# Why do You Practice in the Martial Arts?



## thepieisready

I apologize if there is anything like this already existing in the forum but I have not seen anything of the sort.

I've been introspecting more than usual lately and came to the realization that I don't really know why I strive to better my fighting as much as I do.  I know I take great enjoyment from it but I still don't know the answer to that.  I figure that it doesn't really matter right now and the answer will come in due time and at the right moment.

This thought provoked a deep curiosity in me, though.  Why do you all practice martial arts?  Why did you start and why do you continue it?  I'm interested in your story, as I'm sure many others are.


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## rframe

A few simple and typical reasons for me, but for me it's just a hobby done for enjoyment and I dont pretend it has any deep meaning.

I like the exercise
I like that in our school I am able to practice with two of my children, making it good quality family time
I like learning how to use my body effectively, from developing power to maintaining awareness and balance


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## Ken Morgan

Groupies and lots and lots of money....


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## seasoned

In the beginning it was the mystique surrounding the arts, and the feeling that you had something tangible that was not well know to many. Once you have trained for awhile, you gain a love of the arts, and gratification plus fulfillment sets in..........
Now, you are compelled to share.


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## Buka

Because they don't make Methadone for the withdrawal symptoms.


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## jks9199

Because I can't help it...

And, if I didn't practice and train... what would I be doing?


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## Cyriacus

Question: Why do people of all shapes and sizes exercise? Be it weights, jogging, full contact sparring, fighting competitions, martial arts, rugby, football, and so on and so forth?

Because Humans happen to be into that kind of thing. Even if You look past the people who flock to do it, look at the audiences They generate. Take the UFC. Never mind the Fighters - Look at how many People go for the Pay Per View. It aint a small number. You dont need any reason other than that You want to be doing it. What exact System You do it in, is just Your choice of Outlet. The action itself is largely synonymous.
Just about every Country in the world has 'its' Martial Art or Fighting Form.
I could go on about this for a while.


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## Xue Sheng

Why do You Practice in the Martial Arts? 

To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of their women


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## Cyriacus

Xue Sheng said:


> Why do You Practice in the Martial Arts?
> 
> To crush my enemies, see them driven before me, and to hear the lamentation of their women


...And bathe in the flesh of Your fallen foes?


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## KempoGuy06

because i had hit rock bottom with drug and alcohol addiction. i had one foot in the grave and another on a banana peel.

i needed something that would help me to get back in shape and get me to respect myself more. 

through hard training and great friends i achieved that. 

so to answer you question: i started to train to save my life and i continue to train because it saved my life. i hope to one day give back as much as i received.

B


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## David43515

Because I enjoy it, Chicks dig scars, and as a kid I was too fat to run away.


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## wingerjim

For me it was to fulfill a childhood dream. It always seemed that one thing after another got in the way of my goal, or that I did not have enough ambition to even begin. Well, once everything lined up for me, the time, desire, right school, and great teacher, I began to fulfill my dream from many years ago. I do not stop for the same reason and because I just love it.


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## Tenchi

I began doing Taekwondo because of a friend. His father did the art a lot of years back and when he got back to it he took my friend with him. After a few months I went as well. I stayed because, besides the fact that it felt good to do some physical activity, there, I found another family. Over the years, the love for the art itself grew strong as well and all became a part of who I was and how I was.


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## Rich Parsons

thepieisready said:


> Why do you all practice martial arts?



I enjoy the movements. I enjoy the teaching and sharing of knowledge. I have also made it part of my life. 



thepieisready said:


> Why did you start ?



To learn how not to break people. Yes it is true. 

Most people start out for exercise or self defense. Some for sport. Others for ego. 

For me, it was to learn how not to break people and send them to hospitals. In the end I learned that and how to send them there much more efficeintly as well. ;~)



thepieisready said:


> Why do you continue it?



Enjoyment. 
Part of a habit. 
People will call it a hobby, but most people have that one hobby that goes further. They have rooms decoreated to it, they travel for it, they watch it on TV, or live events. They spend lots of money on it as it brings them happiness or a sense of self, or it allows them to center themselves. This one hobby that goes beyond is called a passion. Or well that is what I call it.


