Looking to join an Aikido club, what should I expect?

I see hot babes take Aikido all the time, there's a club we share mats with, they laff at us saying it's all about the male on male contact, then take dancing classes from a spiritual guru who stares at their t!tt!es the whole time. Weak people love Aikido, cuz it makes you believe that you can manipulate a stronger opponent without having to get strong yourself.
Small guys in Judo or BJJ are seldom weak, in fact, they are probably some of the physically toughest people on the planet, they don't out-muscle the bigger opponents, but their technique is not enough if it's not backed up with good muscular endurance, strength, explosiveness, quickness and skill. Aikido is all form, little function. Even Jigoro Kano, Judo's founder, said students need, emphasize need, to be physically stong and need to rigorously train their bodies.
 
Each art has it's own benefits. I think BubbleBoy summarised it correctly in regards to Aikido.

Aikido relies less on strength than Judo or BJJ. As with most arts, the club can make all the difference. You could visit a club where than dont spar and spend a lot of time on mystical spiritual bullshit OR you could go to a club that trains hard. I think if you dont work up a sweat at least - you have not learned anything.

I'd rather go into a confrontation against multiple attackers with Aikido than Judo or BJJ, so I could at least have a chance of getting them out of the way so I can run like hell. If I was a copper, I'd definitely go and learn some Aikido (but not JUST Aikido) because more than one law-enforcement officer has posted there is a priority to NOT go to the ground and NOT tangle up access to your weaponry as well as keeping your head up & scanning for threats.

However in a one-on-one "fair" fight against an Aikidoka, a BJJer or Judoka will very likely win (IMHO & not to offend Aikidokas)
 
I have now been to three Aikido classes and here are my thoughts so far:

Positives
- I have been getting a great workout. Classes last two hours and you are up and moving the majority of the two hours. The constant movement combined with the 90+ degee temperature make for a great workout.
- So far there has been very little time spent on the "spiritual" side of Aikido. Class consist of stretching for 10-15 minutes and then practicing different moves for the rest of the two hour class.
- A number of the guys there have been practicing Aikido for 10+ years and they have been very helpful and patient with me, which is good because I have felt pretty lost trying most of the moves.

Negatives
- Very little time has been spent on punching and no time spent on kicks so far. Yet, after hearing the reviews on this site and doing some other research on Aikido this seems pretty on par for Aikido.
- Maybe not a true negative but I can certainly tell that Aikido is a martial art that takes lots of time and practice to excel at. There is a huge difference between the guys that have been doing it for 1-2 years vs. those that have been practicing for 10+ years.


As Evil Eye Gouger said, I think the Aikido dojo is really my best option right now. I would love to join the BJJ/Kemp dojo but $110 a month is a bit more than I am looking to spend, plus you have to sign a one year contract. The Aikido dojo is five minutes from my house, $45 a month and no contract to sign so I can quit at any time. Having a wife, an 18 month son and another child on the way, I just can't justify spending the extra $800 a year on BJJ.

I have always been a fan of martial arts but I have never taken any so I figure that anything I learn from Aikido is a ton more than what I actually knew before.

Thanks again for everyones feedback!
 
Try going for a single or double leg takedown then get an armbar. See how well those 10+ year guys hold up.
 
I posted some links, not sure if you checked them out or if they are near you as I'm not too familiar with the area. But one or two of those places look like they might be worth checking out.
 
Thanks FiendishOne. I will definitly check those out.

cb9fl, they may not hold up too well against an experienced grappler. However, that really isn't my main concern. I hope to never have to use anything I learn outside the gym. If I do have to then I'll cross my fingers and hope it's not against someone that knows BJJ. :)
 
bmassey said:
As Evil Eye Gouger said, I think the Aikido dojo is really my best option right now. I would love to join the BJJ/Kemp dojo but $110 a month is a bit more than I am looking to spend, plus you have to sign a one year contract. The Aikido dojo is five minutes from my house, $45 a month and no contract to sign so I can quit at any time. Having a wife, an 18 month son and another child on the way, I just can't justify spending the extra $800 a year on BJJ.

I have always been a fan of martial arts but I have never taken any so I figure that anything I learn from Aikido is a ton more than what I actually knew before.

