Karate and aikido together?

[Seamas]

Late, like the last poster, but I may have a different insight to share. When I was younger I was 4th kyu Wado and enjoyed sparring and competing in Kumite. However, I wasnt very good at following through with throws when I caught an apponents technique and I felt I was wasting tons of potential points. I went to a local Ikido club, I didnt know much about the art but from demos they looked like they knew their stuff when it came to countering techniques with throws.

When I was warming up Id often practice a few kicks and punches, and everyone looked at me in literal disgust. I was confused, and one week even had a senior pupil approach me while I was warming up and say to me "we dont do that here". I was like 'what the hell is this place??'

When the class began, it was........ weird. 'As attacker' you had to make it as easy for your opponent to perform their counter. Even when you tried your best to be completely stupid and literaly throw yourself for the opponent, and they mess up and fail to grab your wrist (even though you werent moving) theyd be upset with you, for not being easy enough to throw...............

I stayed for 5-6 weeks......... learned nothing, and left.

Like any style, what you get out of it is really dependent on the instructor and his/her philosophy and approach on teaching and learning.

When I briefly attended the Aikido school in my hometown, the sensei there knew that of my TKD experience, and the fact that I would kick and punch as a warmup didn't bother him at all. Likewise, most of the students there knew I was a local TKD guy anyways, so it was never an issue.

As for learning the techniques....the sensei is worked with described it as "giving" or "providing good energy." There is a learning curve that is heavily involved in trying to learn how to receive the techniques and then flow into the throws. I found at times that if I wasn't given "good energy" then I needed to produce some extra of my own, usually by pulling them along to get their momentum going. I think as the practitioner gets better, these things get figured out.

Now, I don't necessarily like this way of learning, and think it definitely has it's problems. But I think once students start to really understand it, they can see the training benefits of it.

I totally get that, different schools, different vibes. From what I’ve seen in whole now, I don’t feel aikido contributes much to a karate practitioner (unless it helps calm you or something, like yoga or meditation). In competition, people want to win, they aren’t going to give you “good energy”, so while it might be a fun thing to do in your free time, I don’t think it’s a good habit to expect good energy from your opponent. Could have a negative effect on someone’s Karate I think.

And then take it a step further, on the street, if someone comes at you they’ll be bringing that ‘bad energy’. Another bad habit that might bleed through, is learning to provide your opponent with attacks that are terribly easy to take advantage of (aka good energy). I have no hate for Aikido, but I do think a lot of people are delusional about its applicability in a fight.

[Spodo Komodo]

I trained in both Aikido and Karate for a while. I went from 8th to 4th kyu in Yoshinkan Aikido while I went from 3rd to 1st kyu in Wado Ryu Karate. Eventually I felt that I had to give up one or the other and I found Karate to be the art that suited me the best. I found several incompatibilities but the one that hampered me the most was resistance to techniques. In my Karate training we were encouraged to dig a punch in if the opponent was hesitant and not to just fall over, even in prearranged paired work such as Ohyo Kumite. If a technique couldn't bring down a resisting opponent then it wasn't executed properly. In Aikido I was constantly warned to "go with it or you will end up with broken wrists". I have no doubt that if someone who really knew how to do it tried they could break my wrists but what usually happened was we both fell in a heap. Unfortuately, wanting to be a team player at Aikido started to leak back into my Karate and I began to roll with the throws there which just annoyed everyone who thought I was putting it on. To some extent they were right, what I was doing was right for Aikido but very much against the spirit of Karate. In the end I figured out that they belonged to two very different dojo cultures and packed in the Aikido, I am more of a punchy, grapply kind of guy and I got that at Karate. However, a more grounded Aikido club and a less practical Karate club might be a closer pairing. All I can say is that the only way to find out is to give it a go but examine everything, question everything.

[bushido_man96]

I understand the idea behind the training in Aikido, but from what I've seen, it has to be augmented so that the practitioner can't expect any certain energy, and may have to adjust and provide their own. This has to be born out in the training hall.

[Miick 11]

I did both for years . I think they blend well, IF you understand certain things .

Sometimes its difficult in Aikido as its more 'formal' and 'ritualistic' and one has to often 'resist an opportunity . The best Aikido seminars I have gone to where given by those that 'cross trained ' , tested and adapted .

Its not as difficult with my type of karate (old style Okinawan ) as it has a huge range of take downs , locks and throws so they can be used in karate training . Many are very similar to the techniques in aikido .

Some of the classic moves are echoed in traditional Okinawan dance and are exactly like thse in Aikido .

from 5:00 onwards