How did you get started in martial arts?

[greenbelt_girl15]

I'd been interested in the martial arts for some time

and my mom had been thinking about puting me in a class, when some of my friends told me that they had started taking karate classes.I decided to try it out and fell in love with it.Since the only dojo in town is Cuong Nhu I didn't realy have a choice for styles.

[younwhagrl]

Well..i never was interested in Martial Arts, till my dad told me that this guy he works with teaches Martial Arts here in town..well I thought..this is not a thing girls do..at all..lol! Well BOY was I wrong..my first night..i fell in love with it, and the rest is history...the funny thing is..i thought girls couldn't do it..we have 9 girls in our class and 1 guy..it's pretty funny!

[man thing]

I've just always wanted to better prepare myself. I was never inspired by movies(Ok, maybe Rocky) or by parents or friends. Even now, they offer no encouragement whatsoever. Training is just something I have to take the initiative on. I first started official classes after my girlfriend broke up with me. You know, left sort of an empty space. Plus, I had always wanted to do this: the timing was there. After studying my options in the martial arts, I located a dojo I liked that was close enough. I found their website and attended that very night.

[Sabumnim]

I can't remember why I started, but I was 5.

Probably because my grandad's friend showed me some Bujinkan taijutsu. But now that I can actuallly learn Bujinkan, I have no time because of TKD, Karate, football and basketball... It's a good thing I'm young.

[Conqueror]

A good friend of my parents is a longtime (25 years) student of my sensei. When I was 6 he invited us to a demontration and I saw everyone from the dojo performing. I was hooked. The dojo didn't allow students under 7, so a few weeks after my seventh birthday I convinced my parents to let me join. The rest is history.

[Master Jules]

It seems that many of us share a common thread of "Bruce Lee"......for me it was 1973 when my dad took me to see Enter the Dragon. When we came home from the movie, I stuffed the laundry bag with pillows and began punching and kicking it like I saw Bruce do in the movie, loudly mimicing his "noises"...lol Mom looked in on me and said to my dad "maybe we should put him in a program".....that was almost 32 years ago....Im still punchin' and kickin'.....and makin' noises....lol

[UseoForce]

Well, a lot of you will hate this, but...

It started with military interest that gradually shifted to combat interest which in turn shifted to an interest in hand-to-hand combat. I devoured any info I could find on the net, and bought two books: Judo, by Jimmy Pedro, and The Complete Idiot's guide to Kickboxing (They are two of my treasured favorities of a collection that now numbers about 30 MA books). Then I bought a Black Belt Magezine, and read about this magical thing called Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. All the best fighters did it! As soon as I could I tried to locate a BJJ school. I was frustrated by the lack of variety of MA in my area. TSD was about the only option. Then I stumbled across Combat Hapkido. Omg, elements of not only Hapkido but Judo, Wing Chun, modern combatives, boxing, and, to my liking, a lot of BJJ! You can't tear me away from that school now!

[italian_guy]

I started when the Gym where I was training opened a kickboxing course. I was bored to do step aerobics so I gave it a try... and I really liked.

But then I wanted to do some more traditional MA and then I switched to Karate. I liked so much MA that when I was doing kickboxing I also joined a Tai chi chuan course... but for several problems I quitted that course and now as a second art I do JKD/Kali. Now I'm pretty ok with my training.

[Harlan]

Just started last year, at the age of 44. Was looking for exercise. Who knew?

[dtstiachi]

I have always wanted to do MA, but my family wouldn't allow it. Now that I am on my own. I am taking MA and absolutely love it.