What other martial art to practice?

I have many friends scattered all around the Earth practicing Aikido AND at least an other martial art: kendo, wing chun, different schools of karate, muai tai, goju ryu, etc. trying to find the best blend with Aikido.
Which do you think it is the most suitable one (or more)?

I can't speak from personal experience, but I have seen quite a lot of posts on aikiweb suggesting that BJJ complements aikido fairly well.

Dave de Vos wrote: I can't speak from personal experience, but I have seen quite a lot of posts on aikiweb suggesting that BJJ complements aikido fairly well.

I have heard the same. I also know a lot of people who came to aikido from judo or a sword art like kendo or iaido.

Not from where you came! If you are already an Aikido practitioner, what other martial art you think is better blended with what you are doing.

I practice Jodo with Rick Polland of the Rembukan dojo in Maryland.

The kihon exercises are great for solo practice and for building body awareness

What are your goals?

If you want to compete in MMA, then BJJ will probably be more relevant than a classical sword style. If you want to pursue Japanese budo, then the sword style might be a better choice.

Katherine

Cezar Tipa wrote: Not from where you came! If you are already an Aikido practitioner, what other martial art you think is better blended with what you are doing.

I agree with Carina. First know what your own purpose is and then find the one that fits. Without knowing that it's too vague a question.
If you want advice for youself then I suggest you state your purpose for doing Aikido and then I'm sure many will give useful advice.
If it's just a matter of interest as to what others do then all I can say is I just do Aikido.
Regards.G.

fi you are looking for something to extend you knowledge of japanese martial arts, the a sword art like Iaido my be suitable

if you are looking for something to make you a more well rounded martial artist the either an art the deals with striking or ground work, so maybe karate, judo or bjj

if you are looking for a more practical art which focuses on the application on moves then systema or krav

of course this is just my opinion and it is the broad strokes, but as was mentioned before, it really does depend on what you are looking to add to you aikido

Katherine Derbyshire wrote: What are your goals? If you want to compete in MMA, then BJJ will probably be more relevant than a classical sword style. If you want to pursue Japanese budo, then the sword style might be a better choice. Katherine

I have to agree. What do want out of your martial arts training?
I am now finding I want to train in another MA after eight years of aikido. For me, the culture and traditions of Japanese martial arts appeal so I'm leaning towards the non-sporting options available to me.

MMA, muay thai, bjj, judo, tae kwon do, boxing are all good if you want resistant opponents in a sporting context.
Trying to find a MA that does not have a sporting element is not so easy, I discovered.

Good luck in your search.

Dean.

I train in Iaido myself. I found that iai compliments aiki really well.

I trained in Ba Ghua Zhang and some McDojo type Karate schools before I found Aikido. Both of these styles, and many others could be well supplemented with Aikido. To parrot what other people have said it all depends upon your personal goals

Would you use a different source of power in judo/muay Thai than aikido? - I mean, would practicing the different style/means of effecting technique interfere when you went to aikido class?

A karate style that blends well with aikido is wado ryu (the founder of the style Hironori Ohtsuka was already an accomplished jujitsu practitioner).

Iaido is worth studying for a deeper understanding of the sword, although aikido stances do tend to get in the way of iaido footwork at first.

I agree that eskrima is good for giving a greater understanding of how dangerous the knife can be when the attacks come from different angles and as slashes rather than the straight thrust which tends to be used in aikido. And it's surprising to see how similar the locks are!

I must admit that shorinji kempo looks tempting, although it's difficult to find somewhere to train in that art. Like hapkido it appears to apply strikes to finish takedowns from locks.

Ultimately, I agree with other posters here - it depends what you're looking for. At my advanced years, I'm finding tai chi fascinating, and intrigued to see that some of these slow movements closely mimic aikido techniques.

Whatever you chose to do, make sure you enjoy it.

Cezar Tipa wrote: I have many friends scattered all around the Earth practicing Aikido AND at least an other martial art: kendo, wing chun, different schools of karate, muai tai, goju ryu, etc. trying to find the best blend with Aikido. Which do you think it is the most suitable one (or more)?

Unless you have quite a lot of free time in which to train, I'd say "None of them". If you have enough free time to train every day, and a body that will hold up for it, and a family that will hold still for it, and the money to support it, I'd say the next consideration is what's available to you. It isn't very helpful to decide that goju ryu (a form of karate, btw) is all that if the closest dojo is 500 miles away.

This is a very complicated question. Why do you want to train in another style, what are you looking for? What do you think it is that Aikido does very well, and what does it lack?

What do you mean by "goes well with Aikido"? Are you looking for a complimentary system that covers other areas? Are you looking for unarmed martial arts, movement systems, armed martial arts?

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a really fun system to study, and is becoming quite available. Depending on where you are though, it might be expensive. Judo is an awesome system, some might say (me) that it covers most of the areas of traditional Japanese Jujutsu that Aikido doesn't. Kendo, is fun, and can help with some understanding of the sword, which is important to Aikido students. Wrestling and kickboxing are a must if you want to understand unarmed martial arts.

Well, I practice a little Goju Ryu Karate on the side. I wanted something different, a kicking/punching style. I don't think I'd like another throwing style like judo, that would probably confuse me more...

For karate: I think it makes my attacks better and helps me stay stay centered. But it does have different movement patterns and I think it's better that I've waited a few years - if I noticed it disturbs my aikido training, I'd have to quit!

I practice Shindo Ryu Karate under Kenji Ushiro Shihan. I met him at the Aiki Expo and was attracted to the practice immediately. I started my martial arts training many years ago with karate. To find a style of karate that centers around Ki, is a perfect blend with the style of Aikido that I study and teach.

Marc Abrams

Iaido...I see a lot of similarities in Aikido and Iaido. They compliment eachother very well. I've been training Aikido for 1 year and 2 months. I started training Iaido 11 months ago. To me Iaido is an extremely focused, resolute art. There is a great amount of physical meditation going on within the strict guidelines of the techniques. I haven't quite found that place within Aikido yet. There's so much to take in with Aikido. Lots of big picture stuff that I have yet to grasp. I hope to get there some day.

Cezar Tipa wrote: trying to find the best blend with Aikido.

Do you mean an art that has similar principles as Aikido or different principals than Aikido?

If similar principles than Kendo, iado or bagua.

If different then boxing or wing chun.

dps

IMHO, its the person that blends well, not the specific style/art.

I've started training Systema. Greatly informing to my aikido practice.