A Training Plan for Your First Three Months

The first three months are the time when your body gets used to the movements of aikido. Jeju Oseung Dojo’s first examination, 4th kyu, requires 100 total training days, so if you come steadily two or three times a week, you will take your first examination roughly nine months to a year later. For those first three months, the first step, we recommend that you build your foundation step by step in the following order, without hurrying.

Period	Main focus	Where to look in this book
Month 1	Etiquette and dress, standing and sitting, the hanmi stance. Plenty of ukemi from sitting	Chapters 1 and 2
Month 2	Raising ukemi to the one-knee-up position. The four kinds of footwork and shikko, grabs and strikes	Chapters 2 and 3
Month 3	Body movement in partner exercises, wrist exercises and ikkyo undo, ikkyo omote and ura	Chapters 3 and 4

• Not missing practice is your greatest skill. At first, if you take a long break you quickly forget what you have learned. Coming often, even for a short time, makes you improve much faster.
• Ask right away about what you don’t understand. There is no need to feel embarrassed about asking your instructor or senior students. As I said in the Chapter 3 column, everyone has been a beginner.
• Use the book for review. On a day you learn a technique at the dojo, open the page where it appears and read it again; what you learned with your body will fall into place in your head.