Is aikido a pretty good form of self defense? What about some sort of hand to hand combat? Let me know what you guys think I'm comtemplating taking lessons in aikido.
Not trolling very serious.
o ka ma.
Im no expert but if your going for self defense(i use that term loosly) I would look more for a mma gym(bjj/thai/boxing) What state do you live in? Check the state forums and see if people in your state can recommend a place. If a straight blast gym is near you go try it out. Its how you train and not what you train in when it comes to self defense.
In my opinion, if you were already a dynamite fighter, with good stand up and ground, and a lot of experience, you could start to study aikido and get pretty good with it. I bet you could even win fights, and maybe even beat up multiple attackers using strictly aikido techniques.
However, if all you know is aikido you are most likely going to get stomped against a random person on the street.
Get a gun. why pull out a mans eyes or heart when you can just blow his head off.
PeteRose'sbookie is so very correct.
Aikido is just too deadly for the UFC.
Let me put this in perspective. When I went to work at Crater Lake for the first time I linked up with a dude there that became my sparring partner. He had 6 years of aikido and 4 years of kung fu training. I had 1 year of wrestling and about 2 years combined of Budo and Taekwondo.
I dominated him in every aspect.
I was about 40 pounds heavier than him though.
"In my opinion, if you were already a dynamite fighter, with good stand up and ground, and a lot of experience, you could start to study aikido and get pretty good with it."
I might be wrong but i do believe you just described the founders of aikido.
Aikido has some good points. Blending is a usable skill, however I would not recommend it as a stand allow self defense art.
The Samurai used Akijitsu (The gentle art). Samurai meditated on death daily so that when the time came to defend themselves it didn't matter.
Aikido was founded by O sensi, taken from the traditions of Akijitsu O Sensi was a great man with little or no fear.
The average person who practices aikido will most likely feel the affects of adrenal dumping, and thus lose a great deal of fine motor skills.
If you can not manuever during this state of arousal Aikido will not help you like it did it's founding fathers.
/2 cents
Aikido will get you jacked up on the street or in the ring. Not good for self defense imo...
"Aikido will get you jacked up on the street or in the ring."
All day
Not that I am advocated taking Aikido, but let's not overlook the fact that many police control holds have Aikido/Trad Jiu-jitsu origens.
Still, a reality based grappling + reality based striking is the combination that most people are trying to promote through the sarcasm.
Aikido techniques are fine. The problem lies in the fact that it will take years and years and years to get good enough to pull them off in the street. If you want to do Aikido just because you like it, then do it. Don't let all the pro-mma guys on here disuade you. But they are right when it comes to effective self defence.
Like I said, the techniques are fine, its just the time to get them down, and also a lot of places don't have enough realism in their training. The same old thing, in that their 'free training' or 'sparring' aspect doesn't exist, or is the old 'everyone attack with strike x so I can defend with block y'type scenario.
Mmmmmmmmmmm
I have studied years of Aikido and Aiki-jitsu. The reason police officers can pull some of the holds off, is cause there are two cops pinning one assailant. When you have two guys pinning a guy face down, it is easy to apply a gooseneck lock or finger lock.
I took an akido class and asked the guy about boxing punches he said they dont do that just some gay chop thing like autin powers judo chop
"Aikido was founded by O sensi, taken from the traditions of Akijitsu O Sensi was a great man with little or no fear.
The average person who practices aikido will most likely feel the affects of adrenal dumping, and thus lose a great deal of fine motor skills.
If you can not manuever during this state of arousal Aikido will not help you like it did it's founding fathers. "
That was interesting, and I think correct, at least in part.
Aikido will get you hurt by a streetfighter unless you train long enough to master using very specialized skills
in live action. If you become one of those elite persons, it may be effective for you.
Why train an art like that for self defense? You may need to defend yourself in the next five or ten years- and not be ready.
For self defense skills that you can develope in a reasonable time frame, go with BJJ, MMA, MT, or even Krav Magna.
I did Aikido for years and really enjoyed it. And will probably pick it up again some day.
And to answer your question - No it's not good for self defense.
Ueshiba initialy inteneded Aikido to be studied by Judo or Jiu Jitsu black belts who already had a strong base and years of experience against resistent partners.
All the good Aikidoka who can make it work have all studied something else.
Learn Judo, BJJ or something else first.
Or grow a pony tail and speak in mystic bullshit sentence packages like Steven Seagal.
I might be wrong, but Aikido doesnt have attacks. If thats true it's useless for self defense.