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Old 08-17-2009, 05:54 AM   #3
Reuben
 
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Dojo: Aikido Seishinkan
Location: Kuching
Join Date: Jan 2002
Posts: 111
Malaysia
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Re: My Experiences in Cross Training MMA with Aikido

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.

However with beginners for example halfway through a kokyu ho while the person is tenkanning, they let go. In fact in many demos, u find even some experienced ukes letting go early instead of feeling the entire follow through of the technique. When you feel that you're falling down it's only natural to let go of the thing that is bringing you down. When I was teaching students, I constantly had to tell them to consciously NOT let go to feel the full technique. Of course this had something to do with a not so committed attack but I can't imagine a situation where someone rushes at you with full dedication to....hold your hand. :P Maybe if you were in some repressive society that forbade hugs or perhaps in O-Sensei's time where you wanted to prevent someone from drawing his sword but certainly not in this day and age in my opinion anyway.

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.
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