I am not a black belt

When I was a young kid in the 80's I thought Steven Seagal was a real badass, and Aikido was THE best (and coolest) martial art. Watching his movies and fight scenes was like watching that video at this website. Effortlessly using attackers own momentum against them, snapping limbs and the principle of no fist/kick hits harder than the ground. I remember going to the library and getting some Aikido books and practicing the steps from photographs.

Then Royce Gracie with Brazilian Jujitsu and the very beginnings of UFC came along and completely upended the traditional glamor of movie star Martial Arts for REAL fights against opponents of all sizes (Early UFC didn't have weight classes). Most real fights end up on the ground pretty fast anyway and against larger/stronger opponents you want to be on the ground.

That isn't to say that a black belt in say Karate, or even Aikido wouldn't still be effective in a no-choice self-defense situation, but I'd rather be more proficient in Boxing at that point or one of the many other more modern fighting arts that have grappling as a core.

I watched that video a dozen times and I still don’t understand where the angular momentum came from. That guy must have been trying to throw himself, right??

Having done multiple martial arts (Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Filipino martial arts and, if you count it, fencing) I've come to the conclusion that Aikido is the Lisp of the martial arts world:

- it's considered very beautiful

- it takes a long time to become fluent in it

- it "expands your mind"

- in theory it can "work on the street" but in practice people reach for other tools

"Martial Arts" can be looked at from one of three different perspectives; viz. 1) For Health Maintenance 2) For Competitive Sport 3) For Self-Defence.

With age, the emphasis on (2)&(3) diminishes and the focus becomes (1). This is why many martial arts masters toned down their fighting styles over time. With age one needs to focus more on cultivating mind, breathing, balance, awareness, sensitivity, and less on strength and power.

Aikido and Taijiquan/Taichichuan (except the original "hard" Chen style) were uniquely developed for this. So if you think of these as martial arts for self-defence you will be completely disappointed. However training in them allows you to develop certain aspects, specifically sensitivity and awareness, which are vital in real combat.

Aikido does this via defender learning to turn attacker's momentum and Taiji/Taichi does the same via push-hands practice. Depending upon how well you have practiced and internalized this you may/may-not be able to use this in a very limited number of real-world scenarios. Not all conflicts need hard kicking/punching.

All students will do well to study the concepts/theories/ideas behind these arts and interpret/adapt them for use in their own lives.