Aikido as a PRACTICAL form of street self defense?

[evolutionoftherevolution]

Just wanted to collect your thoughts about Aikido as a practical martial art (and by practical I mean effective in a street situation). There's a school locally I'm interested in attending where the instructors are police officers who specialize in "conflict resolution". Thanks!

 

[RipperRay]

Just wanted to collect your thoughts about Aikido as a practical martial art (and by practical I mean effective in a street situation). There's a school locally I'm interested in attending where the instructors are police officers who specialize in "conflict resolution". Thanks!

Practical only with lots of training. Its good liability wise for law enforcement officers because it is more defensive than offensive. So helps with "Use of Force" lawsuits. As for street situations I'll use my Sig 357.

 

[Elite_Fry]

I learnt Aikido... takes a long time before you feel confident enough to use the moves though. You would have broken his wrist by the time his fist would have even come close to connecting with you.

 

[Judo Tom]

i agree it take a while for most people to be able to apply the techniques in a real situation.

i am not sure about this and maybe it varies from school to school but i think that most aikido schools do not "spar" enough and rather just do drills in pre arranged motions.. again maybe this is not the case everywhere

there are other arts that follow most of aikido's principles and are much quicker and easier to learn how to apply on the street... i can think of one right off the top of my head

 

[gorillaboy55]

there is a school right around the corner from me where sheriff deputies teach it on pine tree street

 

[Sta11ion]

I always find bamboo sticks laying around in the streets of Canada, so it would be usefull to learn it to defend myself. I take Aikido but not for a self defensive reason but for the art of the sport. There are plenty of other martial arts you can take if you are looking only for self-defense.

 

[AEKDB]

I will step up and say NO!

Grappling has advanced well past classic Aikido. Hapkido, Jujitsu, judo and others blend the useful locks and throws into their styles. I would say that everyone that has trained 6 months has seen all the Aikido moves that are worth knowing. There is no more "surprise" with the Aikido technique.

Learn Jujitsu.

 

[XBiker]

All types of martial arts have a form side and a practical side.

It's not only what you are taught via the art, but what is useful and practical.

 

[Spanky11]

I will step up and say NO!

Grappling has advanced well past classic Aikido. Hapkido, Jujitsu, judo and others blend the useful locks and throws into their styles. I would say that everyone that has trained 6 months has seen all the Aikido moves that are worth knowing. There is no more "surprise" with the Aikido technique.

Learn Jujitsu.

true - in a way. i'm quite sure that you'll find most jujitsu schools have a very high drop out rate after 6 months to a year. if you want a pure self defense system, that is easy to learn, and doesn't muck around with the whole package, then jj is for you. aikido is much more techical, and require more finesse. for the long run, give me aikido any day.

 

[karde]

true - in a way. i'm quite sure that you'll find most jujitsu schools have a very high drop out rate after 6 months to a year. if you want a pure self defense system, that is easy to learn, and doesn't muck around with the whole package, then jj is for you. aikido is much more techical, and require more finesse. for the long run, give me aikido any day.

Jujitsu is not a "pure self defense system." It is more of a sport. But spanky is right, good self defense should be easy to learn and easy to use, because when the adrenaline dump hits it's almost impossible to sign your name, let alone pull off some spinning back kick to the head. Any style that has you practice set routines "when he does this you do that, then this then that" won't work. On the street there are WAY too many variables to make any kind of routines or katas practical.

If you really are interested in self defense, look up some of the stuff done by sammy franco ( http://www.sammyfranco.com/ ), Geoff Thompson ( http://www.geoffthompson.com/ ), or Richard Dimitri ( http://www.senshido.com/ ). None of this stuff is meant to look fancy, or be a sport, it's meant to save a life.

 

[Bam]

Jujitsu is not a "pure self defense system." It is more of a sport. But spanky is right, good self defense should be easy to learn and easy to use, because when the adrenaline dump hits it's almost impossible to sign your name, let alone pull off some spinning back kick to the head. Any style that has you practice set routines "when he does this you do that, then this then that" won't work. On the street there are WAY too many variables to make any kind of routines or katas practical.

If you really are interested in self defense, look up some of the stuff done by sammy franco ( http://www.sammyfranco.com/ ), Geoff Thompson ( http://www.geoffthompson.com/ ), or Richard Dimitri ( http://www.senshido.com/ ). None of this stuff is meant to look fancy, or be a sport, it's meant to save a life.

Are we all missing the point?

Any art or style of self defense can be great or usless depending on the mental state of the practitioner. Aikido is a powerfull flowing form of control of energy and can be as powerfull or as weak as the person wealding it. Just the same as ANY other art. The power is in the person and not the form....

 

[Judo Tom]

my judo instructor likes aikido a lot and recently taught us a few self defense techniques that are pure aikido.

one is if someone grabs you buy the wrist with the opposite side arm and its a very simple very fast and very effective wrist lock

another cool one is if someone squeezes your hand hard and you cant get away you simply point your index finger straight, rotate your finger/wist to the right and slide your thumb ontop of there thumb knuckle (your fingers now look like a fake toy gun) you simply rotate your wrist downward and point at the floor.. again another quick and effective way out of a not so good situation..

just thought id share..

 

[Bam]

my judo instructor likes aikido a lot and recently taught us a few self defense techniques that are pure aikido.

one is if someone grabs you buy the wrist with the opposite side arm and its a very simple very fast and very effective wrist lock

another cool one is if someone squeezes your hand hard and you cant get away you simply point your index finger straight, rotate your finger/wist to the right and slide your thumb ontop of there thumb knuckle (your fingers now look like a fake toy gun) you simply rotate your wrist downward and point at the floor.. again another quick and effective way out of a not so good situation..

just thought id share..

I love that demonstration Tom and I might add that when you are pointing your wrist/finger down you are moving your energy and hand through the weakest point of your attacker's grip. Just after you do this and the attacker's grip is broken that bend your pointed finger and reverse your movement to bring your now bent knuckle upwards into the attackers face, You have your choice of targets (Upper lip, soft spot under the jaw etc) and with control of the amount of energy you use you can completly stop even the bigest person.

 

[kenpojim]

Just wanted to collect your thoughts about Aikido as a practical martial art (and by practical I mean effective in a street situation). There's a school locally I'm interested in attending where the instructors are police officers who specialize in "conflict resolution". Thanks!

I studied aikido for about a year and I think it would have taken a lot longer for me to be good enough at it to use it on the street. I'm into kenpo now and we are using a lot of the same joint locks and control techniques. I'm learning more about body mechaniics now than I ever did before so more of what I was doing when I was learning aikido is making sense to me now. I think the key is being able to adapt and not lock yourself into any one style.