isn't realistic since you're so used to that person. I hope you get what I'm saying.
not that i'm afraid of new trainers i'd just like to train with someone who's at the same level of me so i don't have to try to teach them stuff i hardly know and that i don't feel so retarded when i can't do the same things as the higher grades (yes i know i shouldn't be able to but it still makes me feel dumb )
Yep but i bet your a good 9th kyu, i would not worry too much about the grading in the bujinkan as its all about getting the knowledge, i was an 8th kyu for about 15yrs on and off but my kamae is better than some black belts out there so if i were you i would just worry about you and keep going. <Inappropriate question removed>
The thing about having a training partner (and I am soooo guilty of this, and got pulled up about it more times than I can remember!) is that you tend not to get to know other people in the class. You try to train with your partner whenever possible and end up so you train really well together, but then when you have to train with someone else, you dont know them at all, even though you've been in the same class for months! I know exactly what you mean about finding it difficult to get to know people (I HATE it!), but it really is better in the long run I think if you HAVE to train with all the other people in the class, with respect to both training and socially. As far as the guy who has no control is concerned, I honestly think that if he's refusing to slow down his technique until he can do it properly, you should refuse to train with him. Really. Check with your instructor, but this is what mine suggested when I had a similar problem. If he's new, he's there to learn from you and if he's just gonna do whatever he wants anyway, especially if it's putting you at risk, dont train with him. Everyone makes mistakes and beginners can do damage without meaning to, but if you've asked him to slow it down and he's ignored that, you dont have to make a scene, just bow and say, 'I'm sorry but I'm not prepared to train like this'. As far as the guys who dont put enough effort into it because you're a girl, just remind them that everyone is here to train and it's actually making it more difficult for you to do the move correctly if he's not even trying to hit you. IMHO I must admit that I love training with people who are loads better than me because I learn so much more, but I do know what you mean about feeling totally inept when it comes to teaching someone else! I always feel like a total ****! I think the more you do it the better it gets though, because you get the hang of the best way to explain things to others, which can be quite different from how you learn it yourself. If you love it, dont give it up! Wow, that was some ramble....
Train with everybody, regardless of rank. BUT, do not teach. If they know less than you, use them as your uke until they understand. Particularily in the case of a partner that doesn't want to go slow. Also, bring up these points with your instructor, in private. Explain your dilemna, you'd be surprised how many instructors are willing to work with you. Mingle. I have made soem good friends thru my years of training, and I don't make friends easily. Gambatte!
I agree with Kurohana. You have to train with everybody. Sometimes in a group there will be only 1 or 2 persons on the same level as you. Does that mean that you'll spar only with them? No, it doesn't. I sparred with black belts when I was lower green. It must have been boring for them at first, but to me it was highly stimulating and I was always proud of myself when I did a good move. Then I advanced in belts and ended up with people slower and (much) worse than me, but I can't refuse to spar with them. It wouldn't be motivational for them and it wouldn't be right. I worked on my techniques, combinations... and they looked up to me in the same way I had looked up to other people who had been more experienced than me. Don't let this affect you so much. You are not the instructor, so don't waste your time teaching others. You all should pay 100% to your instructor when s/he explains things to you and that's it. I'm sure your instructor comes to each and every one of you and corrects the mistakes if there are any. Still, if you feel that there is a need for you to speak with your isntructor, go ahead. It might even make you feel much better afterwards. good luck
Afterthought, even though someone might be a loewr rank than you, there is always the possibility that you can learn something from them during the course of training. Even so, let the instructor instruct. Ifyour partner is not quite getting it, call over the instructor. That's what they are there for.
This man is 100% correct..Some of the BEST training experiences I've had has been with individuals with alot more experience than myself..
