Aikido or Tae Kwon Do? Which would you choose to learn and why?

Answer 1

A lot of good answers above.

It is important for you to determine your main motivation and goal for wanting to learn a martial art. If it is self defense, esp. for the street, TKD would be better than aikido, but there are more practical arts out there for that (which have been mentioned above). Aikido is a very different style than most arts... no offensive moves (in what I consider the pure forms, there are harder styles), and focuses on relaxation, not tension/ resistance. It has a greater philosophical component, and it takes a long time to learn to react appropriately, since those reactions tend to be contrary to natural instinct. Someone grabs your wrist, the impulse is to tense up and resist the pull, not relax. An instructor said that it would take about 10 years for a student to get to the point to be truly effective in a self defense situation.

I've taken different styles from here and there... ju-jitsu, karate... but hadn't really found one that fit my personality. The goal for me evolved from being practical self defense to wanting to learn a martial art "for the art". I'm a very non-aggressive person. I'm 5'1", and am not going to want to, nor be very effective, in wading in, doing a lot of damage, and get back out, as a lot of hard styles advocate. It just wasn't me.

I found my way to aikido, and that was just the art for me. It is a very philosophical art, which I love. Having no offensive moves fits in well with my personal style, and the art lends itself to people with low centers of balance, so being short is actually a plus. It's a good fit all around for me.

So it really helps to examine your reasons for learning, and giving different styles out there a try and see what you like and don't like. Good advice from above also in regards to places to study. Be wary of the McDojo's... sit in on classes and get a feel for if the instructor is a good teacher, and does the teaching style fit what you want. If they have large class sizes, how much personal attention do they give to the students... all good things to consider.

Answer 2

I have studied Aikido for years and find it effective. Aikido teaches something completely different than most martial arts. It has roots from ancient Japan, battle tested. Roots came from martial arts moves when a samurai would become weaponless and need to protect themselves or wanted to take a prisoner without killing them.

As for the person above who thinks Aikido teaches no offensive moves. Anyone can hit or kick, Aikido allows you to take control of the situation and use it as you may. But to kick someone or punch someone when you have the upperhand is not what Aikido is about. It is way to teach others that " I now have the upper hand of this situation but I will show you there is no need to hurt you and hurting you would be meaningless."

So investigate what happens to be a martial art which suits your personality. I chose Aikido because it deals with a martial art but also a philosphy. I did not choose Tae Kwon Do because I think kicking is useless on the street.

Answer 3

Tae Kwon Do is mostly a hard martial art, in which one meets the opponents energy with their own, with strikes, blocks, etc. Aikido, the main purpose of it is to be able to pacify the opponent without either person hurting each other. It is therefore a very soft style, in which you use the opponents energy, and redirecting them into awkward positions or holds. However, from a completely practical standpoint, tae kwon do would be the easiest (tho neither of them are easy) to learn in a short time. In a shorter time, you can make it practical. Aikido takes a much longer time, but would probably be much more effective in the long long run...

Answer 4

Aikido uses a great deal of moves that redirect the energy of your opponent. It is more indirect than Tae Kwon Do which is very direct and More about attack and is more physically demanding. Watch both classes and decide which way you want to respond to an attack and decide if your ready for the Tae Kwon Do heavy workouts. Most teachers will let you monitor a class. But I wouldn't take two styles, their too different and it would get confusing.

Answer 5

that depends totally why you want to study marital arts. aikido is more philosophical, and takes long years of study to become effective. tae kwon do is much more user friendly, but take much more physicality. two things...both these arts have been saturated with commercial mcdojos, wich essentially just sell you belts for months of memberships. so stay away from the franchise chain places. second, if you want something effective, take a moment to look around. neither the military nor the professional cage fighters use either of these. in the cage fighting seen, many traditional martial arts were tossed very early on - notably both tae kwon do and aikido. now its arguable that the men using them had simply not been prepared for the realities of a fight - which i find unacceptable of any one who claims to be a black belt in any thing. if you want something effective on the street, look to western boxing and wrestling, brazilian jiujitsu and muai thai. theres still a place for the traditional arts mind you, they just arent real applicable to the real world. if, however i was going to, id learn first tae kwon do, purely for the kinesthetic knowledge you will gain, and then aikido. neither are going to vanish, so take both.

Answer 6

I have practiced both and if have to choose one right now, it would be aikido.

TKD it's great to improve physical condition and speed, specially if you practice the olympic style, which is the popular one, but aikido gives you the peace and relaxation of oriental martial arts, and at the same time is more useful at a street fight (just a personal opinion).

TKD can knockout opponents, but you need distance to develop your kicks. Aikido is a much more closer combat. If somebody attacks you, they won't give you any space. They'll be close to you.

Answer 7

Aikido is a much more effective self defense style. Of course, I'm assuming you're interested in learning a martial art for that reason, which may be completely wrong.

Answer 8

I practice aikido as well tkd. Both are good martial art style. But as girl, I would rely on aikido in real fight, especially if my opponent are bigger and stronger than I. Tkd use strength, stamina and physicall. A tall and strong person will kick farther and stronger than a young little girl. In other hand aikido use more circular movement to defeat stronger and bigger opponents.

Answer 9

They are two completely different styles. Aikido uses about 90-95% hand strikes.(includes locks,throws,traps,etc...) and TKD is about 80% kicking. I studied TKD because that's all there was in my area. However, if you want to become a good all around martial artist I would learn as many different styles as you can. For example, study boxing for punching. Study TKD for the kicking. Jujitsu for ground fighting, and Aikido,Kung Fu, or Muy Tai for in close combat.

Answer 10

You really don't have to choose because you can learn both if you like.

But I would prefer Aikido. Watching UFC gives me the impression that in a real life fight, its probably grappling and not kicking that would be most useful. In which case, may I also suggest jujitsu?