Can I Make Aikido Work?

Can you make deeper videos instead of comedy? Like samurai philosophy

While not being an expert at martial arts, i can't imagine a style being more hampered by wearing boxing gloves than Aikido. You'd have a harder time grabbing, while your opponent has support on his wrist.

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Pankration black belt is a thing?

Why not just learn BJJ if you on ground LOL

Lol the circular movement is super powerful. If there were a legit criticism of it, it would be that outside of the dojo you often dont have the room or a nice clean surface to spin on. The techniques are far too large in terms of the space they take. There are shorter tighter versions though. How would you do them in a car, bus, plane, etc? You couldn't. Not a small bathroom or pantry or on stairs either. It'd be asking for trouble on wet grass or a gravel road. You get the point. Chin-na is better for that sort of thing.

Almost like an hour long class isn't enough lol.

I am experienced in boxing, tae kwon do and BJJ and wing Chun. I love wing chun but feel wing chun and aikido are better suited as an additional martial art.

I have been training in AiKiDo for 8 years now and to me it was never meant as means to fight. I'm training not to defeat my enemy, but to have victory over myself with discipline of body and tranquility of soul. That is what it truly means to me. But I'm not gonna lie, a good Kote-mawashi or Aikio-toshi is entertaining.

The waza in Aikido are not there as 'techniques'. They are there to practice aiki. It is the aiki that you should learn/take away and put in your art, not the 'practice' waza forms. the problem is that no one seems to know this. When I see high level wrestling, I get glimpses of aiki at work.

Akidido lost to Tai Chi😂🤣

WTF!? That cant be taken seriously

That is absolutely not an authentic a Aikido dojo buddy- and that's definitely not how a real Aikido practitioner practices break falls- 🤣👎👎👎

But he never mentioned what Dan he was in Aikido? Another words he's hack & or charlatan.

Dude that guy would be quickly challenged on everything he just demonstrated to you if he ever walked into an authentic Aikido Dojo.... The majority of this was a pretty misinformed instructional video on Aikido.

wondering why if this guy really knows all those martial arts, he ended up teaching aikido

People think Aikido is all fun and games until i wipe out the Katana lol🤣🔥 btw this guy has a lot of black belts, respect👍

how about researching the right art to learn at an older age :) say around 60

This is an extremely obscure take on Aikido and its self-defense applications. If you're genuinely interested in how the art works, I think you'd do better seeking out a school that is affiliated with Hombu dojo and/or reaching out to the United States Aikido Federation.

I read on another thread once that most of the people who state that Aikido works are either police or correctional officers, both of whom work in an occupation where you need to grapple with people semi-regularly. If you go full MMA on someone or choke them out, you will likely win the fight. You will also end up in court, possibly criminally charged and/or fired.

As a CO myself, my 7 years of Aikido has made me better at my job. My awareness of joint locks, body movement, pinning techniques and controlling people's limbs has kept me and my co-workers (and the inmates themselves) safer. I have a limited amount of experience in other martial arts (2 years Kung Fu, about the same in BJJ), but while being able to strike fast and hard might save my life on the street, it will get me fired at work. Twist locks while cuffing (sankyo) and arm bar take downs when separating two inmates fighting (ikkyo) are quite common here. Have I ever done a cartwheel at work when someone tries to grab my arm? No. But every style has moves which are more effective or theatrical than others.

I have broken up fights using spinning takedowns such as ikkyo ura (where I was not being targeted) when the goal was to separate the combatants and prone them out. Aikido has made me very good at that. Those that say that Aikido doesn't work are largely those who believe the only way to "win" a fight is by getting the opponent in a triangle choke or hit them with a few good strikes to the head. It doesn't occur to them that in some cases, you aren't allowed to win. Your job is to just stop your opponent with the minimal amount of force possible. Groundwork styles such as BJJ will get me killed. Because this isn't a cage match with rules. If I go to the ground, a few of the other 20 inmates that are standing around watching may join in, rendering my choke meaningless as I am being curb stomped by multiple other opponents. The only goal here when you are being attacked is keep moving and stay standing until your back-up gets to you and if you need to use force, keep it to the minimum amount necessary to stop your attacker.

