Watch the previous Martial Arts vlog where I taught functional Aikido: th-cam.com/video/BB0_p0tfAHE/w-d-xo.html Watch the full Aikido vs Karate sparring and exchange here: th-cam.com/video/L-OxVZXhRik/w-d-xo.html Martial Arts Vlog #2 - Why I nearly quit BJJ - th-cam.com/video/KOtiyYOYeFs/w-d-xo.html Martial Arts Vlog #1 - The hardest martial arts training of my life - th-cam.com/video/7o3S6c3oH7k/w-d-xo.html
Brother awesome. Channel i practice muay thai not aikido..but I like your channel ... brother why don't you try your functional aikido against a non trained fighter.. that will highlight your techniques
@@TMMApplianceRepair Thanks! I'm thinking about trying it out against a less experienced fighter too. I'm also really looking forward to try Muay Thai one day
Hey Rokus. Great video again, you keep knocking them out of the park. Bravo. One question I have is, would you ever consider training in Judo? Judo, while also having ground fighting, has a strong trowing game. I think you would really be able to use some of your Aikido knowledge to develop the attributes that would allow you to thrive in Judo.
Haha. That's a good point. It also reminds me of what Matt Thornton (BJJ coach) one said to me: "Being good at Jiu Jitsu I can make all sorts of Aikido techniques work. But is that Aikido anymore?"
@@jesseshaffer3951 If you look at Shodokan/Tomiki comps though, there's only a small number of people who can off balance or lock up a resisting opponent. And that's under JAA type rules which are incredibly restrictive (99.9999% of BJJ moves would be banned). Even with world class Aikdio skills, the techniques and strategies of Aikido are far too limited to pull off against anyone with a modicum of training in something like BJJ. They tried a similar thing before where they got a world class Push Hands Tai Chi fighter to grapple with Marcelo Garcia. Marcelo got the better of it by some way.
@@humann5682 some would say surviving consecutive sword fights is nearly impossible. -- I am saying is that the actual technique is not just a wrist lock. That is missing the other 90% of it. Timing and footwork are just as important. You can make similar assertions about all kinds of techniques from all different styles (judo does not work without fitting in for instance, or in BJJ I have heard they value position first) -- I won't argue who trains what or how this school does X because Ueshiba taught each of his students differently.
@@humann5682 if you watch rokas BJJ irimi nage video you can see how it doesn't work when they stop doing the footwork. --edit: I wouldn't be surprised if the footwork is more applicable then the wrist locks overall. Maybe if you swapped some of the locks for strikes even. I hope I can find someone to test this with some day LoL 😆 ( btw take it with a grain of salt I am not a master)
@@moz5831 haha, off topic, but when I think of fighters from Thailand, I like to think of fighters from other countries as X-Wings because they are Thai Fighters.
As someone who's trained Aikido for 7 years, then abandoned it and joined, judo, sanda, Boxing, and now have a new perspective of this seemingly "useless" art, I was inspired by your videos and Jesse's, and therefore went excited to see you two mashing up. Awesome!!!! As for the sparring, I'd give my 2 cents that thing you should let him come to you, and use some feints(atemi) to provoke his attack, then counter them, as Aikido works best in a defensive situation.
It doesnt even work as an defensive situation. To be able to grab someones hand while it flies toward you in high speed is close to impossible. Aikido is a fake martial art. Sorry to say that. But it's equal to Tai chi
@@vipr1142 I get the Tai Chi comparison, there is a lot of bullshit techniques but I wouldn't call it entirely fake. It was designed for medieval warfare, where judo and jiu-jitsu are more well designed for unarmed combat. The fundamentals of stance, movement, weight distribution and timing in Aikido are legit. I took less than a year of it when I was a kid. That stuff always kept me on my feet whenever someone tried to take me down.
@@vipr1142 It depends on what you mean by "grab someone's hand." I agree that its difficult, but its not impossible, however, if you grab someone's hand from a punch (jab, cross, hook, whatever), its not at all going to look like aikido. Its going to look like a messy grappling situation, and you'll probably end up getting more their wrist, elbow, overhook, or underhook like in wrestling (I suppose you could end up with a sleeve grip like in judo if they're wearing long sleeves).
@@Snyde70 ". I took less than a year of it when I was a kid. " How would you know it's no good, then? You have to get a black belt, at a studio where they spar against other systems, THEN tell me it doesn't work.
Food for thought... the original top students of Ueshiba were all versed in multiple styles. They weren't obsessed with being an "aikido purist", they were simply focused on elevating their already established skills using Aiki Budo (Daito Ryu JJ/Aikijujutsu). Many of these students were very open minded towards ALL styles from East and West (some were Sumo, some were Judoka, some were JJ, some were Karate and Western Boxing).
I'm so exited for this new era of martial arts! So many well meaning representatives of their different arts, sharing their knowledge with other great practicioners while we learn through their journey. Thank you.
I always was under the impression that Aikido was about finding an exit from a situation by engaging as little as possible. If you are going toe to toe and trading with an opponent that seems to be the antithesis of Aikido.
Exactly. Aikido is for asymmetrical conflicts. Meaning that the aikidoka tries to disengage from the conflict and the other guys try to engage more in the conflict. If you as an aikidoka starts engaging in the fight, stepping in and out and trading blows, it’s no longer the appropriate scenario where you could make aikido work in its current form. Then it need some considerable adaptation.
Just a thought, but maybe you could try setting up your aikido techiniques with basic combinations using kicks and punches first? I feel that while Jesse was good, it was a bit obvious that you were going for aikido techniques, when you could make him guess between aikido or kickboxing. Anyways love ur content man.
Exactly but it is true, aikido needs a commitment of sorts and then ends up looking like aiki-jujutsu instead. Against an untrained attacker potentially but a guy moving in and out picking his shots, forget about it.
I love the respect in these videos, no disrespecting of any styles or calling it useless, just a productive session and conversation on the topic about strengths and weaknesses
On Round 1 one thing I noticed is you are constantly moving forward trying to grab Jesse. You should be mixing up your movement more and be more defensive picking your moments to clinch when Jesse is trying to close the distance. As you said in theory Aikido works best with overcommitment you need to frustrate Jesse with defensive movements to get him to over commit. Which is easier said then done.
great point. I was confused by this man's continuing attempts to close and fight. It's like he wants to be a Wing Chun or Karate master using Aikido moves. Perhaps this disharmony within him is why he struggles with Aikido.
@@upyurz5272 No this is pretty common approach for Grapplers when fighting against a significantly better striker they start hunting for the takedown. Take Ronda Rousey against Holly Holm for example.
It's actually a whole Japanese village in Poland! I couldn't believe it at first. The Dojo itself is really cool too. There's even a Zen garden next to it and the Dojo is on a top of a hill
BJJ Globetrotters does a BJJ camp there every year. The place is amazing! Japanese houses heated by local logs, there's a steam room/sauna, it's next to a huge forest with wild boar etc, the food is excellent and you've seen the main dojo. Built by a traditional karate Japanese guy in the 90s. It's half way between Krakow and Warsaw, way out in the countryside.
That MMA training is showing dude... nice sparring. What a difference from your old videos LOL. Such growth holy shit!! I am not sure why you did not incorporate striking however? Why limit your side, Aikido needs all the help it can get. Heck, that seems to be the ridiculous part of it really, the fact that you just have to move in with no striking! You are at a disadvantage against any form of fighting, forget it against a trained Karate guy. Know what I mean? .
@@BDG.99 I’m no expert, though I do train in both striking and Judo and that would be my preference for dealing with a street altercation. I’d say to strengthen your grip and learn to block/check strikes.
Love seeing you collaborate with Jesse. Your collaboration videos bring great positive vibes and I wish you the best! Keep going with your functional Aikido idea! I think you have something unique there and there will be times when you just feel so discouraged that it won't work that you'll want to quit cold turkey. Keep at it! Only through the sort of the pressure testing you are doing do you discover some of the greatest realizations and understandings.
Challenge for Rokas; Take up "old skool" judo training. there are approaches to your aikido Wazza yet for you to discover as you still have not learn to flow. Not BJJ this is to Ne-Wazza focused, but still great stuff and it's awesome you got stuck in with BJJ no doubts there at all. Honestly really impressed with your work in this video and jesse is so awesome, just that passion man. so yeah there are some great judokas out there that can show you the path like say Shintaro Higashi if you want to walk it.
