# How to you handle punches and kicks



## Yari (Oct 6, 2008)

Hi

Wanted to hear how you handle punches and kicks in the style of Aikido you practice....

Specifically punches like: Hook, uppercut, uraken or elbows?
And to sepcify this even more, in close range.

Same goes for kicks.

Asking out of curiosity.

/Yari


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## charyuop (Oct 6, 2008)

Usually....enter.


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## tempus (Oct 6, 2008)

Blend if I can and always with an X-Block (one hand high near the face and the other running along the body vital points).  If it is to close we practice blocking and parries.  We make sure blocks hit as hard as a strike.  I also like knees to vital points and then a lock up or throw from there.

I am not familar wiht the Japanese terms.  If you can get out of the way we have a techinque called "Slap to the side of the head", whcih works well if you can get out of the way.  Basically controlling the head and throwing the person with your hand on the side of their head.  While your hand is there you are also pushing up and over to the other shoulder to get them going.  Also, up close if you get the block in, is the leg sweep.  Something I need to use more of.

Upper cuts are difficult.  If you see it coming you can blend in and jam it with a block and then technique.  If late, get out of the way and follow the uppercut up and over pushing Uke backwards and to the ground.  I am an in close boxer so if someone lets me get to close it is hard to pick the uppercut up.  Low level belts usually let me get in close.  Black belts usually have already thrown a strike at me if I get to close.

However, I always tend to tell people to move.  If you blend the wrong way you stop the punch (as long as it is not your face you are using as the blocking device) from gaining power since you are catching it at the back end and not a full momentum.  If you mess up, just do not stand there.  Strike and then finish with technique or make a run for it.

-Gary


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## morph4me (Oct 7, 2008)

I use maiai and tai sabaki and atemi to keep people from getting close enough to throw elbows or uppercuts. I've never had too much problem with hooks because I can usually enter so they either pass me or I jam them. Bear in mind that in Nihon Goshin Aikido, these are the types of attacks that we train against so we learn how to deal with them early and from a neutral stance, most of the other styles I've seen and had an opportunity to train with only train shomen, yokomen and tsuki from a one foot forward stance, which I've always felt limited my options.


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## ejaazi (Oct 8, 2008)

I agree. Atemi is very important. Depending on the attack, you need to get off of the line then re-enter, or enter in deep.


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## Korppi76 (Oct 22, 2008)

Yari said:


> Hi
> 
> Wanted to hear how you handle punches and kicks in the style of Aikido you practice....
> 
> ...


For hook it debends how I am positioned, usually I try to move same way where hook is going. Basicly I try to handle it like yokomen uchi. 
For uppercut I try to avoid it and steer it away from me and stay in contact with uke.
For uraken is usually easy because I can move behind nage. 
For elbows I try to make contact to hand and steer nages hands.
And lot of atemis if I know uke can handle it.  

For stright kicks  I try to  move  side of kick as close as possible  and then back  of uke or if moved to wrong side I move uke with atemi and control him/her. For  circular kicks  I move  with  kick  or  if I am early enough I try to block ukes  moves or for example koshinage I just move in. For knees I try to move so that kicks arent so powerfull and break ukes contact so I can move either away so knees cant reach or move different position so I can control uke.

Usually I try to teach kicks and punches from move but most of people form our club seem to have problems with that. And they also hate when I teach how to handle close fighting. (almost as much as they hate cround fighting)  Some even say I teach what I have learned in Jujutsu, Karate and other arts... which is true.


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## amir (Oct 22, 2008)

Yari said:


> Hi
> 
> Wanted to hear how you handle punches and kicks in the style of Aikido you practice....
> 
> ...


 
Same as any other attack - Tai-Sabaki, Mae, timing, and applying the  Waza I feel most appropriate at that moment.

I could not give any realistic concrete answer, since each specific situation calls for slightly different response, and the details are most important in making it a working M.A. and not just strength based gross approximation .

Normally, I strive to keep my mae longer, so the attacks you wrote about are not the first attack, rather a follow up, which further complicates the issue.

One basic concept I would mention, is that one should still strive to  achieve Kuzushi, and that grabbing a fist is not realistic.

