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Old 03-02-2011, 05:36 PM   #22
ChrisHein
 
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Dojo: Aikido of Fresno
Location: Fresno , CA
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Re: Aikido, Martial Arts & Sparring

Quote:
Phi Truong wrote: View Post
still trying to figure out what this sparring in aikido involved. i came from kick boxing (the full contact type, not the spandex health type) and judo background. sparring usually involved bruises and blood letting. my sparring purpose is to bury the other buggers 6 feet under. so i am wondering what sparring would be in aikido.
I've done a fair amount of competitive sport martial arts myself. I can never say my goal was remotely near burying any buggers 6 feet under. In fact I would say sport martial arts taught me more respect for my fellow competitor than I previously had.

Sparring isn't, at least as I've experienced it, about hurting anyone. Granted, there are the occasional weirdo's who attempt to use sparring to play out some strange fantasy that only exists in their head. But most people I've encountered in martial arts with sparring have been the most mellow people I've met. Sparring forces you to look at yourself in a very honest way. Making you deal with your ego, human limitations, and loss. Sparring tends to make people better, mentally and physically.

Quote:
if you look at this article on statistics of judo winning judo techniques (a bit dated but should still relevant) http://www.bestjudo.com/article/0924...udo-techniques . based on the statistics, i could just learn the top 5 techniques and could win 80% of the time. would that still be doing judo? should i do the same with aikido, just learn a few techniques?
A martial arts system, is a system. An event is an event. I don't see why it matters that generally 5 techniques tend to raise to the top. That's interesting, is worth looking at, but doesn't change my study of a martial art system. I don't study martial arts to win competitions. Some people do, and that is fine, maybe they should study only those 5 techniques. I study martial arts to find out more about myself, sparring helps me do that like no other practice. A side affect of martial arts training is that it helps me deal with physical confrontation. The physical confrontation is what we are studying, but winning the confrontation is not the goal. We use the conflict to help ourselves grow, that is the goal.

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