Do you consider yourself a natural-born MAist?

[Shizentai]

Any time there's a new world record broken, or another Olympic games, the presses love a story about an athlete that goes something along the lines of:

"Mike was always an active kid. From the time he could walk he was swimming, it's like he was born for it." etc...

I suspect that a large part of the appeal of these stories is to make the masses feel OK with their lesser abilities relative to the person they are watching. We like to quietly tell ourselves that the only reason people get farther at a skill is because they've had a "head start" or a "special talent." We sometimes forget that every athlete we watch compete has spent a ridiculous amount of time practicing.

When I was about 4 or so years into training karate, I started to hear the words "You're fast." Not "you've gotten faster" or "you've learned to be fast," but a phrase suggesting that speed was an inherent quality that I just possessed. Nevermind that I would get KO'd in dodge-ball in elementary school. Nevermind that every year during the 50-yard dash I would be in last place. I gobbled up the suggestion that I was just "fast" naturally, maybe because it made me feel special. 1.5 decades later I tend to be one of the quickest people among I'd say pretty much any dojo I visit. Fast reaction time, fast striking, turning on a dime, this kind of thing.

Well ladies and gentlemen. Today I found out that I actually have no fast twitch muscle. That's right, none. I have two variant copies of a gene that blocks its production in my body. I am, by all accounts, physiologically non-ideal for sports that require sudden bursts of quick movement. That not only puts me in the bottom percentile among power athletes and sprinters, but also puts me in the bottom 20% of regular people in terms of predicted natural ability at these types of sudden-speed movements.

While this discovery is somewhat funny, it does make a fair bit of sense when I think about my childhood experiences prior to starting karate. It also has made me even more proud of my training. Here I've been, for years, going into a formula 1 race while driving a Ford Fiesta... and I didn't even know!

The difference between what is described on my genetics report and what I am like today, I suspect, can be attributed to one factor above all the others:

training

Perhaps this just makes me one more piece of paper in the file of "karate is for everyone" but I thought it was worth mentioning. It stacks up nicely with my old ankle braces and notes to skip PE.

Hello, My name is Shizentai, and I am not a natural-born martial artist.

Are you?

[OneKickWonder]

Is anyone a natural born martial artist? Is anyone NOT a natural born martial artist?

I guess it boils down to, what is a martial artist?

I'm possibly the worst person to tackle this, as my bubble has burst. I can no longer blindly follow. I find myself looking at senior artists with the same eyes I looked at the school bully once I realised how much smoke and mirrors was involved in maintaining an illusion of superiority and grandeur.

But in real terms, what actually is a martial artist? I think if we strip away the grades and the competition and the politics, it's someone who takes what they are, and makes the very best of it that they can. It's someone that doesn't make excuses for what they can't do, but instead endeavours to become best at what they can do. It's someone that through very selective and focused training becomes good enough in their strengths to overcome their weaknesses.

Is anyone a natural born martial artist? Yes. Everyone is. The question is, does everyone stay that way or do they give in?

[TJ-Jitsu]

Any time there's a new world record broken, or another Olympic games, the presses love a story about an athlete that goes something along the lines of:

"Mike was always an active kid. From the time he could walk he was swimming, it's like he was born for it." etc...

I suspect that a large part of the appeal of these stories is to make the masses feel OK with their lesser abilities relative to the person they are watching. We like to quietly tell ourselves that the only reason people get farther at a skill is because they've had a "head start" or a "special talent." We sometimes forget that every athlete we watch compete has spent a ridiculous amount of time practicing.

When I was about 4 or so years into training karate, I started to hear the words "You're fast." Not "you've gotten faster" or "you've learned to be fast," but a phrase suggesting that speed was an inherent quality that I just possessed. Nevermind that I would get KO'd in dodge-ball in elementary school. Nevermind that every year during the 50-yard dash I would be in last place. I gobbled up the suggestion that I was just "fast" naturally, maybe because it made me feel special. 1.5 decades later I tend to be one of the quickest people among I'd say pretty much any dojo I visit. Fast reaction time, fast striking, turning on a dime, this kind of thing.

Well ladies and gentlemen. Today I found out that I actually have no fast twitch muscle. That's right, none. I have two variant copies of a gene that blocks its production in my body. I am, by all accounts, physiologically non-ideal for sports that require sudden bursts of quick movement. That not only puts me in the bottom percentile among power athletes and sprinters, but also puts me in the bottom 20% of regular people in terms of predicted natural ability at these types of sudden-speed movements.