I think he said he's gonna do Judo soon based on a poll from us here on youtube. If he does that, I think type of stand up grappling sparring goes much differently. Judo does teach really good footwork.
@@kovenmaitreya7184 Awesome to hear cause i really hope he does, as a judoka first and foremost I agree (yep im biased towards judo lol). I do believe Rokas can be one of the key figures that brings Aikido into the 21st century He needs to learn to flow though, the footwork is definitely a big part of that but it's more about posture,positioning,form,tempo, pacing, control, judgement, commitment, reacting not just predicting all while in motion to maintain fluidity of movement for full impact. which you means you need to work on grips, breathing control, spatial awareness, balance, uchi mata, break falling. training like this teaches you how to learn to feel for you opponents movement and motion itself becomes second nature not just moving your feet. learning to flow like this is unique to judo in particular, he's missing that granular judo mindset that would make his Aikido techniques work much better. That aside boxing/kick boxing Muay thai is just savage just because of conditioning and sparing/training regiments lol, personally i think everybody should train in at least 1 of these seriously at least once in there lives if they can, just for humility sake. thing is you can pair up any system really but it whether you personally can make that combination work, so something like karate is going to be a big depends but definitely not a no when combining with judo. which is going to rely on you and the style you train in as some are definitely more complimentary than others like say Wado-Ryu which overlaps with ju-jitsu of all things so you can see why already.
I’m not an Akido practitioner but I love what you’re doing with it. Taking what can work and trying to expand on it is what I wish more people were doing with traditional styles.
I'll keep working on it. I don't doubt it will still take a long time until I will collect all the pieces and will also learn from people who have already tried making their Aikido functional
I think Aikido (or Wrestling or Judo) is a great secondary style to know atop Karate. Atemi-waza (or for karateka tsuki-waza) would be mainly modified karate techniques and setups to the Aikido. Rokas should just complete the set: Aikido, BJJ, Karate, Judo, Jiu-jitsu, and Aiki-jujutsu.
You're basically doing what the OG masters did in modern times with aikido. This is pretty dope to see this evolution get documented for everyone to see even if it doesn't work out.
That's amazing, congrats, Rokas, congrats, Jesse. What's also amazing is to check the comments area and see Ramsey Dewey, Sensei Seth, hard2hurt, Fight Comentary Breakdowns. Y'know, I always watch you guys, but most on the TV, where there is no comment area. Cheers!
Big fan since the long hair days! As someone who started out doing Aikido before transitioning to Karate, I've been through the same "Wow Aikido doesn't work," moment. It's really nice to see the difference between my two origin styles though. Have you considered some sparing that incorporates all the striking elements with some of the practical Akido in order to test the validity of your 'Aikido way' as opposed to that of most Akido schools, which we know don't really work? Also congratulations on the proposal!!!
Haha, the long hair days. I'm planning to keep exploring this subject. One of my next plans is to add strikes and to try it out with a less experienced fighter
Why are you chasing him??? That is shitty aikido, you know shit about aikido. You should make him chase you, your aikido sucks and you don't know shit about aikido strikes, either...shomenate, aigameate, etc...you know shit about aikido.
Super, super cool! LOVED the joke at the start - "if it was an Aikido video". Brilliant! That japanese sensei that complained about your videos some time back is doing quite a lot of this kind of videos, with (complaint) MMA guys and stuff... Jesse is a great guy! Like the exchange between you too! How to see more and more colabs with different ppl. As always, appreciate your honesty! TY!
Idea for the next sparring. Get a Kendoka, put on some armor and then try Functional Aikido! In my oppinion levers make more sense in a weapon environment. Iam curious how that would end! :) th-cam.com/video/apn6kDhDpBk/w-d-xo.html
For Aikido to work against Karate (or striking/kicking in general) you have to see the punches coming and time them - as in timing your grab. To learn that you need to spar a lot! And you have to setup openings so you know where your opponent will strike you. Jesse is right in one thing: the one who controls distance, controles the fight. But he forgets that the 2 key things that dominate fighting are: position and timing. Position includes distance, but also angles. Timing includes reading the rhythm of your opponent as well as changing your own rhythm to keep your opponent from timing you.
The scenario you’re describing (grabbing a punch and throwing) has been debunked a thousand times. It’s possible to grab a punch, but it’s impossible to hold on to it. Those are the facts…
@@ricksterdrummer2170 Grabbing a punch and throwing seems pretty unrealistic to me as well. I come from a boxing background and don't have much insight in Aikido techniques. If that's the only thing that Aikido does, then it's pretty much useless. And now that I think of it, yea I remember that Aikido is about using the motion of your opponent against him, right? That's indeed pretty impossible vs a trained striker/kicker. But you can grab/catch or dodge and then move in to grab someone. Just like you see in MMA. But I think BJJ is a better sport to practice to learn that.
@@Ken_Jones if position and angles are practically under the umbrella term of distance then he is only forgetting the one thing being the timing part. Not the position
This was maybe the...5th or 6th video of yours I watched, but probably my favorite because not only did it introduce me to Karate Nerd, but it also opened the floodgates on all the martial arts videos I've been binging since. Its making me want to get back into training. You two reignited the passion in this lapsed artist.
I love how both practitioners are very humble and respectful of each other's martial arts. At the end of the day, it's not the martial arts that matter but the ones that are practicing them.
Some of the best functional aikido examples out there are incorporating extensive use of atemi (striking) to manage the dynamics of the fight to break balance and apply a technique. Even Jesse pointed this out by saying that aikido is 90% striking. Rokas, in this sparring and your original MMA sparing video years ago, you threw out or didn't use atemi seemingly at all. Jesse never had a reason to break his posture avoiding a strike. This in conjunction with his controlling distance means game over.
Akido and even Karate, are martial arts. Most MMA fighters respect them as arts that they are, but no one expects any functionality out of them these days. Nothing wrong with that.
Considering the fact that there are so many UFC champions who are and/or were karatekas and taekwondokas, I beg to differ. Aikido is an art which cannot be applied to real combat, except when you're fighting an inexperienced fighter. Perhaps with a combination of techniques from other arts, Aikidokas could potentially fight experienced fighters, but using old-school Aikido - no way.
@@Vishonov MMA stands for mixed martial arts. Meaning.. if you take both the power from karate and the grappling from bjj into your style, you are no longer doing karate or bjj, your are doing MMA. I meant that traditional martial arts alone aren't not viable in the modern fighting world.
Thank you for visiting Poland! Both of you guys make great videos! I'm watching you for a couple of years. Greetings from Polish Shorin-Ryu Karate student.
First I found Jesse last year and became a fan of his humility and the approach he has to Martial Arts. Then found out today there's another Martial artist which in this case an Aikido master who shares the same approach to Martial arts as Jesse. Instant sub and like. Don't get me wrong I neither do Karate or Aikido. Muay Thai instead but Jesse's approach has made me respect and want to pick up Karate. Now there are two great martial arts master I can follow. The art itself is just a base the true essence of martial art is the individual's Journey. May your journey further your experience. You have my utmost respect as well sir.
I watched a video with french-japanese aikido teacher. According to him, shortly after the 2nd world war, many martial arts which could be used as a kind of weapon were totally forbidden in Japan by the US. In order to survive, Aikido was then transformed into a more passive form, with offensive techniques removed, and past history partially rewritten to make it look like a kind of self-defense technique. This has allowed Aikido to survive this period but as a different form. It was the first time I heard this but I find it interesting and really possible.
Not true at all. Karate was still practiced in Japan even after the Japanese surrender. Kendo which literally uses weapons were almost compulsory in schools. The American occupiers never interfered with what the Japanese were practicing. Just some load of crap to make ppl feel Aikido was effective at some point.
There's a famous theory that after Hiroshima and Nagasaki aikido's founder decided that martial arts are too destructive and went on to create a pacifistic martial art focused on personal development
i think you are an amazing teacher. you teach people how to be humble, to learn and to grow. to enjoy the journey, to think with an open mind and find the lessons in all outcomes. athough you can not apply a lot of what you learned in akido vs other martial arts styles and it may not be what you initially thought it was it is very clear that what you did take away from it has helped shape you into this person you are today. It has made me realize that although a lot of it is not practical in a real fight akido can be an important part of a martial arts journey or simply taking the time to learn and understand each art and taking little bits from each thing along the way even if its just the philosophies behind it can only help you grow in this space.
