# Why do you train?



## gojukylie (May 20, 2004)

Something that I have been thinking about as a teacher and as a student. Why do we train in karate?
I would love to hear why you enjoy your Karate training.


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## axioma (May 21, 2004)

Hi,

I started karate to learn how to defend myself. That was the main reason in the beginning, but not any more. I see my karate as an excellent exercise for the body, and I feel utterly satisfied every time I come home from training. So I also practice karate because I feel good afterwards.

cheers,
 :asian: 
axioma


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## tshadowchaser (May 23, 2004)

Mental disapline, excercise, corodination of mind and body, self defence, 
A way of loseing myslef (my mind) from the rigors of every day life.
For me the martial arts have bome part of what I am. Without practiceing the arts (for a period of time) I am different, somehow, in the way I act,behave, and look at the world.


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## jfarnsworth (May 23, 2004)

I started as a supplement for wrestling during the off season. After my first class it's been almost 15 yrs. later. Now I have a really pretty 8 going on 9 year old and the boys already call and have started coming over. Now I'm shifting gears to stay at least 3 steps ahead of them by the time  she hits her teen years.


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## RCastillo (May 23, 2004)

To :
Keep my mind, body sharp.
Be prepared for idiots.
Enjoy the art aspect, and it's discipline.
Be a step ahead of people. :asian:


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## gojukylie (May 23, 2004)

You know it is quite funny how things turn out. I have to admit that I first started training because I thought that Karate was kind of funky and I saw movies when I was a kid that inspired me to learn how to defend myself. After a few years training I realised that Karate was so much more than I had ever imagined. I started feeling better physically, I felt fitter and more flexible and I felt brighter. I became aware of my surroundings and my confidence increased at work. I have been able to control my emotions when things get rough and when the pressures on. 
I guess in summary, Karate helped mould me into a person that I wanted to be. It is proof that to truly understand something and its benefits you must allow yourself to explore it.  :asian:


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## axioma (May 24, 2004)

I hear what you're saying. But don't give all the credit to karate. You became the person you wanted to be because of you, the karate is just something extremely helpful.

cheers,
 :asian: 
axioma


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## tshadowchaser (May 24, 2004)

```
You became the person you wanted to be because of you
```

Thats a true statement. The martial arts may have helped by giveing a venue for you to : blow off steam, focuse on a positive, help focuse your mind,etc., but these things may have been attainable through baseball, football, etc.

I do know people who say that entering their first dojo changed them and helped save them from a life of crime and gang warfare, but I'm not sure this could not have been accomplished through other means also. They simply found the Martial arts first.


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## Rick Wade (May 24, 2004)

In my answer I am going to lump training and teaching in the same answer because I get allot from teaching thus it furthers my training.  Do you ever see that spark in a students eyes as if to say, I get it wow thats awesome Thats why I train.  It gives me great joy to open peoples eyes as to what I know.  I know that feeling when I finally understand that or explore a new technique and the whys and different ways to execute that technique.

Respectfully


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## Gentle Fist (May 24, 2004)

For me it makes the world go round.  Getting pounded in training, learning a new form, studying history of a system it all keeps me balanced in day to day life...


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## KempoShaun (May 25, 2004)

The simple answer?  Because I can   :idunno:


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## goju.glenn (Jun 10, 2004)

I continue to train in Karate because it is a place to get away from everyday life.

No matter what is on my mind at the time, once I step into the dojo and start to put on my gi, my entire existence goes into that moment of training. I start thinking about what I want to focus on today in my training.

I know it's been a good lession when the two hours training passes in the blink of the eye (which is nearly 99% of the classes  :boing2:   ).


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## brandon (Jun 16, 2004)

I first trained in karate because i found it amazing how they could control there body and the show of strengh through kata when i first started i did not like sparring i just wanted to learn the kata and forms,this is how you can truly show art with your movements,but now i love all aspects of karate sparring included


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## Chizikunbo (Jun 19, 2004)

I dont know, I just love the art, and somthing keeps drawing me back...:asian:


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## hippy (Jul 23, 2004)

after reading all the above textbook answers, mine will seem silly/inadequate.

i started aged 10 because all my friends, who lived on the same street, went to it. the club had only been going for 4 weeks, before i joined. and after watching star trek the next generation on channel bbc2, i was quite bored on wednesday nights.

after a few years, my friends stopped going, i got other friends. i graded higher and higher....


