my dad

my dad just started aikido but hes having trouble with the tumbling cause hes a little overweight any advice you can give me on how to help

The only solution is to give it time. The more he practices the better he will get at it. There are no shortcuts unfortunately.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by kempokarate4287:
my dad just started aikido but hes having trouble with the tumbling cause hes a little overweight any advice you can give me on how to help[/QUOTE]

I'm no expert in breakfalls or even aikido but here are a few things which helped me and may help your dad. When I first started learning to breakfall (and even after 1.5 years I still haven't perfected it). I kept thinking about what and how to breakfall when I was practising. This I think was more of a hinderance to me. For forward breakfalls, it helps me if I relax, make the circle with my arms and just take myself off balance as I go into the breakfall without putting too much thought of where my left leg needs to be etc. Just remember to keep your head tucked in and try to make your arms as rounded as possible.

For backward breakfalls it helped me if I rocked forward and backward just to get used to the motion and feeling. And then going for a backward breakfall make sure the leg you're going down on first is stretched as far behind and to the opposite side of you as possible. I think this stops you landing hard on your knee and allows the brakefall to be alot smoother.

The only way your dad can get around this is to keep practising. I know it can be very frustrating but with me, one day it just clicked.

Tell him good luck from me!

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