What Made You Choose Your Particular Art?

[MJS]

Was it after driving by the school, that you decided to stop in and check it out? Did you get the spark to start training from someone you know and you thought you'd give it a try as well?

For me, I really never got involved in any sports in school, so my Father had suggested I give the Martial Arts a try. There was a Kenpo school in town, so I figured I'd give it a try. Didn't really know what to expect, but after training for a while, I was glad that I walked through the doors. I've since changed to a different version of Kenpo, but I still give credit where credit is due. If I hadn't taken that first step, I would have never had the chance to meet all of the great people I've crossed paths with, as well as continuing to learn and grow in the art of Kenpo.

So lets here from everyone else! How did you come across your art?

Mike

 

[chris_มวยไทย]

well ive always been interested in muay thai , ever sinse i saw the movie kickboxer , i read on the internet that kickboxer doesnt have accurate muay thai in it , so i looked on video google and watches some vids and realised i liked them even more than kickboxer , i just love evrything about muay thai , the effectiveness , the techniques , the training , the background , the ram muay/wai kru , the fitness , and the shorts lol

so i found a muay thai school near me and went there , i was scared at first , but when i got into it and got the techniqe right it got even mor fun and ive been goin ever sinse

 

[JasonASmith]

I have chosen Kenpo to train in because to me, it's logical...all of the things that I have seen in the past few weeks make sense...
Even the T.O.W.'s on Mr. Tatum's site that are aimed at an advanced student click in my brain..

 

[funnytiger]

Hm... when I decided to start taking a martial art I originally wanted to do a Japanese Martial Art. But I came across a school that did Traditional Chinese Martial Arts and decided to go check it out. When I walked in the first person I saw was one of my friends from High School whom I hadn't seen in well over 4 years! I took it as a sign and joined up. I stay with my style because its practical and can easily be applied to any kind of situation. Being a part of a fantastic family is a plus too!

Random question... JasonASmith is your avatar a photo of a Predator Polystone Statue?

 

[SFC JeffJ]

It was a pretty simple decision for me. My wife teaches and trains in the Kenpo Jitsu that I do. Neither one of us felt comfortable with her being my primary instructor, so I started going to the "masters" class that she attends. Being a beginner in that art while surrounded by people who had been doing it for a minimum of 10 years was a great learning experience. Plus the price was right.

JeffJ

 

[rutherford]

MJS, you will have seen much of this before in our private conversation. I thought it appropriate to share with this thread.

I used to be a Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu practitioner, and may return to it in the future. I got involved with Budo through a friend who, after months of pestering, got me in the door and onto the training floor. There I found a system of martial exploration that thrilled me to the core.

The Bujinkan philosophy is that everything comes from training. Get better movement, get the level of fitness required for taijutsu, get the mental toughness to survive, get an understanding of the space through which we move, get all of that from serious practice. From time training.

And then my life stepped in and I placed obstacles in the way of my continued training. A divorce, a move to a new town, a job that demanded too much time, gave me too much stress and drained my will to seek enjoyment. My own lack of motivation to seek out partners . . . all kept me from spending time on the essential act of training.

Sure I could pratice my ukemi and the basic movements in Bujinkan san shin and kihon, or work on sword kata or throwing weapons alone, but I didn't feel confident that without regular correction I won't just deeply ingrain bad habits. Unwilling to go back to a sedentary existence, I had to find alternatives.

The RMAX philosophy is the opposite. You don't become certified in Scott Sonnen's fighting system until after you've already been certified as a circular strength coach. Scott has said that he'd rather people eat right than excercise, that a proper diet will lead you to be a healthier person than excercise alone. He'd rather you free up your movement and improve the health of your joints than spend time working on strength training. He'd rather that you work on building strength through all the ranges of motion and sophisticate that strength to reach your true athletic potential, than spend time training and potentially suffer injury. It's a complete ground-up, health-first system of movement, with a really solid support network.

Since I'd already been using a lot of RMAX fitness ideas to improve my taijutsu, and since I didn't feel like I was able to really commit myself to taijutsu, I devoted myself to the RMAX way of training. It seemed like the right thing to do, and a better use of my time.

I woke up this morning and spent an hour excercising. I did some joint mobility excercises to free up my movement, help my body send nutrition to undo the damage I did to myself spending five hours driving yesterday, shrug off the coils of sleep, and raise my core body temperature. Then I did a series of spinal rock squats to get my hips surging forward correctly and prime myself for the heavy work of the Prasara Yoga chain I'm currently working on.

I woke up feeling tired and dehydrated. After some movement, I feel better than ever before. Every day I shave off the tension caused by the previous work, and then explore new movement. I see dramatic progress in my movement, health, and life. And I'm having fun.

That's why I'm an RMAX enthusiast.