Very interesting! A long time ago I tried Aikido against a college wrestling champ and it went about the same except I got taken down and pinned. Then I went on to BJJ and MMA.
At "round 1" you almost got me, it all seemed to be too much perfect, like your opponent is completely incapable of making resistance, even just contracting his muscles or using his weight, but at the same time he his able to perform "mini jumps" to indulge your techniques... nice joke
Very interesting insights as always! We train Aikido mixed with Kempo Jujutsu so you actually Strike, Kick and after a punch or kick has been successfully landed you might get a chance to take someone down or in a writst lock etc. But there‘s always a combination of strikes & kicks first or in between. Like in Kudo. You might want to take a look at combining your kickboxing with your Aikido and see what happens :) But all in all, I really enjoy these videos taking a look at your old martial art again. Greetings!
@@md_f_dnn I‘ve stumbled across many different names for what we do, we call it Takeda Ryu since it has its origin in the Takeda family (Samurai era). Basically it‘s a form of Aikido pre WW2 and pre Morei Ueshiba.
@@Nikoman531 well if that is the case then I don't think you're doing something that is called Kempo because the martial art that morihei ueshiba studied, founded by his teacher Takeda Sokaku, is known as daito ryu aikijujutsu, not Takeda ryu or kempo jujutsu, Takeda sokaku's grandson is still alive and teaching daito Ryu
Excellent: Concise, enjoyable, and a wonderful continuation of the journey we’ve seen! Rokas looks in good form to me, and constantly improving with his video creation, not that I thought it has been lacking. Recommended!
Hey, great video. Just a question. If Aikido's founder said that Aikido was 90% striking then what happened to the striking in the modern forms? Is it absent or ommited. We never see much regarding striking when Aikido is mentioned. It would be interesting to hear what changed and when as well as why.
I've read somewhere on YT comments (so give it the benefit of the doubt) that Ueshiba admitted only veteran fighters to his teachings, so supplementing their knowledge and experience with aikido techniques could make sense. Aikido as an add-on could be useful, knowing how to strike. Learning aikido as a standalone "fighting" martial art for self defence is almost a suicide, this is obviously my opinion as a former aikido student (rather bad tbqh). Learning aikido for its philosophy or interior peace is legit, tho.
I think it depends on your instructor. A friend of mine who studied aikido for years corrected my assumption that there was little striking in aikido by explaining to me that they are constantly striking. Fighting will always require striking, it's just the nature of fighting.
This was very cool on many levels but I think one of the coolest things about it is just the camaraderie between 2 well known YT Martial Arts Vloggers and the openness of experimenting, working together and pressure testing your styles rather than just bashing each others Art which sadly seems to be the norm these days. KUDOS to you both! Ousu,
My Aikido teacher said in Aikido, we usually don't use the techniques. The techniques teach us how to think. Then we improvise. Also he said, make the opponent attack you, ideally. You do that by closing in the distance gradually until you are in range of kick, punch/jab, grab/throw. Depending on your distance, you anticipate what's coming/what can come. Then you might react faster. I also think there may be holes in Aikido for now. Everyone could try closing those gaps by inventing new techniques or new, but safe, ways of doing things in Aikido.
I thought he was dropping a hint to study O Sensei's teachings more directly. I personally have always thought there could be something lost in translation from his original teachings to how the art is taught in most schools today.
What Jesse said about a square peg in a round hole really stuck out to me as something to pay attention to. It's really good to see you smiling and laughing in a video. We don't normally get to see that side of you.
Aikido was designed to disarm in a sword fight, it's like sword tai chi. Then, the disarming moves of Aikido got translated to empty hands. Aikido works but you can't throw that person in sparring or the cage, like you do in expectations. you can only stop that person from hitting you by grabbing his hand and rotate to the outside to escape or push him while grabbing his hand.
I enjoy your openness to training & Jesses honesty in his critique. I don’t know much about aikido specifically outside of what I’ve seen online/in movies & might be way off with my thoughts here, but I think I like idea of being aikido-ish with my martial arts in the sense that after years of training I’m essentially drilling my “go to” techniques into a handful of moves for any one area, refining my preferred strikes, , takedowns, submissions & sweeps ect as much as possible rather than learning “all” of the techniques and being less proficient at all of them. Hopefully that makes sense. Keep up the vids, it’s a valuable juxtaposition from the usual content on TH-cam 🤙🏻🥋
I 100% agree with the fact aikido should include stricks in order to be efficient, I have practiced traditionnal ju-jutsu (which contains a lot of aikido technics) for 10 years and I was always told that every grab-and-throw was usually settle by a strick toward the face (eyes, chin, etc...) of the opponent (to occupy his attention, disconnect his body, or even knocking him out a few seconds). It can also be performed by just going away from the attack (like aikido move, tai-sabaki, create vacuum) and tacking advantage of overcomitment.
I really respect you for sharing your weaknesses and Aikido's weaknesses to many viewers. Your journey with Aikido is equivalent to loving another human being: to accept its strengths and flaws & continue to improve and constructively criticize it. My cheap advice: to read and research aikido in order to find the purest form and/or find the corruptions along its growth if any existed. I hope you will bring more wealth of knowledge to more people and become a wise sensei :)
I like the way you self criticize your style and technique, your humble and simple spirit will get you higher and higher....you are the kind of guy who can improve himself from mistakes ....
Watching this exchange made me so glad that when I was still training in Shuri-Ryu Karate, we were required to practice jiu-jitsu and Karate in tandem to ensure we were well rounded and to compensate for one styles weaknesses
“I choose the worst opponents to apply aikido” I think there is definitely something to be said here. Also if you say striking should be 90% of the art and most schools don’t use strikes, I think that needs to be added in. In the art I train (not aikido) we say a complete martial art contains kicking, striking, throwing, and grappling. If you just do one it’s not complete. You can use a strike to step up a throw, or strike out of a failed grappling attempt. Really like the video with icy Mike and the one with Oliver as well, great stuff as of late. Keep it up
@@MartialArtsJourney yeah he's pretty cool, he's very open minded like yourself and appreciates cross training to better oneself, my jujutsu instructor is a big fan of his and yours as he started out with aikido in the 80s
It's so funny, I remember how surprised I was by this. I followed Jesse San, and icy mike, and sensei Seth, even Dewey Ramsey, and Jerry from fight commentary break downs. AND Master ken. Little by little you guys all did collabs lol I remember this as the moment you joined the Pantheon. 💪 Much respect to you 🙏
As we pressure test Aikido and other grappling, including BJJ, the joint locks happen when grappling, rarely during striking. I say master it all. All locks, all strikes, all kicks, etc.
Things to understand before learning Aikido... 1) Aikido works well against very committed attacks. For example an all-out punch, no pulling back like karate punches. 2) Aikido is not the best martial art to defend yourself but it is the best way to overcome the attacker while causing the least injury to them. 3) Aikido will teach you more about self-awareness, but other martial art like karate will teach you how to focus. so learn both to get the best of both worlds.
The throw @0:58 😂😂😂... I know you're on a mission to make this more of a functional fighting style, but that throw looked so coordinated. The sparring partner looks like he was doing that front flip whether he was "thrown" or not.
Hi Roukas, there is a Dutch TH-camr who teaches Aikido, I think he is based in Amsterdam. According to him, Aikido only works in real life, if the grappling moves are started off with Atemi, striking moves first. Punches and kicks are launched first, before attempts at grappling and throwing can take place. His videos are very informative!
