Why the Martial Arts?

**charvel pointy** · 07-16-2005, 12:53

Originally Posted by JessePasley

girls and booze

That's why I picked up guitar. Come to think of it, that's pretty much why I've chosen to do everything in my life, at least for the Girls part. Heck, my wife teases me because I pick my checkout girl at the grocery store by her looks, regardless of the line length. Hmmm, must be a Man thing, or an Italian thing, Nah, it's an Italian Man thing!!!

**jakmak52** · 07-16-2005, 12:58

Originally Posted by JessePasley

girls and booze

What a strange reason to study the martial arts

**jakmak52** · 07-16-2005, 13:01

Originally Posted by charvel pointy

I've been pretty successful avoiding SD sitreps, so it's not what I think about when I go to class.

Just curious, what's SD sitreps?

**charvel pointy** · 07-17-2005, 13:12

Self defense situations, i.e. fights.

**jakmak52** · 07-17-2005, 13:17

Originally Posted by charvel pointy

Self defense situations, i.e. fights.

Thanks, 10-4 on that. What style of ITF TKD do you practice? I practice the Chang Hon version.

**charvel pointy** · 07-17-2005, 16:46

Chang Hon forms as well, though our grandmaster added 2 forms of his own creation for Orange belt and high green. Extended out I guess for more testing fees?

**Jason T Gatts** · 08-06-2005, 14:42

I became interested in the martial arts because of Saturday morning Kung Fu Theater and Chuck Norris movies (in the early 80's). With a 6 year old's childlike innocence (naivity) I began pursing the elitism of the Black Belt. After obtaining the Black Belt I realized that 100's of thousands of Black Belts worldwide wasn't exactly elite. I continue to train and teach because there is nothing in my life that I do better.

**Aikido_Girl918** · 08-06-2005, 19:28

Why did I want to join? I thought it would be fun. Why did my parents let me join? Self-defence. since then I have come to see it as a way of life. My goals are to become a better person and to one day be a sensei, when my sensei thinks I am ready. It is more to me than anything else in my life, it is to me, as Bruce Baker (babaker) put it, a drug, but none the less it is a good thing in my life.

**outinthecountry** · 08-08-2005, 00:22

I started doing IsshinRyu when I was just barely 6, so it was more something my parents enrolled me in because they thought I would have fun. I had always been interested in martial arts, so they decided to let me do it. I continue to train because it's become a part of who I am. I wouldn't be the same person without it. I've been teaching others since I was 8, and I have been heading classes since I was 10. I even briefly ran one of my sensei's dojos from the age of 12-14. These opportunities have given me great experiences, and I wouldn't trade them for anything. Teaching only seems to deepen your love for the martial arts.

**MMAfighter** · 08-09-2005, 12:13

Self defence, fitness, friends who do martial arts so i can beat them, discipline, and for fighting

**evvad** · 09-01-2005, 17:27

For me it sortof reluctantly began for fun (my girl-to-be convinced me to join).
I had always liked MA moves and anime, I also had never been in a fight so the self defence aspekt wasn't big on me.

That was a year ago.

In that time it has developed into a lot more. My MA got me much more active, and got me thinking about self defence. My shoulders have expanded so much it's like puberty has hit me all over again. :P

**poetic misjustice** · 09-02-2005, 19:30

i can't actually remember what it was that made me join it was when i was very young, my parents encouraged me, they wanted me to learn self-defense, but now that i'm older i stay for the self improvement aspect as well as the training itself, also it's only career i've ever considered (my carrers advisor didn't see my answer coming at the interveiw at school i can tell you) i've always wanted to become a sensei, plus it's all i'm really good at, never was very good at school, alwasy had my mind on martial arts, so i guess it's a way of life for me.

**NickR** · 09-06-2005, 15:50

There was little risk of violence to myself at school, as I was lucky to be one of those kids that got on with people or were ignored, but there were plenty of tough guys who occassionally picked on my friends and random trouble makers and as at the time I was built like a bean pole I think I wanted the self confidence more than anything.

I think I used my Karate once whist I was at school and was very chuffed that I made a fool out of the other guy by doing nothing but blocks and the occasional trip, he kept swinging at me and he kept getting slower to the point where I just ended up walking off and he knew he was never gonna land a punch. Quite chuffed for an orange belt/15 year old. Broke my left wrist the following summer so was out of action for 6 months (3 months in pot, 3 months taking it easy), never went back to Karate.

