How did you get started in martial arts?

[Shadow90]

And the fact my mother (which I havent seen months) doesnt have much hope in me makes me harder. But Oone day I will come back and say that MA is for girls too and that she should stop being so old fashioned.

Then I will laugh at her face and run like crazy then >_>

[MizuRyu]

I grew up in a... racially biased.. neighborhood. I was one of about 200 caucasian children in my 1,100 student school. A Jiu-Jitsu class was offered at our local YMCA, so I begged and begged my mom, finally she agreed. It became my LIFE, and through a lot of hard work and self control I got to where I am today, and couldn't be happier!

[KaratekaAndy]

Originally I started Kick Boxing, 5 years ago, in order to defend myself in the playground from bullies.

I then moved to karate which I have been practicising ever since

[Eric_]

It al started one fine summer day at the beach . . .

My dad called me on my cell to tell me an interesting story about an 18-yr. old bartender he had hit on the night before (he was mostly giving her a hard time), who happened to be, along with her entire family (including her father, who turned out to be the gargantuan ape sitting next to mine ) a black belt in TKD. It just took that brief mentioning of the subject to get me interested, and then i spent the next few days researching the local styles and then selected a school (2 options, and one was a TKD McDojo in a basement . . . not a tough decision).

[tekki]

I had been intrigued with martial arts ever since watching Karate Kid and seeing my first martial arts movies in the 80s when I was 8. However, it was never really in the cards for me to begin training. I showed interest when I was that young, but my parents never enrolled me. There were no schools in the small town we lived in, and what few there were to choose from were all at least 20 minutes away. As I got older, I got involved in all kinds of other activities, so there was never the time and/or money left for martial arts, though I would say it never really left the back of my head.

Then I left for college and shortly after I arrived, I saw a poster on a bulletin board advertising the Shotokan Karate club on campus. I realized that there was nothing to stop me from trying it, and I knew I needed the exercise anyhow so I went. Within a year, it was a passion of mine and has been a huge part of my life ever since.

[gzk]

I wanted to do karate on and off a few times through school but wasn't really all that committed, and never started. Much later, about 3 years ago, one of my baseball teammates was talking about how he competes in no-contact karate tournaments, and reassured me that you don't have to be fit to start martial arts (although you do get fit after starting); the fact that he's not very fit made it more convincing He also told me I had a good physique for BJJ, which a friend of mine did until not long ago. My Dad pretty much talked me out of it, questioning whether I had the time or not, and telling me "You'd better be committed because it's a way of life", so I forgot about that for a while.

Then, and this is weird, but true, I was watching videos on YouTube of baseball and hockey fights, and somehow I followed related links to a short instructional Muay Thai video and K-1 kickboxing, which re-sparked my interest. After consultation with my mate who did BJJ, another who did karate, and a friend who happens to be related to my now-instructor, I checked out the website of my current school, their philosophy and styles on offer resonated with me, and they're within walking distance from where I work now, so I checked them out, and joined up

[Symphony-x]

i started training TKD when i was 6, but quit at yellow belt [wish i never]

i then got into a low in my life and started boxing as a way to relieve stress by hitting punch bags. i then got into boxing alot and heard about a kickboxing class near me, and started, that got me into karate, and the rest is history

[lordtariel]

I got started when I hit community college. I grew up in a podunk community where the only MA training was a dojo that wanted to charge $52 per week for two classes a week training. When I got to community college I was finally able to afford going to MA classes. The only one that was offered was judo, and I wasn't too keen on it, but I knew I needed to know some grappling for self-defense. Figured I'd get it out of the way early. To my surprise, I found I actually liked it. Stuck with it for two years before I had to move for college.

[Feathers of Doom]

when i was 5 i was realy into the ninja turtles

i wanted to take ninja and be a jinja turtle (as many kids did) but there was no ninja around. so my mom found 3 karate class' 2 of them were well known in my school but my mom chose the less known one ($7.00 a week and no paying for tests. a much better deal) turned out to be the right choice as the other schools turned out to be money grubing Belt Factories. i started when i was 6 and im 21 now

[Red89]

Hey guys, I cant remember why but I'd always had a genuine interest in martial arts sinse i was very young, my twin brother was the same...

In all honesty though, I think it may have been our love for the Tekken game when we were around 5-6 lol. We had to go to some form of martial arts class

been doing Karate now sinse then, 17 now