Aikido training in Las Vegas: “The Garage Dojo” by Stanley Pranin
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On two occasions during my career in aikido I have set up and taught out of garage dojos. The first experience was around 1974 in Monterey, California when our aikido class spent several months in my home garage in transition between store-front facilities. kevlar cord
This little dojo was affectionately dubbed “The Aiki Lab” and I can remember finding it extremely convenient to train because I could literally walk outside the door from the house and be inside the dojo. The mats consisted of “ethafoarm” which is an industrial packing material that was popular in those days as a dojo flooring. We erected a frame and placed down the ethafoam cut to the size of the two-car garage. kevlar cord I believe we put carpet padding down first to cushion the ethafoam that otherwise would have been in direct contact with the concrete floor. Since the setup was permanent, obviously, kevlar cord I couldn’t park my car in the garage at all! Despite this minor inconvenience, I have many fond memories of the training in those days in the Aiki Lab.
Fast foward 35 years and I am now teaching out of my second kevlar cord garage dojo in Las Vegas. This time we are working out of a three-car garage. The mat setup is not permanent and we lay down and pick up 15 Zebramats each time we practice. kevlar cord It takes two people about 6-7 minutes to do the job, less if more students are on hand to help out. We can handle a maximum of about 12 people with this surface area. Again, the convenience of having absolutely no commute time to deal with is a big boon.
This time, due to the temporary nature of our setup, the tatami mats are in direct contact with the concrete floor. As such, I am careful with the amount and kind of ukemi we do to be sure to avoid falling injuries. One idea I have to deal with this concern is to lay down some kind of rubber garage flooring to cushion the mats. This is the type of mat that can be used to protect the floor from oil stains but I see no reason why it won’t serve as padding as well. If this idea proves practical, we still will be able to park our cars and lay down mats as we are doing now, but we’ll have a more accomodating surface for aikido falls.
I would be curious to get feedback from our readers who have had experience training in a garage dojo. How did you set things up? What kind of mats did you use? What, in your view, are the pros and cons of training in a garage dojo?
My dojo has 40 zebra mats on top of a poured, concrete floor (old industrial garage area). In over two years, nobody has gotten injured from landing on the mats. I place a lot of emphasis on GOOD ukemi so that people can land safely on hard surfaces. I think that people develop bad habits by only landing on unrealistically soft surfaces. This habits do not materialize until the ukemi has to happen on a wooden floor, street,…..
Some of the best training happens in the most modest edifices. The only drawback is some low roof places is the difficulty is some attributes of riai with longer weapons in relation to ukemi. Firm EVA closed cell foam mats are the best for preserving wear and tear on the old body and also insulation and can be laid down on any surface without ill effects. They are easy to clean as well. Make sure to keep the skins (part of the manufacturing process) on both sides as without the skin they lose their glide effect and will require the added expense of a cover (often doubling the overall costs or more). (The skin comes with the originally manufactured item.) Distributors often assume you want the mat “cleaned kevlar cord up” and destroy it by removing the skin surface which is just immaculate for budo training) When they stopped filling olympic tatami with rice straw (because over the years it compacts and it becomes more pleasurable to train on concrete that any used budo tatami older than 10 years,) they began to use closed cell foam. But you don’t need the cover. The generally available 3ft x 6ft x 2inch uniform and firm blocks are the nearest kevlar cord I’ve experienced to FRESHLY MADE true budo tatami. Except the EVA retains the low impact qualities for (so far) 25 years and obviously more. When you first get new EVA mats they stink like acrylic. A good scrub with soap, hot water and a day in the sun will see the smell disappear in a week or two. The best EVA is made in New Zealand and dist