Aikido has served me very well over the years for this purpose.

Sensei casually lifting guy that pulls guard 😂

His Tai-Sabakis are strange.

I'm sorry, but this is horrible. You are judging a whole martial based on what? One day's training in it, and watching videos? That is pure arrogance and disrespect of an art you have zero understanding of. For example, the problem with your Sankyo, against the guy in the grey outfit, is that you didn't get YOUR centre lower than his, so as you turned, YOUR hands were behind YOUR head and YOU were completely off balance and he was in control - of course your technique failed, but the problem is not the technique, it is YOUR execution. You need to have your hips lower than his such that his hands are in front of your forehead so he is stretched and on his toes and completely off balance, when you turn your body should be pressing into his, almost to the point that you are moving THROUGH his space, from THAT position of control you can do anything you like to him as you complete the turn - lock, throw, pin, kick, punch. Of course, the other (obvious) issue is that you were trying to do a technique where it wasn't necessarily the best choice, purely because you wanted to try it. That's fine, but you're not even acknowledging that. Are you even aware of it?? That technique done that way REQUIRES your centre to be lower than your opponents so if you're unable to do that effectively, for example due to the height difference, then you simply wouldn't do that technique!

I won't even get started on the problems with judging another martial art based purely on what you THINK you are seeing in videos online. Sheesh.

This is essentially irrelevant to the video and does not affect any of his points I just find it extremely interesting how basically nobody pronounces Pankration and fighting correctly

Aikido isnt a martial art meant for ritual fighting, like two animals fighting to prove their strength or win a mate. Its a predator/prey martial art where youre the prey just trying to get away.

As an aikido practitioner for over 4 years, aikido on its own is shit. The peaceful matter and the overcomplicated moves doesn't work in this world. You gotta combine it with different martial arts and it becomes a beast.

I think it might be because that Steven Seagal, master of the long forgotten art of Bullshido, claimed to be an Aikido master that people assumed Aikido didn’t work

Sensei Seth super jacked & hottie

This is the worst test of a martial art. Why don't you have the instructor do Aikido against your karate.

I Wonder, ¿why does the sensei wears sport shows?

Alot of the stuff he said was wrong + the sheathing and unsheathing of the katana is all done within the left hand. Even if you grab my right it doesn’t matter. You arent even supposed to unsheathe by pulling out but instead pulling the scabbard itself back then using the right to angle and cut. And sheathing is yet again by the left hand. If anything your wasting a hand or two for one of mine whilst i l unsheathe and now have a wooden weapon in my left.

No; you can't unless you study Aikido very deeply from someone who was really taught. AND, even then, not unless you go fight. To fight, you need to have developed the right body and footwork and about 10 techniques, plus atemi (striking). Not so complicated. Not so interesting in daily training either, frankly. And it misses the core objective of Aikido.

Why listen to me (or not)? 38 years of Aikido. 12 in Japan at HQ (since 90s). Also bjj (Rickson Gracie Academy in LA 1996, Roger Gracie Academy (London, 2008), Gracie China (Chet Quint, Pedro Sauer black belt 2008), judo (Vasile Panfil), wrestling (school days), boxing, iaido (muso shinden ryu), Aunkai (privates with Akuzawa Minoru), teaching at 3 MMA academies in Beijing (including swapping lessons with the BJJ teachers), teaching Aunkai students Aikido in Tokyo, dojos in China in 8 cities and the first organization in China to apply to HQ for (and receive) official recognition from HQ.

Still, blah, blah, blah, doesn’t mean I can fight a lick. But, I have different experience from the average Aikidoka.

First, people misunderstand Aikido training. Standard aikido training, the usual curriculum is not aimed directly at teaching "fighting skills" (no and yes). The core objective is human development: body, mind and spirit via the rigorous drilling of martial arts techniques and receiving them safely. Of course, this will indirectly build (some) useful skills. However, we all knew that If we really wanted to learn to fight, we had to go do sport martial arts or get into fights, e.g. Roppongi or other spots in Tokyo on a Friday night. Teachers used to go to Kabukicho (and end up in trouble for brawling.)

