What do you think of hapkido? Is it better than akido?

The question is,WHat do you think about hapkido?It Does'nt matter what anyone else thinks,It's what you think,& if you like it,More power to ya. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/smile.gif[/IMG]

Please remember, it's not the art so much as how it's trained that matters. Train with a cooperative (after a certain point) partner who's compliant and you're not training realistically. All too often, this is how it's done in "Eastern" martial arts styles (with the exception of judo). Hapkido and aikido BOTH train very unrealistically so, in my opinion, I don't see those arts as being very relevent for the street.

-John

[This message has been edited by JKogas (edited 06-09-2003).]

Yawn. [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/rolleyes.gif[/IMG]

Well, I don't know about unrealistically!!! I train in HKD here in Korea and I've never been thrown, never fallen, never been kicked so much in my life. I think that this is what makes a good art though. If you train dry all the time you never know what it feels like. Of course we do it all safely (ie breakfalling from white belt and contact sparring with body protection on).

What can I say, I just love this art (and I have studies various arts on and off for 20 years). [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

Can't wait till the next instalment!!!

In some ways I agree with John. I've tried Aikido and felt that for me, It was too cooperative and I was lacking confidence as to it's effectiveness. If Hapkido training is also cooperative in that way you may feel the same lack of confidence. Remember that is only in my head though (the lack of confidence). If you feel it works and you are confident enough to put out 100% effort if ever needed to, it may be good for you. I train in Judo for that reason...once we learn a techninque and practice it cooperatively, you get to try throwing someone who definitely is trying not to get thrown. In that type of training you really can see what your stronger and weaker throws are.

Dawgzog,

I like hapkido. In the 1980's I studied hapkido in a suburb of Atlanta. About 5 years ago I began studying with another hapkido class. One of the things that is common to both these classes is that there was equal emphasis on the striking realm and the grappling realm. Most arts seem to either concentrate on striking with only a little grappling or concentrate on grappling with only a little striking. The equal emphasis is one of the reasons I chose hapkido. Another reason I like it is that we do not do forms. I had been to a lot of karate and tae kwon do schools and I always hated doing forms.

Is it better than aikido? From what perspective do you mean that? I admit I have a lot of problems with aikido but I can also see that there is something of value within it.

I don't know what kind of hapkido class JKogas has seen but we are never cooperative in the manner you will see in an aikido class. In hapkido when beginners are first learning joint locks their training partners are somewhat non-resistant. As the student gets more practise instructors make sure progressively more resistance is added. I should point out that I think JKogas was refering particularly to joint locks when he mentioned cooperative training partners. No one in our class "cooperates" when getting punched or kicked.

As far as what you will be taught in hapkido:

Striking with hand, elbow, knee, and foot(as well as headbutts); avoiding and blocking such strikes


Grappling: throws, takedowns, groundwork(wrestling), joint locks

And, various other things that go along with all this.

I've dabbled in a lot of arts but hapkido is the one I always come back to.

I can't stand hapkido. I took it for a couple months until I had finally had enough of it, and here are the reasons why I don't like it.

I didn't like the way it was mostly just defenses against a punch, lapel grab, etc. Whenever I would try these with sparring partners, it just wouldn't work. While they threw a punch, I would be so busy trying to block it and then put them into a submission hold, that I wouldn't even see the next punch coming.

I don't like HKD, but maybe it's just me.

Sometimes I think when an observer goes into a dojo and sees "cooperative ukes" they are really witnessing people learning new moves and going through the motions very slowly.

Most people, if they learnt to punch or do an armbar at full pace first, without correct timing or motion, would never learn to do it properly.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but can you imagine a boxer being made to go at it, in their fist lesson, without learing about correct hip movement and guarding/parrying straight punches?

learning joint locks&grappling in slower motion or with cooperative partners is also for safety reasons. Most of the joint locks if done at full speed with a little "snap" to them will break bones, dislocate joints, tear ligaments & tendons. As my teacher says,"if you break all your toys, you have nothing left to play with."
To everyone who says any art sucks because they can't do it-the fault is you, not the quality of the art.