Thanks again for everyones feedback!
Click to expand...

Yeah I know what you mean, my last bjj class is on tuesday :icon_cry2 , I'm putting it on hold for a while. My bjj school is pretty far from my house & it costs 115 a month, so I'll being doing judo for 60 a month & the school is like 10 mins from my house.
 
bmassey said:
I have now been to three Aikido classes and here are my thoughts so far:

Positives
- I have been getting a great workout. Classes last two hours and you are up and moving the majority of the two hours. The constant movement combined with the 90+ degee temperature make for a great workout.
- So far there has been very little time spent on the "spiritual" side of Aikido. Class consist of stretching for 10-15 minutes and then practicing different moves for the rest of the two hour class.
- A number of the guys there have been practicing Aikido for 10+ years and they have been very helpful and patient with me, which is good because I have felt pretty lost trying most of the moves.

Negatives
- Very little time has been spent on punching and no time spent on kicks so far. Yet, after hearing the reviews on this site and doing some other research on Aikido this seems pretty on par for Aikido.
- Maybe not a true negative but I can certainly tell that Aikido is a martial art that takes lots of time and practice to excel at. There is a huge difference between the guys that have been doing it for 1-2 years vs. those that have been practicing for 10+ years.


As Evil Eye Gouger said, I think the Aikido dojo is really my best option right now. I would love to join the BJJ/Kemp dojo but $110 a month is a bit more than I am looking to spend, plus you have to sign a one year contract. The Aikido dojo is five minutes from my house, $45 a month and no contract to sign so I can quit at any time. Having a wife, an 18 month son and another child on the way, I just can't justify spending the extra $800 a year on BJJ.

I have always been a fan of martial arts but I have never taken any so I figure that anything I learn from Aikido is a ton more than what I actually knew before.

Thanks again for everyones feedback!
Click to expand...

you're not listening to me. a word of advice: you don't know you're not learning much till you learn some real things. I Did TKD along with wrestling, thinking they can go along. Common sense indicates TKD would work well if I "change a little" so its more realistic. It felt really correct. AFter boxing and doing MT, I realized I was wrong.

In fact, even when I did MT as a beginner, when I watch kugnfu movies, I'm tempted to have faith in kungfu. NOw i'm better, I doubt these martial arts would work.

Like i said; aikido is a bad choice, and you not ever doing martial arts would not know enough to realize this. judgement of which martial arts work can't be from common sense. it is something you have to acquire by learning a lot of MAs. I will tell you you're making a mistake and I know you won't listen, and you won't believe me even after you get mugged in the street if it ever happens. I know this is true b/c I was like that. Judgement of martial art efficacy comes from training, competition, and live sparring
 
BBN, it's not that I'm not listening to you. It's more that the Aikido fits best into my schedule and my budget. The gym is only about a mile from my house, cost just $45 a month and the members are more of my age. If I could find these same features at a reasonable price in another Martial Arts close by then I would certainly consider it. So far though I have not found anything near-by that comes close to these options.

My wife already thinks I am crazy for wanting to start taking martial arts at my age so it took some convincing for her to accept the fact that I will be away from home more often and we now have another bill to pay every month (anyone that is married and has kids probably knows what I am talking about). Therefore, driving 15-20 miles to another gym and/or paying $100+ dollars a month isn't really an option for me at this time.
 
im sure at the very least you could find a cheap judo place in your area. there are clubs practically everywhere
 
Evil Eye Gouger said:
Dude, you're a guy who hasn't tried any martial arts, but have to jump on every thread on Sherdog calling everybody pussies and useless.

The guy explained his situations. He explained his options. I'm sure he would join your gym if he could and become the unbeatable ninja magic soldier MMA prodigy just like you, but that's sadly not one of his options. His options are an extremely expensive Kempo school, a TKD school full of children and an Aikido school with a dedicated teacher and a small group of guys who love the art.

If you don't want to help, then get the fuck out of here.
Click to expand...

Oh man...that was funny...

I also enjoy the posts where people say, "Yeah I took three months of this and three months of that and learned that it sucked."

