What Are You Looking For in a Martial Art?

[RobBnTX]

People train in martial arts for different reasons. Some are looking more for the "martial" in martial arts and some are looking more for the "art" in martial arts. Other seek some kind of balance and then some are in it just for the sport competition.

Myself I am in it for the exercise and the art and then if I learn to defend myself in the process, that is a bonus. I just think TKD is a very interesting way to stay in shape. Commercial gyms just bore me, I would just never be motivated to stick to a work out plan on a regular basis.

Even though in my old age I find TKD very challenging, especially to my hips, I love the fact that I am constantly moving. I recently checked out a Wing Chun class and it was too static and flat footed to me when compared to TKD. No kicks above the waist and it was basically just shifting around while trading chain punches with a partner, and that just did not appeal to me as something I wanted to be doing for years to come. The class was very much in the 'martial" end of martial arts and in fact it was non-traditional and just seemed like a boxing class to me, albeit not western style boxing.

I tried a school a couple of years ago that taught Tai Chi Chuan/Ysing-Yi/Bagua and it was mostly "art" with very little martial value. Other schools I have checked out in the last few years was a Shotokan class and an Isshin-Ryu class. Neither appealed to me much. The Shotokan school is headed by a very well respected instructor but he teaches in a rec center on a hard smooth concrete floor. Marching up and down that floor doing drill after drill after drill hurt my joints way worse than anything I have ever experienced even in TKD.

So I keep coming back to TKD as that is the most challenging and interesting martial art for me to train in. I am currently training with Master Greg Tubbs in Plano who is fantastic coach and instructor.

So I am curious what others look for in a martial art. What keeps you motivated?

Robert

 

[TrueJim]

1. My young son and I are doing taekwondo together, so that keeps me motivated. If I keep working at it, that helps motivate him. He's on the school Demo Team and does reasonably well in local tournaments, so that's a plus.
   
   One thing I tell a lot of the other parents at soccer games and such: martial arts really are a sport you can do with your children. You can't be on your son's T-ball team, and you can't join your daughter's gymnastics squad, but martial arts...that you can do together: same classroom, same drills, same forms, same same.
   
   
2. I'm a bit overweight even WITH doing taekwondo, so heaven forbid what would happen to my waistline if I stopped! (It's not like I'm morbidly obese or anything, but I would like to get back down to having a flat belly. For that, I probably need to eat better though.)
   
   
3. I enjoy taekwondo as a hobby. I enjoy editing the wiki and doing research. Nowadays I also run our school's Facebook page, I help out around the dojang, etc. I like working with kids too, and often I'm given small groups to teach. (I also coach my son's soccer team.)

I appreciate the fact that there's a "martial" aspect to taekwondo, but to me even that's an aesthetic bonus rather than a practical bonus. Like, if there were no practical aspects to martial arts, then martial arts classes would basically just be like zumba classes, and that'd be a little too froo-froo for my taste. The fact that there's a "martial" aspect constrains the movements in a way that's aesthetically interesting. Having never been in a serious fight, I don't yet have a personal appreciation for the practical aspects.

 

[RobBnTX]

TrueJim, good reply!

 

[Manny]

Well when I was a teen I wanted to do Karate or something like that and that's why I choose Korean Karate (Tae Kwon Do), I reallky liked those years, my idol was Chuck Norris and all I wanted to do was been like him, even I had beard like him in those years. Well I do TKD as a Hoby I don't have a dojang of my own, I ove the martial art inside the TKD but don't like the competition side, basically I am not a competitor and I never was, so I like the Martial Art and to learn how tro defende myself, the health issue es secondary, yes I know that if I train more and eat better I can drop a few pounds.

Basically I am a martial art nut, love the one steps, the three steps, the self defense, the preparrange sparring, the poomsae, and all the phylosopic thing inside martial arts.

Manny