# Aikido



## Bob's Fries (Dec 4, 2013)

Is aikido just not really great for combat like every person that detracts its uselessness? Just curious on what your thoughts are on it.


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## exball (Dec 4, 2013)

Hmm, yeah... I get a bit more exercise then I would from aikido because I stand while playing Guitar hero.


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## The Hunter (Dec 4, 2013)

For starters, it's a martial art and belongs in Hulkamania, but I'll have to read into it a bit more before I can comment.


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## hellbound (Dec 5, 2013)

I took a couple years of BJJ and Muay Thai, but never Aikido. I did know a black belt in it (2-dan I think). From what he says and what I've heard elsewhere, like almost any martial art it's better than nothing and very fun to do, but it's not very practical. I would say more so than tae kwon do, karate, or anything billing itself as ninjutsu, but still not that much.

If you want practical grappling, find a good BJJ gym, especially one that offers no-gi. Judo is also fairly decent, and BJJ developed from it. You can also go somewhere like Sherdog or Bullshido and read up. If you just want some fun exercise, or it's the only (or most decent) self-defense training in your area, then enjoy it.


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## Grand Number of Pounds (Dec 5, 2013)

I borrowed a book from the library once titled "Secrets of Police Aikido" so there are some people who think it is very practical. I find the philosophy of the sport interesting, from what I've read.


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## Lefty's Revenge (Mar 11, 2014)

Salto said:


> Is aikido just not really great for combat like every person that detracts its uselessness? Just curious on what your thoughts are on it.




No martial art is useless or not built for combat, in my opinion. I don't take Aikido but I know the Japanese police force has adopted it as mandatory training so I'm pretty sure it has its uses. It might not be as universally applicable in combat as Muay Thai or Krav Maga but it would give you a decisive advantage against someone with little to no martial arts training.


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## Smutley (Apr 1, 2014)

Lefty's Revenge said:


> No martial art is useless or not built for combat, in my opinion. I don't take Aikido but I know the Japanese police force has adopted it as mandatory training so I'm pretty sure it has its uses. It might not be as universally applicable in combat as Muay Thai or Krav Maga but it would give you a decisive advantage against someone with little to no martial arts training.



I have family that are moderately high up in the Aikido community, and have had 7th Dan Bill Gleason stay at my house a couple times when growing up as a kid.  I even spent a short year practicing at a local club to try and help become a better collegiate style wrestler.  

Aikido, like many martial arts, is about memorization and muscle memory.  Examples from videos (like this one) show a kind of... slow, and dance-like movement that doesn't appear to be grounded in realism, and that is a criticism leveled at the martial art a lot.  That is actually by design - after WWII allied forces banned martial arts from Japan in an effort to bring peace about quicker.  Osensei reasoned that Aikido wasn't actually a martial art, it was a religious and spiritual act of meditation that used a partner in a dance-like manner, much like Tai Chi.  Never mind that it was teaching students how to use your opponents strength and momentum against them, if it looked like a dance then it obviously was a dance and then it become for outsider and disparaging purposes a silly way to pretend to fight without really being effective.

_"When I need to I hit people with the largest weapon I can find: the Earth."_

Yeah I'm a little biased having grown up on the periphery of the community, but I can totally vouch for it's effectiveness.


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## Stress Sigh (Apr 30, 2015)

Salto said:


> Is aikido just not really great for combat like every person that detracts its uselessness? Just curious on what your thoughts are on it.



Aikido is the lolcow of martial arts along with wing chun and krav maga but I do capo and most would say we're not much better.

It's not really the techniques or effectiveness that makes this so but the attitude of most of the people who practice it and their sub par training. Throwing around people who willing move with you and no hard sparring will dilute anything effective from it. You train how you want to use it.

Also it's kind of funny that Krav guys think crouch shots and eye pokes will trump any competently trained fighter. If I can dodge punches and kicks I can avoid your three stooges routine just fine.


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