Is My Aikido Dojo a 'Mac-Dojo'?

Question

My Aikido federation is the largest martial arts federation in the city. It has easily over a dozen branches in the city itself, and there is training everyday. Each dojo session has around 15-20 participants, not including children classes.

Most Aikido students in the dojo treat Aikido recreationally. Aikido is also taught with a similar attitude - recreationally. We train mainly to 'feel', to 'harmonize', and to pass the grading exam. There is little emphasis on practical self-defense. Many of us who have trained for over 1 full-year, and are still rather weak in our Aikido. Most of us won't be able to use our Aikido in a fight.

I am not saying that Aikido is not practical. I am just mentioning about the general attitude of Aikido in my dojo. The practical aspects are taught, but not to many of us who have yet to reach 1st Kyu or Shodan.

How should I train in this type of dojo? If I change to another federation, they do not have so many lessons each week.

Answer 1

If you eat at Micky De's you can't expect the meals to be very nourishing. I suggest that in your case you may desire less to get more. There are also other arts to consider. If you have fewer lessons a week you will have to train on your own. Or as some of my students do work with a training Buddy in between classes.

Answer 2

There are a lot of 'family' dojos in Japan that treat their martial arts less seriously than the competition schools or self-defense schools.

The same for Aikido here in the USA.

Answer 3

All martial arts unless you are trying to get involved in MMA and make a career out of it is recreational.  How often do you get attacked and need to actually defend yourself?  If the answer to that question seriously warrants a focus more on training than enjoying yourself I would consider trying to obtain a concealed weapons permit and buying a gun.  Its a whole lot easier to defend yourself with a semiautomatic pistol than your hands any day of the week.  But if you seriously aren't happy with the training atmosphere of your dojo then go to another one, even if they don't have as many lessons per week that doesn't mean you cant train on your own to make up for it, or find someone who has the same outlook that you do and have your own training sessions, even if you are just practicing what you already have done in the week, practice makes perfect.  I haven't had the time to actually attend martial arts classes since I joined the military but I have never had a problem finding training partners to roll around on the mat with or to just kick the c**p out of each other.

Answer 4

At this early stage, it's normal you couldn't really "use" what you're learning. Aikido is an internal art with a lot of subtlety. So it has a sharp learning curve. You will spend a lot of time learning the basics. But you probably know more useful stuff than you're aware of. A lot of the time is spent learning balance and awareness of distance, calm under pressure etc... Extremely useful, but not necessarily dazzling.

In my opinion, though, small schools are best. Larger organizations have to take a one-size-fits-all approach and tend to be more business-oriented. Maybe look for something a little more discreet. (That's just my opinion).

I also feel too much emphasis on exams and belts is probably not a very good thing. But again, when you have a large school, it becomes a necessity of the market. Especially when kids and parents are involved. Because it's really not about the belt - it's about what you put into your practice.

As for whether your school is a MacDojo or not, I don't know. I'd have to see it. I favor smaller schools myself, but in and of itself, large doesn't mean MacDojo. I feel you do lose some quality due to uniformization.

Answer 5

Actually from talking to others that study Akido, what you are experiencing is essentially the way most Akido is taught. For a long time it is nothing but basics, basics, basics, because quite honestly, you do need to learn to blend with and re direct your opponents energy. It takes a long time to get proficiant at real self defense.

Many here claim that Akido is worthless for self defense, and quite honestly I have not had enough exposure to upper level people to say whether that is right or wrong. I do know that art's do not generally survive and become as popular as Akido is without having something to back them up.

Answer 6

I would suggest you balance out your defensive art with a good offensive art, such as Muay Thai or boxing.

If you do, I would wager you would drop Aikido.

Answer 7

if you want to use aikido lessons as a way of learning self-defence, then find another dojo. trust me, aikido is NOT inefective (my aikido teacher used to train police in it) so you need to find another teacher who can show you how to use the techniques effectively in a fight. The form that is normally taught is a much more watered-down version of the original, which was used to kill and maim opponents. Fortunately for me, my teacher is VERY good.

As for the number of lessons, you will learn more with less lessons if they are focused than you will with 100 'recreational' lessons.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!!!