Biggest tip I can offer about aikido is understanding the connection between aikido and katana. The movements in aikido are like those using a sword specifically as it is used in kenjitsu. Your hands should feel weighted as though they are carrying a heavy sword or shovel and you want to rest. So they always want to return to your center near your navel. A sword edge will dull if it strikes steel so there is not a lot of blocking per se in kenjitsu, which means it is quite different than in kendo. In kenjitsu the body moves out of the way and the sword is lifted as you move so that it feels weightless and then the hands always fall into back position near your navel so that as the body changes angle the sword moves up and down in arcs in the most natural way. In the least aggressive defenses you are already out of the way and use the swords natural weight to make the sword fall into a strike BEHIND the attack; against the wrists, the elbows, the shoulder, etc. aiming for the space between bones or just behind them like where the ligaments and cartilage are so you are not cutting into the bone since you don't have a lot of power to cut through the bone since you didn't draw the sword back much but instead just lifted it enough to use it's weight as it came back down. In kenjitsu the sword is considered razor sharp, so it cuts like a laser. It it not a chopping weapon, but instead like a sushi master's knife is a fine tool for making precise cuts. You use the keen edge to cut deftly and strategically. When practicing Aikido imagine holding a sword. The hands remain close to the body and move upward when closing the distance as the hips rock in an arc because the weight of the sword or the man you are trying to manipulate is fairly significant and you need the hands close to the body to lift a man. This lifting action is done as you enter not after and you naturally place your hands near the attackers elbows, wrists, neck, knees, etc. You have to do it gradually as you enter his guard or he will bear down and resist it with his weight. So you have to close the distance long before the attacking fist or foot is near you so you'll be behind the attack out of the way of it's striking end when it comes. Otherwise you are just blocking like in more conventional martial arts and will not be able to manipulate the body of the man as he attacks. You want to inside his guard and in a good position already when that happens. Don't worry about the end of the attacking weapon which is the fist or foot itself. It can't hurt you because you will not be there. Move out of its way BEFORE the attack comes with good footwork and pelvis positioning and focus on the center of the weapon, the joints, and get your pelvis near his own pelvis like you plan to take a weapon from him or flip him like you might do in judo. You'll have your hands on the joints of the man which are far behind the forward motion of the attack and your body will already be out of the way when it comes. You'll have closed the distance naturally and can apply the aikido techniques. Obviously it's easier on an amateur because as you say they overextend, but watch the KNEES in relation to the NAVEL so you understand his distance and rotation of the pelvis which is what tells you his range and angle of the attack more than anything else will so you can enter gradually and be in a good position when it comes. Watch O Sensei. He moves upright and gently with almost no force at all. He is not fighting from a fixed stance or position. Instead he constantly positions himself ideally out of the way as though talking a gentle walk almost entirely ignoring the attack itself. He's simply not where the attack is when it comes. Aikido was designed for self defense. But when the strike is used it's devastating because you using the earth itself as the weapon. God's heaven can not stand a man who tries to remain upright who is not upright in his heart. He will fall to the earth and crash into it. The earth is the weapon of atemi in aikido. You simply channel heaven into the earth through your head, arms and spine and finally through your legs and feet through a natural path of least electrical resistance and so by doing you help to reconnect the enemy to heaven and earth since he is out of alignment with them. You do this like a lightning strike is passing through you and you are an upright rod. Watch O Sensei use his fan. That's what he is signalling. The wind storm circling above and the lightning coming down.
I used to practice a JuJutsu style that was very similar to Aikido. It also included punching and kicking. We practiced free sparing, similar to what you were doing with Jesse. To do locks and throws you need some form of off balancing of the opponent first. This can be done with striking. eg if you can punch the opponent in the chin or kick their knee or groin this may give you a chance to grab their arm and do a lock. There was usually some moving back and forward first while both training partners kicked and punched. You have to do Karate style moves while looking for an opening that allows a throw or lock. In sparing you have to apply all your strength to the locks, while letting them off at the last moment so you don't do serious damage to the opponents joints. At the beginning of the video, when Jesse did the high round house kick I thought you had him for a moment. You stepped closer and I thought you were going to hook his kicking leg with your left arm , push his head back with your right hand and sweep his left leg with your right leg.
Thanks for the very good video! Have you ever checked Aikibudo? They still use atemis to set up many waza and they also have great uke strikes "channeling" that also work great against active fighters.
I think that everything start from the question "what is my pourpos?". The great part of people that fight inside a cage practiced boxe,muay thay,bjj and tae kwon do,sometimes jujitsu. Every martial art or combat style is good but depend all from what is the goal someone have. Merry christmas man!
have written this to you over the years and you never see it but there it goes one more time, in Mexico there is a self defense instructor who uses a very different and functional style of aikido, his name is Bruno Orozco and the school is called combatives
the beauty of this that we all can wake up and to understand that we have to see all the possibility, learn much of arts we can because the real momentum is when we are going to need to combine, not all the situations are the same. Not always we are in the floor (we don't want to be in the floor), but if, then BJJ, or other grappling style, the idea is to know much as possible and train...hugs
very interesting video. its very cool that you try to efectivly integrate aikido into mma, that alone is very hard to do and even when the techniques dont succeed you try to learn and improve.
I come from Karate and I LOVE Aikido ! It just feels like a continuation of the 5th Dan of Karate (which I have NOT reached yet, only 2, but it gives perspective.)
I think aikido has a place in mma if they have leg sweeps, grabs and tosses. Grabbing an arm is very hard to do if you just grab at the wrist you would have to block the elbow or even Perform a Samurai grip. This actually gave me in site for something I am working on. Thanks for this man. I learned something here
Watch the previous Martial Arts vlog where I taught functional Aikido: th-cam.com/video/BB0_p0tfAHE/w-d-xo.html
Watch the full Aikido vs Karate sparring and exchange here: th-cam.com/video/L-OxVZXhRik/w-d-xo.html
Martial Arts Vlog #2 - Why I nearly quit BJJ - th-cam.com/video/KOtiyYOYeFs/w-d-xo.html
Martial Arts Vlog #1 - The hardest martial arts training of my life - th-cam.com/video/7o3S6c3oH7k/w-d-xo.html
Brother awesome. Channel i practice muay thai not aikido..but I like your channel ... brother why don't you try your functional aikido against a non trained fighter.. that will highlight your techniques
@@TMMApplianceRepair Thanks! I'm thinking about trying it out against a less experienced fighter too. I'm also really looking forward to try Muay Thai one day
@@MartialArtsJourney Godspeed on your journey my friend
Hey Rokus. Great video again, you keep knocking them out of the park. Bravo. One question I have is, would you ever consider training in Judo? Judo, while also having ground fighting, has a strong trowing game. I think you would really be able to use some of your Aikido knowledge to develop the attributes that would allow you to thrive in Judo.
Enter shaolin or enter tai chi .. if you love martial art
Aikido works great… from full mount top position. That way the other guy can’t run away. But at that point, people tend to call it jiu-jitsu.
Haha. That's a good point. It also reminds me of what Matt Thornton (BJJ coach) one said to me: "Being good at Jiu Jitsu I can make all sorts of Aikido techniques work. But is that Aikido anymore?"
Or if you have the timing and kazushi down.
@@jesseshaffer3951 If you look at Shodokan/Tomiki comps though, there's only a small number of people who can off balance or lock up a resisting opponent. And that's under JAA type rules which are incredibly restrictive (99.9999% of BJJ moves would be banned).
Even with world class Aikdio skills, the techniques and strategies of Aikido are far too limited to pull off against anyone with a modicum of training in something like BJJ. They tried a similar thing before where they got a world class Push Hands Tai Chi fighter to grapple with Marcelo Garcia. Marcelo got the better of it by some way.
@@humann5682 some would say surviving consecutive sword fights is nearly impossible. -- I am saying is that the actual technique is not just a wrist lock. That is missing the other 90% of it. Timing and footwork are just as important. You can make similar assertions about all kinds of techniques from all different styles (judo does not work without fitting in for instance, or in BJJ I have heard they value position first) -- I won't argue who trains what or how this school does X because Ueshiba taught each of his students differently.
@@humann5682 if you watch rokas BJJ irimi nage video you can see how it doesn't work when they stop doing the footwork. --edit: I wouldn't be surprised if the footwork is more applicable then the wrist locks overall. Maybe if you swapped some of the locks for strikes even. I hope I can find someone to test this with some day LoL 😆 ( btw take it with a grain of salt I am not a master)
I want next!! 😂😂
Without even knowing you were already next on my list 🤨 As soon as the USA is allowing me to fly in I'm coming
👀
Sense Seth is in the comments.
What would you do with him sir? Karate vs Aikido again. I hope you invite Shintaro Higashi too
LOL!!!
I also loved the quote ”you either win or you learn”. Got my ass handed to me in boxing sparring today, but I learned several new things.
100%
My sensei says, don't spar to just go win. Spar to work on a move. If the other guy scores, fine. Work on YOUR moves based on what your opponent does.
Full contact sparring: You either win or you forget.
@@kbanghart yeah you discovered fire...
"Pfft... i would stop aikido" -Jesse Enkamp lol
Haha. Good quote
Yeah, probably jiujitsu is plenty good to cover whatever gaps aikido aims to cover.
This is the stuff I love seeing, TH-cam channels cross collaborating with open minds and also commenting on others lol
Hmm, well Jesse didn’t stop karate when he lost sparring to a muay thai -fighter, so.
