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Old 03-03-2009, 06:56 AM   #3
Buck
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 950
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Re: Aikido IS a practical contemporary martial art

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Graham Old wrote: View Post
PLEASE don't see this thread as an attempt to revive any kind of "does aikido really work?" discussion. Nothing interests me less. Instead, I thought it would be useful to share what I personally love about Aikido...

My brother has trained in kick-boxing for quite a few years and loves UFC, etc. I, on the other hand, have studied aikido for about 3 years and despise UFC. He is particularly interested in the 'practicality' of martial arts and that got me thinking what one would want out of a contemporary martial art.

It seems to me that it might have to have 3 elements:

1) It teaches you how (not) to fight

Does the martial art actually develop us as moral beings, teaching us how to promote peace, as much as how to fight?
No, that is a myth. See UFC. Morals are not part of the UFC- past the point of rules and a ref. They are not substancial enough to be considered taught. What they have is sportsmenship, rules, and a ref. Any morality within the fighter is learned from some place else.

Yes, if, morals are to be added to martial arts. They must be properly enforced, practiced, and modeled by the instructor. Then they must be supported and practiced by the dojo.
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2) It makes you feel more relaxed, not more violent

Following on from point 1 above, does the martial art help you dispose of the stress and tension of the day, removing those unwanted knee-jerk resorts to violence?
Myth, that is not the case. Such things are brought in from other sourses and studies such as Zen etc.
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3) It enables a gentle application of the martial art

Given that many contemporary scenes of violence involve friends and family, we may not want to always go all out. Does the martial art then allow the possibility of using the least possible resistance?
Myth. We might think so coming from morals and Zen etc. You don't known that stuff until you are threatened how you are going to act or react. It is true mental training for such situations helps, i.e. like what cops, etc. Those people get trained to react and handle the stress and the adrealine dump etc. because that will be face on the job. Something they deal with on daily basis, or expect to face-even that is dealt with on a daily basis. Most martial arts places pay lip service to it.

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4) It is an effective form of self-defence

Much of 'self-defence' is covered in the earlier items, although some might still use the term in its more tradtioinal sense of physical defensive techniques to defend against physical attacks. Given that limited definition, does the martial art provide tools and techniques to defend against attack?
That is up to the individual.

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5) It is effective against multiple attackers

Does the martial art provide techniques for defending oneself against a group of attackers?

If these questions are relevant, it suggests to me that much of what we see in things like UFC is as far as one could get from likely contemporary scenes of violence. Conversely, aikido actually scores quite highly in terms of a practical contemporary martial art.

Any thoughts?
Most martial arts are out-dated or like the UFC not designed from multi-attacks. That doesn't mean they can't be effective in some situation against some type of attackers. It means, if you are attacked by a street gang (who will be armed) who intends to kidnap you from money. The whole discussion of a group attack is mute. Unless your martial art teaches you how to use a high powered automatic weapon that teaches you how to handle the stress, the adrenaline dump, and all the other tactics, and strategies associated with that. You might have a chance if you are not taken by surprise and you just have to defend yourself. Meaning your not at home in bed in the middle of the night with your family.

UFC is an entertainment sport and has the same relevant stuff as Pro boxing, Pro wrestling, Pro Football, Pro Hockey. Btw, Hockey players are under rated fighters. Hockey is a martial art!


The real problem is people live in hypotheticals and fantasy worlds, be it UFC, Aikido, etc. That really is imo the issue.

Last edited by Buck : 03-03-2009 at 07:07 AM.
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