4th Dan Aikido challenges Turkish Wrestler champion

[yeniseri]

Ueshiba was one of the few who actually trained hard up to old age!
So he possessed that hard conditioning the many refused to do and still refuse to do today. Easy does not do it in aikido. Just like taijiquan, people are so used to complying and yielding when it only leads to a heap of hurt. That is why when you slam someone on his back or borrow his legs, people will think twice about attacking you and they will know a true art when they
see you. Just my rephrasing of something Chang Dungsheng said at a workshop!
Just a workshop student and a bad one at that! Jus' sayin'

[Ian]

What I meant was, where's the evidence that:

-aikido is 99% strikes, or
-adding strikes to the kind of freestyle situation in the OP video... would've made a damn bit of difference.

Other styles don't have this problem.

Entering into competitive arenas of sport or freestyle combat isn't really part of the culture of Aikido. This may change, there are some aikido schools who actively cross train in mma. (Will post some vids of their stuff, I am off to class right now, will do it later )

In my classes we devout sometime each week to simple, no nonsense self protection training where we essentially concentrate on fast strikes to soft targets.

Thanks for the clarification.

Personally, I'd rather train styles that don't have quite so many preconditions for their success.

[emptycloud]

Ueshiba was one of the few who actually trained hard up to old age!
So he possessed that hard conditioning the many refused to do and still refuse to do today. Easy does not do it in aikido. Just like taijiquan, people are so used to complying and yielding when it only leads to a heap of hurt. That is why when you slam someone on his back or borrow his legs, people will think twice about attacking you and they will know a true art when they
see you. Just my rephrasing of something Chang Dungsheng said at a workshop!
Just a workshop student and a bad one at that! Jus' sayin'

This is a good point. Training hard into old age.

I try to reach my physical limit each day. Its not an easy practice. To do it in such away that avoids damage to the body or depression upon the mind.

I cycle two hours a day, work a manual job outside as a food grower, have two aikido classes a week, no car, and train at home casually... and at nearly 50yrs old ....its not easy... I try to make my work my training ground, lifting, digging, swinging axes, and other tools use.

anyone got any top tips for training as we age or is it just, no pain - no gain.

Rich

[emptycloud]

What I meant was, where's the evidence that:

-aikido is 99% strikes, or
-adding strikes to the kind of freestyle situation in the OP video... would've made a damn bit of difference.

Other styles don't have this problem.

Entering into competitive arenas of sport or freestyle combat isn't really part of the culture of Aikido. This may change, there are some aikido schools who actively cross train in mma. (Will post some vids of their stuff, I am off to class right now, will do it later )

In my classes we devout sometime each week to simple, no nonsense self protection training where we essentially concentrate on fast strikes to soft targets.

Thanks for the clarification.

Personally, I'd rather train styles that don't have quite so many preconditions for their success.

This chap in Mexico and his crew are developing things in MMA alongside aikido as their principle art.

http://youtu.be/4M2uG7_N_Io

[Overlord]

There are Aikidoka, and there are Aikido talker ka.

Usually the later ones compare and criticize, but the one follow the dao simply do.

If after forty years of aikido training move like a MMA, then the talent is with MMA, not aikido. (^.^)

[timfire]

I recently came upon this quote:

Ellis Amdur also brought to my attention O Sensei's words: "Aikido is 90% atemi". According to him, understanding it in a way that "Aikido is 90% of strikes" is mistaken, because if one develops what he calls the "Aiki body", one should be able to develop power, perform transfers of forces, and even apply percussion using any body part, and in any position.[4] Philippe Gouttard recently explained to me that since etymologically, atemi is the union of two words: ateru (touch / reach / hit) and mi (body), one should consider that one is executing an atemi every time one touches a partner.[28] We thus find the idea that the essential art of the technique is considered an atemi.

http://www.guillaumeerard.com/aikido/ar ... -in-aikido

[Overlord]

I recently came upon this quote:

