Aikido a good choice?

Aikido is an excellent choice.

But there is a lot of break falling involved if you can get past the stage of accepting/taking them then you are on your way,same applys to Japanese jiu-jitsu,judo and Bjj.

Good luck and Best wishes :)***

With Aikido you will almost always find two extreme opinions of it: #1. It is horrible and a waste of time for self-defense. #2. It is great and wonderful for self-defense. Where is the truth? I think somewhere in-between. I have just started Aikido. I have studied a lot about it. I have also taken it's father art, Aikijiujitsu for 2 years. So, that's where I am a drawing from. There are at least two great Aikido contributors o here. So, definetly listen to these guys that have been Aikidoka for years. You can learn a lot from them. Anyway, my 2 cents...... Aikido is complicated. The moves and movement take a while to get down. How long? The big question! I'd say for a total beginner, 3 years minimum, 5 years average, 8 years max. It relies little on strenght and is big on graceful, ballet-like movement. It goes against your natural instinct for aggression and force. It also has no full contact, opponet resists against you, competitive, sparring. Now, this does not make it useless. But, I must admit, I have taken martial arts with competitive sparring and ones that do not. The competitive sparring does help a lot, and you learn how to use your art quicker. But, it also: gives you temporary and sometimes permanent injuries, encourages strong competitiveness/a win or lose mentality, sloppy technique, sport/fighting with rules mentality, etc. Aikido has sparring but, it's more cooperative and technical. So, without competitive sparring or competitions (which Aikido has neither), Aikido will take longer to learn and use compared to those who do like: Brazillian Jiujitsu, Judo, Sambo, Muay Thai, etc. But, with time and dedicated practice, you can make it work I believe. Aikido relies on you being a person who is interested in defense only. If you are a type who can be provoked and respond by willing to fight with someone then Aikido won't be a good choice. If you are an aggressive/bully type person and attack people, Aikido is not for you. If you are a guy who tries to be diplomatic, peaceful, considerate, descalate fights, and defend yourself ONLY when physically attacked, Aikido is for you! Many of the movements are desigend as a defense against an attack. It's strategy and mentality is geared for defense only too. So, if you are an aggressive type, Aikido's not going to be a good choice. Aikido is also mainly a grappling sytem. Striking is part of Aikido, but, it really is a minor part of it. Grappling with an attacker and putting them face first in a pin or throwing them and escaping are most of what Aikido does. If you are comfortable with that, Aikido may be for you. Aikido's groundfighting ability is limited. If someone can get you on the ground, Aikido doesn't seem to teach any defenses. So, Aikido is limited here. Aikido is more about staying upright. As I said I am taking Aikido as a white belt newbie. I believe Aikido will provide me with self-defense ability in time. But, I do realize it's limitations. They are all the ones I mentioned above. If I go plan to slug it out with some guy in a parking lot because he called me an insulting name, hey, Aikido isn't for me. Aikido works off that defensive mindset, not aggressive. So, if he took a swing at me, it's more my Aikido training would kick in, and hopefully end with guy thrown or down face first in a pin. I do realize this type of ability will take a while. So, be aware that your skills won't be full matured until a while. If you realize Aikido's strengts as a self-defense art, and realize it's weaknesses, and work around them both, I belive Aikido can be a right choice for you. If you cannot accept it's strengths and weaknesses, it's time to look at another martial art.

Based on what you are looking for - self defense that leaves you the option of not seriously injuring your opponent - Aikido would be great. We tend to have a lot of bouncers and cops in our school, who learn it for the very same reason. Unlike many people, they have actually used the moves regularly at work. Even my uncle, whose primary arts are Jeet Kune Do and Taekwondo, uses Aikido when bouncing. He has used it to safely bounce a 70 year old drunk man (without injury) - and effectively bounce people of all ages and sizes.

