Tying loose ends

For whatever reason, my frequency of posting has dropped off considerably of late, sorry. Not that I don't have a lot to think about, a lot that I'm learning, a lot that intrigues me. I definitely have a nice list of things to address for the coming year, if I ever get around to it all.

I also have a list of topics I've started but never finished, and hope to in 2011:

The chin is magic
This concept has been fairly pervasive in my aikido and is starting to creep into judo as well. I've only gone so far as to look at the first technique of aikido's randori no kata, shomen ate, but there's soooo much more. I tried making a video that glazed over many of the applications I've been thinking of, but I left some things out and it's too quick. Maybe next time I try, I'll bring a check list.

Practicing budo while killing time
I have a need to isolate and organize and categorize that borders on OCD. One of the things I really enjoy doing to creating drills. I made a few posts about walking drills for judo, but I have a few more little stepping exercises for aikido as well.

Renraku waza
We spend a lot of time in aikido working on combining techniques, stringing several together, but not as much in judo. I've covered some here, but I'd like to spend some more time working on ideas I've had and researching other's ideas.

The tall and the short of it
I started talking about approaching aikido with slightly different strategies depending on whether you're taller/bigger or shorter/smaller, but never got around to addressing it with judo.

In addition to all that, there's stuff I've been thinking about, but haven't started yet.

Hands
It's funny, when we start, both in aikido and judo, we're typically told not to think much about the hands. The reason being, without proper training and experience, using the hand will generally lead to bad habits, namely a kind of ikioi, or trying to use muscle and strength to force a technique to happen. But I'm at a point where I'm beginning to be intrigued by certain subtle uses.

Little details
I'm constantly reminded of little things, things that I've no doubt been told before, but have forgotten, little things that will make all the difference in the world. Once in a while, I'd like to jot one done, without a whole lot of explanation or fanfare, but a quick tidbit.

Grappling
Mostly, I'm really behind. Seriously behind. I don't spend nearly as much time on it as I should have for the hours and rank. I have sort of a love/hate relationship with it, frankly, but I'd like to get a little more friendly with it over the next year.

And probably a lot more than that. I bet ya can't wait!

In the meantime, have a very merry Christmas, a happy holiday season, and a wonderful, prosperous new year!