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I have heard from people, who have not had any real life fighting experience, argue about pure Aikido vs. Atemi Aikido.
They equate pure dojo training, as real fighting experience. There also seems to be intellectuals who have not fought in the real world, who have convinced many others, that you don't need to train for the real world.
Those with real life experience, are portrayed as not knowing Aikido, as well as not knowing real life fighting.
I have found that the newer generations (X, Y, & Millenniums), do not like to follow old rules, and they tend to modify or create new rules for themselves, after they learn some basics.
Nothing is more disturbing than to have an Aikido class, degenerate into an MMA/UFC class, because of the newer generation's frustration or impatience with their progress. They hold a strong belief that they can learn anything in under 2 hours tops. The thought that some things in life, may take years to master, is alien to them.
I have personally found that not everyone wants to put in an MMA/UFC workout because of the pain factor. Most normal people don't like pain. MMA/UFC practitioners sometimes go overboard with the pain factor and not too many students return after undergoing joint surgeries.
Yet, it is this same group of students, who will try to revert to the very thing that they hated, that also medically retired them from MMA/UFC training. They will to win at almost any cost, providing that it is someone else, is vitally important.
A softer martial art does not appear to be very strong for them.
There is a big difference between street fighting and UFC/MMA fighting. There are some techniques that only work well when you fight. There are also some techniques that only work well in the ring.
In the street, you have whatever the environment is in front of you, that will be your fighting arena. In the ring, it is only a limited, and pristine fighting environment.
I have read blogs that jabs & backfists don't work in a street fight. I believe that their application of the technique was wrongly executed. These are just transitional techniques to get your hands on someone. They are not really knockout techniques. They are stunning and harassing techniques.
The knife hand strike is another valuable technique.
During the 1950's, older martial arts students used the heel of the knife hand, the length of the forearm bone, and a portion of the elbow as the striking surface.
Therefore, the striking surface was over 12 inches. It was analygous to using your arm as a small sword strike.
If you used the middle of the forearm as the starting point, a person moving away from you or into you would catch some part of your 12+ inches of striking surface.
You did not strike horizontally and you did not strike vertically. You struck the side of the neck on a 45 degree angle. You compressed the nerves, arteries, and veins into the neck bones.
This is really a dangerous technique in that the neck bone and your forearm bone can damage nerves, arteries, and veins. This would be the same as smashing a rock on a rock, with something soft in the middle.
Many martial arts masters, were once combat veterans, in their own countries.
Many taught police departments and military personnel.
They imparted their knowledge, based on their training & experience, to people who would be utilizing their functional methods.
Getting closer to reality, depends upon the instructor, and what the students are willing to tolerate.
Kyokushinkai Karate developed a hard body pounding method of instruction. Aikido struck a balanced harmony of this hardness, mixed with softness. That knowledge was not mystical. It required a state of mind, instinctive physical skills, and the X - Factor.
In my long past, I once had a street confrontation that turned ugly. I suffered some knife wounds fighting a criminal who had spontaneously attacked me.
My back stab, did not penetrate too deeply, because I moved as soon as I felt the blade dig into me. The slash across my stomach came right after he realized that his back stab did not work.
Once I had faced him, my resolve to fight and live (not fight to win), took over. I was able to block the next overhead stab, move, and disarm my criminal. It was a modified Aikido technique.
The accepted karate technique, would have been a blocking strike to his forearm. He was moving way too fast for me to pull that technique off.
10-04-2008 07:45 AM 