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## Zenjael

Because I just love doing it. I wish I had a deeper answer to give.


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## Blaze Dragon

thepieisready said:


> I apologize if there is anything like this already existing in the forum but I have not seen anything of the sort.



Because I feel alive when I do martial arts. It's a part of me, it's a part of my faith, it's a part of my view on life. I couldn't imagin not doing martial arts...


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## Aiki Lee

Originally it was because my dad made me. Then I wanted to be like the ninja turtles or the power rangers. Then I just wanted to learn self-defense to not be bullied. Then it was about learning to be confident and speak up for myself.

All in all, for me it is about learning how to control my own fear. Plus I've been doing it for so long that I have come to define myself by it.


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## Blaze Dragon

Himura Kenshin said:


> Originally it was because my dad made me. Then I wanted to be like the ninja turtles or the power rangers. Then I just wanted to learn self-defense to not be bullied. Then it was about learning to be confident and speak up for myself.
> 
> All in all, for me it is about learning how to control my own fear. Plus I've been doing it for so long that I have come to define myself by it.


lol turtles and power rangers love it  it's amazing how much shows from our youth inspired people  I know some schools will actually try and promote when big shows or movies come out because it really does get kids motivated and interested in the arts. I know TMNT inspired me and my brothers too, I always wanted to be Leonardo. I can't remember all the shows from when I was young that inspired me, but there was alot. Even now when I watch a movie I want to get up and practice one of my forms. That's awesome you stuck with it though and it evolved for you


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## Egon

Because I feel something special about them..never can say what exactly.

I don't mean that there is some kind of "higher meaning or force..", rather something that can be perfectly rationally explained but I am not up to it.

Just know that I didn't feel nowhere same about soccer, sprint, or spear throwing, when I trained it.


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## sfs982000

It's one of the few activities that really enjoy doing.  I love the way I feel after a good hard practice and I love the comradere both inside and outside of the class.  I really didn't know what to expect after my very first class, but I was hooked ever since then and I hope to continue to actively practice as long as my body will let me.


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## Zenjael

I began in ballet, and martial arts at about the same time. Left ballet way behind when I turned 5. I mostly got into martial arts because of military parents, bullying problems where I was the victim, and a love of the power rangers. It was about 1994 when I began formal instruction in TKD, even if at a Mcdojo.

two decades later (Many schools later, kwans, and styles) I practice so I can improve myself, gain greater harmony between myself, my actions, and others, to stay in shape, and for spiritual reasons. I guess I'm one of the cliches who does look for, and find deeper meaning in the martial arts. But I think you could do the same for anything creative, I just think MA offers a different way to do so which works best for me. Like they say, if it makes you happy...


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## oaktree

Sometimes my ridiculously good looks,
Sparkling personality are not enough to impress
The ladies. But my manly martial art of taijiquan helps
out in those difficult encounters.


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## Bill Mattocks

I like to fight.


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## kungfu penguin

i grew up with a lot of hate  this was an outlet to calm my temper and just be myself  went to a lot of dojos did a lt of cool things and now i have found a home where i hope to be for a long time. in a sense it like a church to me  i exercise the demons out of me when ever i go and train  it calms me down to prepare for another day in this hell hole we call life--tom


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## francium

I started because I was done with dance and needed serious cardio and discipline back in my life. I'm still at it (six months later, that is), because my plan worked and I love every minute of training, sparring, and learning. I'd move into the dojo, if I could.


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## seasoned

Many years ago it was to learn how to fight better. Now, as I look back, I have learned and teach how to avoid it.


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## wingchun100

I started learning because I was bullied a lot in school, but over time I like how it has changed who I am. I am able to apply lessons from martial arts into everyday life, and it gives me a unique perspective on things compared to people around me who AREN'T into it. Not only that, but I focus heavily on the "art" half of the term "martial art." Long before I got into wing chun, I was into writing and playing guitar for the purpose of self-expression. To me, wing chun is an extension of that.