 

[Bigshadow]

Ever since I can remember I have always been interested in martial arts, however, I never had the means to train. I was never active in school sports and really loved martial arts. It was in my heart. When in middle school, I read some "teach yourself" Karate books. Later in High school, the Ninja craze hit. I stumbled across some SKH books in the school library and I knew that was what I wanted, although I still did not have the means to go train, certainly not in that art in the mid 80s. High School came and went, it wasn't long the desire to train had to take back burner to life. Years went by, got married, had a child, and it wasn't until I was sitting in the lobby of a local TKD school watching my son train that the fire was ignited again. Of course now I was terribly overweight and out of shape. I got on the internet and searched around, found out about the Bujinkan, then found a private training group in a nearby town. I embarrassingly went to class and it was very humbling. Fortunately, everyone was very nice and friendly. Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu has given me my life back. I am in much better shape, I lost quite a bit of weight (still have more to lose), and I feel I have direction in my life. It is definitely different than the fairytale art I had invisioned as teen, but it is far more than I ever expected.

 

[stickarts]

Two friends that had trained both recommended the art to me. One friend in particular was an amazing athlete and when i saw him move, that impressed me enough to take some classes.
I had thought I was a good athlete too until i sparred him one day! I felt like i moved like a robot in comparison to him.

My original goal was just to reach purple belt and learn a bit of sparring. The training has continued on a bit beyond that!

 

[tradrockrat]

Well, it all starts with my father selling an acre of land to a new coworker at the college he taught at. This next door neighbor just happens to be one of a handfull of "master teachers" in ABA style Bando. I still remember seeing this strange man - founder of the ABA, Dr. Gyi - wandering around the woods while staying and teaching at my neighbor's house.

When I was 8 years old, my nieghbor offered a MA summer camp at the college for kids 10 and up. I bitched and complained so loudly (my brother was going to take the class) that I was allowed to attend it.

Turned out I was good at it - fastest in the class. My brother then promptly broke my nose with a hammer fist and we were banned from continuing it by my Mom.

A little later I started training a bit when ever I could get over to my neighbors house. I'd pester him for lessons and he'd train me after I put in equal time doing yardwork for him.

Fast forward to 1990 - age 18 - and I started training 5-6 days a week.

 

[Andy Moynihan]

FMA/Silat are what I have started training in as much as I can

Mainly because:

* All have a reputation for adaptability and/or simplicity.

* i like the fact they seem to have a natural flowing response rather than rigid prearranged actions,and are brain dead simple to learn, the work comes in getting them down(any person can do sinawali *drills*. NOT everyone can spar using them--certainly not me--YET)

*I like the fact that they seem to transition from armed to unarmed and back with very little hitch
stylistically(your nervous system won't hesitate while your mind tries to tell your body "It's a weapon. Change fighting styles" and gets you killed).


* I wear glasses and can't afford contacts/ corrective surgery right now. I'm severely nearsighted. If during a crisis those glasses come off my pistol just became worthless unless there's a laser sight on it and sufficient darkness to see it(my eyes without glasses can no longer use the sights but CAN still track the dot).I can however see enough for H2H/contact weapons just barely enough and such training is best there(If it were available around me I would have actually considered Wing Chun as well since it and FMA are supposed to have a lot in trapping range, Wing Chun's a Punching style, I used to box, and of course the trapping is an excellent area to be skilled at both because so few people are comfortable fighting that tight and for close in when you're nearsighted).

 

[painstain]

my son brought home a flier from school and asked his mother to join with him. sje did and when they becam e yellow belts they competed in a tournament. i watched the black belts compete and was instantly hooked.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Originally Japanese Jujitsu because a friend of mine did it and I thought the show Kung fu (the first one when it was new…I’m old) was pretty cool..... Jujitsu was sooo much more cool than Kwai Chang Kane.

TDK because I moved and it was the best school I could find close to me. I was very lucky that I found this school, I did not realize until years later how lucky.

Tai Chi because I had been out of MA for about 5 years because of a sever back injury and I thought it might be a way back into MA, I am very glad I went back.

 

[matt.m]

I wrestled as a youth and teen. I also took judo as a teen. I went to my pops class, (Hapkido) off and on as a teen. I wrestled and judo randori while in the Marines.

I have begun the tae kwon do and continued the hapkido journey from my dads organization. It is really obvious why I started, dad was the teacher so as a kid it was cool. I am learning from a man who received his dan before my dad. It is great, same teaching with different guy.

Now it is more of a physical therapy thing for me now, however I want to continue a legacy my dad began.

 

[ArmorOfGod]

When I was 15, I wanted to try karate. I called around and found a school that interested me. Instead of that one, my father took me to the school that he trained at before I was born.
The teacher then was an 8th dan under David German (from the Ed Parker line). I stuck with him for three years until I was about to go for black belt. I then switched to a 6th dan from that teacher and tested for black 2 years after that.
All of this was under David German's US TAI system. It is a good system with some good people teaching it and some bad people teaching it (just like all styles). I have enjoyed it and always been happy with the flexibility and approval of cross-training that has come with the style.
Interestingly, the man that I found before I started training (that I mentioned above) ended up working with me at a plant. Later on, I took his best friend as a student when I was giving private lessons.

AoG