Ellis Amdur also brought to my attention O Sensei's words: "Aikido is 90% atemi". According to him, understanding it in a way that "Aikido is 90% of strikes" is mistaken, because if one develops what he calls the "Aiki body", one should be able to develop power, perform transfers of forces, and even apply percussion using any body part, and in any position.[4] Philippe Gouttard recently explained to me that since etymologically, atemi is the union of two words: ateru (touch / reach / hit) and mi (body), one should consider that one is executing an atemi every time one touches a partner.[28] We thus find the idea that the essential art of the technique is considered an atemi.

http://www.guillaumeerard.com/aikido/ar ... -in-aikido

【 In contrast, a budoka will have more difficulty perceiving these signs, especially since strength and athleticism can often cover these up for a long time while getting the practitioner relatively far.】

Sometimes speed.
This, however does not mean athleticism not important.
It is just sometimes we get false insurance of athleticism, until strength and speed not prevail.

[lazyboxer]

Watching this reminds me of one of those Lion vs. Sheep videos on Youtube

[northern_mantis]

There's no reason why aikido tactics can't be effective in combat. IMO the reason he is a fish out of water in this situation is because there's no regular sparring. It's for street effectiveness not for sport is no excuse, not developing the skills derived from sparring makes any art less street effective.

Good friendly attitude shown by both though which is nice to see.

[windwalker]

havent interacted much with aikidoest, with exception of a friend who helped teach a group in HI along with
2 local Japaneses instructors. Their occupation at that time was prison guards, they had a lot of inmate
contact .

They felt their training was pretty useful in their capacity as prison guards.
I used to call them moving rocks, as they where quite unmovable if they chose to be.

regarding the clip, its hard for me to accept that the instructor is actually a 4th dan.
the training in the club in HI, I saw was pretty rough at the time, if something didnt work
they where pretty quick to change and adapt....maybe from working in the prison
kinda gave them a different perspective.

[GrahamB]

Prison Aikido - now that's a style I could get behind.

[Dmitri]

Steven Seagal would break this wrestler guy's arm in 3 places (with a loud crack), then put him through the wall, the door, and the window, then break his leg with an Aikido baseball bat, and then shoot him with an Aikido pistol.

[Kettlebells4U]

[Andy_S]

SNIP
Watching this reminds me of one of those Lion vs. Sheep videos on Youtube
SNIP

Hold it. There are videos of sheep inviting lions to visit their flocks, then challenging them to a rassle? Linky, please.

SNIP
Personally, I'd rather train styles that don't have quite so many preconditions for their success.
SNIP

Ouch. A very solid point that is a sad critique of the state of most TMA today.

And snort, guffaw and chuckle at Dmitri.

[Alexatron]

This is a good point. Training hard into old age.

I try to reach my physical limit each day. Its not an easy practice. To do it in such away that avoids damage to the body or depression upon the mind.

I cycle two hours a day, work a manual job outside as a food grower, have two aikido classes a week, no car, and train at home casually... and at nearly 50yrs old ....its not easy... I try to make my work my training ground, lifting, digging, swinging axes, and other tools use.

anyone got any top tips for training as we age or is it just, no pain - no gain.

Rich

Nearly 50? Wait to you hit the other side of 50 - it's all down hill from there

Leading up to 50 I tried reaching my physical limit every day as well but noticed rather than getting fitter or even maintaining my existing fitness level I started feeling depleted. Recovery times are longer as you get older and training every day had an accumulative debilitating affect. I started getting nagging injuries and sore joints. Now I pace myself, allow enough recovery time between workouts, mix up my training with more variety e.g. Taiiji one day, Bagua the next, bag work the next etc. Having said all that since getting into the internal martial arts I've found my recovery times are improving.

It's interesting you mention depression on the mind - I think a key component is enjoying your training as much as possible. If its a drudge then I fail to see how its going to be good for you in a holistic sense. This is one of the reasons I have tried several styles over the years. When I stopped enjoying a style as I changed through getting older I simply found another style that better suited that point in my life. I realize that goes against some peoples philosophy but its worked for me.

Certainly sounds like you live a very physically demanding lifestyle.