@@moz5831 haha, off topic, but when I think of fighters from Thailand, I like to think of fighters from other countries as X-Wings because they are Thai Fighters.
love this dialogue:
- any tips?
- i would stop aikido and start karate
coming from the karate nerd, i expected no less
great video, as usual
As someone who's trained Aikido for 7 years, then abandoned it and joined, judo, sanda, Boxing, and now have a new perspective of this seemingly "useless" art, I was inspired by your videos and Jesse's, and therefore went excited to see you two mashing up. Awesome!!!! As for the sparring, I'd give my 2 cents that thing you should let him come to you, and use some feints(atemi) to provoke his attack, then counter them, as Aikido works best in a defensive situation.
It doesnt even work as an defensive situation.
To be able to grab someones hand while it flies toward you in high speed is close to impossible.
Aikido is a fake martial art. Sorry to say that.
But it's equal to Tai chi
@@vipr1142 I get the Tai Chi comparison, there is a lot of bullshit techniques but I wouldn't call it entirely fake. It was designed for medieval warfare, where judo and jiu-jitsu are more well designed for unarmed combat. The fundamentals of stance, movement, weight distribution and timing in Aikido are legit. I took less than a year of it when I was a kid. That stuff always kept me on my feet whenever someone tried to take me down.
@@vipr1142 It depends on what you mean by "grab someone's hand." I agree that its difficult, but its not impossible, however, if you grab someone's hand from a punch (jab, cross, hook, whatever), its not at all going to look like aikido. Its going to look like a messy grappling situation, and you'll probably end up getting more their wrist, elbow, overhook, or underhook like in wrestling (I suppose you could end up with a sleeve grip like in judo if they're wearing long sleeves).
@@Snyde70
". I took less than a year of it when I was a kid. "
How would you know it's no good, then? You have to get a black belt, at a studio where they spar against other systems, THEN tell me it doesn't work.
Since you are learning Sanda, can you tell about its effectiveness?
Aikido vs. American Streetfighter?
Is than an invitation? 🤔 Because I'm down to make it happen 😁
Do it!
Do it!
Ooooh exciting
Awesome do it!
Food for thought... the original top students of Ueshiba were all versed in multiple styles. They weren't obsessed with being an "aikido purist", they were simply focused on elevating their already established skills using Aiki Budo (Daito Ryu JJ/Aikijujutsu). Many of these students were very open minded towards ALL styles from East and West (some were Sumo, some were Judoka, some were JJ, some were Karate and Western Boxing).
I'm so exited for this new era of martial arts! So many well meaning representatives of their different arts, sharing their knowledge with other great practicioners while we learn through their journey.
Thank you.
Trueeeeeee
I always was under the impression that Aikido was about finding an exit from a situation by engaging as little as possible. If you are going toe to toe and trading with an opponent that seems to be the antithesis of Aikido.
Exactly
Exactly. Aikido is for asymmetrical conflicts. Meaning that the aikidoka tries to disengage from the conflict and the other guys try to engage more in the conflict.
If you as an aikidoka starts engaging in the fight, stepping in and out and trading blows, it’s no longer the appropriate scenario where you could make aikido work in its current form. Then it need some considerable adaptation.
aikido can´t be used in those type of fights because the opponent can get injured
@@omarjairchavezmancisidor1671 yeah, right, Aikido is "too dangerous" for "da streets" 😆
@@jonirenicus9407 hmmm you are expert?
Incredible maturity on your part for uploading this. Respect.
I'm sure a lot of viewers along with me greatly appreciate your honesty! Thank you for posting! You and Jesse Enkamp make a fantastic teaching duo.
🙏
Just a thought, but maybe you could try setting up your aikido techiniques with basic combinations using kicks and punches first? I feel that while Jesse was good, it was a bit obvious that you were going for aikido techniques, when you could make him guess between aikido or kickboxing. Anyways love ur content man.
Exactly but it is true, aikido needs a commitment of sorts and then ends up looking like aiki-jujutsu instead. Against an untrained attacker potentially but a guy moving in and out picking his shots, forget about it.
@@Polentaccio True!
Yeah, I really don't see how you can pull off anything when your opponent knows that you're restricting yourself to Aikido.
Aikido +punches+kicks =hapkido
Yeah, few feints and set ups might work. You never get a lock if you go straight forward like that.
I love the respect in these videos, no disrespecting of any styles or calling it useless, just a productive session and conversation on the topic about strengths and weaknesses
Thank you very much for your hard work improving Aikido.
On Round 1 one thing I noticed is you are constantly moving forward trying to grab Jesse. You should be mixing up your movement more and be more defensive picking your moments to clinch when Jesse is trying to close the distance. As you said in theory Aikido works best with overcommitment you need to frustrate Jesse with defensive movements to get him to over commit. Which is easier said then done.
great point. I was confused by this man's continuing attempts to close and fight. It's like he wants to be a Wing Chun or Karate master using Aikido moves. Perhaps this disharmony within him is why he struggles with Aikido.
@@upyurz5272 No this is pretty common approach for Grapplers when fighting against a significantly better striker they start hunting for the takedown. Take Ronda Rousey against Holly Holm for example.
Jesse did not really attaCk
Thats a really nice gym!
It's actually a whole Japanese village in Poland! I couldn't believe it at first. The Dojo itself is really cool too. There's even a Zen garden next to it and the Dojo is on a top of a hill
BJJ Globetrotters does a BJJ camp there every year. The place is amazing! Japanese houses heated by local logs, there's a steam room/sauna, it's next to a huge forest with wild boar etc, the food is excellent and you've seen the main dojo. Built by a traditional karate Japanese guy in the 90s. It's half way between Krakow and Warsaw, way out in the countryside.
There is even a HEMA swordfighting camp there called HEMAtoma, seems to work for a great many martial arts 😀
@@MartialArtsJourney What is is called?
@@eagletsar5700 Dojo Stara Wieś.
That MMA training is showing dude... nice sparring. What a difference from your old videos LOL. Such growth holy shit!! I am not sure why you did not incorporate striking however? Why limit your side, Aikido needs all the help it can get. Heck, that seems to be the ridiculous part of it really, the fact that you just have to move in with no striking! You are at a disadvantage against any form of fighting, forget it against a trained Karate guy. Know what I mean?
.
Thanks! I'll do my best to show even more progress over time
What advice would you give to someone who practices judo or bjj and plans to win without striking?
It might be that striking can bait the opponent into a certain body position or angle so he can use aikido.
@@BDG.99 I’m no expert, though I do train in both striking and Judo and that would be my preference for dealing with a street altercation. I’d say to strengthen your grip and learn to block/check strikes.
Kicks n punches are allowed in Aikido even as Jesse reveals throws n take downs are permitted in original Okinawa karate
Love seeing you collaborate with Jesse. Your collaboration videos bring great positive vibes and I wish you the best! Keep going with your functional Aikido idea! I think you have something unique there and there will be times when you just feel so discouraged that it won't work that you'll want to quit cold turkey. Keep at it! Only through the sort of the pressure testing you are doing do you discover some of the greatest realizations and understandings.
Challenge for Rokas; Take up "old skool" judo training. there are approaches to your aikido Wazza yet for you to discover as you still have not learn to flow. Not BJJ this is to Ne-Wazza focused, but still great stuff and it's awesome you got stuck in with BJJ no doubts there at all. Honestly really impressed with your work in this video and jesse is so awesome, just that passion man. so yeah there are some great judokas out there that can show you the path like say Shintaro Higashi if you want to walk it.
I think he said he's gonna do Judo soon based on a poll from us here on youtube. If he does that, I think type of stand up grappling sparring goes much differently. Judo does teach really good footwork.
@@kovenmaitreya7184 Awesome to hear cause i really hope he does, as a judoka first and foremost I agree (yep im biased towards judo lol). I do believe Rokas can be one of the key figures that brings Aikido into the 21st century He needs to learn to flow though, the footwork is definitely a big part of that but it's more about posture,positioning,form,tempo, pacing, control, judgement, commitment, reacting not just predicting all while in motion to maintain fluidity of movement for full impact. which you means you need to work on grips, breathing control, spatial awareness, balance, uchi mata, break falling. training like this teaches you how to learn to feel for you opponents movement and motion itself becomes second nature not just moving your feet. learning to flow like this is unique to judo in particular, he's missing that granular judo mindset that would make his Aikido techniques work much better. That aside boxing/kick boxing Muay thai is just savage just because of conditioning and sparing/training regiments lol, personally i think everybody should train in at least 1 of these seriously at least once in there lives if they can, just for humility sake. thing is you can pair up any system really but it whether you personally can make that combination work, so something like karate is going to be a big depends but definitely not a no when combining with judo. which is going to rely on you and the style you train in as some are definitely more complimentary than others like say Wado-Ryu which overlaps with ju-jitsu of all things so you can see why already.
