Aikido (thoughts please)

Hello everyone. To make a long story short I have been looking for the right martial art for me all my life and think I have found it with Aikido. Just curious if there is anything special I should know before persuing this.

 

When I was a child I did American Karate which felt liek a joke really. I have heard of people getting black belts in under 2 years which is just terible. I was interested in chinese arts such as tai chi and northern 5 animal kung fo styles but everywhere that teaches them will not do any sparing with the cop out of "our techniques are so deadly they cannot be sparred or you might kil your sparring partner" HAHA

 

To me one cannot hone ones skills without tryingthem on a resisting opponent. Anyway I am leaning now more towards Japanese styles for the hard fast hands on approach. I like the looks of Aikido. I love the throws and Joint locks! I like that you can take down an opponent and hold them in a controlled joint lock if you do not want to seriously hurt them.

 

To me it seems it gives the option to hold the attacked until police arrive or something like that and at the same time if they are still a threat just break their arm and move on

 

So it is my understanding that traditional Aikido has no striking at all or if it does it is maybe just a few well placed punches or close line type movves right? No kicks at all?

 

I think what I like most is the full on sparring that will prepare the student for real life situations. What is everyones opinion on Aikido as a stand alone art? Once I get well rooted liek 2 years into Aikido should I take up something such as kick boxing or something for striking as well?

 

This is my first post. Nice meeting everyone!

 

Take care!

I'm not sure Aikido and kickboxing quite go together. Kickboxing would probably go against the philosophies that the inner workings of Aikido all draw from, and if those philosophies aren't really something you agree with you might be better off looking at a different art (Jujitsu might be one that would complement kickboxing better and still contain the locks/throws/takedowns you're looking for). If you're looking to hang on to kickboxing-type strikes in your training you probably won't do as well in Aikido as you could simply because you'd be trying to go in two directions at once and not giving yourself the chance to fully appreciate what Aikido was trying to instill in you... you'd be distracting yourself from the area where Aikido gets some of its true strength. The Aikido practitioner I know comes from a very long background of some sort of Chinese kickboxing, and she's having to unlearn all of that aggression and tension and forcefulness because in Aikido they simply work against her and make her less effective. I've also never heard of "sparring" in Aikido, but maybe you're looking at a different variation of it I haven't seen (which is most of them ).

 

I'm sure Kensai will have a much better answer for you here, so I'll pass the advice-stick to him now .

Well what I meant by Sparring is the hands on aspect of training all the various moves such as joint locks and throws with a partner. I also know that in Aikido most schools have a belt test where multiple attacks come at you one right after the other and you have to deflect all thei attacks by throwing each one or something like that.

 

I realize that Aikido does not have sparriing per say but they do really drill the techniques in hard byt repeating them over and over with partners.

 

Yeah I had thought about BJJ also. I just am not sure. I have bounced around too much I want this next art to be something I can really stick with. Hmmmm

 

One thing I would like about BJJ is the fact that it is not into all that mistic style stuff that the majority of the asian martial arts are right? I mean I know that jui jitsu orignates from asia ( I think ) but I do not think the gracies incorprate any kidn of meditations or spiritual journy do they in their teaching? BJJ is more of a martial sport with real life practicle applications right?

Hmm... if you're looking for martial sport Aikido probably isn't for you. My jujitsu training (not BJJ) is fully practical... just because a martial art is asian doesn't make it fluff . Any art you find that's taught well will be effective in combat.

I under stand. See I was raised highly Christian and the thing is I know that like alot of MA practisioners are christian it is still just a little weird for me when tryign to develope chi and all that. It just is not for me.

 

I love the way Aikido moves are performed btu I understand that Aikido is HEAVY on tradition (a tradition that is not mine) and I just dont feel comfortable in a lot of those atmospheres.

 

See I want something that is SOmewhat liek a martial sport but not Tae Kwon do or anything like that. I want somethign legit but streight forward physical training. I do not like Katas of any kind or forms. I do not need or want to train my chi to preform feets of stregth either

 

I do not need any deep profound reason to do a MA other than self confidence and to be able to lay someone out if I need too. I know it sounds shallow but I have tried the rest now I just want practice stuff

 

I am thinking Judo is the way to go. or Jui Jitsu whatever. I am moving to the Chico Ca area soon and I looked in the phone book there. There is 2 judo places. I Will call them tomorrow and ask what the classes are like.

 

I would like Boxing or kick boxing but i think getting punched in the head sparring non stop would be brutal on my head. yeah Judo or Aikido Hmmm proly Judo

No, I don't think Aikido is what you're looking for. Some types of Aikido focus about as heavily on ki (chi) as you can get. Judo or Jujitsu are probably good bets. If you don't want katas that will eliminate most forms of Karate. I'd suggest Muay Thai or something but it'll be brutal on your head ... or your body at least. I bet Wing Chun would be good for you. I don't know it especially well but I believe it's very practical, kata-less, and won't infringe on your belief system. Other Chinese arts might be good too but I don't know too much about them. A good Hapkido school would also include all those joint locks and takedowns and put a lot of focus on kicks as well... it would fulfill both your Aikido and your kickboxing desires. I believe some Hapkido schools have forms but not all (mine didn't). Considering my background I don't know why it took so long for that to occur to me . Yes, I'd suggest Hapkido I think.

Hey Dustin, well Aikido is for everybody. It depends on what you are looking for in a style.

 

Aikido is a pretty complete system in defence, what I mean by that is that you have something to use against ANY attack. However (in the style I study), we dont resist at all, strength through relaxation. This is what Aikido is all about. Like Omnifinite said it does not sound that Aikido is for you.

 

If you list your 5 goals in martial arts I bet one of use could point you in the right direction.

 

Best of luck in your search.

Dustin1978,

 

I know you said you prefered something Japanese, but what about the Korean styles? I practice Kuk Sool Won, which is a hard/soft style. It has incorporated a lot of the joint manipulations, locks, throws that you like in Akido, with the long range fighting of kicks and hand strikes. We do have ki training, but more from a percpective of focusing power than spiritual development. Another good alternative would be Hapkido. We and Hapkido are very similar, and Hapkido has historical ties to Akido.

 

Just some alternatives.

Having had my nose splattered by a palm to the face that barely travelled a couple of inches I tend to believe in the lethality of Tai Chi. This was during a "sparring" match, where I was allowed to throw any punch or strike as I pleased. Unfortunately for me the guy demonstrating didn't have very good body control, hence the broken nose. If he had no body control, I doubt I would be standing here now.

I under stand. See I was raised highly Christian and the thing is I know that like alot of MA practisioners are christian it is still just a little weird for me when tryign to develope chi and all that. It just is not for me.

 

Ki/Chi is nothing more than extremely good control of your center of gravity, tension and kinetic sense of your muscles, and knowledge of how your breathing affects them. It's not some heretic magic where you try to shoot lightning bolts from the tips of your fingers! Also, the muscle control (meaning more relaxed muscle mode during normal daily activities) and the focus on full deep breathing for better oxygen supply, are great for long term health and longevity. Don't let superstitious movie and demonstration scams fool you out of what might be extremely good for you.