Why do you do martial arts?

[jarrettmeyer]

You wouldn't have started if you didn't like. And you wouldn't keep up with it if you didn't love it. But that still doesn't answer the question. Why do you do MA?

 

My wife brought me in as something we could do together. It quickly became a physical fitness program. Now it is fulfilling many roles: exercise, stress relief, fun, exciting hobby, self-improvement, ....

 

So, now I pose the question to you. Regardless of your system, why do you do MA?

 

(Edit) PS: I've even noticed that I'm more polite to people at work. More please's, more thank you's, more smiling. (If you knew me about two months ago, you'd know that smiling is really not my style.) What is that all about? I think it has to do with the stress relief and getting to work really, really hard at something other than my daily job.

[foreveryoung001]

I began as a teenager, many years ago, because my friend was involved, and I thought it was pretty cool. I ended up taking break after I graduated Highschool, my college didn't have any programs, and I was taking too many credit to worry about starting one. Then I moved to Northern Michigan, where they didn't have schools in my style, so I worked out with some friends, but nothing to serious, until my own children began to take an interest. Now I do it for them, I've started my own school and I do it for my students (I love to teach), and I do have to say that I am in better shape than I have been in for a long time, and I enjoy seeing my kids grow in the art. So I guess I have a few different reasons for why I am involved now.

[IMGONNABEUSMC]

Im in 11th grade and on the my schools wreslting team and i take Jiu-Jitsu because it helps me with my grappling and plus in a few years i will be goin into the United States Marine Corps. I asked my recruiter about Marine MA and he said that he was taking it and it was a lot of fun. I asked him if i should start taking one so that i may be 1 step ahead and he said that Jiu-Jitsu would help a lot. So here i am. I just started and it's a blast to do.

[Logan]

I started MA when I was about 12. I trained pretty hard for about 10 years, at which time I took about 3 years off because of my career and I was moving alot at the time. Once when I was cleaning my office I had stacked a box on a counter top. I had my hands full moving something else when I knocked another container into the box on the counter. It started to fall. It was full of breakable stuff and if it had fallen it would have shattered. I didn't have enough time to put the stuff I was holding down and grab it, so , on mostly instict I threw a side-kick, (quick, but not forceful), and was able to push the box back on the counter top. I hadn't been to a class in 2 years.

 

My point, (rather long winded point), is that if you embrace MA it becomes a part of your very soul. It is not something that can be turned on and off. It will show up in every aspect of your life. Just like jarrettmeyer said about being more polite to his co-workers. You will find that you don't have to be training to be 'practicing' MA. So you ask why I continue doing MA? How do I not? Why do I breathe?

[scottnshelly]

I got interested because my dad was a Black Belt. He refused to teach me or take me to class until i was 6 because of a lack of attention span. For my sixth birthday, he started teaching me. We lived far away from his school by the time i was 6, so he taught me at home. He taped my yellow belt test and mailed it to his instructor who watched it and gave me a yellow belt. For orange and up we made the journey. Now we live even farther, but i still managed to get up to 2nd Dan in that school by keeping up with the criteria and going back for the test.

 

There are lots of schools in this area, so i also have a Shodan in American Tae Kwon Do (for lack of better term) here in town.

 

So, back to the question, i got started because of my dad, i continued because of the lessons that i learned and it helped me all through school.

 

I stay in it because i feel the obligation to give what i have been given. plus it's fun.

[Little Dragon]

I started becuase I wanted to try something new,and because i a the odd ball in the family.My whole family has their own good traits,it seemed like i was the only untalented one.I tried to do art,but wasnt really workin for me,only thing i was good at was doing physical stuff,like sports.So one day i decided to do MA,didnt really care about it to much at first until i went to my first tournement.I held up that silver medal up and looked at it and knew this was something i could stick with.

[CapitalKarate]

i started because i've just always wanted to taken MA lessons and become a MAist, mostly i guess because i want to know how to defend myself or fight others... but now that i've actually gotten into it, i stay in it because its a way of life for me. plus it gets me into GREAT shape

[kotegashiNeo]

My uncle was nidan under Masami Tsuroka and had the most amazing zanshin, I mean sneaking up on my uncle was just about impossible. If you managed to sneak up on him he would react so quickly it truly was amazing. Lastly he would always have his sai sticking out of his duffle bag and I thought they were the coolest things ever. End of story I convinced him to teach me and I have been trainning one way or another since then

[Vito]

i want to be better at fighting than i am. i love learning it, and i want that power.

[SevenStar]

I'm a competitor. I like to test myself. muay thai, judo, etc. testing myself against someone else drives me to push harder. Knowing that I am about to step into a ring with somebody who has been training as hard as I have or harder for the sole purpose of our contest is just plain invigorating.