Blog Shop Special Offers Books Custom Discounts DVDs Posters Books Morihiro Saito Stanley Pranin More… DVDs Christian Tissier Daito-ryu Aikijujutsu Friendship Demos Koichi Tohei Morihei Ueshiba Morihiro Saito Seigo Yamaguchi More… E-Store Amazon Store Ebooks Katsuyuki Kondo Morihiro Saito Stanley Pranin kevlar cord Videos Koichi Tohei Morihei Ueshiba Morihiro Saito Noriaki Inoue Rinjiro Shirata Resources Articles Bibliography Encyclopedia Events Schools Find a school Register a school Subscribe Contact kevlar cord Us Login
On two occasions during my career in aikido I have set up and taught out of garage dojos. The first experience was around 1974 in Monterey, California when our aikido class spent several months in my home garage in transition between store-front facilities. kevlar cord
This little dojo was affectionately dubbed “The Aiki Lab” and I can remember finding it extremely convenient to train because I could literally walk outside the door from the house and be inside the dojo. The mats consisted of “ethafoarm” which is an industrial packing material that was popular in those days as a dojo flooring. We erected a frame and placed down the ethafoam cut to the size of the two-car garage. kevlar cord I believe we put carpet padding down first to cushion the ethafoam that otherwise would have been in direct contact with the concrete floor. Since the setup was permanent, obviously, kevlar cord I couldn’t park my car in the garage at all! Despite this minor inconvenience, I have many fond memories of the training in those days in the Aiki Lab.
Fast foward 35 years and I am now teaching out of my second kevlar cord garage dojo in Las Vegas. This time we are working out of a three-car garage. The mat setup is not permanent and we lay down and pick up 15 Zebramats each time we practice. kevlar cord It takes two people about 6-7 minutes to do the job, less if more students are on hand to help out. We can handle a maximum of about 12 people with this surface area. Again, the convenience of having absolutely no commute time to deal with is a big boon.
This time, due to the temporary nature of our setup, the tatami mats are in direct contact with the concrete floor. As such, I am careful with the amount and kind of ukemi we do to be sure to avoid falling injuries. One idea I have to deal with this concern is to lay down some kind of rubber garage flooring to cushion the mats. This is the type of mat that can be used to protect the floor from oil stains but I see no reason why it won’t serve as padding as well. If this idea proves practical, we still will be able to park our cars and lay down mats as we are doing now, but we’ll have a more accomodating surface for aikido falls.
I would be curious to get feedback from our readers who have had experience training in a garage dojo. How did you set things up? What kind of mats did you use? What, in your view, are the pros and cons of training in a garage dojo?
My dojo has 40 zebra mats on top of a poured, concrete floor (old industrial garage area). In over two years, nobody has gotten injured from landing on the mats. I place a lot of emphasis on GOOD ukemi so that people can land safely on hard surfaces. I think that people develop bad habits by only landing on unrealistically soft surfaces. This habits do not materialize until the ukemi has to happen on a wooden floor, street,…..
Some of the best training happens in the most modest edifices. The only drawback is some low roof places is the difficulty is some attributes of riai with longer weapons in relation to ukemi. Firm EVA closed cell foam mats are the best for preserving wear and tear on the old body and also insulation and can be laid down on any surface without ill effects. They are easy to clean as well. Make sure to keep the skins (part of the manufacturing process) on both sides as without the skin they lose their glide effect and will require the added expense of a cover (often doubling the overall costs or more). (The skin comes with the originally manufactured item.) Distributors often assume you want the mat “cleaned kevlar cord up” and destroy it by removing the skin surface which is just immaculate for budo training) When they stopped filling olympic tatami with rice straw (because over the years it compacts and it becomes more pleasurable to train on concrete that any used budo tatami older than 10 years,) they began to use closed cell foam. But you don’t need the cover. The generally available 3ft x 6ft x 2inch uniform and firm blocks are the nearest kevlar cord I’ve experienced to FRESHLY MADE true budo tatami. Except the EVA retains the low impact qualities for (so far) 25 years and obviously more. When you first get new EVA mats they stink like acrylic. A good scrub with soap, hot water and a day in the sun will see the smell disappear in a week or two. The best EVA is made in New Zealand and dist
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