So, we had a fight today at the shelter. It ended fine, but made me think. What would be best to learn to resolve fights? Boxing? Something else? — I don’t want to hurt anyone. I just need to end a fight or restrain someone. 🥊⛪️

@marmanold Sounds like aikido could be something. I think @toddgrotenhuis knows a little about it. Correct me if I’m wrong.

@marmanold aikido is great. You can argue it’s a “pacifist martial art” because it’s all grapples and redirects and throws and such, and all about reducing the attacker’s energy. (I assume you are already up on de-escalation techniques, etc., but if not, that’s a better place to start)

@marmanold I think that's going to depend a lot based on the sensei/dojo. I actually learned my aikido at a Methodist church! There was no shinto/Buddhism/etc. included in the teaching.

@toddgrotenhuis do you know how aikido compares to bjj?

@nathanrhale I not 100% certain, but I would say aikido is more flowing (generally following sword movements) and less wrestle-y. In aikido you do learn ground work, but much of it is from kneeling position, usually a variation of a standing move. IIRC they are both originally derived from aikijujitsu.

@toddgrotenhuis @nathanrhale @marmanold FWIW here is my take on it. BJJ is mainly about take downs and wrestling on the ground. Aikido is, depending of which style of Aikido, more fluent, not much "ground work". So if you're thinking about a situation where you think you would need to intervene in a situation then I would say that BJJ is a better choice, but if expect to have someone trying to hit you and you stay on your feet then Aikido might be better (depending on style).

But, first of all, it takes a loooong time of training before you would be able to use anything you learn in a real situation. In a stressful situation we forget everything we've learned and tricks like pressure points, bending joints, etc are soon forgotten. Instead we tend to run around waving our arms etc. And yes, this happens very quickly, it doesn't take many seconds for this to happen ... even to those who have trained several years. In fact, this is something we train once in a while and it's silly how little is needed before people get stressed out and they completely forget what they have been training for years.

Note: I've only tried BJJ once or twice, and it's nothing I can do. I've never tried Aikido, I've trained a couple of times with an Aikido instructor but I can't say I've tried it ... but the variance between styles seem to be great.

I have trained Ju-jutsu Kai (there are many versions of ju-jutsu that various a lot, so it's almost impossible to compare them) for a number of years. It's a style focused on self-defense with influences from traditional ju-jutsu, judo, aikido, etc.

My advise: if you are interested in self-defense, find someone who teaches a few critical situations that is handled with very simple techniques. Then spend years of training these techniques at least twice a week and you might find it useful in a real situation.

If you want a sport where you want to compete: BJJ. If you want a sport where you train agility, balance, etc: Aikido. All traditional martial arts are very nice sports for exercise, balance, concentration, etc. However, some styles have techniques that are directly dangerous for your body if you or your partner does something wrong, so I would be quite careful in selecting a place/style to train. Some instructors doesn't really know what they are doing.

My personal opinion is to stay away from MMA and similar versions, and keep to the more traditional martial arts. And if you want something where the focus is only perfection in movement with no "combat" then I highly recommend Iaido. It's all about movement, balance, concentration and focus.

@jemostrom @toddgrotenhis @marmanold Thank you, so helpful!