Can aikido be inneffective?

Part of how aikido works is that you are using your attacker%26#039;s energy against them, which is very effective.


BUT, if your attacker realizes this and changes his approach and energy and doesn%26#039;t, how shall I say it, %26quot;move to the flow%26quot; like a aikido partner in the dojo does and doesn%26#039;t show any resistence or change in direction then does aikido become less effective as now you cannot use your attacker%26#039;s energy against them and should an alternative method of fighting and self defense where more common punches and kicks and street fighting methods be learned along with aikido?|||You%26#039;re not the only guy who%26#039;ve been thinking this way, i have too and i agree to that.


But not all Aikido moves limit you to control the enemys energy.





Aikido can back away, which they%26#039;re also taught to do. Also sidewinding.





They can throw you at close range and if they%26#039;re stuck in a hold/lock, which is a pretty still move, they can get out of that with Jiu Jitsu techniques.





They can anti-grapple and they can block/deflect strikes.





I hoped this helped, but sure you can learn other %26quot;hard%26quot; styles alongside Aikido. It%26#039;ll increase your self defense skills and give you more workouts.


It%26#039;s also better cause you won%26#039;t seriously injure your attacker, which might cause you trouble depending on the laws in your country/state.|||Do you realize every thing you just said applies to ALL martial arts. If you do not train right you will not fight right. This is not exclusive to aikido. If all an aikidoka practices with is a compliant partner then he will expect a compliant partner in a self defense situation. The same goes for karate, tae kwon do, boxing, muay thai, tai chi, ju jitsu, jui jitsu and every other art under the sun. If the aikidoka trains against a partner that does not %26quot;go with the flow%26quot; then he will be ready for an attacker that does not as well. I have seen videos of akidoka sparring and attacking each other with rubber knives. I would bet money on those aikidoka against an untrained attacker any day.|||Aiki-Ju Jitsu is the original for Aikido comes from. In Aiki-Jujitsu interlink point is to know when to re-direct ki flow in your movement. Once you have moved to a higher level of training you can move more effective in your range of motion.





However, I personally feel that Daito Ryu is still far surprior to Aikido as I have been doing both for most of my life. This is the school that alll of jujitsu, judo, and aikido come from.|||aikido is very broad and very creative contrary to some other martial arts. if something fails there%26#039;s always three or four other options you can take to resolve the problem. real life aikido can encompass strikes too even though most classes don%26#039;t really teach them o%26#039; sensei always said that atemi (striking) is one of the most important parts of aikido. Even if the opponent is none responsive you can often come a long way with an opening strike.|||every thing has a counter attack to it. if some one starts to throw you, you can reverse it and throw them. or go with it and take them with you.





it all depends on whats happening, your training and your reaction to there reaction|||If they do not aggress then they cannot hurt you. either they attack or there is no fight. I understand your question, this is the answer...and it is an important point yes. You simply wait from a very prepared point of view....it is a very important concept that I learned from BJJ|||They are always using energy. If they start pulling back when you%26#039;re pulling them off balance, then you simply push. They will be on the ground before they can resist.|||Every attack can be countered if you know how.If this Aikido man has mastered the arts,he knows how to redirect the flow back in his favor.It is beneficial to learn other martial arts like Jujitsu etc.|||In class, when working on a specific technique, the idea for uke is to create a situation where that specific technique is appropriate.





Sure, uke can change but if uke changes, then the technique being practiced isn%26#039;t appropriate any more. This usually results in nage trying to force the throw. This forcing of the flow teaches them bad muscle memory - they are learning to respond to resistance with force.





Its also bad ukemi because it can get you hurt and denies your partner the ability to feel what it should feel like when a given technique is appropriate - it should feel easy and flowing.





That%26#039;s how it is for normal kata like technique training at beginning and intermediate levels and understanding the role of uke is difficult at this stage. However, when you do jiyu waza or randori (free technique), when uke resists or realizes what nage is doing and changes to prevent a technique, that%26#039;s the signal to change to a different technique - you can only resist in on direction at a time and what prevents nage from one technique creates the opportunity for a different one at the same time. A good nage will exploit the opportunity.





Sure, Aikido CAN be in-effective. For that matter, all arts can be in-effective. Its not the art, its the artist that counts.





One of the HUGE things that makes Aikido in-effective is thinking that more of what isn%26#039;t working is somehow going to work. It won%26#039;t. Rather, change and deal with what IS happening (you are meeting resistance) rather than what you wanted to happen (I%26#039;m going to do Ikkyo). Nope - you don%26#039;t decide what you are going to do, uke tells you what to do through the energy they give you.|||You%26#039;ll find that it%26#039;s very difficult to maintain your balance during an attack. With the possible exception or a jab, most people overbalance themselves. Yes, a person can realize this is a problem and work to counteract it, but this usually works to your advantage too.





If a person tends to step through an attack, their energy is moving forward and you need to keep it moving forward to throw them. If they see this, they will compensate by moving their energy backward - in which case you simply keep it moving backwards to throw them. Only in a fully neutral stance can their balance not be effected (easily, you can still off-balance them then - which is why we do static movements on occasion too) and a neutral stance is a lousy attack.





Ohhh, you hit me with your arm - put your body into it grandma.





Aikido boils down to a few basic principles - one of the most important is timing. If you want to extend someone%26#039;s energy forward, and you wait until their front foot touches the ground - you are too late. If you get them before that foot touches - and light them up with atemi - it%26#039;s going to be very, very hard for them to counter.





That said, I%26#039;m a big believer in cross training. One of my Aikido sensei%26#039;s is also a 5th degree black belt in Taekwondo. He will occasionally do an %26quot;advanced atemi%26quot; class that is nothing but taekwondo, maybe with some Kali thrown in for the fun of it. Actually many of the students at my school train in multiple arts - and it%26#039;s not uncommon for someone to come in with a %26quot;cool%26quot; new move they saw elsewhere that they want to share. Usually we then try to find a counter using Aikido.