Calling all the Men...Why did you start Martial Arts??

What got you started?

  • Self Defense

  • Friend was involved/I got dragged along by a friend

  • Build Confidence

  • Fitness/Something Physical to do

  • Watched it in a Movie/Demo, thought it looked cool

  • Meet new people

  • Other (please explain)


Results are only viewable after voting.
FearlessFreep said:
So if all this MA training is going for the sake of attracting females...and I've been married far longer than I've been training...does this mean that a bunch of what I'm training is really going to waste? I'll have to tell my instructur "hey, can I skip the part of class where we work on this 'chick-magnet' katas? I kinda don't think I need them"

Then again, in most of the scenarios I'm concerned with, there's always some cute slave babes or hot green alien princesses around, and like the say "what happens on Ghrcxy 5, stays on....well actually it will probably wipe out your entire species"

See...grasshopper? You never know when you need chick magnet kata...
 
I'm tellin ya... its this place... I meet nice girls from all over, and I get along great with em... but not around here.

They are stuck up and aloof... and other things... even my phat ninja skillz arent good enough.

I mean, if it worked for UPNORTH... hell... it should be a breeze for me...

:D

Sorry man. Too easy.
 
Growing up in grade school I got picked on alot. Then saw some movies (notably Billy Jack and Bruce Lee's .... all in the theaters' original release).
Asked my dad if I could take lessons... $$ didn't permit that and travel because I lived in a rural area.
Then along the way met people (Brown Belts or above) who knew this or that art and learned from them, some for a few weeks others for a couple of years.
Books on MA and MA Philosophy helped alot. Then getting involved with this seminar and that and continually meeting various MA-ists.
Then it's been just that way since. Still learning to this day.



:idunno: Like Techno, it hasn't impressed any hopeful chicks.
 
  • Always wanted too, used to watch alot of kungfu movies when I was a kid.
  • After pushing buttons for 7 years, was starting to get flabby.
  • Engage the mind, was starting to feel stagnate since I wasn't learning anything.
 
Self-defense and exercise.

"We've been through this before, but I have learned that repetition is the very soul of the net." --From USENET
 
I got seven shades of **** kicked out of me on the way home from school...so I took up Judo!
 
When I was teen in the 80s I was fascinated by Ninjutsu and wanted to desparately to train. I did not have the means to train nor was there anyone remotely close. It wasn't until my 30s watching my son in ATA TKD that brought back my dream to train in Ninjutsu. I immediately began to look for training and fortunately found someone nearby and I began to train and although it was not what I expected (having the dream since my teens) it was far MORE than I ever expected. Budo has changed my life forever.
 
Kung Fu Theater on USA network! Saturday and Sunday mornings at around 10 am. I was 13-14 years old, so about 23 years ago, those movies were the best! I still love old kung fu movies, couple of years ago got into the shaolin dolemite series, not just the one movie but the series put out under that name, like kung fu vs. yoga and other really trippy movies.
 
Ohh. Chick magnet kata works like a dream. I'd say how but I fear the repercusions. And in Coung Nhu we call it Sui Nim Dao plus a little explination of what it's about. (LOL)
 
I voted for the movie answer...Bruce Lee of course ;)

But how I got into an actual dojo was by going along with several friends who were all into the martial arts back when I was 14. The rest as they say is history :p
 
The first time I started was 1978 and i had watched Enter the Dragon and my hormone addled brain thought it was cool. I restarted in 1997 to work with my son but now i do it because it's fun.

Jeff
 
Technopunk said:
I mean, if it worked for UPNORTH... hell... it should be a breeze for me...

:D

Sorry man. Too easy.


It's not all its cracked up to be. Especially when the chica (now wife) chokes you out for looking down her dobak...

Sometimes chick magnet kata works too well...
 
I started martial arts as a kid right after I saw The Last Dragon for the first time. After a few classes of it, and figuring out I wasnt going to glow anytime soon, I nevertheless, decided to stick with it for self defense purposes.
 
first movie I ever saw was called "kung fu Gold" with Bruce Li.
I thought to myself...
"how cool is it to be able to beat up 300 people and not
get one stain on your gold satin clothes"!

I was 6.
 
Bammx2 said:
first movie I ever saw was called "kung fu Gold" with Bruce Li.
I thought to myself...
"how cool is it to be able to beat up 300 people and not
get one stain on your gold satin clothes"!

I was 6.

For sure...it is so hard to get those pesky blood stains outta my satin clothes :)
 
I started to learn self defence - kind of. Until I had been in the Martial Arts, I was not particularly assertive. I just knew damn well that I couldn't physically back up my mouth. Where I grew up, if you couldn't physically dominate, you couldn't lead. You were an actor, not a director, so to speak. So, it wasn't really a self esteem thing, I've always held myself in quite high regard. ;) It was more a practical solution to my understanding of why I wasn't assertive enough to be a leader. Do I still believe this line of reasoning? No, of course not. But, at the ripe old age of 23, I wasn't particularly wise. At least, not nearly as brilliant as I am now. :uhyeah:


I'm not entirely certain what inspired me to try it out when I saw the flyer at University.

But, I was hooked. And I found, as my skills developed, that my confidence grew. I was able to begin to assert my will. I knew that I was on the right track.
 
Too bad we can't put down more than one reason.
Me? The One Greatest reason? Confidence!!! I was a very unconfident young boy. Grew up out in the sticks, older brother too old to really want to play with the "little pipsqueak"... though I grew later to be taller with 2x the muscle....but he does love me, and we got along well....I was just bored and lonely. SO at age 7 my uncle hooked me up (Birthday Present for my 7th) with my first instructor (they were aquaintences). That next year I got a few lawn mowing jobs to pay for a bike and to keep paying for my own lessons.... I rode 5 miles to and 5 miles From class for several years... later, I got a car (9 years later I guess) and then drove myself. In college I took about 4 1/2 years off and then got back to it with my TRUE love ...KENPO.

So...there ya have it. It was:
#1: Low self confidence.
#2: BORED OUT OF MY MIND in Rural Kansas!!!

VERY glad I took this path...........for so many more than just these two reasons!!!!

Your Brother
John
PS: Thanks for asking. It's cool to look back and remember some-times.
 
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