View Single Post
Old 12-01-2012, 09:01 AM   #8
Krystal Locke
Location: Phoenix, Oregon
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 407
United_States
Offline
Re: For those who wonder how to use aikido against fast punching

Quote:
Alberto Italiano wrote: View Post
Nobody wants to be in a fight
But then also taking aikido classes becomes questionable if one does it imagining never to meet a fight. Actually not even boxers or MMA guys plan to go into street fistfights

One may argue that one practices aikido for other purposes that are not martial of course
But why dealing with tantos and swords and yokomenuchis to develop a spiritual level when also meditation does that without bothering with that stuff?

So
1) after all Aikido is a martial art too is it?
2) not only aikido but also being athletically prepared for facing a skilled puncher has educational purposes that go beyond a fight
Budo is budo

The average street attacker is normally totally naive and utterly unprepared so you are right so you wont even need aikido for that lad

It all boils down to this do you want to practice your martial art having in mind a serious scenario or do you prefer practicing having in mind an unlearned challenger? i judge none i am just addressing the concerns of those who prefer training have in mind a different scenario

So my point is simple and practical if there is somebody interested in knowing how to deal with the scenario of a skilled puncher (and we have threads on the forum that wondered about this) the answer is that to be ready to deal with skilled punchers it is as simple as this namely you need to introduce into your workout the routines that skilled punchers use to make their ways through punches (#1 to #7)

If one prefers a more practical aikido not necessarily for fighting but because one enjoys the feeling of pushing one's limits somehow with athletical preparation then including part of a fighter's workout may be a great addition to your weekly routines

Of course you could also add basketball and pingpong and surfing and tennis and equestrian routines but would that make sense in a martial context?

If you jog 45 minutes thrice a week that means you will stand 3 minutes in a tight fight because a tight fight is not about a constant aerobic effort but about yanking dodging skipping jumping turning lowering evading in a relentless mix of sudden aerobic and anaerobic thrusts
If you may enjoy being prepared for aikido in that scenario include #1 to #7 in your routines

If you dont enjoy it or you are positive it will never happen or you find no educational purpose in adding that it is quite fine

ps "going animal" against a competent attacker will terminate the defender in a few seconds because the defender will react wildly mostly without guards and meeting up ultrafast punches on eyes teeth jaw lips and nose
this would knock the defender out almost immediately
If we want really "real" training for a real life likely attack we should get our family (because most attacks are from people we know, or at least share some points of connection) all liquored up (because a whole lotta conflicts involve drugs and alcohol) and pissed off at us, and then try to do aikido on someone who has no idea how to move, who has no ukemi to speak of, and really doesn't know what is going on.

I may have a better animal inside than some folk. When push comes to shove, I cover up fairly well, can take a fair punch or two, and cheat like a total bitch. If I am fighting, I am fighting for my life and I am not concerned with my attacker's. There will be everything against the rules and dishonorable from me. Fingers in eyes, teeth and more teeth, every weapon I possess and can scrounge up will be used against my attacker. Finding the animal is more a matter of removing the inhibitions than training.

And I really really really dont want to fall into the trap of fighting someone else's fight. I see this happen a LOT. Someone who has one set of skills will have an attacker show a different set of skills, like squaring off, shuffling and putting up a boxing type guard, for example, and the attackee almost reflexively starts imitating their attacker and setting themselves up for the attacker's fight. Bad plan. I want to stay in my style, I want to be able to access my training. That takes some serious mat time, and introspection time.

So yeah, it wouldn't kill us to train against some fast punchers, it may happen, and the training couldn't hurt, but I am not sure we need to train the way they do in order to fight our fight against them. I pay more attention to ma-ai, awareness, maintaining shikaku and de-escalation techniques for that level of self-defense.
  Reply With Quote