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Old 03-19-2005, 09:45 AM   #16
Mike Sigman
Location: Durango, CO
Join Date: Feb 2005
Posts: 4,123
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Re: Aikido for a small woman

Quote:
Michael Young wrote:
The talk of martial art "X" being more "effective" for "self-defense" training is tilting at windmills I think.
Why is that? Do you think that Sumo Wrestling is just as effective as Savate for the average woman to use? I think some martial arts are better suited for rapid acquisition of *some* self-defense skills than are others.
Quote:
This isn't the movies, and a front snap kick or punch, for example, from a small woman had better have a lot of years of training behind it to have the power and accuracy to be effective in defending herself...and even then it is questionable about whether it would really do the job. It is a small woman we are talking about here, not a 200lb brute.
Maybe this calls for techniques not normally seen in the movies?
Quote:
I think it is "unrealistic" to say that simply because a woman learns a particular style of "nasty stuff" martial arts means she is going to be able to effectively apply it to a larger, stronger, male attacker...since that seems to be the general conception of what she would have to deal with. Again, I think it all comes down to the type of training that is done at the dojo, but also what the individual focuses on too. Aikido contains a lot of "nasty stuff" in it if you pay attention to openings and different applications not just the given technique being shown. No martial art is going to "teach" you how to defend yourself...it is something you have to learn and focus on for yourself through increasing your skill, knowledge, intensity of training, and awareness of yourself and your limitations, no matter what MA you take. The great thing about Aikido is that it doesn't matter what your size or strength level is, your effectiveness doesn't depend on being big and strong..thus it is ideal for a small woman (and anybody else). Will it take a long time to learn?...nope...but it will take a long time to master, just like any other MA.
That is still assuming that Aikido and all martial arts are basically just as effective as each other. Frankly, as one of my good friends who has done Aikido for 30 years says, "People in Aikido on the whole are very defensive because they can't really use Aikido in a fight." And let's all be grown up enough to admit that's the rule, even though there are a few exceptions.

What's really troubling to me is that all these people who were so concerned about "women" didn't bat an eye when one asks for good self-defense and immediately try to represent that Aikido is as good for self-defense as anything.... potentially leading one of the females they care so much about right into potential destruction.

FWIW

Mike Sigman
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