ChrisHein

Nice posts Kevin and Michael!

Michael and I talk about these things a lot, so I'm very familiar with what he is saying. However I would like to point out two very important things that he just said:

1) Properly take advantage of the "short cuts".
This is KEY. When fighting safety and efficiency are of the upmost importance. And the two are often mutually exclusive. For example, in an unarmed fight, a bear hug is more then safe enough. Hardly anyone can make good power from the confines of the bear hug empty handed. However with a bladed weapon, almost anyone could kill an attacker holding them in a bear hug. Bear hugs are not safe in bladed situations. However bear hugs are secure, and quick to put on, in other words efficient. In a weapon engagement it's not safe enough, but in an unarmed engagement it's a great "short cut" (as compared to many of the Japanese holding methods).

2) It's hard to put a square peg in a round hole.
One must understand the context of the martial art they are studying. Some things were designed to be used in weapons engagements, and some things were designed to be used empty handed. Use them in their proper context, and they will be successful, using them out of context can be embarrassing, or worse, deadly.

To add one more thing. We must, as Aikido students, find ways to challenge our practice. We must find a way to train Aikido with active resistance! So it's not good enough that we are telling you these things, you must find the truth of them for yourself.