How serious?

[Kirves]

How serious are you about martial arts?

[Drunken Monkey]

how about those who train purely for the love and appreciation of the art?

 

surely if you train seriously, then you will having fun, getting fit, learning about the art, learning how to defend yourself, learning how to fight, learning how not to fight...

[Anzie]

As long as Shootfighting will help me in self defence, I hope to get some of that too.

[delta1]

I voted the closest one, fitness, fun and self defense. I primarily got into martial arts for reality/self defense/offense when necessary. However, I must be wierd because I found out I liked limping around, nursing bruises, with my healthy limbs in slings, and wearing braces and armored underware and clothes that my wife says make me look like I just escaped from an institution! What was the question...?

[Kirves]

Of course, people may have several reasons, but try to think what was/is the primary reason for training, and choosing which art to train in.

[Drunken Monkey]

ok, then i have to say i started because i just wanted to learn. as a chinese kid growing up in london, my only contact with the chinese culture was through the many programs that we got on tape (all of dubious production merits). invariably, many of these were of the martial arts variety.

 

these were of the fantasy type with lots of gliding about in treetops and magic arts. while these were fun to watch i knew that somewhere there existed REAL martial arts.

 

there was one particular program that serialised the life of chan chen (the student of fok yuen gap) after he disappeared. what struck me about this one was that there was no fancy flying about and no over the top fancy moves. just pure simple technique. that's what really attracted me. the purity of it all. so simple yet so effective.

 

i just wanted to learn more about all of the various styles that i saw on these programs. the more i searched the more i found out. in the end i just ended up totally in love with the whole topic; styles, histories, myths, philosphy...

 

somehow and purely by accident, i was exposed to wing chun when i was young. this stopped after about a year and i kind of forgot about it (girls and all that) but then during my later years in university i happened across it again and haven't stopped since.

 

so really, there is no real reason. i did not go out to find any particular style. it kinda found me.

[Kirves]

from the ground up: sounds to me like you are doing it for fun (i.e. you just enjoy it for no apparent single reason).

[Drunken Monkey]

well, it was also partly to prove that i coud do it. i wanted to remove all the fantasy and find out the truth. to learn was my reason. you could say it was for fun but i think it was more because i kind of needed to learn.

 

it was the only way i felt i could get closer to my own culture. it encompassed everything that is chinese: history, myth, philosphy, rituals, family.

 

another part of it if you look at it was because i wanted to be able to do what they were able to do. to be so precise in their movement, to have so much control over themselves and the situation.

 

i always tell people, the true test of how tough you are is not how you fight but rather how you DON'T fight. i guess i was lucky in that the art which found me was wing chun...

[Icetuete]

very interesting thread...! i am looking forward to more answers!!

[ninjanurse]

how about those who train purely for the love and appreciation of the art?

 

surely if you train seriously, then you will having fun, getting fit, learning about the art, learning how to defend yourself, learning how to fight, learning how not to fight...

 

I'm with you!