There has been tons of controversy about whether or not aikido is effective in a real life situation, which is why I am asking this. To be honest the only aikido I’ve ever seen is in movies (where everything is obviously choreographed) or in aikido practices & demonstrations, where the opponents are trained to attack in certain ways (which are also arguably unrealistic). I mean, no typical opponent who confronts you in a street fight is going to attack you with an overhead karate chop like I’ve seen in a Aikido demonstration. So I’m wondering, has anyone actually witnessed aikido being used successfully in a real life situation? Was anyone actually able to defend them-self against an attacker using aikido? Or is aikido better for exercise and demonstration purposes only?