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## gyaku-zuki queen (Jul 23, 2004)

well i started karate about 8 years ago, because my brother was in it and i thought it was 'cool'. 
about yellow belt i got really bored with karate, but i kept going just so i could get higher belts. 
now i train outside of class pretty much only for the tournaments. (kumite) i'm a brown belt and working towards my black so i have to do kata's, but the main thing is to keep up my kumite so i can hold my status on team, and get better so i can qualify for bigger tournaments (like the world championships)

also, since i have been in it for so long, (more than 50% of my life) i cant see myself not in karate.


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## kempojack (Jul 24, 2004)

I started in karate because my son was taking it and I thought although we wouldn't be in the same class it was something we could do together. We practice at home together and push each other when we feel those times when you would rather stay home than go to the dojo. He gets a real kick out of it if he learns a new technique before I do. My seven year old daughter has Downs Syndrome and she just earned her yellow belt last Saturday. She had a smile on her face that was so big it lit up the room. I will continue to train because of the way it brings me and my children together.


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## thepanjr (Mar 18, 2005)

i train beacuse i like karate that is why people train or to defend


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## Yeti (Mar 18, 2005)

I train because I can't not train.  It's as much a part of me as anything else.


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## thepanjr (Mar 19, 2005)

I started training beacuse i watch those bruce lee movies and my parents encouraged me to go to karate. and i went looking for karate place and i found one perfect karateplace for me in 5 years


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## Drac (Mar 19, 2005)

So I can go home at the end of my shift..


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## searcher (Mar 21, 2005)

Its the lifestyle that comes with being a martial artist.  Learning to defend yourself and others.   Getting into better condition.  Confidence, poise, character development, learning to persevere.   These are all a little part of it.   I have gained these things and so much more.  As has already been stated, "I can't not train."   Iwould go bonkers if I missed a day of training.


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## Jussi Häkkinen (Mar 21, 2005)

My reason is simple: I like it.

I just enjoy it. There was a time when I tried (and succeeded, eventually) to rationalize my passion to karate to myself. Then, I just did quit any unnecessary thinking when I realized that "I like it" is a good reason enough. And about as deep as one can get.


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## searcher (Mar 21, 2005)

It is also where I met My Wife.   That made karate fun.   Having her by my side standing with me through the hard and easy times.   You want to talk about a relationship builder.


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## chinto (May 27, 2007)

gojukylie said:


> Something that I have been thinking about as a teacher and as a student. Why do we train in karate?
> I would love to hear why you enjoy your Karate training.


 
I train to make myself better. that includes better able to defend myself and my friends and family, and it also is good exersize and I enjoy it over all.


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## TheOriginalName (May 27, 2007)

I wanted to improve my life - part of which i decided i needed to get fit and healthy. 
I personally hate gym's, mainly because they are boring. There is no mental stimulation. 

Karate on the other hand is mentally engaging, physically taxing and most importantly the people who train in the arts are fun to be around. 

In a gym no one really talks to each other or even smiles. At a dojo people talk about everything and anything - they laugh together. It's a truely friendly atmosphere. And to be able to train around people who are so positive makes it all even more rewarding. 

I recon i could go on about other points for pages but i'll leave it at that.


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## Em MacIntosh (May 28, 2007)

I want to achieve my sandan before I have children.  I feel there are amazing transferrable skills between being a sensei and a parent.  I want to introduce karate training to them very young in their lives and feel it would give them a physical and mental boost at an early age.  I will also have better patience, I beleive, and this will definitely help me to be a father.  The trouble is finding a like-minded would-be mother.  I'm probably looking at ten years or more before achieving this which would put me around thirty-five before I have kids, which means I'd be fifty-three when they're eighteen.  A lot of people want to be young parents to keep up with their kids.  I look at it as another reason to stay fit into my golden years.  I might aspire to become a shihan by the time they're ready to graduate from high school.  I still have other goals than children and other martial arts to consider outside of karate, but that's my biggest reason for taking traditional karate.


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## stone_dragone (May 28, 2007)

I started training because I was a 14 year old who wanted to be able to fight.

I stayed in training because I wanted to finish something I started (get to black belt).

I stayed after black belt because I wanted to teach and improve myself.

I train now because, as it has been said before, I can't NOT train now.

Karate is such a part of who I am, if you take martial arts away from that equation, the whole would collapse on itself.


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