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Old 08-17-2009, 06:28 AM   #6
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: My Experiences in Cross Training MMA with Aikido

Quote:
Reuben Yap wrote: View Post
Yes, though I find it difficult to get a real litmus test on any hand grabbing techniques since

1) in most cases it's not the most natural way to attack someone.

2) when you tell someone to grab your hand you kinda already implant the thought for him to continue hanging on.
What I've been taught is that it's a worst-case scenario for you and a best-case scenario for your attacker. You don't really want to let your attacker get close and establish a grip, but once they've done so and you begin to execute a technique, it's to their advantage to hang on rather than let go. That's the argument on paper, at least, and it's definitely the case when you're taking ukemi from someone who thinks beyond the dance-step-I-do-this-then-you-do-that type of exchange: if you lose your grip on such a person, if you don't move so you're not exposed, etc., you can tell you'd be in trouble if we weren't all good friends.

Quote:
Reuben Yap wrote: View Post
But point taken you might be right there though I hope this doesn't detract from the main thrust of my post is that there is a place for more realistic attacks and the training of proper attacks and not just the traditional ones in higher level Aikido which is lacking in most traditional schools. Cross training in sparring based discipline might be that missing link short of changing the way Aikido is taught.
I'm grateful for the years I spent freesparring in TKD. While I don't do it any more (the dojang went in one direction, I went in another), and while I'm conscious of its shortcomings, it did give me something that most aikidoka seem to lack, i.e., a lot of experience dealing with people in various shapes and sizes who are trying to hit you -- no scripted attacks, no one attack at a time, just whatever they could do (within the limits of sparring rules), when they wanted to, as many as they wanted to -- and if you got hit, it hurt. Having to deal with an attack that is coming at your head as fast as the attacker can manage it, over and over again, teaches you to react and not freeze.
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