Mr. Arieson

Tom Yum, you have hit on one of the most important points in Aikido, and what I like about it.

Do people like Dick Hardman realize that if I use chokes, and hard strikes to someone's face, or Muay Thai elbows to someone's throat, that I might kill them or seriously injure them? Then what? I go to jail, and lose my job and probably my family too? Ok, self defense? Do you know how much a lawyer is going to cost for a self defense charge? Believe me, unless you are a 20 year old punk with nothing to lose, it is not worth it even if I am ultimately found not guilty. You know the type of world we live in, were a robber breaking into your house while you are gone gets eaten by your dogs, and then sues the pants off you and wins.

Aikido may just give me a way to control and submit someone without harming them. Of course, this takes a lot of practice. I am nowhere near that level. One day I may be, but in the mean time it is fun to learn. And like I said, I also practice strikes on my own, because I will admit they are not the main training point in Aikido.

Uke, you made some excellent points. I liked your posts on this subject.

Ghost

I guess ultimately we all do martial arts for different reasons and have different ideas even when it comes to self defence.

All these arguements come about simply because we expect everyone else to be looking for the same things in martial arts that we do.

Of course this doesnt happen, just try asking someone what colour a room should be and youll get disagreement.

Ultimately though its your room and you can have it any colour you damn well want. If you get what i mean.

So if it serves your purpose and you are happy with it then crack on.

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DickHardman

you dont have to kill or seriously injure people if you have self control. even if all you know was muay thai, there are plenty of ways to stop people without seriously harming them if you want to, like hitting them with a body shot, leg kick, or leg sweep to knock em off balance etc...

arts like judo and jiu jitsu also allow a person to do this, its not something unique to aikido.



btw, im not sure if age is that great of an excuse unless you have injuries that arent healing right or something cause there are PLENTY of older guys that train in MT, judo, jiu jitsu etc...... some of the toughest, strongest guys on the mat are over 40 years old and thats a fact.

Uke

Why thank you. I aim to please.

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