Uke attacked, and I had to pull out any 10 different recognized defenses (or until the instructor said "stop" -- he said it would be 10 but I wasn't counting): vertical strike, "aikido chop" hook punch to face straight punch to face or chest wrist grab wrist grab with punch grab both wrists bear hug from behind choke from behind Against a wall, so I can't move backwards, it was: shoulder grab choke shoulder grab with punch Then deflect punches and kicks, separately, until he said "stop" Then deflect the punch or kick, and get a takedown, for what felt like 5 times Then defend a punch/kick combo, with a takedown, probably 5 times Then avoid a blow, and take away, a "baseball bat" (bokken actually) and "broom stick" (jo actually), 5 times each Then a couple minutes of 1 person continuously attacking in any way he wants, followed by 2-attacker randori Then kokyu-ho, an exercise done kneeling that isolates hip movement and demonstrates "extension" of energy.
Thanks, all. ::hearts:: Ya, boxing improved my aikido tremendously. The concept of angles and moving with hips in boxing, made everything in aikido make sooo much more sense. Every aikido student should take 2 years of boxing (or kickboxing) first. It should be required. That said, I have a catalog in my head of 23 or so moves I can pull off if some one says, "Show me ___." Seven or eight of them are reflexive. I can do those 7 or 8 without even thinking, and even with my eyes closed without thinking about it. My body just knows where to go next based on feel. The guy doing the punching and kicking part of the test is an instructor in Bill Wallace and Superfoot karate, which is to say, he actually knows how to jab and punch and kick. That makes for a nicer test.
Yes. 1) The evasive footwork easily crosses over. When I was only a few months into boxing the coach would often use me for demonstration when he was working with someone else in the ring, because I moved well. My punches were terrible but I could glide all over the ring with little trouble. 2) The idea of keeping the back straight rather than hunching over, and not leaning on the bag during bag work, made sense to me already. I hardly ever leaned on the bag in the beginning. 3) Power from the hips! There are aikido drills that are supposed to teach this, so I caught on very quickly. Sure, in the beginning I was hitting the heavy with my arms, so the bag would swing. A lot. But much quicker than everybody else, I figured out what it means to punch from the hips. The heavy bag still swings when I hit it, but it pops upward with a "thud!" more than it swings, because I hit with my hips, even when I jab.
