How long do you think will it take someone to master the basics of Aikido if he goes just once a week?

Question

On a one-on-one tutorial with a male Aikido instructor in a dojo. Like, Friday nights. Once a week; four times a month.

Answer 1

Honestly, it has less to do with his body type and more to do with other things. These include how he learns, if he has a good instructor, how many hours/days are required to test and how much he practices on his own with shadow-boxing, dramatiziations and miming. Your Sensei should be able to tell you this, and should have told you this on your first day of practice. In our dojo it takes 60 days of practice to be QUALIFIED for testing, but if our Sensei feels you are not ready, he won't allow you to test until you are ready.

Also, i don't feel earning a 5th kyu, yellow belt, is considered "mastering" the basics of Aikido at all! (Nor do about 90% of aikidoka out there!) Most people, including O'Sensei himself, consider a black belt, or dan level to be mastering the basics, but even some dan leveled Sensei's don't consider themselves a master of the basics. I think that in 60 days of practice (with at least 1 1/2 hours of training from a Sensei in each day) he should be knowledgable on at least one technique in most schools. This is not to say he will have it mastered, but he should be able to fumble through it on any given person with little struggle. Fluidity and proficiency comes with more practice in the art. I am coming close to testing for my 4th kyu and my fluidity is still something I struggle with daily.

On another note, learning one-on-one with a sensei is a good thing for most martial arts, but in Aikido, a martial art that is based on using an attacker against themselves, it is more beneficial to practice with multiple partners, as many as possible. Practicing one-on-one will enable you to defend yourself against this one person, but not the general public. Attending classes might also help him pick-up the techniques faster. Some partners make learning easier or more fun. It's also a lot less intimidating than on-on-one with the instructor!

Good luck on your training and I hope this helped answer your question. Feel free to contact my sensei, Roy Paden Sensei for more information. His contact information is located on his website.

Answer 2

4 years 7 months 19 days 1 hour 22 minutes and 38 seconds.

Answer 3

Do you honestly think his gender, weight, height and build have anything (anything!) to do with it?

How long would it take for someone to walk to the market?

How long would it take for someone to learn to speak Spanish?

Answer 4

It depends on how easily he picks up the techniques....one on one for an hour is pretty good...might be equivalent to 2 or 2.5 regular sessions with just another uke.

But even once a week....if he's looking to advance anywhere close to black belt, it would take 2-3 times longer than if he could manage 2-3 sessions per week.