We need to get Bas Rutten a time machine.

I love Aikido. It seems like a brilliant way to defeat someone that attacks you who is a moron and also cannot stand up if they're concentrating on something else.

I took classes in Aikido from the Ki Society when I was a kid. The Ki Society is a branch of Aikido teaching that focuses more on the concept of Ki or Chi, meaning your inner spiritual energy or life force. There was regular meditation involved before every class, where we would practice "extending our Ki".

One of the very first things they taught us is how to 'fall', meaning when someone tries to throw you, rather than resist it you sort of jump into it and help them throw you. Ostensibly, this is to promote safety so that people know how to fall properly and nobody gets hurt. In practice, the result is that basically every throw is choreographed in much the same way as an off-the-cuff professional wrestling match. By the time you're throwing them, your opponent isn't resisting and is in fact helping you do it.

I remember going to a major statewide Ki Society competition when I'd been doing it for about a year. We partnered up with someone from our dojo that we had a lot of experience sparring with and took turns demonstrating our throws and holds in front of the judges. There were no "matches" for anyone to win or lose, and we were judged on our form.

Oh, and at the competition, some of the higher tier black belts were demonstrating their ability to use their Ki to let the air out of a car tire by kneeling beside it and concentrating. Something for us grasshoppers to look forward to.

I learned Aikido for six months. It can work with drunks and very weak women/men, and that's about it. Even then it's just a couple of isolated moves and locks. I heard some schools do teach a more offensive form of Aikido.

It always struck me as judo for guys with ponytails. Does that make sense?

Small joint manipulation is definitely useful, but SweaterCollection's story pretty much summed up what I already figured about Aikido.

It's amazing what you can do to people when they let you do it.

5 for scams.

Maybe the fat helped in that area.