So, Aikido should be viewed through this prism. Which Aikido? Whose Aikido? It's a big tent and along with the clowns you can find lions. I suggest people read the chapter “Wrestling with Aikido”, chapter 3 of the epilogue of my book. Aikido in Japan and The Way Less Traveled.

Second, three things have happened to Aikido since I began 1987:
1) anyone can become a teacher (with predictable results). Those who brought Aikido to the world had experience in other martial arts and underwent intensive trainee experiences before being allowed to teach.
2) there is little/no talent on the mats these days; I'm living back in Japan now and the HQ is unrecognizable in this regard. The steel 玉鋼 to make the sword isn't what it was.
3) the intensity of training is far less rigorous than two decades ago … maybe even one. The tatara鑪 (furnace) does not burn as hot as it used to do.

My view is that nowadays anyone will be hard pressed to find anywhere to train like I and certain friends/acquaintances were trained. It no longer exists or, if it does, only in discrete and disappearing pockets. However, if you can find it, what proper rigorous training will do (among other things) is build a budo body upon which you can add a “fight game” if you like, but is this the highest best use of O-Sensei’s “Art of Peace”.


People also do not understand that Aikido is not just another push/pull grappling form … there is an element that is missing in 99% of people I have experienced. Akuzawa Minoru sensei has it. Others, I’ve experienced in Aikikai. This adds an even higher level of difficulty. How is your waza powered? So it’s not a matter of which waza but how people generate the movement.

One thing about Aikido, it never gets boring. It's not like doing juji-gatame one more time! Or the Fred and Ethel Mertz Choke (or whatever). There is always deeper level. And it can be enjoyed and beneficial on many levels. Like surfing. Not everyone is dropping in at Jaws, Nazaré or Mavericks but they can enjoy one foot shore break. Just understand very clearly what you are doing and what you cannot do.

Bulshido

When I did Aikido a lot of it made more sense in the historical context it was made for. A lot of the seated practice assumed you were drinking tea with someone who then attacks - with a Japanese weapon in a Japanese kimono. However the arm locks and the knife defense were fascinating, and the body mechanics underpinning it make for a good knowledge of how to effectively twist an arm. The most interesting part for me was the feeling of applying no force at all, yet throwing someone all the same. The magic of Aikido techniques is it makes you feel like you're just a ghost while you watch your partner get thrown into a flip just through physics alone.

That guy is a good collector

Aikido doesn't work because it's only half an art and it requires a stunning blow to make the rest effective.

You don't make Aikido happen....Aikido happen. Conflicts are settled in a matter of seconds when the aikido movement is correct. But before you can do aikido, you need to know how to fight (boxing and judo or wrestling), so that aikido can be expressed naturally and unforced. You don't try to grab someone's hand to make a kotegaeshi. The opportunity for kotegaeshi, like all other techniques, will present itself, and if you have mastered the technique you will apply it. But don't try to grab your opponent's wrists or hands.

How come this man is not all grey? The list of merits feels like a list of 3-5 lifetimes.

I think randori works the same in judo when it's properly applied (not the wrestling with strength style you see inexperienced judokas do). If you watch olympic level athletes do randori in Japan, it looks so lazy in a way. After all it's translated as free practice, not a match to death. Meaning you get to dynamically practice your techniques. At first you need a lot of collaboration from your training partner so they will give you opportunities to practice something meaningful instead of locking up to an extremely defensive position. If you want, you can consider "how many times will an extremely defensive person attack me?" and the answer is just about never, you "won" that encounter because you're free to disengage and leave. And I'm mixing martial art and sport judo here a bit because just about everyone trains sport judo, but the fundamental methods are still very similar.

