Poll: why did you start in the martial arts?

[Sorynn]

I restarted 6 months ago, for self-defense purposes. I am fairly confident in my abilities to protect myself now, although I am sure I would not want to face many of the people on this board.

 

I am training, so that I can defend myself in 20 or 30 years, when I will not be able to rely on the strength and athletesism that I have at the age of 30.

[Sasori_Te]

I was a HUGE fan of Bruce Lee as a small child in the 1970's. I started martial arts for this reason as well as a strong lingering curiosity when I was 18. I learned what martial arts were really all about and now I can't do without my training.

[aefibird]

I chose the 'other' option in the poll.

 

I started Shotokan because a friend of mine started and she showed me a kata one day and I was intrigued. I went along to train and was hooked!! 4 and 1/2 years later, after 1000's of hours of training and goodness-knows how many injuries (I'm very accident prone) I've reached black belt and still only feel like a total beginner at times...

 

I started Aikido because I wanted something that would go nicely with Shotokan. I was hoping to train in judo but I didn't like the look of the local club I went to visit and so I started Aikido with a friend of mine who has a dojo.

 

Between being pumelled and bruised by karate and being streched into wierd shapes by aikido I'm now a walking wreck!!

[DarkAngel_Azrel]

i chose other option the reson i started karate is because i love the overall feel of martail arts and plus a few of my freinds allready did it and liked it.

[Bloodloss]

Because I want to be able to protect my friend's and family.

[KoreanTiger30]

my father studied hapkido and tae kwon do whil ehe was in the military in Korea. He went looking around for a school that met his liking and found one under Master Choi in Elkton, MD. HE wanted me to learn it because he enjyed it so much and I think its one of the strongest bonds but now he cant do it anymore because of injuries and disabilities but its there in his heart.

[MichiganTKD]

I wanted to practice martial arts because (1) I was tired of being other peoples' punching at school and (2) I was fascinated by martial arts from a young age. I remember when I was a kid reading every book about karate I could find and dreaming I could practice. I knew absolutely nothing about the differences, I just wanted to practice. My parents finally relented when I was 14 and let me join the TKD class at the local YMCA. From the first class I knew I made the right decision. I have been with it ever since (I'm 35 now). Same organization too. Never considered changing organization or styles.

 

[Tal]

I was 7, watched karate kid, and was like "dad, I wanna learn karate". So I started going to the dojo. After a while, I learned there was a lot more to karate than doing funky kata and kicks and stuff, and I became addicted, pretty much.

 

I started jujitsu when I was 15 because I wanted to learn how to fight better. I picked a fight with this big guy at school and he just got really close so I couldn't use my karate. About a month later I started on him again, and he was like, "oh, its karate boy again". This time I threw him and broke his wrist.

 

Started kendo when I went to university at 18, mainly because I was really interested in sword fencing in general, and the whole samurai thing appealed to me.

[daeinwolf]

My main reason for learning is because I liked to fight and wanted to be better at it. Later on I became intranced by the philosophical theories involved.

 

SiK--joshua

[equaninimus]

he just got really close so I couldn't use my karate.

Did your dojo do much in the way of kata applications training? None of the Shoto schools I have trained at did before the least three or four years.