Thought for the ... well forever, just add it to the list

Slow Gets Smooth
Smooth Gets Speed

We all have that little voice inside of us that says "I want to throw fast like Sensei."  But like with all things, you can't start there.  If you do the chain becomes....

Fast gets Choppy
Choppy needs Muscle
Muscle means Effort, and not everyone has Muscle

That thought chain doesn't sound good at all.  Especially not for the "minimum effort, maximum effect" mantra.  But alas, we (all) still want to go fast and get to fast faster.  But we must recognize that while working through a "throw", we need to feel comfortable that we can practice it slowly.  We need to capture and process a lot of information during the throw if we are going to learn from doing it.  We unfortuantely can't do a throw, then after wards analyze what went well or not so aftewards.  We need to be conscious and aware during the throw. 

We need to feel uke's balance and process how that relates and responds to what your are doing, where you are relative to uke, where you are leading uke to next, simultaneously and instantaneously.  For that, we need need to slow things down because that's a heck of a lot of mental work.

But the other guys are looking and I can't look like a noob!  Cut it.  We're all noobs. (that's pronounced noo-B, btw).  Why are we all noobs, because if you are constantly learning then you are always treading on new ground.  Like the word "throw", "practice" is a poor word as it implies there is a set and known procedure that you just have to learn to rinse, wash, and repeat.  Well, that's why long ago they decided to call these martial "arts" and not martial recipes.  That and recipes doesn't very warrior like at all.  I'm not even sure there is a word for recipe in Klingon.  (please don't write me about the etymology of the Klingon word for recipe)

So, you have permission, from me, and from uke, to practice slow without any baggage but remember, slow does not mean stop animation.  Slow still means continuous.  Uke attacks, we lead them to start falling, continuously, from the moment of connection to the moment that we allow them to finish falling.

Smoothly....

stay tuned to this same AKR channel for the next exciting installment