Amir


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## furtom (Nov 11, 2008)

I think once an aikidoka gets all the fundamental aspects of the art ingrained, any attack can be delt with.

Your question is not uncommon among those who don't practice aikido. They see all the stylized attacks and wonder how an aikidoka could handle more "realistic" attacks.

There are two main points to be made about this:

1. Remember what aikdio is. Aikido is not a fighting or sportive art. It deals with attacks that are meant to really kill a person, not just a jab or kick.

Think about it this way, more mainline arts practice all the punching and kicking so you can spar and fight, right? You even have competitions. Lots of blocks and other such techniques. But aikido comes out of arts of war. The purpose was to defend oneself from a very serious threat -- like impending death!

Aikido deals with such an incoming attack with neutralizations, immobilizations and projections, all of which are designed to END the conflict. If done correctly, there is no fight. It's just over.

So, in such a system, there is no need for sparing skills and no possibility of competitions. 

So an upper cut and the like doesn't qualify as impending death. The aikidoka should simply not be that close! Distance is a main part of the training. If the guy with the uppercut gets frustrated at this and comes in with a full punch -- that we deal with.

It's true we don't practice defending from kicks that much, but that is more for safety's sake than anything else. Anything that can be done to an arm, can be done to a leg. Anyway, it's still a distance question.

2. The attacks we use in the dojo are for TRAINING purposes. These days, not too many people attack by grabbing a wrist! But it is still a very valuable practice to drill aiki fundimentals.

Aikido is a more internal martial art. As is true for all internal arts, it takes quite a bit of time.

Well, that's my crack at it, anyway...


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## Touch Of Death (Nov 14, 2008)

Yari said:


> Hi
> 
> Wanted to hear how you handle punches and kicks in the style of Aikido you practice....
> 
> ...


I don't do Aikido but the answer to your question is simply to get off the line of attack.
Sean


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## Yari (Nov 16, 2008)

I've been off for at while. Thanks for your answers.

But I can't help myself but think "move away from the attack" is an answer? I do agree, and some have elaborated and given good answers.

For me an attack is defined by what comes before the attack. This will define how i can handle the attack. When i comes to hans/arms, a fist can move many ways (and there are probably 2 of them), and I need "see" what is happending before I can move. even the move itself has to be taken into consideration "what is next"; get away or hold him?

/Yari


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## furtom (Nov 16, 2008)

Yari said:


> I've been off for at while. Thanks for your answers.
> 
> But I can't help myself but think "move away from the attack" is an answer? I do agree, and some have elaborated and given good answers.
> 
> ...



Well, get of the line of attack and moving away from it are not quite the same -- close, I admit -- but subtly different.

Getting off the line of a committed attack allows the aikidoka to blend with it and apply the technique.

While it is true an akikdoka can take an uncommitted attack and create an imbalance, this is very difficult to do if the opponent is any good. (I guess it would comedown to who is more skillful in that situation.) But a committed attack creates it's own imbalance. It's that imbalance that we use to our advantage.


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## Touch Of Death (Nov 18, 2008)

Yari said:


> I've been off for at while. Thanks for your answers.
> 
> But I can't help myself but think "move away from the attack" is an answer? I do agree, and some have elaborated and given good answers.
> 
> ...


Of cousrse you are reading the before. You watch the strongest base of support and you avoid that angle in favor of his weakest base of support. This is all before he is ready to throw a punch.
Sean


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## Aiki Lee (Dec 4, 2008)

It seems to me that if you are having difficulty with understanding how you should react to these kinds of attacks, you should meet with your teacher and ask him to show you how he would do it.

I recently had similar questions for my teacher about how I should engage a person who is more "cagey" meaning he tends to try and whittle me down with out-boxing type manuevers, until I am worn enough that he can finish me. 

My teacher then showed me how to use the principles I have learned to defeat such a person, and after speaking with him I found that the answer was far more simple than I would have expected.

The type of attack doesn't really matter. The angle of attack does. A thrusting kick or punch is still just a forward thrusting motion. A round kick or hooking punch are both arcing attacks. If you have a teacher, you should ask him or her, that's what they're there for after all.

Hope I'm being helpful.


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