Thanks Jax. I'm going to try out Judo for the first time in a couple of months. I'll do a week long training with Chadi in France
@@MartialArtsJourney good Luck on the judo training, it's gonna be great, try also ju jutsu, not Brasilian but hako Ryu or daito Ryu, you'll love it !
waza*
I’m not an Akido practitioner but I love what you’re doing with it. Taking what can work and trying to expand on it is what I wish more people were doing with traditional styles.
I would absolutely love if rokas made a functional aikido art. Might have to add extra stuff to it though
I'll keep working on it. I don't doubt it will still take a long time until I will collect all the pieces and will also learn from people who have already tried making their Aikido functional
@@MartialArtsJourney an exciting journey :)
I really hope he can do it in a way where it's still Akido techniques
Rokas can’t do it because he not a good Aikidoist. It’s better for Rokas to relearn Aikido then try make it work.
"Persone who controls the distance, controls the fight"
And in the words of Rener Gracie,
"The person who manages the distance, manages the Damage"
Good quotes
It's awesome to see you guys together. I hope you and Jesse keep working together.
I think Aikido (or Wrestling or Judo) is a great secondary style to know atop Karate.
Atemi-waza (or for karateka tsuki-waza) would be mainly modified karate techniques and setups to the Aikido.
Rokas should just complete the set: Aikido, BJJ, Karate, Judo, Jiu-jitsu, and Aiki-jujutsu.
Striking sets up your Aikido. This is how we were taught in traditional Jujitsu. Great video.
You're basically doing what the OG masters did in modern times with aikido. This is pretty dope to see this evolution get documented for everyone to see even if it doesn't work out.
That's amazing, congrats, Rokas, congrats, Jesse. What's also amazing is to check the comments area and see Ramsey Dewey, Sensei Seth, hard2hurt, Fight Comentary Breakdowns. Y'know, I always watch you guys, but most on the TV, where there is no comment area. Cheers!
Big fan since the long hair days!
As someone who started out doing Aikido before transitioning to Karate, I've been through the same "Wow Aikido doesn't work," moment. It's really nice to see the difference between my two origin styles though.
Have you considered some sparing that incorporates all the striking elements with some of the practical Akido in order to test the validity of your 'Aikido way' as opposed to that of most Akido schools, which we know don't really work?
Also congratulations on the proposal!!!
Haha, the long hair days. I'm planning to keep exploring this subject. One of my next plans is to add strikes and to try it out with a less experienced fighter
@@MartialArtsJourney why not visit Christian Tissier school while in France, they use strikes there.. great people.
Why are you chasing him??? That is shitty aikido, you know shit about aikido. You should make him chase you, your aikido sucks and you don't know shit about aikido strikes, either...shomenate, aigameate, etc...you know shit about aikido.
@@MartialArtsJourney you should have no problem finding a 'less experienced' fighter than Jesse Enkamp....lol
Super, super cool! LOVED the joke at the start - "if it was an Aikido video". Brilliant! That japanese sensei that complained about your videos some time back is doing quite a lot of this kind of videos, with (complaint) MMA guys and stuff...
Jesse is a great guy! Like the exchange between you too! How to see more and more colabs with different ppl.
As always, appreciate your honesty! TY!
Idea for the next sparring. Get a Kendoka, put on some armor and then try Functional Aikido! In my oppinion levers make more sense in a weapon environment. Iam curious how that would end! :)
th-cam.com/video/apn6kDhDpBk/w-d-xo.html
Excellent video. Love watching both of you guys and this was excellent.
For Aikido to work against Karate (or striking/kicking in general) you have to see the punches coming and time them - as in timing your grab. To learn that you need to spar a lot! And you have to setup openings so you know where your opponent will strike you.
Jesse is right in one thing: the one who controls distance, controles the fight. But he forgets that the 2 key things that dominate fighting are: position and timing. Position includes distance, but also angles. Timing includes reading the rhythm of your opponent as well as changing your own rhythm to keep your opponent from timing you.
The scenario you’re describing (grabbing a punch and throwing) has been debunked a thousand times. It’s possible to grab a punch, but it’s impossible to hold on to it. Those are the facts…
@@ricksterdrummer2170 Grabbing a punch and throwing seems pretty unrealistic to me as well. I come from a boxing background and don't have much insight in Aikido techniques. If that's the only thing that Aikido does, then it's pretty much useless. And now that I think of it, yea I remember that Aikido is about using the motion of your opponent against him, right? That's indeed pretty impossible vs a trained striker/kicker.
But you can grab/catch or dodge and then move in to grab someone. Just like you see in MMA. But I think BJJ is a better sport to practice to learn that.
I'm just gonna put a "bro? lol", you are not in a position to educate Jesse Enkamp on fighting... come back to reality.
@@Ken_Jones if position and angles are practically under the umbrella term of distance then he is only forgetting the one thing being the timing part. Not the position
@@user-vr8ve6rt9c distance and angles are under the umbrella of position.
This was maybe the...5th or 6th video of yours I watched, but probably my favorite because not only did it introduce me to Karate Nerd, but it also opened the floodgates on all the martial arts videos I've been binging since. Its making me want to get back into training. You two reignited the passion in this lapsed artist.
I love how both practitioners are very humble and respectful of each other's martial arts. At the end of the day, it's not the martial arts that matter but the ones that are practicing them.
Some of the best functional aikido examples out there are incorporating extensive use of atemi (striking) to manage the dynamics of the fight to break balance and apply a technique. Even Jesse pointed this out by saying that aikido is 90% striking. Rokas, in this sparring and your original MMA sparing video years ago, you threw out or didn't use atemi seemingly at all. Jesse never had a reason to break his posture avoiding a strike. This in conjunction with his controlling distance means game over.
Really enjoyable, well made video. Thanks for the upload.
Akido and even Karate, are martial arts. Most MMA fighters respect them as arts that they are, but no one expects any functionality out of them these days. Nothing wrong with that.
Considering the fact that there are so many UFC champions who are and/or were karatekas and taekwondokas, I beg to differ.
Aikido is an art which cannot be applied to real combat, except when you're fighting an inexperienced fighter.
Perhaps with a combination of techniques from other arts, Aikidokas could potentially fight experienced fighters, but using old-school Aikido - no way.
@@Vishonov MMA stands for mixed martial arts. Meaning.. if you take both the power from karate and the grappling from bjj into your style, you are no longer doing karate or bjj, your are doing MMA. I meant that traditional martial arts alone aren't not viable in the modern fighting world.
Thank you for visiting Poland!
Both of you guys make great videos! I'm watching you for a couple of years.
Greetings from Polish Shorin-Ryu Karate student.
first! big fan of the both of you!
Congrats :)
First I found Jesse last year and became a fan of his humility and the approach he has to Martial Arts. Then found out today there's another Martial artist which in this case an Aikido master who shares the same approach to Martial arts as Jesse.
Instant sub and like. Don't get me wrong I neither do Karate or Aikido. Muay Thai instead but Jesse's approach has made me respect and want to pick up Karate. Now there are two great martial arts master I can follow.
The art itself is just a base the true essence of martial art is the individual's Journey. May your journey further your experience. You have my utmost respect as well sir.
I watched a video with french-japanese aikido teacher. According to him, shortly after the 2nd world war, many martial arts which could be used as a kind of weapon were totally forbidden in Japan by the US. In order to survive, Aikido was then transformed into a more passive form, with offensive techniques removed, and past history partially rewritten to make it look like a kind of self-defense technique. This has allowed Aikido to survive this period but as a different form. It was the first time I heard this but I find it interesting and really possible.
It's this video, around 24 minutes.
That's true
Not true at all. Karate was still practiced in Japan even after the Japanese surrender. Kendo which literally uses weapons were almost compulsory in schools. The American occupiers never interfered with what the Japanese were practicing. Just some load of crap to make ppl feel Aikido was effective at some point.