It also makes safe practice. Most of the injuries happen with inexperienced judokas who can't keep the practice intensity down and forget their technique which would allow for your opponent to be safe, but also the opponent forgets their technique of receiving the technique safely instead of holding up to the teeth. And the problem is two-fold: a panic reaction in a dynamic situation coming from not having that experience, but also the misconception of it being a match where you want to win/don't want to lose. Where the whole purpose of randori, free practice, is to practice. And one of the core philosophies of judo, mutual benefit, plays into this as well. So you're supposed to enter situations where you're not confident and "safe", i.e. disadvantageous positions, and become comfortable in them and learn to deal with them, as well as offer your training partner the opportunity to get something done as well. And if your training partner does something fundamentally right and leads into the execution of the throw, that's where you should ideally give in and allow them to do their technique, receive the technique properly. To avoid injuries on both sides because neither of you wanted to give in purely for ego purposes or fear of getting thrown. Which is also why you should practice getting thrown a lot, so you aren't afraid of getting thrown.

It's a long rant about judo, but people often times mistake kata and randori, demonstrations etc practice methods, especially at varying levels, as trying to prove something works in action. Where it often times is a teaching tool. Eventually you can also raise the intensity occasionally when both parties are proficient enough to be safe while practicing. There is this old video where a small, skinny master of judo demonstrates judo concepts against men twice his size and some people admired his skill, finesse and light touch, others mistook it as some dojo star trying to show off and saying "if the big guys actually tried, he could never do that". The point of the video was that he as a small old man was able to manipulate the big opponent's body effortlessly, how he was able to use momentum and balance to his advantage. It wasn't a match to death, it was more like randori, dynamic situation where he demonstrated core concepts of judo.

One thing where I can't quite connect the dots is how aikido is self-defense and used to be self-defense with swords. But pressure testing it in some bjj or so gym kind of defeats the point to me, I can't think how being in close proximity grappling already fits aikido's purpose and philosophy. Isn't its purpose to protect you from random attackers, not to wrestle? I'm not sure about the history, but aikido feels somewhat like a specific part of old samurai fighting skill which would eventually evolve into things like Japanese jujutsu. Kenjutsu, aikido, that stuff that complements each other. Essentially saying that a bjj grappler would get sliced and diced if aikido was used in the right context. Maybe someone like karateka was a more fitting match. A guy in my judo club used to do aikido, and it feels quite clear that judo and aikido aren't a good match, they're just not in the same context. Similarly to how bjj should probably not be taken out of context where its essentially specified and filtered Japanese jujutsu just like judo, it's not trying to be the universal style (even though some practicioners have fallen into that misbelief). It would probably make more sense to use Japanese jujutsu instead if you wanted to be more universal than those two. Like I'm not sure if judo is even better than aikido in self-defense situation. At least the olympic judo that most people practice, from a technical standpoint. Absolutely the physicality and amount of sparring lends to being comfortable and prepared to be in a physical situation, but I don't think I want to find myself in such a situation where judo becomes usable (i.e. in hugging distance of an attacker).

Those were super sick moves

All the circular movements actually sort of start to make sense to me when I realise there's a sword involved

A lot of people don't realise that a lot of the time when you see police officers/security people (in various countries) use restraining techniques, a lot of them are Aikido based. Police in Japan undertake Aikido classes as part of their basic training.

Show me Aikido working in the UFC or Bellator, then you can make a Case. I’ve seen dozens of videos with MMA fighters in real life situations using their training. Not one by an Aikido practitioner.

I just wanted to ask the ones that feel the need to make fun of aikido one thing. I've been practicing aikido for a long time and i dp it mostly because it's fun and good excercise. I also get the impression that's what most practicioners do. What do you think about that mentality? I say i might as well be doing yoga, only aikido is with a partner and is incredibly complex techniquewise. Also a good representation of "budo" in general. Is it because you see videos of Seagal or something calling it "deadly and effective" etc that you get so upset by it? I just don't understand it completely tbh.

You just can't expect an
ART with 270,000 Techniques to be Fully Understood by THE FLY BY NIGHT Martial Artist like an Art that contains a combination of 27 MOVES aka BJJ which is now being referred to as THE BJ ART

mybe in one precent works,you need to have amazing timing.

Great video! I love aikido, it gets sooo good after you learn more. It will change your body too. When you applied it to MMA sparring some interesting things happened!