Previous athletic experience?

[Beka]

I was wondering if anyone has had any significant athletic activity before starting martial arts, and how that sport has helped or hindered their training.

 

When I was between 12 and 17 years old I played volleyball. I practiced 2-4 times a week during the school season, and then 4-5 times during the club season (which was longer, and required whole weekends of tournaments). The main squatting volleyball position is very similar to the rectangular, side, and diagonal stances that we use in my style, so I was already quite used to fixing myself that way (of course, i had taken a few years off of volleyball, but I still remembered how it felt, and I still have much of the same skills). We also had rolls and dives in volleyball, and had to hit at things really hard. We had running and jumping, and I can see how a lot of my previous volleyball skills have come in handy while practicing MA. Let me also add that I had big old thigh muscles from volleyball, and those same muscles are popping out again... The tops of my thighs are like rocks (but in other spots I'm plenty soft!).

 

A new girl came to our dojo the other day (her dad trains there, too), and I was watching her do the moves. She had mentioned before how she didn't really do any sort of sport before, and I could see that she was having trouble seeing other people do something, then doing it herself. I was by no means perfect on my first day (and I'm sure none of you were, either), but I was already familiar with moving my body in certain ways that mirrored what we did in class, so it was easier for me to jump right in.

 

I have already developed good hand-eye coordination, and I know how to move around, knowing that my feet are going in the right place, without having to look down at them. My balance is good going from one position to another-- starting and stopping quickly or moving from one stance to another I don't generally fall over. I'm not trying to say that I immediately master every new stance or technique when I am first shown it, but I believe that all those years spent working on getting to know my body through volleyball has had a significant impact on my ability to learn karate quickly. I don't think very many people realize just how aggressive volleyball is, and how banged up a serious player can get. I've already conquored my fear of hitting the floor, and getting hurt is just kinda 'meh'. So now I understand that sometimes pain happens, and I'm not scared.

 

So, I was interested in discovering what other sports the other martial artists out there have played in the past, and how that may have affected their martial arts abilities. Of course, being an athletic person is good no matter what, and anything will help for *something*, but I really think that a lot of volleyball has a direct corrolation. I never played any other sports, so I was curious about how other peoples experiences may differ.

 

[aefibird]

Before I started martial arts I was heavily into horseriding. I know that some people may say its not much of an athletic sport - you just 'sit there' and let the horse do the work, but it's not like that at all. You need a good level of fitness to be able to ride every day, especially for fast work and endurace riding. It also helps develop flexibility, espseically if you ride a large horse, like I do. Getting onto a 17hand high horse from the ground when you're only 5'2" as I am is no mean feat! I still ride as often as I can (although university has got in the way now ) and can see that it has helped me develop good leg muscles for MA.

 

When I was at school I was also a hockey player (grass hockey) and trained 2-3 times a week, as well as playing regular matches. I haven't played hockey since I left school at 18, over 6 years ago, but I can see how some of the skills involved in it have been useful for martial arts. Such as the skill of beating up your opponents... *cough* I was a very violent player...

 

I'm also into hill walking and directly before I started karate I'd been in hard training to climb Mt Kilimanjaro. I joined my karate club a few weeks after getting back from Kilimanjaro, so my fitness level from that was still high, so I was fairly fit when I started karate.

 

I have asthma and I find that it seems to take me longer than other people to get to the same level of fitness by doing the same training. Does anyone else here have asthma and find that?

[Ironberg]

I tried to teach myself martial arts before actually starting martial arts. I would stretch occasionally, teach myself kicks and punches, and even work on calisthenics without an instructor making me.

 

It was kindof funny how I imagined that the jumping crescent kick was actually a roundhouse kick. Now I chuckle when I realize that the kick was suppost to be taught to an intermediate color belt. Those were the days: also the days that I imagined that the spinning hammerfist was the most deadly upper-body technique around.

Edited May 17, 2004 by Ironberg

[swooshfinn]

No real experience whatsoever.... just a little non-competitive sports leagues such as volleyball and softball. Nothing too serious, I have been using martial arts as a way to get in a better physical condition.

[karatekid1975]

Same here. I didn't really play sports. I walked alot when I was in my late teens, which helped with my leg stregnth. But I haven't walked for 3 years before I started MA.

[Dijita]

I was always into sports and preety active growing up. I really got into mountain biking for about 8 or 9 years. 4 of those years I was heavily competing in downhill racing.

 

I think the biggest thing that it has helped me with is my fitness level. Other things I can think of, is that it really taught me how to breakfall properly... as I spent a lot of time going over the bars .

[G95champ]

I really got involved in karate to help me become a better football player in Jr high and High school. I have no doubt that each helped the other. To be a good LINEMAN in football which I was you have to understand how to use your hips to dirive the person downfield you also need quick hands and feet. My shotokan training was huge in that reguards allowing me to keep the low center of gravitey and be explosive. At the same time my karate was greatly aided by my football in that I got to feel what it was like to be hit. Granted it was not punched like in a fight but its hard to simulate the exp of a real fight in sparring.

 

IMO karate or MA in general will aid any sort of sport you do....

[turonaga]

well, i did judo b4 and soccer. help me learn body contact.

[TheDevilAside]

I used to skateboard a lot, did it for about 6 years.

 

It helped me a lot with my stance. I noticed at my first class that a lot of the beginners had a lot of trouble with staying in a horse stance for more than 30 seconds. However, for me it wasn't hard at all, since when you skateboard you generally have to keep your knees bent for most of the time, so I guess it conditioned the muscles in my legs.

 

Another thing it helped me with was pain. For those of you that skateboard or used to, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you want to get better at skateboarding, you have to be stupid and do stupid things (like doing your first ollie (jump) over 8 stairs, or trying to grind in the rail next to it.. yikes), so you usually end up crashing a lot, and when you crash.. you crash hard. Eventually I just grew a certain degree of immunity to pain where I could keep skateboarding with a sprained ankle (but now I realize how stupid that was, my ankles are messed up). And my shins.. I don't even feel them anymore. Eventually you begin to "embrace the pain", and that helped me a lot with fighting in general.

 

One thing I think that it screwed me up with, though, is my balance. Whenever you're doing a trick on a skateboard, you always shoot your hands up in the air and get into some awkward stance in order to mantain balance on the board. I had a few problems with that the first few weeks I went to my dojo. I was used to going into some weird stance that would have worked just fine if I were on a skateboard, but it wouldn't have helped much if someone was trying to push me over. But it only took me a few weeks to get used to going into a good, solid stance with equal weight distribution.

 

And no, I'm not a sk8er boi ...anymore

[Fenris-wolf]

This is a very interesting thread! I played soccer most of my life, but never all that seriously. So I'm finding right now that these level of dedication does not come easily. I'm fine with coming to class 4, 5, even 8 times a week, but when it comes to self-discipline outside of the dojo... It is hard. I want to be the best fighter I can be, so that means running, and doing weights, and running some more... I HATE running. I like sprinting, that's fun, but I am very bad at long distance.

 

Not that I'm writing this just to feel sorry for myself, but when I listen to the other people in my club talking I do find it interesting to see the difference.

 

Having said that, MA has always come naturally to me, maybe since I've been playfighting with my father since age dot, so I'm not quite in the "feeling completely un-co" catagory