Hi there, I think most female martial artists encounter this kind of problem at some stage or another and I think it's a case of just getting through this stage of your training and seeing what you can take from the experience. I also think that if someone is training too hard with you, that sometimes it can be usefull to hurt them a little back, it is a martial art after all. I was always taught that you should train with senior grades as often as you can as you can always learn from them. Yes, so they get brassed off a bit but, so what ,it's not actually a social club and you don't have to get on well with everyone you train with, you just have to respect them. Keep going to training and enjoy it and it's easy for people with lots of grades to forget how much they can mean for motivation to the lower ranks, regards, Alacoque
I've encountered the problem before with over-enthusiastic uke's who seem more worried about going as hard and fast as they can than they are about focusing on the technique, damaging your body or breaking your limbs. These guys have to be told, or else they will never learn. I politely remind them that, yes, I do work for a living and that my boss requires my limbs to be in full working order for me to be able to carry out my daily duties and tasks as required. As a 9th Kyu, you should be more focused on having fun and learning technique than with having to teach beginners, however that is just the way of it sometimes and we have all been there. It is unfortunate that your pal can no longer train but the whole thing about training with different partners is so that you get to see a wide variety of strengths which you also learn to adapt to. You learn how to defeat a large opponent and a small one, a skinny guy or a tubby one. you also make a lot more friends by training with more than one partner. Our Shidoshi always says, "Have a play, have a swap" after showing a technique to ensure this. However, we have two young girls in our class and they only ever train with each other and as a consequence, no-one really knows them, they have been coming about a year and a half but still seem strangers. Not that it matters, they won't last much longer, they'll soon move onto to some other "hobby", because it's not as if they pay attention much anyway, they are only there because their parents are paying for their lessons. Waste of money if you ask me. Try not to get bored and try to have fun. Your instructor is there to help, so if you have any problems, he or she is the person to speak to. - Oh and the girly treatment I wouldn't worry about too much. Whether boy or girl, I'm sure as you progress up the grades you'll find that Omote Gyakku comes on a little stronger every time.
Ok i'm a bit of an outsider as I have only been training for 5 weeks so far but... I started on my own with no partner and I am not exactly the mingling type (yes i'm a bit shy and quiet) so I haven't really trained with anyone I really know yet plus our Sensei sometimes tells us to swap partners after each technique so we have to move around, but I see this as sort of an advantage. Correct me if i'm wrong (and could well be) but if you do know someone well then you tend to predict what they are going to do or how they will attack. I think/hope it will benefit me training with different people, like it was said above you get a feel for different sizes of people etc. I can see your point though regarding training with beginners (from a beginners point of view i.e. me) as I feel bad if I don't quite grasp the technique straight away and have to be shown again, this obviously stops my partner from training whilst i'm talked through it. So I can understand if it annoys you not training with someone who's not up to your level. I wouldn't give up though, i'm sure you will regret it in a few years time if you do. I stopped doing Karate after 3 years when I left school 'cus my mates stopped and have regretted it ever since. It's taken me this long to start another martial art (and i'm so glad I found Ninjutsu!).
Oh,man I remember how it feels!Before the certain shihan came to my dojo (the dojo where I trained not my own dojo-I wish!) for a seminar I was used to practice with a guy who was almost regularly smoking a joint before coming to the dojo (we were not yet members of the Bujinkan and nobody else has noticed it at first).The guy was a regular street-school fighter so he got it serious and began kitenkening and zenpoing my butt all over the dojo.At the time I was 9th kyu and the most considerate person there so I tried to talk some sense into him.But he obviously threw too much of his "metsubushi" onto himself or he taught I was hidding in a cloud or something so that didn't work.I decided to fight fire with fire!So ever since we were punching,kicking,throwing and grappling eachother for real.Our parents and friends were horrified with bruises and scratches.Dojomates enjoyed it as well as sensei.I can tell you that was a hell of a forging.I've never advanced so fast.In a few months we've got 5th kyu and believe it or not we became best friends (Oh,I know what you mean!...No,I didn't ride the white dragon!).And when previously mentioned shihan came to our dojo for the first time we were introduced with constantly changing partners.I really missed him because I had been lost all the sense of restraint and subtlety so I kicked and threw everybody full force.Sensei and sempais liked it but not everybody else.It took me a lot of time to regain balance.I developed a real temper then.But me and my dojo friend though we were completely oposite changed for better.He gave up his "natural medicine" and bad company and I got the edge I lacked in confrontation.I suppose that was a sort of shinken gata we both had to learn.Ninjutsu lives for itself really doing magic and I think this is the perfect example. Nevertheless I was amazed how one sempai quickly taught me how to perform energic koppojutsu blocking after he only once rammed his fudoken over my relaxed forearm straight into my nose. Just be patient Dragon Bunny and you'll see how you slowly transform from a bunny into a dragon...Or at least a dragon with bunny-ears!
see this is why i like this place everyone knows just what to say i do get shifted around partners alot which i accept isn't tooo bad (yes i'm calmer today had a good session last night ) but i still don't like it and yes training with black belts is wicked and they do tighten up my techniques but playing with them is as rare as a blue moon the new guy i was whinning about trained with someone else last night, i think he might start to slow down now as he nearly messed his partners shoulder up - we did a take down you can't break fall from and insted of lowering him down he just dropped him. he's not dangerous, he just doesn't realise where the damage is in the move thats all. nd on the teaching thing, i'm not really teaching teachiing but if you get a new person you kinda have to take the time to show them how to do the move and i tend to let them just do it on me cause most the time it's stuff i can do.. not the end of the world but feels like a waste of a class (for me anyways!) i think i'm too nice i should beat them up abit too ok thanks for all your replies