There's a famous theory that after Hiroshima and Nagasaki aikido's founder decided that martial arts are too destructive and went on to create a pacifistic martial art focused on personal development
Are you talking about Léo tamaki ? great vidéo with Greg MMA, Real cool guy
i think you are an amazing teacher. you teach people how to be humble, to learn and to grow. to enjoy the journey, to think with an open mind and find the lessons in all outcomes. athough you can not apply a lot of what you learned in akido vs other martial arts styles and it may not be what you initially thought it was it is very clear that what you did take away from it has helped shape you into this person you are today. It has made me realize that although a lot of it is not practical in a real fight akido can be an important part of a martial arts journey or simply taking the time to learn and understand each art and taking little bits from each thing along the way even if its just the philosophies behind it can only help you grow in this space.
Very interesting! A long time ago I tried Aikido against a college wrestling champ and it went about the same except I got taken down and pinned. Then I went on to BJJ and MMA.
Glad to hear you made the transition
@@MartialArtsJourney I trained muay thai a good amount too but I still love my karate roots! That's why I love this channel
The two of you together, this is so cool!
Man I love this team up.
I have just found your videos and I am super appreciative of your insight and application. Thank you.
At "round 1" you almost got me, it all seemed to be too much perfect, like your opponent is completely incapable of making resistance, even just contracting his muscles or using his weight, but at the same time he his able to perform "mini jumps" to indulge your techniques... nice joke
A collab I’ve been waiting for!! 🙌🏽
Very interesting insights as always!
We train Aikido mixed with Kempo Jujutsu so you actually Strike, Kick and after a punch or kick has been successfully landed you might get a chance to take someone down or in a writst lock etc. But there‘s always a combination of strikes & kicks first or in between. Like in Kudo.
You might want to take a look at combining your kickboxing with your Aikido and see what happens :)
But all in all, I really enjoy these videos taking a look at your old martial art again.
Greetings!
Wait, kempo jujutsu? Do u mean kosho ryu?
@@md_f_dnn I‘ve stumbled across many different names for what we do, we call it Takeda Ryu since it has its origin in the Takeda family (Samurai era).
Basically it‘s a form of Aikido pre WW2 and pre Morei Ueshiba.
@@Nikoman531 well if that is the case then I don't think you're doing something that is called Kempo because the martial art that morihei ueshiba studied, founded by his teacher Takeda Sokaku, is known as daito ryu aikijujutsu, not Takeda ryu or kempo jujutsu, Takeda sokaku's grandson is still alive and teaching daito Ryu
@@md_f_dnn I think it‘s about the same, just somebody else put their label on it. Like with every martial art more or less ;)
@@Nikoman531 okay fair enough
Excellent: Concise, enjoyable, and a wonderful continuation of the journey we’ve seen!
Rokas looks in good form to me, and constantly improving with his video creation, not that I thought it has been lacking. Recommended!
Thank you Miles. Doing my best 😊 Happy to hear the results are enjoyable! Will continue to do my best with martial arts too
@@MartialArtsJourney For sure! Keep safe ~ and all the very best wishes for you both on your engagement!
Hey, great video. Just a question. If Aikido's founder said that Aikido was 90% striking then what happened to the striking in the modern forms? Is it absent or ommited. We never see much regarding striking when Aikido is mentioned. It would be interesting to hear what changed and when as well as why.
I've read somewhere on YT comments (so give it the benefit of the doubt) that Ueshiba admitted only veteran fighters to his teachings, so supplementing their knowledge and experience with aikido techniques could make sense. Aikido as an add-on could be useful, knowing how to strike. Learning aikido as a standalone "fighting" martial art for self defence is almost a suicide, this is obviously my opinion as a former aikido student (rather bad tbqh). Learning aikido for its philosophy or interior peace is legit, tho.
I think it depends on your instructor. A friend of mine who studied aikido for years corrected my assumption that there was little striking in aikido by explaining to me that they are constantly striking. Fighting will always require striking, it's just the nature of fighting.
This was very cool on many levels but I think one of the coolest things about it is just the camaraderie between 2 well known YT Martial Arts Vloggers and the openness of experimenting, working together and pressure testing your styles rather than just bashing each others Art which sadly seems to be the norm these days. KUDOS to you both! Ousu,
Absolute respect for these two incredible martial artists... And also ... This was fun :)
Glad you liked it Eduardo
My Aikido teacher said in Aikido, we usually don't use the techniques. The techniques teach us how to think. Then we improvise.
Also he said, make the opponent attack you, ideally. You do that by closing in the distance gradually until you are in range of kick, punch/jab, grab/throw. Depending on your distance, you anticipate what's coming/what can come. Then you might react faster.
I also think there may be holes in Aikido for now. Everyone could try closing those gaps by inventing new techniques or new, but safe, ways of doing things in Aikido.
I thought he was dropping a hint to study O Sensei's teachings more directly. I personally have always thought there could be something lost in translation from his original teachings to how the art is taught in most schools today.
Yes. Yoshinkan schools teach the pre-WWII version.
Great video. Great to see you and Jesse together in the same video.
Glad you enjoyed it!
"setting himself up for frailer" "good against untrained fighters" good ways to cope with how much aikido sucks.
What Jesse said about a square peg in a round hole really stuck out to me as something to pay attention to. It's really good to see you smiling and laughing in a video. We don't normally get to see that side of you.
U were not applying those technique of aikido😂😂😂 i'm wondering how did u get that black belt😅😂
Karate , Aikido or any other martial arts,the important thing is we gather here to support each other
"The first thing you learn in Karate is distance management" - wrong....you learn a cocked punch in the side stance.
You learn to bow and respect your opponent, actually.
You learn how to put on the gi, actually.
You learn your instructor's name, actually
And let me just start that really old discussion... "Hikite" is NOT a cocked punch. Never was.
@@Plantaman there is no opponent in the first class
Very good! I appreciate very much your honest research in what would turn aikido functional! Congratulations Rokas! 🙏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼✨
Aikido was designed to disarm in a sword fight, it's like sword tai chi.
Then, the disarming moves of Aikido got translated to empty hands.
Aikido works but you can't throw that person in sparring or the cage, like you do in expectations. you can only stop that person from hitting you by grabbing his hand and rotate to the outside to escape or push him while grabbing his hand.
Once again enjoyed this enormously. Also, this video was at the top of my feed this time 👍
I enjoy your openness to training & Jesses honesty in his critique.
I don’t know much about aikido specifically outside of what I’ve seen online/in movies & might be way off with my thoughts here, but I think I like idea of being aikido-ish with my martial arts in the sense that after years of training I’m essentially drilling my “go to” techniques into a handful of moves for any one area, refining my preferred strikes, , takedowns, submissions & sweeps ect as much as possible rather than learning “all” of the techniques and being less proficient at all of them.
Hopefully that makes sense.
Keep up the vids, it’s a valuable juxtaposition from the usual content on TH-cam 🤙🏻🥋
I 100% agree with the fact aikido should include stricks in order to be efficient, I have practiced traditionnal ju-jutsu (which contains a lot of aikido technics) for 10 years and I was always told that every grab-and-throw was usually settle by a strick toward the face (eyes, chin, etc...) of the opponent (to occupy his attention, disconnect his body, or even knocking him out a few seconds). It can also be performed by just going away from the attack (like aikido move, tai-sabaki, create vacuum) and tacking advantage of overcomitment.
I really respect you for sharing your weaknesses and Aikido's weaknesses to many viewers. Your journey with Aikido is equivalent to loving another human being: to accept its strengths and flaws & continue to improve and constructively criticize it.
My cheap advice: to read and research aikido in order to find the purest form and/or find the corruptions along its growth if any existed.
I hope you will bring more wealth of knowledge to more people and become a wise sensei :)
I applaud this journey. I got a black belt in Shaolin Kung Fu many years ago, but abandoned the art for Muay Thai and BJJ.
I cannot help but admire your honesty..
I like the way you self criticize your style and technique, your humble and simple spirit will get you higher and higher....you are the kind of guy who can improve himself from mistakes ....
Watching this exchange made me so glad that when I was still training in Shuri-Ryu Karate, we were required to practice jiu-jitsu and Karate in tandem to ensure we were well rounded and to compensate for one styles weaknesses
“I choose the worst opponents to apply aikido”
I think there is definitely something to be said here. Also if you say striking should be 90% of the art and most schools don’t use strikes, I think that needs to be added in.