My neighbor growing up was an Aikido teacher. He used to also have classes in the local park in the summers and I used to go take it until he moved. The only thing I really remember from the training is shoulder rolls.

But I did get the occasion to see him try it on a resisting attacker (a fellow aikido guy asking him how to deal with a kung fu friend or some sort). From what I remember niether one was able to secure the wrist lock in the sparring session. That is an important thing to know about aikido.

I have, however, seen a wrist lock used successfully by my Korean TKD teacher. He threw a much bigger guy out of his dojang. The key seemed to be surprised. The guy came in and started mouthing off and Master Kim had that wrist lock on him before he even finished saying, "I could kick all of your asses...." (the rest was lost as he was yelping in pain and being escorted out the door).

So I'd hardly call it useless. I also have a good friend who used to be a bouncer who took Aikido and, as bubble boy mentioned, he used the wrist lock many times. And then I have an uncle who is a retired sherriff and I could go into his stories about using the wrist lock (even though he was a Karate guy), but I think the point is made.

It probably isn't the best art where you're in a cage and it is the whole, "Ready, set, fight" scenario, but it seems to work for people given the right circumstances.

As for a TKD class with lots of kids...I teach one of those classes!!! And I completely understand why an adult might want to avoid it. But as your kids age it might be one to consider taking together.

Good luck with the training...
 
bmassey said:
BBN, it's not that I'm not listening to you. It's more that the Aikido fits best into my schedule and my budget. The gym is only about a mile from my house, cost just $45 a month and the members are more of my age. If I could find these same features at a reasonable price in another Martial Arts close by then I would certainly consider it. So far though I have not found anything near-by that comes close to these options.

My wife already thinks I am crazy for wanting to start taking martial arts at my age so it took some convincing for her to accept the fact that I will be away from home more often and we now have another bill to pay every month (anyone that is married and has kids probably knows what I am talking about). Therefore, driving 15-20 miles to another gym and/or paying $100+ dollars a month isn't really an option for me at this time.
Click to expand...

Well, I feel strongly about arts such as aikido or kungfu. I really believe you're better off jogging every morning than take aikido as self defense preparation.

Lke Wild says, there must be some judo school nearby. Many judo schools are bad, some are good, but judo is much more reliable. Where do you live anyway?
 
BlackBeltNow said:
you're not listening to me. a word of advice: you don't know you're not learning much till you learn some real things. I Did TKD along with wrestling, thinking they can go along. Common sense indicates TKD would work well if I "change a little" so its more realistic. It felt really correct. AFter boxing and doing MT, I realized I was wrong.

In fact, even when I did MT as a beginner, when I watch kugnfu movies, I'm tempted to have faith in kungfu. NOw i'm better, I doubt these martial arts would work.

Like i said; aikido is a bad choice, and you not ever doing martial arts would not know enough to realize this. judgement of which martial arts work can't be from common sense. it is something you have to acquire by learning a lot of MAs. I will tell you you're making a mistake and I know you won't listen, and you won't believe me even after you get mugged in the street if it ever happens. I know this is true b/c I was like that. Judgement of martial art efficacy comes from training, competition, and live sparring
Click to expand...


The vast majority of martial arts are functional, otherwise they would not exist.

Some arts just happen to be practiced more for health or social reasons. In the good old USA where cash reigns supreme you have really weak instructors trying to make a dollar
and that often gives some arts there bad name.

My former Aikido instructor has been a bouncer for over 10 years.
He has escorted many beligerent people out the door using the art, and
has fought some of them that would not leave. Yes some clubs acutally practice weapon defenses. Freestyle. Imagine that.
I have friends that have used this worthless aikido on the Streets.

If you are really worried about your area carry a gun or knife.
Good hand to hand combat is kind of obsolete in bad neighborhoods.

Random thoughts
 
Dewey Buntler said:
The vast majority of martial arts are functional, otherwise they would not exist.

Some arts just happen to be practiced more for health or social reasons. In the good old USA where cash reigns supreme you have really weak instructors trying to make a dollar
and that often gives some arts there bad name.