Aikido sometimes has a bad reputation among other artists who have seen crappy Aikido and assume that it is what it is. It's sort of like watching Rex Kwon Do (from Napoleon Dynamite) and assuming that all martial arts are crap. Of course, you probably wouldn't want to train in Rex Kwon Do at all - so take your time and visit as many dojo's that you can and find the one that challenges you and that you can respect. Only by visiting multiple schools can you really get a sense of what's different at each, and make an educated decision. I can highly recommend any Wadokai school (if you're on the east coast). Others may also be quite good.

For Self defense to start off, with multiple opponents you should see if you can find a Wing Chun School, Its a very practical style that involves much balance and multiple fighting tiring. Aikido will take a few years just to learn. Or you could learn Kick Boxing, sometimes when bullies try to bull rush you, you will have no choice but to sustain pain on your self and them. Its always better to talk your way out of a fight.

Cali

Tae Kwon Do

Traditonal Chinese Kung Fu

Karate

Mui Thai

In these schools find an orginal master of that Ethnic Back ground for good support. Or teachers who still practice with the origianl ethnic group..

35 yrs Aiki-Jutitsu, Instructor and Practitioner

33 yrs Aikido, Instructor and Practitioner

21 years- Chinese Forms-Instructor and Practitioner

The problems aikido will solve for you aren't the ones you are experiencing at school now. Don't dismiss aikido, but consider something else for immediate self defense/staying alive. Track and field for example. You should be able to out run most of your assailants after a season of that. Jeet Kune Do or Kajukenbo are some pretty good classes to take for quick applicability, but know the law in your area. Above all else, stay out of jail.

This martial arts journey is YOUR journey--but I'm willing to put in my opinion since you asked :) .

Aikido is a very compassionate art. You'll learn how to manipulate your Ki/Chi, learn how to use bokken/bo staff, and at your best--try not to hurt anyone, only to disarm them.

When you go to this Aikido school, practice, practice, practice. Not only in the school, but outside. Then make your own sense of style. Watch some clips from Youtube to add to your Aikido, then practice, practice, and practice.

You have a good heart, you can do it. That's pretty much what it takes.

Aikido will help, and you already recognize that it's not going to be overnight. Just don't tell anyone you're taking it, because then they'll want to see what you know, which will be disastrous at first. Once you've developed some proficiency, you'll have the option of severely hurting one or two of these clowns with a relatively small amount of motion/effort, and leave them wondering how you did that. This might buy you some respect and some space.

Any martial art is a good start. It is important to believe in what you are training in. Visit some schools in your area, watch the teachers and more importantly watch the students. If their attitude is that in which you wish to be, this school may be a good start. Watch for others who say "their" style is the "best". Often that person has limited training and is spiritually lost. I have trained in several martial arts, all of which were great. However, as a student and a teacher of Aikido and a police officer who has used Aikido in real world scenarios, would agree that Aikido may be the way to go if you wish to remain "non-violent". Good luck.

Not so much for self defense. Aki jujitsu is better, but even that takes a really long time to learn.

Here are some arts I would recommend for self defense purposes:

1) Krav Maga - best street defense art.

2) Jujstu. Brazilian is good, but if you have multiple opponents maybe not so much. Japanses jujitsu might work out better for you.

3) Judo. Nothing like being thrown to the ground at 35mph to correct someone's attitude.

4) Kenpo Karate - Good, detailed karate system. Very self defense oriented except for the kata.

5) Jeet Kune Do - Hard to find, but Bruce Lee's concepts are geared for fighting.

6) Muay Thai - tough, brutal striking system.

7) Western Boxing - simple and effective. The conditioning alone will help you.

8) wrestling: if you're old enough for the wrestling team, this is awesome in a brawl. If a guy is pinned, he can't beat you up. Seriously. This is one of the top ten martial arts in the world.

9) Mixed Martial Arts - all the best elements of wrestling, judo, and kickboxing. Very tough, very effective. You'd be a better fighter after 6 months of MMA than after six years of aikido.

Arts aren't in any particular order. Hope this helps. Good luck!

Yes Aikido is a very good choice, very. Because you don't really want to kick them in the face to tell them to stop, like taekwondo or kickboxing. Lol so yeah, aikido is good enough.