Seiseki Abe said: "As far as the Aikido [O-Sensei] practiced in his later years, even young girls, old people and children could do [the techniques].
Kazuo Chiba has implied that the style of training in Hombu concentrated less on physical rigor because of its demographic: "A large portion of the membership at Iwama Dojo consisted of local farmers, hard workers who spent all day in the fields.