**tony_leith** · 09-07-2005, 04:05

Some interesting responses. I'm a 2nd dan in Shorinji Kempo, and have been training for (my god) about 14 years. My original impetus for choosing the martial arts was that I'd tried various other physical training regimes over the years, and frankly got bored with them (as well as having watched all the same movies as you guys did when you were kids..

).

Shorinji Kempo essentially just has a lot more to it than say running on a hamster machine, or lifting lumps of metal up and down. Also, training purely for fitness was in the end entirely for my benefit, and it seemed a bit narcissistic to be expending that much effort just to build muscle bulk (the exact male equivalent of spending hours in front of a make up mirror IMO) The philosophy of SK emphasises training half for yourself, half for the people you're training with, which in the end seems healthier to me.

Self defence was a mjor part of my motivation, but is probably less so now. I've only been involved in a very few 'practical application' situations in my years of practice, and if that were my only motivation it would seem like an awful lot of effort for not that much gain. The alternative would be actively looking to get into fights, and I'm not (quite) that stupid..

PS "I like hitting things with my fists" struck me as probably the most honest and direct response thus far. Very Zen.

Tony Leith

**poetic misjustice** · 09-07-2005, 16:10

i've had a couple of experiecnes where karate and kung fu have helped me out of a tight spot, especially kung fu these past few years due to the fact most people seem to want to fight me in groups of three, thank god for multiple opponent sparring, but mainly i wear them down by moving and blocking and then finishing them with a quick and humiliating strike

**Iron Monkey** · 11-17-2005, 10:19

Originally Posted by kwando_ked

Why did you begin your martial arts? What was your goal and has it changed?

What makes you get off the couch and train everyday?

I did it for self defense and fitness and plus I beat up my bullies in middle school then I said sorry and then we becamed friends, now my once bullies turn friends train in the martial arts.

**TogaAssassin** · 12-17-2005, 06:22

I've always kind of trained martial arts. Through most of my young life I did karate (shotokan in case anyone cares). I also have a limited exeriance with iado. I stopped training those when I entered high school around 14 because they just wheren't "cool" anymore. I don't know why I wanted to start training martial arts I just did. Call it a past life thing, call it a calling, but ever since I was 8 years old I wanted to do martial arts.

I went a few years of doing nothing at all. A few years back I made some new friends who did some martial arts, and found that one of my best friends from my job at the time was their instructor. Since he was my buddy I offered to spar with him (you know for fun) what followed was easily one of the most embarassing experiances of my entire life. I've always though that I was a pretty good fighter (and I still think I am) but he beat me at will like I was a powerless child. I was so impressed with the style of combat he was teaching I started showing up every week to learn more. I've been training JKD/Kali ever since.

Oddly enough it was the open hand aspects of Kali that initially interested me in the system, and it's still the open hand work that keeps me there. I have yet to come across an art the comes even close to equaling the directness or pure brutality of Kali so with Kali I stay. BTW JKD is fun as well but I <3 Kali.

**tkdgirlms** · 12-17-2005, 11:01

I actually started because my brother wanted to do MA and was to young to drive, so I volunteered to drive him to class. Since I was going to have to go with him, I figured I may as well join myself. He quit once big sis ranked first and by that time, I'd been bitten by the MA bug and nothing has stopped me from working out and having fun!

**Grei** · 12-18-2005, 03:15

I first decided to get into the martial arts because I want to write novels, and I figured the experience would be most excellent for that sort of thing. But then I kept at it just because I was interested... I actually take after my grandfather, he was the same way with martial art-type activities. So after fencing with him a while I guess I kinda woke up to it.

I also have a friend who did kenpo for a few years, though he hasn't had the time for it recently. We call eachother sparring buddies, he's another factor that really got me hooked into the MA aspect. And I can tell you, the experience and research has been... enlightening.

(I did post before, I'm just expounding on that. And this seems more accurate. I'm amazed at how differently I think of things now, as compared to how I did when I made my initial post in this thread.)

It's actually kind of annoying, because somehow my parents had thought they'd put me in karate when I was little (which would have been nice), but being the youngest I was just sort of overlooked. Even though all my elder siblings had been in it.

**Yang Wei Xin** · 12-22-2005, 13:24

sifu says that the ultimate goal of the martial arts is service to others.

becoming a riteous(wrong spelling?) human being is the ultimate goal. one who fights only when necessary and volunteers to help his fellow man at every opportunity.