Something I hope to do with the pads in next class is work on our attacks, watching weapons practice the other night and reflecting on our sessions where we padded up already really brought something home to me. Often are going through the motions of our attacks in aikido. Without ever making contact we never get the feedback of wether the strikes are effective or not. If we hope to push ourselves in aikido then the attacks of ukes need to be able to generate the kind of power that neccessitates good aiki.