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## Bill Mattocks

thepieisready said:


> I apologize if there is anything like this already existing in the forum but I have not seen anything of the sort.
> 
> I've been introspecting more than usual lately and came to the realization that I don't really know why I strive to better my fighting as much as I do.  I know I take great enjoyment from it but I still don't know the answer to that.  I figure that it doesn't really matter right now and the answer will come in due time and at the right moment.
> 
> This thought provoked a deep curiosity in me, though.  Why do you all practice martial arts?  Why did you start and why do you continue it?  I'm interested in your story, as I'm sure many others are.



Good to see this thread, although it is from 2012.

Why do I practice martial arts?  Good question.  The reasons have changed over time.  Initially it was to lose weight, gain some kind of physical conditioning or strength, and to learn some self-defense.

Now, I train to train.  I don't have a reason anymore.  I am simply on the path.  No idea where it leads, and no concern about not knowing.

When I started training, I was all about learning technique and trying to apply it properly.  I liked to do it, I liked to talk about it.  I recorded my kata and played it back to try to see where I could improve, I shared it with others and asked for criticism.

I went to tournaments and seminars.  Not a lot, and I wasn't a kid when I started training, so it was only as I had time, money, and desire to go.

Over time, I began to worry less about seeing everything and experiencing everything. I don't know why.  No deep significant reason, it just happened.

I also joined a lot of discussions on MT and on Facebook, tried to interact with other martial artists.  I thought it was important to share techniques and explain them and have them explained to me.  To demonstrate, to learn from others...

I thought of this art as 'good' and that art as 'bad' and this one as 'legitimate' and that one as 'phony' and I laughed about bad training and bad teachers and bad technique and generally felt good about myself because I was getting good training from good instructors in a real style...

Over time, I grew dissatisfied with that as well.  I met a few 'first generation' students and watched how others interacted with them and tried to curry favor from them, played political games, traded on their presumed closeness to great martial artists, invested their egos into everything they did with regard to martial arts.  And I realized that although I wasn't in a position to do those kinds of things, I wasn't immune to the call of ego either.  I stopped pretty dead in my tracks.  I quit all the FB discussion groups, and I stopped posting on MT twice; both times after allowing myself to be sucked into arguments where my ego drove me to prove the correctness of my point of view.

Now all I want to do is train.  I do not know why I train, I just train.  I don't know why techniques work or don't work, I don't know if your way or my way or any way is a better way, I only know that I need to train.  I practice kata (not enough) because I have a strong feeling that it is the key to doors I have not yet even approached yet.  I spend more time trying to tamp down my own ego, and failing with regularity, than nearly anything else.

I feel that my martial arts training is also a key to how I should live my life.  I feel it builds character, strong, morally correct character.  I feel it burns out the badness in my own being if I let it, it purifies as it burns.

I practice martial arts because I do not transcend, but I sense that true martial arts does transcend, and I like that.  And by 'true' martial arts, I mean no specific style, technique, or master; I mean a true relationship with the heart or core of what the training is (undefinable).  I hesitate to use words like 'budo' or 'warrior' because it is both more than that and at the same time, nothing like that.  It is a calm mind and astonishing energy at the same time.  Motion and no motion, mind and no mind.  Yeah, it starts to descend into mushy poetry and symbolism, I can't seem to help that.

I have stopped trying to become anything.  By training, I simply am, but I become without trying to become, and there is no final form of becoming until death brings training to a halt.  And this is not to say that any of this grants me any advantage as a martial artist.  My kata; still sloppy and ugly.  My sparring still stiff and uncoordinated.  Time and change produces flowers, but some flowers are prettier than others, it seems.  Still, when one is on the path to becoming a flower, that is what one does, no matter what the final result may be.

It is, at last, a 'do' for me.  Again, I hesitate to use the word, primarily because I have difficulty enduring never-ending arguments about what the word even means.  Suffice to say that what I find myself doing is my interpretation and understanding of the word 'do'.  A way.  A Path.  And for no reason other than for itself and because now I can do nothing else.


