I have been neglecting the poor blog lately. I am currently on vacation so I am making a few videos. I really want to get as much of Matl Sensei's work documented. His judo is not flashy, but it is some of the most convincing I have felt. He is really into the concept of softness, and he uses it in high level competitions.
Conserving a Set of Japanese Armor
1 day ago
Great video, perfect time for blog-size attention spans as well. I've always enjoyed your videos of Matl Sensei and it's easy to understand his soft approach in his slow and controlled movements and speech. I've got a couple questions though. The beginning, especially with the very first technique, it looks like he's lifting his shoulder quite a bit (naturally since you're larger than him) to get in position, doesn't that put some unnecessary tension in the upper body? Perhaps the technique depends largely on the entry. Especially for an aikidoka, it's hard to see it completely without the first couple steps. Also, the crossover step puts up some red flags for me. Do you think you could do this technique just as effectively by utilizing footwork that wasn't the cross over step? Again, thanks for the interesting video.
ReplyDeleteZacky, Matls approach is carefully crafted. A lot of things look strange - like his posture breaking abdominal crush. While it is good to question, he pretty much kicks ass. In some of the next videos I shot he is doing some of this stuff from a judo jigotai and totally slays me. He really needs to be felt to be understood.
ReplyDeleteThanks! Looking forward to more videos.
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