So why did you start training - what keeps you going?

[Fu Man]

I started martial arts because "Enter the Dragon" was totally super awesome, and one of the best movies of the 1970's.

After trying to teach myself martial arts from Bruce Lee's Fighting Method books, Volumes 1 - 4, from the 3rd grade to the 6th grade, my parents finally allowed me to attend Isshin-ryu Karate classes that were held at the school's church where I attended Jr. High.

However, my Isshin-ryu Karate sensei retired a few months after I started attending the classes, as he had been teaching there for years and no longer wanted to teach in his senior years.

Aftwards, I joined a Ji Do Kwan TKD dojang, and at that time in my life, I loved the fancy kicks and such. I stayed with the dojang, off and on, for 12 years, and it took me approximately 7 years of training to earn my black belt. The training was very traditional, self-defense focused until TKD become an official Olympic sport in 1988. Afterwards, the dojang became more focused on tournaments.

In my early-mid twenties, I started working full-time while also attending college classes to finish my Bachelor's degree. In light of the situation and my fading interest in tournaments, martial arts training took a back seat for several years. However, I still had a desire inside to return to the martial arts one day. It was just a matter of timing, and re-prioritizing my goals.

After focusing on building a career and earning two graduate degrees, I decided to return to martial arts after approximately a 12 year layoff. I wanted to train in either Wing Chun or Hung Gar Kung Fu, but Hung Gar is not available in my area and the Wing Chun kwoons were not very good, in my opinion.

After searching for weeks for a place to train, I found a dojo that happened to teach my initial martial art, Isshin-ryu Karate, and I could not have been happier. I also cross trained in Judo and a style of Japanese Jujutsu, but later felt that I needed to focus on Isshin-ryu Karate and gain a deep understanding of the system before cross training. I presently train with a different Isshin-ryu Karate head instructor who has more experience and knowledge, and is better suited to help me acheive my martial art goals.

In all honesty, the desire to train in martial arts from my younger years has never left. The reason I train today is because I enjoy it, and I view martial arts as a life-time pursuit. Overall, I just want to become the best martial artist I can be in life.

[AlwaysInTraining]

I started wanting to do martial arts around the age of 5 when my dad used to let me stay up late and watch old Jackie Chan and Jet Li films unfortuantly dad wouldnt let me and I forgot about it until I was 15 when I bought Tekken 3 on the Playstation. This re-sparked my interest. Unfortunatly again I didnt do anything about it until I was 18 when the idea came back into my head.

This time I thought ive got nothing to loose and (going by my favourite character in Tekken) I hunted down a TaekwonDoe class near where I live. I stuck with it for 6 months and although I never graded or anything like that I suddenly found I enjoyed the disapline and feeling of being fitter than I had been. After the 6 months I was short on money (being a student at the time) so I left (but grudenly) but after 2 weeks a GKR karate recruiter knocked on my door and offered me a karate class closer to home and half the price of my TKD class so I signed myself up straight away.

In karate I found something completly diffrent to TKD and found that this was the art for me (very diffrent from Horrang in Tekken). I stuck with GKR for 6 and a half years got fit and confident. I left because I was unhappy with the club itself. I used to go to Gradings and be ready for them by knowning the katas the moves and everything needed but I always passed with people who were mediocre at best and didnt put any effort in or didnt know everything/anything they needed (in all my time there I saw only 2 people fail a grading). This coupled with a very large row with my instructor over the poltics of the class caused me to have enough and go.

Its here that I started Kyukoshin Karate (about a month after leaving GRK) and found what I was missing from GKR (No Politics Yahoo!!). Ive stuck with this since and although I started from 10th kyu again I have driven myself back up the ranks and im at the level I was at when I left GKR. I plan to stick with this style and my art.

Karate for me keeps me fit, gives me disapline and a zest for life that i simply have not found anywhere else. Ever since ive started MA ive always felt that this is something I will do for the rest of my life and I intend to keep it that way.

[Bushido58266]

i started cuz i wanted to be able to defend myself as a child and now i still go cuz im training to fight in MMA

[tori]

When I was a kid, my mother was an alcoholic. I just wanted out of the house. One day I followed an older friend who I really admired to a Martial Arts class. I stayed, she didn't. I was hooked. I got my black belt, but soon after, my instructor died. I went back years later to another style and was hooked again. I stay now because I love it.

[Ranpu]

I watch DBZ as a kid, I wanted to be like them but now, I just want to know what to do in a "situation" and, where I live, I have very little to do

[quinteros1963]

I started boxing as a kid on and off, primarily becuase my dad did it. He was a fan so naturally I became a fan. In my later years I started going to a gym in Wny called Casal's and fell in love with the sport all over again. Several of the guys at the gym also practiced Ma and I took interest. After moving away I couldn't find a gym until my son started taking Goju Ryu. After taking him and watching his classes I decided to get involved to better assist my son. Now I am hooked, just like I was back at Casal's. Thanks Ray, Steve and Bruce!

[joesteph]

[M]y son started taking Goju Ryu. After taking him and watching his classes I decided to get involved to better assist my son. Now I am hooked . . .

Same here. My children started, I watched, decided I should get involved to work with them, and it's turned out to be a benefit to me.

[Inya shaolin]

I started karate a year after my oldest sister started. I wanted to be stronger than the boys at school, simply because I was tired of being underestimated. Also, my sister was starting to kick me...hard. So I learned how to kick back. I think it's been about eight years now. I never gave up because I enjoy learning the different techniques. I've never had to use my karate on an attacker, but that doesn't mean that I'm forever safe. With crime rates as high as they are, I foresee a need to be strong in the future. Also, because my friends don't know (or want to learn) self-defense, I want to be able to protect them.

[Shizentai]

wow, I guess I'm kind of different then...

- I wasn't terribly interested in martial arts on TV as a child

- I didn't want to fight back against some bully in school

- My parents had no part in my decision to join

My motivation was different. Everyone I knew told me I was weak before karate, and I was. I had trouble passing a single day without spraining one or both of my ankles. In PE alone I had lost consciousness three times. I ate and ate and ate but I was still behind all the other girls in size, weight, and physical ability. My appearance was gaunt and I was constantly getting sent home from school.

People I knew, even family and friends said I had a weak stomach, weak lungs, weak joints, weak eyesight, weak work ethic. "weak, weak, weak" is all I ever heard...

So one day at age 14 I wandered into a college karate club. When the sensei asked me why I wanted to train with them the answer came surprisingly easily: "I want to know what strength is, so that I can see for myself if I am weak."

One side effect of training for the past 9 years is that stance training seems to have made my ankle joints more stable, allowing me to walk every day without pain. Nearly a decade of relentless kihon exercises has also increased my air capacity, combating my asthma, bronchitis, and anemia. Though being able to defend myself in a fight is my ultimate purpose in being a martial artist, I am motivated to train every day because with karate I have a better quality of life. That is why no matter how I do at tournaments, I will never slack on training.

Edited March 2, 2009 by Shizentai

[Traymond]

I started martial arts because

• I wanted to fly
   
  I wanted to be strong
   
  I wanted to be able to fight
   
  I wanted to be able to smash bricks with my forehead
   
  I wanted my family to be proud of me
   
  I wanted to show everyone that I could it, when they said I couldn't.

I started for all the wrong reasons.

Now I stay in it for

• Exercise
   
  Learning Tradition
   
  Teaching
   
  And the spiritual side of it plays a big role in it for me.