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## Koshiki

No reason, really. It's just what I do.

I started Karate at 11 because my parents decided it would be a good thing for me. I was a physical kid, I liked play fighting, you know, makes sense, right?

I had. Zero. Interest. Zero. Less than zero. I distinctly remember my dad driving me to my first class, me desperately playing mind games to try to drag out the last few feet of road before the parking lot, anything to delay stepping into that class. I'm not even certain why I didn't want to, except that it wasn't something I particularly, well, wanted to do.

I think about five minutes into my first class I had decided that when I grew up, I wanted to be a martial arts instructor. From then on, it's been the most defining aspect of my life, the last thing I would give up, after music, after stability, after comfort, after everything but the people I love.

There's no deep reason. I mean, I like that it keeps me strong and fit, I like that it has made me move better in the rest of my daily life, I like that it's a long and twisted tradition, I like the culture, I like the people I've met, I especially like sparring, and I like knowing that it's a functional training, when the need arises.

I suppose you could say I do it because it's the one thing I really know much of anything about, it's the one thing I really have developed much skill at, it's the one thing I'm learning to do well.

But really none of those things are actually _why_ I practice martial arts. I just do it because I enjoy it.

I like it.


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## elder999

I wanted to be James Bond.


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## Buka

Because what the hell else am I going to do with all these gis?


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## PhotonGuy

thepieisready said:


> Why do you all practice martial arts?


Why not?


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## Balrog

I started twice.  Looking back with the proverbial 20-20 hindsight, I know now that the first time was because I was bullied horribly throughout high school.  I wish something had been available to me then; I wasn't able to start training until I started college.

I had a long layout, then started the second time because I remembered what good exercise it was, and I really needed it then.  As I continued, Taekwondo grew on me and in me to the point where I can't see myself not doing it until I die.  I love the constant challenge for self-improvement and I love being able to pass on my knowledge to others, especially kids.  If I can stop even one kid from being bullied like I was, I will have accomplished something very worthwhile.


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## Buka

I just reread this whole thread. You know what? It filled me with joy. That may sound corny, but it really did.
And people wonder why anyone would do Martial Arts. All I wonder is how people don't do Martial Arts.


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## wingchun100

Buka said:


> I just reread this whole thread. You know what? It filled me with joy. That may sound corny, but it really did.
> And people wonder why anyone would do Martial Arts. All I wonder is how people don't do Martial Arts.


 
I remember telling people that I was into it when I first started, and people would say (with a look of disgust on their face), "Oh, so...you like to fight?"

Uh...NO. I like to defend myself.


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## Gerry Seymour

Buka said:


> Because what the hell else am I going to do with all these gis?


You, too? I have a bunch of them I can't use in my regular training (I chose to switch to black uniforms), so I only get to use them when I visit other schools. So I visit other schools. 

They also make nice loungewear, but it seems odd to some of our houseguests. Maybe it's the fact that I can't help kicking on the light switches when I wear them.


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## donald1

jks9199 said:


> Because I can't help it...
> 
> And, if I didn't practice and train... what would I be doing?


Breakfast in bed could be a nice hobby


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## Gerry Seymour

donald1 said:


> Breakfast in bed could be a nice hobby


More filling, less fulfilling.


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## donald1

I practice martial arts cause I like learning forms. They have all sorts of techniques and movements. Its interesting seeing them all.

Also you cant leave weapons out! Cant forget them. Weapon forms and weapon sparring. I like weapon sparring. Especially that moment when you smack the weapon out of their hand. After that its go time!

Also the philosophy stuff too (I liked learning about philosophers like socrates, plato, rené descartes, immanuel kant.. ect) but philosophy and martial arts?? IMO that seems like something entirely different. I dont' understand it and I get confused. However its a subject I plan to learn more of.


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## donald1

gpseymour said:


> More filling, less fulfilling.


Its fulfilling to me! Im bad at cooking so when I cook breakfast that actually tastes good I feel good about myself.


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## RTKDCMB

thepieisready said:


> Why do you all practice martial arts?


I don't know any other way to become good at it.


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