Thanks FWA, I appreciate it. After all this is the only way I will really ever see a black belt (ahem... right andrewFight with attitude said:I started when I was 18...and YAY Nalia...congratulations on your MT black belt
)
How old were you when you first started Martial Arts?
- Thread starter Aikikitty
- Start date
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V
Vadim
Guest
Started training in TKD when I was 5 stopped at age 8
Started Okinawan Kempo when I was 12 stopped at age 16
Started Tiger Schulmann's Karate when I was 26 and still going strong at age 29
-Vadim
Started Okinawan Kempo when I was 12 stopped at age 16
Started Tiger Schulmann's Karate when I was 26 and still going strong at age 29
-Vadim
J
jdam76
Guest
Started Shorin-ryu when i was 10.
B
blackbeltedbeauty
Guest
I started at 13 after seeing Bruce Lee kick everyone's ***. I used to think that and the hokie pokie was what it was all about before I realized there was more to it than that. :whip:
Ronin Moose
Blue Belt
TKD from 18-20, then a very long break. Started American Kenpo 3 years ago at 46, and don't plan on ever stopping! Next to my family it's the best thing in my life.
Brother John
Senior Master
I was Seven years old. I took a few years off in my 20's.
I'm 32 now.
Your Brother
John
I'm 32 now.
Your Brother
John
gmunoz
Purple Belt
Wow! I've always been fascinated by MA, but only have about a year into actual training. I wish I would've started when I was young.
Blooming Lotus
Purple Belt
Started with qigongs at 14 and since my dad was an olympic qualifying runner, always trained to his standards since maybe 8 or 9 yrs old. Picked up some great western boxing a few yrs later ( which I still love) , then tkd, aikido, mmas and wrestling in some NZ prof. fight club and besides having a stint recruiting as a student / newb in the army in new zealand developed , found falun gong then developed an interest in tcma. Couldn't find what I was after in Australia ( after travelling to various meets and schools for a yr ish ) except for some ninjutsu a lil WC sticky pole and basics + some awesome dimmaking ( now my fave street defence + ???? I'm working with at the time ) , so went to china. While there dabbled in baji , 3 of the 4 taiji branches, nth & sth shaolins, xingyi, and some few others, played with some Muay Thai folks, met and sparred with few ex sanda / karate champs and now freshly home in Aus , and approaching 16 yrs from the start of my ma journey and looking fwd to some ring fights but first some hard core Mt/ ninjutsu and possibley a lil mantis.
Some things'll never change
BL
Some things'll never change
BL
L
Limeydog
Guest
I started Full Contact Karate/Kickboxing/Muay Thai when I was 8 years old. My instructor wouldn't let me test for my black belt until my 16 birthday...Ah the good times. Been in the martial arts ever since...25 years and loved every mintue of it. Look forward to another 25 years.
Patrick
Patrick
INDYFIGHTER
Purple Belt
I was in the first grade and a dojo opened in my small town. I'd been watching kung fu on Sunday nights with my older brother and fighting during the comercials. I was there about a year or less but the things I learned stuck with me throughout my life and I also met my bestfriend there. The owner/instructors son was my same age and we've been friends ever since. I can remember his dad making us write sentences for goofing off in class, 500 of them.:whip: Anyways I didn't get back into it untill I was 27 years old. I've been in Kenpo for the last two years and took up boxing last year.
It's never too late to start... or to go back.
It's never too late to start... or to go back.
5
5 hand swords
Guest
I learned all the martial arts I needed at age 14-16 after a period of time when I was getting beat up by bigger kids, in truth I grew out of the problem at the same time and was somewhat scared off by the hardcore people around at the time.
I only learned the basic fundamentals of 1st level forms and striking (area to hit, how to hit/hold and Thrust vs. impact strikes / dodging / parry / block etc). from Mr. Robert Perry.
I studied at a weird time he transitioned me from starting with the Japanese names to the English names literal then to the English name based on the opponents initial attack for form/Katas and I grew 6 inches in ½ year. I still have my old notebook with his writing for the 1st belt forms. I chose the name here based on the 1st form I learned.
I had both Private at first, then both private and public sessions and my father knew Bob and his Wife well for years afterward.
In Public class things got more difficult fast. (I think a cup was it for protection back then and people did forget the cup and play, but MOST people had good common sense and 3 levels of power 0%, 40to60% and full out in class), but things happen.
Some scary people to a young kid lets just say.
I did not make much beyond orange belt and beginning the Katas for the next before dropping out but that was not important.
The important, the most basic, thing I learned was to avoid a fight unless it's forced (and how to kick your internal fighting/threat awareness level to a different danger level based on the situation) and then you fight to kill or disable your opponent ASAP by whatever method available, look for the weapon etc.
Even if a am 30+ years older with Grandkids and very out of practice I know what I am aiming at
I only learned the basic fundamentals of 1st level forms and striking (area to hit, how to hit/hold and Thrust vs. impact strikes / dodging / parry / block etc). from Mr. Robert Perry.
