Aikido

[Julzes]

Anyone know anything about Aikido as a sport come martial art. A friend of mine is thinking of starting, is it really a good self defence system or useless? Has anyone used it in a real life self defence situation?

[Timmy2TARs]

I used to train a little bit, but moved away from the area so stopped. I enjoyed it, but it's not a sport as such as there's no offensive moves - it's all defense oriented.

Takes a long time to get a hang of it too - friend of mine got his 1st Dan last year after about 15 years of training twice a week, plus extra courses and teaching in the last couple of years.

The moves all come from the sumurai sword movements so some classes will involve the bokken (wooden sword) or jo (staff).

Is it effective? Yes, if you're good!

A bit biased but take a peek at the UKA website - there's a lot of politics in aikido it seems, but the UKA is formally linked with the Hombu Dojo where O'Sensei (the original little guy with the big beard) taught, so all grades are verified by them, which is nice.

I see you're in the Midlands. If your mate's there, Cradeley Heath is the epicentre for the UKA.

And no - you don't have to wear stupid coats like Steven Seagal!

[Julzes]

Thanks Timmy2TARs I will pass your useful info on

Edited by Julzes on Friday 31st August 15:19

Edited by Julzes on Friday 31st August 15:19

[twistedsanity]

there are two types of aikido, traditional and sport, sport is very mechanical in nature whereas traditional aiki is more flowing and gracefull, tried both, if you want to keep fit do the sport aiki, if you want to look cool do the traditional, im by nature a lazy sod and dont like paying good money to do 30mins of starjumps so the traditional suited me better, strength and size are irrelevant in traditional aiki and it tends to have a more relaxed approach, happy training

[Robatr0n]

I study in mixed martial arts. We cover Boxing, Kick boxing, Ju jitsu, Aikido and self defense. I have been to many Aikido seminars hosted by Soke Brian Dossett (The founder of my MMA, Spirit Combat International) who is a 9th Dan in Aikido.

Aikido is very good for helping to promote movement and relaxation in a technique, it also allows you to use your opponents/attackers power and speed against them. It can be highly effective but it does take years to master so perhaps not the best one to jump into to try and get fit quickly, that is if you are looking to train in Westernised Traditional Aikido...the discipline and the training of Aikido in Japan was second to none and you HAD to be fit and healthy as you were made to train everyday for hours on end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jzf8xzONpM&mod...

In the above clip you can see simply motions from the guy that are sending the Uke all over the place, remember that the Uke will be harmonising but I have seen rhino off of the gladiators try to resist this and he couldn't!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xppqvFozrOY&mod...

In this clip you can see the guy demonstrating positive Aikido, i.e. using the opponents speed and power against them.

[dazdcfc]

ive done most martial arts if its for self defence you carnt really beat wing chun gung fu all these flashy martial arts are all well and good but when it comes down to it maybe a pub brawl or your cornerd and not got much room alot of the martial art arnt much cop im only going on my experiences as being a doorman for many years the two id choose are wing chun as said above and thai boxing.if you or your friend are thinking of doing a martial art go and see as many as you can and ask questions.hope this helps daz.

[Julzes]

Thanks twistedsanity, RobatrOn and dazdcfc. All useful comments which I will consider and thanks for the vid. links. Amazing that a site mostly dedicated to motors can have people with other useful knowledege. This is a great site thanks to the folks who use it!

[Robatr0n]

Glad to be of service.

On a side note, I am still astounded by the range of interests and the level of knowledge across the whole of pistonheads. Its outstanding and something that not many other websites can offer!