My former Aikido instructor has been a bouncer for over 10 years.
He has escorted many beligerent people out the door using the art, and
has fought some of them that would not leave. Yes some clubs acutally practice weapon defenses. Freestyle. Imagine that.
I have friends that have used this worthless aikido on the Streets.

If you are really worried about your area carry a gun or knife.
Good hand to hand combat is kind of obsolete in bad neighborhoods.

Random thoughts
Click to expand...

Heh heh...

So many martial artists have a hard time accepting this. Nothing makes you fricken 'safe' against a knife or a gun. When bad situations happen they are not in a cage and one on one. We all saw Mirada's post about getting stabbed. I don't doubt his skill. But he was outnumbered and they had knives. None of us on here could have come through without being stabbed unless we were lucky. And he was lucky. He didn't suffer long term injury from it.

This guy is giving you the right advice BBNow. If you are so paranoid about being mugged you should just carry a gun, a cane with a heavy tip, or a knife. Why go through all that training just to get stabbed.

Train because you love it...
 
Nobody who trains one-on-one likes to fight somebody with a weapon, that's why the best weapon defense is another, better weapon! But being a trained fighter, you'll have much more to hand than someone who's never trained at all.
As for the bouncer who is an aikido master, he sounds like a badass, but is he a badass because he is an aikido master or is he a badass who took up aikido and mastered it? He might have done equally well in Judo or BJJ, cuz he sounds like a monster. Some guys are like that.
Me, I need an aggressive discipline with lots of free-sparring and competition agains ruthless people, to give me confidence and to build me up physically from small, mouthy, outta shape schlub->fighter. Hence Judo, Boxing and BJJ. Your art is a personal choice, much like a religion, and only you can decide if it's good for you.
 
Dewey Buntler said:
The vast majority of martial arts are functional, otherwise they would not exist.
Click to expand...
No, they exist because people without integrity or without frontline knowledge wanna make a buck. Hand to hand isn't obsolete, sure you might get swarmed, but usually, up here anyway, somebody will test you one-on-one first, to see how tough you are. If you go all submissive, forget about it, you'll be victimized forever. If you fight back, you might get the beats, but you'll earn respect, and next time, they'll be more careful of you. Especially if you mess one or two of them up.
 
BlackBeltNow said:
you're not listening to me. a word of advice: you don't know you're not learning much till you learn some real things. I Did TKD along with wrestling, thinking they can go along. Common sense indicates TKD would work well if I "change a little" so its more realistic. It felt really correct. AFter boxing and doing MT, I realized I was wrong.

In fact, even when I did MT as a beginner, when I watch kugnfu movies, I'm tempted to have faith in kungfu. NOw i'm better, I doubt these martial arts would work.
Click to expand...

If you've NEVER trained with ANYONE who was able to use aikido or TKD realistically, then it is you who lacks enough martial arts experience.

I train MT and BJJ myself mainly. But I've also sparred tough guys from almost every other art too. And I've also sparred some pretty crappy guys who claimed to train in MT or BJJ.

Ultimately, as long as you train the art realistically, every real martial art is worthwhile (real as in not created by a con man solely for profit). Not every art is suited for MMA in the same way as MT and BJJ are, but there is a lot more to the martial arts in general than just fighting in a cage.
 
Dedicado said:
No, they exist because people without integrity or without frontline knowledge wanna make a buck. Hand to hand isn't obsolete, sure you might get swarmed, but usually, up here anyway, somebody will test you one-on-one first, to see how tough you are. If you go all submissive, forget about it, you'll be victimized forever. If you fight back, you might get the beats, but you'll earn respect, and next time, they'll be more careful of you. Especially if you mess one or two of them up.
Click to expand...


Allright I will admit it. 3/4 the aikido practioners are poor martial artists. The other quarter are solid martial artists that understand the differents aspects of combat. They cross train like the rest of the MMA world. I for one practice aikido and cross train in judo and bjj.


I will say it again every martial art that exists had/has an important function.


In the area where I live I have seen more
people get jumped than I have 1 on 1 fights.

I have also had 3 friends get shot and not make it .

hand to hand is obsolete in many areas
so people gravitate to non violent conflict resolutions.
 
yeah, i like sitting down for a good game of trouble....
 
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