Aikido and Muay Thai are two famous martial arts. It is not uncommon for people to be interested in how they compare.
And in order to figure that out, we can break the two apart even further by examining their origins.
Aikido comes from the Japanese art of Aiki-jujutsu and was created by Morihei Ueshiba. He taught it to his son in 1942 after being released from jail for political reasons, and Aikido has had a resurgence in popularity since then.
Muay Thai, on the other hand, is a northern Thai martial art that has its roots in the martial arts of Burma and Thailand.
It was practiced by soldiers and peasants alike as a means to protect oneself from harm, develop body skills, and wage war.
These two martial arts are quite different, but we can look at how they manifest themselves in combat techniques.
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What Does Aikido Entail?
Aikido is a martial art that uses joint locks and principles to defend oneself. It is an art that was created to protect against violence.
As a result, it focuses primarily on controlling the opponent’s body in order to immobilize them without wounding them.
This is achieved by striking or pinning down the attacker with joint locks, throws, or strikes. This makes aikido training so difficult because of this focus on controlling your opponent rather than striking them and injuring them.
Advantages of Aikido
While aikido training is difficult and focuses more on controlling your opponent rather than striking them, it is still helpful to have these skills at your disposal.
- Aikido can be used against many different attackers with strategic escapes. For example, if you are in an area where there is a large crowd of people and some are violent, you can use Aikido to disarm and protect yourself.
- Aikido training is also helpful for those that need to defend themselves in martial arts tournaments. Aikido can be used in tournaments because it uses joint locks and makes it difficult to injure your opponent without alerting the crowd.
Disadvantages of Aikido
While Aikido is a very effective martial art, it does have its faults.
- Aikido uses joint locks to control your opponent, and while they are effective, they can be difficult to apply in a real fight. If you get into a fight or self-defense situation, your adrenaline is running high, so executing these moves properly will be very difficult.
- Since Aikido is focused on immobilizing your opponent, it may not be the best tool to use if you find yourself in a situation as an aggressor. One of the main principles of martial arts is to avoid conflict and protect others, so if you are in a position where you are starting a fight, it might not be ideal for Aikido.
What Does Muay Thai Entail?
Muay Thai is primarily a kickboxing style of martial art that can be used for self-defense. It insists on the use of eight limbs, allowing one to attack with kicks, punches, elbows, and knees.
The origins of Muay Thai come from the martial art of Krabi-krabong. These martial arts techniques were used to protect the body from harm and to attack an opponent.
Muay Thai uses strikes, punches, kicks, knees, elbows, and open-hand techniques in a fight. The original fighting style was called Siamese-Style Western Boxing, but it changed its name to Muay Thai in 1929 after receiving recognition as a Thai martial art.
Muay Thai is still practiced as a competitive sport today, but it has also developed into a self-defense style because it is based on real combat situations.
This means that it uses striking techniques that are meant to cause injury rather than immobilize your opponent.
Advantages of Muay Thai
- When it comes to combat, Muay Thai is effective. In a fight or self-defense situation, your adrenaline is running high, so you need something that can bring about a quick result.
- From a performance standpoint, Muay Thai is intuitive and much easier to understand. You can use these strikes and combinations to create distance for yourself. This makes it easier for you to keep away from your opponent as well as strike them when the time is right.
- Moreover, since Muay Thai is a kickboxing style of martial art, it can be used to attack without alerting the public.
Disadvantages of Muay Thai
- While Muay Thai is an effective martial art, it still requires training and skill to execute properly. It incorporates kickboxing, a dangerous element if you are not very skilled or you are training with no one to assist you. Kickboxing can have a significant impact on your joints, and joints are not meant to be used in this manner. If you are not trained properly, you could permanently injure yourself.
- Training in Muay Thai can be very difficult because it uses the hands and feet to attack. You need to be able to coordinate your hands and your feet, which is hard because each part of the body responds differently during a fight or self-defense situation.
Differences between Aikido vs. Muay Thai
There are a number of differences between Aikido and Muay Thai. These include;
- Aikido focuses more on controlling your opponent’s body and immobility with strikes, whereas Muay Thai is focused on striking the opponent with kicks, punches, and kicks. These are designed to cause injury to your opponent and not allow them to recover.
- By focusing more on striking your opponent and less on locking them down, Muay Thai is a much more aggressive style of martial art that can be used in self-defense situations or combat.
- In a real-world situation, Muay Thai is more advantageous than Aikido because it allows you to strike your opponent without alerting the public. In Aikido self-defense, you are trained to use joint locks that show your opponent who is in control of the fight.
- Aikido is much of a challenging style of martial art in terms of executing the moves and having control over your opponent. Muay Thai uses the hands and feet in a fight, making it easier for you to coordinate your movements than Aikido, which primarily uses joint locks.
Similarities between Aikido vs. Muay Thai
These two martial arts have some key similarities in that;
- Both martial arts can be used to protect yourself and are effective methods of striking your opponent.
- Learning either of these martial arts will help you learn how to defend yourself in a real confrontation, not just a sparring match or competition.
Conclusion
We looked at how these two martial arts are different and how they compare. These two martial arts styles are effective in a self-defense situation or combat, but each has its advantages and disadvantages.
Whether you choose one or the other, it all comes down to preference and what you are looking for.
