Why do we train?

[Brady]

There are a lot of different people on this boards, and they display many different takes on martial arts. I was just wondering why each of us decided to train at martial arts, and how old we were.

Brady

[kihonkai]

Hi Brady.

Good question.

one of the reasons i started karate was that i wanted to get fit.

i did judo for a lil while when i was young but i didnt like getting thrown around, i didnt learn anything.

so iwas thinking i want a new hobby and i wanna get fit i wannt do something new, iwant a new challenge...a few days later i got a leaflet through the door about a karate club in the area! i thought hmm this must be a sign so i started and ive loved it ever since

i have had a few moments where i hated it and wanted to quit but that wooda been easy. the only reason i wanted to quit was coz i was struggling and not trying hard enough. so i got my head down and got stuck in and im glad i did

i started in october 2004. i am currently a yellow belt

steve

[karatekid1975]

i have had a few moments where i hated it and wanted to quit but that wooda been easy. the only reason i wanted to quit was coz i was struggling and not trying hard enough. so i got my head down and got stuck in and im glad i did

Good post, kihonkai I get to the point where I wanna quit, but I think you're right. I make too many excuses and I don't try hard enough at those times (sometimes I'm too hard on myself also). I think I will print your post and hang it on my wall.

Anyways, I started MA in Oct 2000 (at age 24). I started for self defense. But it became addicting (other than the times above ).

[shotokanbeginner]

that is an awkward question for me to answer because I don't know why I started training. I started when I was thirteen and am now fourteen. I have a fifth kyu in shotokan. I do have a theroy on why I might have joined though, but it isn't a very good reason. I wanted to excel in something and try something new not only that in a sense I also wanted power. not too be creepy or anything of course.

[NidaninNJ]

I started for self-defence but that's not the main reason why I stick with it now.

I just googled 'karate why train' and I found this among other links:

http://www.jkasv.com/article0002.html

It seems like there is an article for just about everything there.

Here's another one from the search:

http://www.ezinearticles.com/?Top-8-Reasons-To-Train-Martial-Arts&id=133978

[kreza]

I returned to my dojo to prove that I could still do it after a 12 year absence. I'm now 26, and just got my green belt. I keep training so that my body gets some exercise, and so that I might stand more of a chance if I end up getting attacked one night.

[RichardHangHong]

My mum took me and my brother to a wado ryu club when I was 6. I trained for less than a year but left when we moved house.

I started up again 10 years later and haven't stopped since. For me, I wanted to get confident as I got bullied at school. Plus I wanted to be able to defend myself as I got into a rather nasty situation the year before involving me, my best friend vs 3 guys built like rugby players drunk as skunks kicking the seven shades of stuff out of us. A guy knocked on my door asking me to join and I haven't looked back since. Now I teach and run my own club full-time and one of the prime motivators for me is that I want to be able to teach others to protect themselves so that what happened to me all those years ago doesn't happen to anybody else.

[powerof0ne]

As a kid I would see my father practice Karate in the rec. room and back yard. As most kids my age I was into he-man and g.i. joe so mimicking my father doing karate seemed like the fun thing to do. My father saw that I was enthusiastic about karate so started teaching me when I was 3 or so.

All he really taught me was how to tsuki, zenkutsu datchi, and mae geri. I always did martial arts as more of a game when I was a kid and didn't start to take it serious until I was 15. I trained with a gentleman that was of of Samurai descent and took Karate very serious. He hit harder then anyone I sparred with. Everything he did was hard and for some crazy reason I enjoyed it.

I'll always remember the summer of '96 when everyone from my dojo competing in the 96' USANKF Nationals spent 6 hours, 5 days a week training for Nationals. Most of us were teens, with one home maker, and the gentleman I spoke of that somehow had the time to train. We would train 3 hours in the morning then another 3 hours at night. I was 16 at the time and this was the first time I was exposed to any really hard training. Out of the 9 people that competed, 7 of us placed 3rd or higher in kata and kumite but this is besides the point..just the memories of all of us training hard. If it wasn't for the people I trained with there is no way that I would have had the discipline by myself to train this way.

This is why I like martial arts, it's for the spirit that I feel training around others that like to train.

[Fish]

I'd always wanted to try karate as a kid, but didn't get the chance. A couple of years ago I started at age 34, because my sons wanted to try it. I haven't stopped since. I agree, there are times when it's tough but it's also good to look back and see how much improvement has happened in those two years.

[Skeptic 2004]

Why do we train?

Why not?