Seagal is a beast

[bushido_man96]

Okay, is Snipes fighting Joe Rogan or not?

What is this about? A joke, or something I don't know?

[koryustudent]

Interesting video. You can say what you want about Seagal as an actor or a person, but one thing you can not dispute is his skill as a martial artist. To be the first person of non Asian descent to run a dojo and have success in Japan. The school is still in existence in Tokyo. I don't think he trains there any more, but it still is in operation.

As far as the age old question of the combat effectiveness of Aikido, this is one that can not be answered in short.

Many people who do study Aikido take a few classes and find it not to be too effective in a fight. The thing with the art is that it takes longer than possibly any other art I know of with the exception of Tai Chi to become usable in a confrontation. That being said, once mastered Aikido lacks nothing in ability to disable opponents. The problem is that it requires discipline to get to that point.

I began studying Aikido to compliment my jujitsu. The thing it made me realize is how bad my jujitsu was. Unless the techniques are done the way they were intended you will look pretty foolish. It is not a style where the exertion of extra muscle will cause the technique to happen...in fact just the opposite.

If we look at the origins of Aikido, Usheiba was a devout follower of the Shinto religion and had issues with the violence of jujitsu. In theory, you should be able to execute any of the 17 techniques in Aikido and release your opponent with no permanent damage. By the same token, that does not mean that an arm lock could not be applied harshly and the joint be destroyed.

Aikido is not for everyone, but for those who do study it, they find a martial art that becomes exactly what they are looking for.

This is just my opinion.

[Azula]

I take Aikido and im 5'7" 120 lbs. nothing much. Aikido is useful against bigger opponents, it may not seem like it but the point is: "the bigger they are the harder they fall". Aikido uses one's own weight and gravity to put the pain and moves on him/her.

[Azula]

O btw, the creator of Aikido was a very small guy himself.

[elbows_and_knees]

the problem many people seem to have with aikido is that it seems hard to make it work if your opponent isn't cooperating. I've had three friends of mine from three different schools in two different states try aikido while sparring me and they couldn't make any of it work.

[bushido_man96]

the problem many people seem to have with aikido is that it seems hard to make it work if your opponent isn't cooperating. I've had three friends of mine from three different schools in two different states try aikido while sparring me and they couldn't make any of it work.

You bring up an interesting point here. All that I have seen of aikido, which isn't much, mind you, are things like punches hanging out and getting caught, or someone running towards the guy, and then getting tossed or broken. How do they defend a jab, or any other technique that does not hang out there? I am sure it can work, I just never see anything done against another MA who isn't restricted as to how to attack.

[alsey]

i considered doing aikido a few years ago, and i checked out a few dojo. none of them did any sparring of any kind. there were drills where people would run at one guy, and the guy would throw them one after the other, but it wasn't sparring. i'm not sure if this is true of all aikido, but if it is, that's probably why you don't often see aikido 'working'. a lot of modern JJJ schools have the same problem.

[bushido_man96]

i considered doing aikido a few years ago, and i checked out a few dojo. none of them did any sparring of any kind. there were drills where people would run at one guy, and the guy would throw them one after the other, but it wasn't sparring. i'm not sure if this is true of all aikido, but if it is, that's probably why you don't often see aikido 'working'. a lot of modern JJJ schools have the same problem.

It sounds like they need to adopt some of the live randori that BJJ and Judo are notorious for. You can't beat that live training effect.

[elbows_and_knees]

I've heard two things:

1. aikidoka don't spar. ueshiba was a pacifist, but I don't think that's plausible, because kano was also, and he sparred. However, I've also been told that aikido techniques will generally break or dislocate if you resist against them, so the drills are always done cooperatively.

2. I've heard that the lineage seagal was in (tomiki?) DOES randori.

[Azula]

Aikido is one of the slower martial arts styles and takes a very long time to actually work correctly. I'd say about 6 years, if not more, of training Aikido is enough to defend oneself. Also, Aikido is not too effective left alone, it's usually a complimentary martial art to be worekd with another form. Steven Seagal himself wasn't only a 7th degree black belt in Aikido, but he had ranks in i think 3 other styles including Judo, Shito-Ryu karate, and another style im not sure of. What i'd like to do is use Aikido's locking techniques in place of some of Karate's blocking techniques.