While this discovery is somewhat funny, it does make a fair bit of sense when I think about my childhood experiences prior to starting karate. It also has made me even more proud of my training. Here I've been, for years, going into a formula 1 race while driving a Ford Fiesta... and I didn't even know!

The difference between what is described on my genetics report and what I am like today, I suspect, can be attributed to one factor above all the others:

training

Perhaps this just makes me one more piece of paper in the file of "karate is for everyone" but I thought it was worth mentioning. It stacks up nicely with my old ankle braces and notes to skip PE.

Hello, My name is Shizentai, and I am not a natural-born martial artist.

Are you?

No, no one is a "natural" anything. Humans don't rely on instinct like other animals do, we learn and adapt.

The whole "hes a natural" thing is just someones attempt to explain what they dont know.

My personal favorite is "Oh, hes got good genetics...."

Like they actually studied the science. I believe theres something like, 20,000 genes in the human genome. People who say "so and so has good genes" should be required to follow that statement up with just how many genes they can name and identify....

[Shizentai]

I find myself looking at senior artists with the same eyes I looked at the school bully once I realised how much smoke and mirrors was involved in maintaining an illusion of superiority and grandeur.

Oh no! It sounds like you'e had some bad experiences.

Is anyone a natural born martial artist? Yes. Everyone is.

Word.

[Shizentai]

My personal favorite is "Oh, hes got good genetics...."

Like they actually studied the science.

As a below-average weight female living in the USA, I get the unhealthy-body-image version of this "good genes" write off a fair amount, as if my genes are enviable because I look sickly thin.

I hope it's not too horrible that when this happens I laugh and ask if they'd like to trade me for a kidney (since another super awesome card in my genetic deck is for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease).

I guess the grass is always greener on... someone else's body?

[OneKickWonder]

My personal favorite is "Oh, hes got good genetics...."

Like they actually studied the science.

As a below-average weight female living in the USA, I get the unhealthy-body-image version of this "good genes" write off a fair amount, as if my genes are enviable because I look sickly thin.

I hope it's not too horrible that when this happens I laugh and ask if they'd like to trade me for a kidney (since another super awesome card in my genetic deck is for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease).

I guess the grass is always greener on... someone else's body?

Maybe I misunderstand, but it sounds like people are frequently complimenting you, but you may be seeing it as veiled insults or at best tactless comments when in fact folk mean well and are impressed by you.

You say you frequently receive comments that you are fast. And you have observed that you are faster than most. Yet you dwell on the statistics that say you fit in the slowest 20%

I'm not going to ask how you found out you have no fast twitch muscle. That would be a personal question that I'd have no right to ask. But if you didn't know that you had no fast twitch fibres, would you have reason to worry about your speed or agility?

[tallgeese]

No.

You can have a certain combination of traits and mindset to help you learn to be a great fighter, but no one is born for it.

At the bare minimum consider that you're learning to hurt people. To get good at that, you're going to need to put yourself in increasingly difficult training and simulations to get there. This is pretty counter to most peoples drive for self preservation. Some will simply not work past this.

Now, from a physical aspect you need work. Hours and hours of work, to make your body do what you want it to. When you look at top athletes, a lot of things have to go right. First, you have to start with the right physical attributes to mold. Next, you have to be at the right place at the right time to have access to those who can take your attributes and build them properly. Lastly, you have to have the economic wherewithal to spend the time and money honing them. Now, add in the first part- even with all these you have to want to do the work.

That's a lot of things that have to go right to get you to a high level, which explains why there's so few people who can win a title shot. Now, even if you're not looking to do something like that these will all apply in some fashion.

You might have a great set of natural attributes, but if there is no coaching in your area then you'll never develop them into a functional martial skill set. Maybe there is, but you can't afford it and you're not willing to sleep under a pallet to afford training. Again, you'll never get it done.

There's a ton of factors outside attributes that go into making a fighter. "Natural" isn't a thing.

[Chunmonchek]

Hello, My name is Shizentai, and I am not a natural-born martial artist.

Are you?

Interesting and thought provoking post.

IMHO, martial artists are made, trained, forged and cultivated...they are not born.

That said, one can be born with attributes that are conducive to making/training, forging a "Martial Artist".

I guess the starting point is"what is a martial artist?"

My view on what a martial artist is has changed over the years.

Anymore, I train martial arts to be better than the Yesterday Me, notwithstanding that the Today Me is older with declining physicality as compared to the Yesterday Me.

[LLLEARNER]

No. There are genetic, health, and nutrition differences that can predispose us to better physicality. But, that person still has to put in the time and effort.

[sensei8]

No, not even in the slightest!!