What do I think of Aikido?

Q&A with the Coach

Shanghai based MMA Coach and Kunlun Fight Combat League ringside commentator Ramsey Dewey answers questions from the viewers.

This channel features original music by Ramsey Dewey

[daotran]

Title: What do I think of Aikido?


7 and a half minutes in: Are we alone in the universe?

[scottyg]

I love Aikido, I shop there all of the time for the wooden furniture and the Swedish meatballs 😋

[Mnelissen]

Aikido only works when you are under siege or on deadly grounds.

[jwhippet]

Could you imagine if people treated athletic swimming like they treat martial arts. "Back stroke is fake. You'd die in the ocean backstroking." "No, back stroke is undrownable."

[feudingdrums]

"Progress comes to those who train and train; reliance on secret techniques will get you nowhere" - The founder of Aikido; Morihei Ueshiba

[landor]

I once went to an Aikido class in college, I had a mild background in boxing meaning i never really competed, but I trained and sparred, so I'm not all that great. Instructor picked me for a demonstration and asked me to throw a punch and he would use Aikido techniques to take me down, threw a jab and had to stop short, as he couldn't catch my arm. tried again, same thing happen, he then asked me to throw a punch in slow motion to demonstrate. Basically the whole class was sparring in slow motion. That's when I knew the class wasn't for me.

[StefanStenudd]

Ramsey Dewey, I'm an aikido practitioner since more years than I care to count, and your words about aikido are wiser than most I have heard within the aikido community. You express yourself thoughtfully, with compassion and a wonderful sense of humor. I've had the fortune of getting to know people from many martial arts - old and new ones - and my impression is always the same: When they have devoted themselves to their art seriously, they are gentle, friendly, respectful, open minded, and curious. You are yet another splendid proof of it. I am sorry you had to suffer aikido trolls in the comments you mentioned, although you said nothing to offend anyone. I salute you.
I also agree with you about the innumerable worlds out there in the cosmos :)

[lsporter]

I used to practice Aikido. The moves you learn can be useful in combat. But you aren't going to be good at combat unless you spar. You don't spar in traditional Aikido. If you were to spar using Aikido....it would look like Close Combat Jujitsu (stand up fighting).

I came to Aikido having trained in Taekwondo many years earlier. That and having played Football in High School. So I was used to being brutally attacked in different ways and using every part of my body to strike an opponent and put him down. If you have that kind of background, Aikido skills are good to add to your tool chest. It gives you even more options, more importantly it gives you the choice to be more compassionate and control an opponent without having to maim him.

But if all you have ever practiced is Aikido, without ever having had to be in a real fight, or never having been in a Combat Sport, or never having trained in a discipline where they you probably don't know anything about actual combat. That's not a poor reflection on AIkido, because that's not what Aikido is for. Traditional Aikido is not there to teach you how to be violent, it's there to give experienced fighters more tools and a choice. I'm glad you did this video.

[cgreggain]

This the best description of Aikido from a non practitioner I have ever heard I have 10 yrs of Aikido practice

[johnmaguire]

How dare you assume that I would be offended by something you say.

[johnmason]

The good thing about upsetting Aikido practitioners is they can't harm you because they can't fight.

[distane]

You mocked Aikido. I am telling Steven Seagal on you.

[sharkinahat]

Most people talking about Aikido on the internet don't know much about Aikido. That includes this comment and its author.

[EzzzZ]

How did this go from Aikido to extraterrestrials 😂

[jjonah]

I have been doing/living Aikido for almost 30 years, teaching for about 25. My teacher (who is still alive) was an uchideshi of O-Sensei for 10 years, and I wanted to say your video is spot on... good work. And yes, many aikidoka are too sensitive, and there are a lot of crappy mcdojo out there...

[baldieman]

OK, Aikido blackbelt here with over 30 years of martial arts experience...
Aikido is an exploration of a very specific set of martial skills.
It is NOT a complete martial art.
It can improve skills for people who can already fight (which is why Ōsensei Ueshiba would only accept students with extensive martial arts experience) and it can work in a fight in some circumstances but the overwhelming majority of practitioners couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag and in many clubs there is nobody (including the teacher) who has ever been in a real fight.
I got to the point where I would absolutely despair at people who would only ever train against a step through punch to the abdomen or a big chop to the side of the neck when that stuff is for CHILDREN!
It's supposed to teach form technique, meeting and extending your partner's energy and then you are supposed to apply that to more realistic attacks and then in a controlled sparring environment.
Aikido is supposed to be difficult but if you can pull it off, it looks almost like magic to untrained observers.
If you've only ever done Aikido and think you can defend yourself, you are simply wrong.

[kullenberg]

"Angry White Pyjamas" by Robert Twigger is a good read, light, funny and well written, about a british man's experience of training Aikido in Japan. The book tells among other things of senior practitioners who go out and start bar fights to prove their art (spoiler: not very succesfully) because of their insecurites regarding their art's effectiveness that seems to torture them. The author is a bit taken aback of their behaviour that is seemingly violating the Aikido philosophy.

In one of the concluding moments of the book, the author describes how an agressive drunk on a train in Tokyo is harassing the passengers and just as the author, full of adrenaline in his system, considers to intervene physically, another man steps in and gently asks the drunk if he's had a rough day. To the authors surprise the drunk calms down and eventually starts sobbing and begs for forgiveness as the man keeps conversing with him. The author then finally thinks to himself: "Now THAT is Aikido!"

[lobstereleven]

Krav maga guy: triggered by internet memes and vids.
Aikido guy: hold my macha

[jpport_]

You look like a really nice guy to have some chatting about life and philosophy. Congratulations, cause this is rare these days...

Ive practiced Aikido for some time and its a really good way to become a more chilled and harmonious person, but i understand that it is not applicable as a martial art anymore. Im really thinking into practicing MMA because of your videos! Thanks. Get out there and train!

[Aikiross]

As an Aikido teacher, I must say you got it quite right! Aikido is about expression and communication.