In the art I train (not aikido) we say a complete martial art contains kicking, striking, throwing, and grappling. If you just do one it’s not complete. You can use a strike to step up a throw, or strike out of a failed grappling attempt.
Really like the video with icy Mike and the one with Oliver as well, great stuff as of late. Keep it up
That was a good video rokas, working with Jesse must have been a blast
Jesse is awesome
@@MartialArtsJourney yeah he's pretty cool, he's very open minded like yourself and appreciates cross training to better oneself, my jujutsu instructor is a big fan of his and yours as he started out with aikido in the 80s
This looked like it was totally fun 🤘
It's so funny, I remember how surprised I was by this. I followed Jesse San, and icy mike, and sensei Seth, even Dewey Ramsey, and Jerry from fight commentary break downs. AND Master ken. Little by little you guys all did collabs lol I remember this as the moment you joined the Pantheon. 💪 Much respect to you 🙏
Quality content. Thank you to you both and the camera man (species)
Interesting! Great of you to challenge your starter concept!
As we pressure test Aikido and other grappling, including BJJ, the joint locks happen when grappling, rarely during striking. I say master it all. All locks, all strikes, all kicks, etc.
Things to understand before learning Aikido...
1) Aikido works well against very committed attacks. For example an all-out punch, no pulling back like karate punches.
2) Aikido is not the best martial art to defend yourself but it is the best way to overcome the attacker while causing the least injury to them.
3) Aikido will teach you more about self-awareness, but other martial art like karate will teach you how to focus. so learn both to get the best of both worlds.
The throw @0:58 😂😂😂... I know you're on a mission to make this more of a functional fighting style, but that throw looked so coordinated. The sparring partner looks like he was doing that front flip whether he was "thrown" or not.
Lmao I love the thumbnail. You and Jesse’s videos are very Informative, so its nice to see a collab.
Hi Roukas, there is a Dutch TH-camr who teaches Aikido, I think he is based in Amsterdam. According to him, Aikido only works in real life, if the grappling moves are started off with Atemi, striking moves first. Punches and kicks are launched first, before attempts at grappling and throwing can take place. His videos are very informative!
Biggest tip I can offer about aikido is understanding the connection between aikido and katana. The movements in aikido are like those using a sword specifically as it is used in kenjitsu. Your hands should feel weighted as though they are carrying a heavy sword or shovel and you want to rest. So they always want to return to your center near your navel. A sword edge will dull if it strikes steel so there is not a lot of blocking per se in kenjitsu, which means it is quite different than in kendo. In kenjitsu the body moves out of the way and the sword is lifted as you move so that it feels weightless and then the hands always fall into back position near your navel so that as the body changes angle the sword moves up and down in arcs in the most natural way. In the least aggressive defenses you are already out of the way and use the swords natural weight to make the sword fall into a strike BEHIND the attack; against the wrists, the elbows, the shoulder, etc. aiming for the space between bones or just behind them like where the ligaments and cartilage are so you are not cutting into the bone since you don't have a lot of power to cut through the bone since you didn't draw the sword back much but instead just lifted it enough to use it's weight as it came back down. In kenjitsu the sword is considered razor sharp, so it cuts like a laser. It it not a chopping weapon, but instead like a sushi master's knife is a fine tool for making precise cuts. You use the keen edge to cut deftly and strategically. When practicing Aikido imagine holding a sword. The hands remain close to the body and move upward when closing the distance as the hips rock in an arc because the weight of the sword or the man you are trying to manipulate is fairly significant and you need the hands close to the body to lift a man. This lifting action is done as you enter not after and you naturally place your hands near the attackers elbows, wrists, neck, knees, etc. You have to do it gradually as you enter his guard or he will bear down and resist it with his weight. So you have to close the distance long before the attacking fist or foot is near you so you'll be behind the attack out of the way of it's striking end when it comes. Otherwise you are just blocking like in more conventional martial arts and will not be able to manipulate the body of the man as he attacks. You want to inside his guard and in a good position already when that happens. Don't worry about the end of the attacking weapon which is the fist or foot itself. It can't hurt you because you will not be there. Move out of its way BEFORE the attack comes with good footwork and pelvis positioning and focus on the center of the weapon, the joints, and get your pelvis near his own pelvis like you plan to take a weapon from him or flip him like you might do in judo. You'll have your hands on the joints of the man which are far behind the forward motion of the attack and your body will already be out of the way when it comes. You'll have closed the distance naturally and can apply the aikido techniques. Obviously it's easier on an amateur because as you say they overextend, but watch the KNEES in relation to the NAVEL so you understand his distance and rotation of the pelvis which is what tells you his range and angle of the attack more than anything else will so you can enter gradually and be in a good position when it comes. Watch O Sensei. He moves upright and gently with almost no force at all. He is not fighting from a fixed stance or position. Instead he constantly positions himself ideally out of the way as though talking a gentle walk almost entirely ignoring the attack itself. He's simply not where the attack is when it comes. Aikido was designed for self defense. But when the strike is used it's devastating because you using the earth itself as the weapon. God's heaven can not stand a man who tries to remain upright who is not upright in his heart. He will fall to the earth and crash into it. The earth is the weapon of atemi in aikido. You simply channel heaven into the earth through your head, arms and spine and finally through your legs and feet through a natural path of least electrical resistance and so by doing you help to reconnect the enemy to heaven and earth since he is out of alignment with them. You do this like a lightning strike is passing through you and you are an upright rod. Watch O Sensei use his fan. That's what he is signalling. The wind storm circling above and the lightning coming down.
I used to practice a JuJutsu style that was very similar to Aikido. It also included punching and kicking. We practiced free sparing, similar to what you were doing with Jesse. To do locks and throws you need some form of off balancing of the opponent first. This can be done with striking. eg if you can punch the opponent in the chin or kick their knee or groin this may give you a chance to grab their arm and do a lock. There was usually some moving back and forward first while both training partners kicked and punched. You have to do Karate style moves while looking for an opening that allows a throw or lock. In sparing you have to apply all your strength to the locks, while letting them off at the last moment so you don't do serious damage to the opponents joints.
At the beginning of the video, when Jesse did the high round house kick I thought you had him for a moment. You stepped closer and I thought you were going to hook his kicking leg with your left arm , push his head back with your right hand and sweep his left leg with your right leg.
Soo many big TH-camrs checkin out this amazin collab
We're all friends essentially 😊 Getting to know each other better and better over time. It's really great that good martial artists are friendly
Thanks for the very good video! Have you ever checked Aikibudo? They still use atemis to set up many waza and they also have great uke strikes "channeling" that also work great against active fighters.
I think that everything start from the question "what is my pourpos?". The great part of people that fight inside a cage practiced boxe,muay thay,bjj and tae kwon do,sometimes jujitsu. Every martial art or combat style is good but depend all from what is the goal someone have. Merry christmas man!
You guys are true martial arts practitioners.
Jesse just seems like such a rad dude
He is :)
That moment where the comment section is filled with ALL of your favorite martial artist TH-camrs
That's Amazing, i'm Taekwondo player and i accidentally clicked this video, this is so amazing
have written this to you over the years and you never see it but there it goes one more time, in Mexico there is a self defense instructor who uses a very different and functional style of aikido, his name is Bruno Orozco and the school is called combatives
i think its really cool how youre trying to make aikido functional for mma
the beauty of this that we all can wake up and to understand that we have to see all the possibility, learn much of arts we can because the real momentum is when we are going to need to combine, not all the situations are the same. Not always we are in the floor (we don't want to be in the floor), but if, then BJJ, or other grappling style, the idea is to know much as possible and train...hugs
very interesting video. its very cool that you try to efectivly integrate aikido into mma, that alone is very hard to do and even when the techniques dont succeed you try to learn and improve.
I preferred the aggressiveness of the karate techniques over most of the Aikido techniques, but enjoyed both. Thanks guys!
I come from Karate and I LOVE Aikido !
It just feels like a continuation of the 5th Dan of Karate (which I have NOT reached yet, only 2, but it gives perspective.)
I like you guys, different martial arts but same respect. 👍🏻
Thanks Feldy
I think aikido has a place in mma if they have leg sweeps, grabs and tosses. Grabbing an arm is very hard to do if you just grab at the wrist you would have to block the elbow or even Perform a Samurai grip. This actually gave me in site for something I am working on. Thanks for this man. I learned something here