Is using Aikido a good way to defend your self in a street fight?

Its always funny to me to see Aikido receiving criticism from people who have never practiced Aikido, but have only seen it on youtube. An old saying is feeling is beleiving. My dojo offers instruction in many arts and most students cross train and spar against exponents of other arts. Aikido holds up well. Granted it takes longer to become profecient at it than say Judo or Karate but it is worth the time and effort. Again I make the argument that if Aikido is ineffective why does the Japanese goverenment make it mandatory training for their elite police forces?|||its better than nothing but if it was up to me, id pick something different|||You have to find a really good school that still sticks to the original hard training and not the very spiritual schools that teach airy fairy methods, and even then you would have to study it for a very VERY long LONG time before it can be effective|||No,take Brazilian Juijitsu or Mixed martial arts if you want to defend yourself.|||yes aikido is a good way to defend yourself in a street fight dont listen to these absent minded brazilian jujistu guys .... when in a street fight ... grappling takes you 1 on 1 ... aikido will help you take on multiple opponents ..not 1 on 1...|||Only if you want to cop a beat down.





Try using something else.|||When properly learned and/or taught, yes, it can be a good way to defend yourself. Aikido is a good art to throw your opponent out of balance, and apply joint locks.





You won%26#039;t look like Steven Seagal in the movies, as he%26#039;s been training and teaching for many years, but definitely can do damage provided you%26#039;ve practiced alot.|||I once met an Aikido master. Looked sorta fat and out of shape to me. I%26#039;d been studying TaeKwon Do for seven years at the time, and had some full contact experience.





He could see I wasn%26#039;t impressed with what looked like a dance class to me, so he offered to spar me.





To make a long story short, he put me on my back five times out of five. I never touched him.





He only touched me once out of the five.





My money says yes, Aikido is very effective.|||Don%26#039;t listen the Aikido guys who say that its really made for multiple attackers.





You wont even find Aikido guys to test there %26quot;Self Defense%26quot;, they say that it is not about fighting blah blah blah.





Equally trained BJJ, Muay Thai or even a good Wrestler would destroy an Aikido guy.





Watch some Aikido videos online, I liken it to WWE. Why do they always do demonstrations only with students. Why not test with a Muay Thai guy.





The answer is clear, students would leave their school along with their money.|||in disagreement with big foot i believe the airy fairy spiritual stuff is the most important part of aikido, and that it is very difficult to learn well unless you really get into that stuff.





If you are not into spiritual i doubt you will ever be good at aikido and you would do better doing something else.