I studied at a weird time he transitioned me from starting with the Japanese names to the English names literal then to the English name based on the opponents initial attack for form/Katas and I grew 6 inches in ½ year. I still have my old notebook with his writing for the 1st belt forms. I chose the name here based on the 1st form I learned.
I had both Private at first, then both private and public sessions and my father knew Bob and his Wife well for years afterward.
In Public class things got more difficult fast. (I think a cup was it for protection back then and people did forget the cup and play, but MOST people had good common sense and 3 levels of power 0%, 40to60% and full out in class), but things happen.
Some scary people to a young kid lets just say.
I did not make much beyond orange belt and beginning the Katas for the next before dropping out but that was not important.
The important, the most basic, thing I learned was to avoid a fight unless it's forced (and how to kick your internal fighting/threat awareness level to a different danger level based on the situation) and then you fight to kill or disable your opponent ASAP by whatever method available, look for the weapon etc.
Even if a am 30+ years older with Grandkids and very out of practice I know what I am aiming at
mattkulma
Yellow Belt
I started when I was 9 and now I am 21, Soo Bahk Do the whole time.
ldgman1970
Yellow Belt
Well I started training and TKD when I was 11, started again when I was 14 and finally one more time when I was 18. The first two times I had to drop out because my family couldn't afford it and the third time because I was just enjoying the social life in college way too much. Finally at the old age of 34 I have just started training in American Kenpo and I think I will stick with it the rest of my life.
I was 42 when I first began TKD. I don't neccesarily recommend late-in-life starts (they hurt more); but, better late than never.
WalkingthePath13578
White Belt
I was 8 years old starting Hapkido under my father. out of a dojo in our garage.
When we had to move TKD in Fl for a few months.
took some time off between 12-15 and then in NC took up Shitoru. what my father tells me from observing me in those years was i came into my Martial Arts.
at 17 i had to lay off again but never really stopped practiceing, moveing around and money pervented me from joining a school, but we knew some martial artists of different styles who were willing to just work out, spare or what not.
in the last couple of years i watched my father take up chinese kenpo as he asked me to join him, haveing been in the process of trying to plan a wedding i resisted. but after tying the not, and after he recived his 2nd don, i picked it up, and i have been studying nonstop now for 2 years.
the martial arts never leavesyou, you may get rusty, and stiff, but when it is apart of who you are, and not just something you do, i beleive, once a martial artist, always a martial artist.
ohh, im now 23....
your brother in the arts,
Phyl Parsons
Raleigh, NC
When we had to move TKD in Fl for a few months.
took some time off between 12-15 and then in NC took up Shitoru. what my father tells me from observing me in those years was i came into my Martial Arts.
at 17 i had to lay off again but never really stopped practiceing, moveing around and money pervented me from joining a school, but we knew some martial artists of different styles who were willing to just work out, spare or what not.
in the last couple of years i watched my father take up chinese kenpo as he asked me to join him, haveing been in the process of trying to plan a wedding i resisted. but after tying the not, and after he recived his 2nd don, i picked it up, and i have been studying nonstop now for 2 years.
the martial arts never leavesyou, you may get rusty, and stiff, but when it is apart of who you are, and not just something you do, i beleive, once a martial artist, always a martial artist.
ohh, im now 23....
your brother in the arts,
Phyl Parsons
Raleigh, NC
T
tmonis
Guest
8 years old.
My vote is 11-15 yet it doesn't tell the whole story...
I started shotokan when I was 11 at the YMCA in St. Cloud MN. Then, I bounced around from dojo to dojo trying lots of different things from aikido to judo to kung fu. My family moved a lot and martial arts really wasn't too important to me. When I was 17 years old, I started greco roman wrestling, and the judo I had learned started to come back. I wrestled the season and when I turned 18, I joined a MMA studio to practice wrestling and kickboxing. I did that for two years and ended up compessing a vertebra in my neck. I then took a little time off martial arts to heal and then started Tang Soo Do...my primary art. Alongside my training in Tang Soo Do, I have trained in Arnis, Judo, Jujutsu, Kali, and Tai Chi. This cross training as really supplemented my primary art.
I started shotokan when I was 11 at the YMCA in St. Cloud MN. Then, I bounced around from dojo to dojo trying lots of different things from aikido to judo to kung fu. My family moved a lot and martial arts really wasn't too important to me. When I was 17 years old, I started greco roman wrestling, and the judo I had learned started to come back. I wrestled the season and when I turned 18, I joined a MMA studio to practice wrestling and kickboxing. I did that for two years and ended up compessing a vertebra in my neck. I then took a little time off martial arts to heal and then started Tang Soo Do...my primary art. Alongside my training in Tang Soo Do, I have trained in Arnis, Judo, Jujutsu, Kali, and Tai Chi. This cross training as really supplemented my primary art.
Fightback2
Green Belt
I was 36. Old enough that my friends thought (think) I was nuts.
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