West Wind Schools "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly"

[rjderouin]

Any THOUGHTS? (Any RECOMMENDATIONS on a good Aikido dojo?)

As someone who is currently involved in an Aikido program I would recommend that unless you intend on cross-training, you stay away from Aikido. Martial arts that are great for weaker people are Judo and Jujitsu. Just be sure that the level of training is alive so that you can gain an actual grasp of the techniques.

[donoraen]

Any THOUGHTS? (Any RECOMMENDATIONS on a good Aikido dojo?)

I will be perfectly honest, I have trained in aikido, albiet only for a couple of years, but I did get to go to some seminars and see a large group of people training. Of all of the people I saw training, the only people that looked like they could actually apply aikido in a real setting were people who already knew how to fight. That being said, I think aikido is a good complimentary art that gives you some options that you might not normally have with just a primarily striking art in a self defense situation.

I also have a personal story about aikido that kinda sorta relates. I was at a seminar in Indiana for aikido and was running through some drills when I was partnered up with a high ranking elderly man. Things were going well until I had him on the ground and was trying to work a wrist lock. He refused to tap so I locked harder and instead of simply tapping he told me to "stop cranking my wrist or Ill **** you up", Then he basically tried to tell me in the same sentence that I was almost hurting him to the point of injury AND that I was doing it wrong. To which I kindly asked him what I was doing wrong and he just said that I was doing it wrong and didn't feel like explaining it to me. This guy was like 8th dan at the time and I was a 13 year old yellow belt...It really upset me. Though thinking back on it now, I should have just broken the assholes wrist and been done with it.

Akido-my synopsis; interesting and possibly effective if you can get a good grip on the other persons wrist, but less useful than judo-I had to choose between aikido and judo at my college and ended up picking judo.

just my $.02