What were your first expectations of Martial Arts?

[Touch Of Death]

.. so? Finish the story and do not leave me with cliffhanger!! did you be Jackie Chan in the end?? I want to know how it finishes! x

In a perfect world Jackie Chan tries to be like me. .... But seriously, the art I study, doesn't task you to do parkour; so, it is the opposite of what you would see in one of his movies.

 

[TSDTexan]

As a teen, I expected to be a punching bag long enough to learn how to protect myself from the neighborhood bullies.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I was about 7 years old. I expected to be like the guys in the movies.

Still waiting...

 

[Touch Of Death]

I was about 7 years old. I expected to be like the guys in the movies.

Still waiting...

I am too fast for the silver screen.

...But so is everybody else.

 

[Buka]

I just wanted to learn how to fight. Still working on that puppy. But, at least I know most of the words.

 

[Justin Chang]

Wow. I remember just about everything. I wanted to be Jackie Chan, but my very first introduction was the Kung Fu, TV series...

I loved the Kung Fu: the Legand Continues series growing up!

 

[Buka]

I realize it was just a silly TV show, but it was 1972, I was a brown belt, and it was the coolest thing that had ever been on TV. So different, so fun, so inspiring. You go, Kwai Chang, you go.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Watching Kung Fu Theater back in the 70's. For all of you "young bucks" This was considered quality tv. We didn't have the 50 million tv networks nor the internet. Star Wars was considered Special effects history. Now that you have some context. This was cool and everyone wanted to kick butt.

There wasn't a kid on the block who didn't pretend to do kung fu fighting lol. And everyone knew you were tough if you took a Martial Art. That was back when people didn't hand out black belts, and where child safety was lax. lol. Compared to my childhood, kids today live in a bubble. lol.

What does it say about me that I just sat there and watched that entire fight scene, rooting for the good guys, just like when I was a kid?

 

[JowGaWolf]

What does it say about me that I just sat there and watched that entire fight scene, rooting for the good guys, just like when I was a kid?

lol I did the same too. I didn't think about it until now but those movies probably played a big role in how I dealt with bullies as a kids. Old kung fu movies often had the theme of a character that wasn't good at fighting and the bad guys would pick on him and beat him up. Then it goes through a training scene where you see the weaker fighter try hard to get stronger and better, at the end the weaker fighter becomes stronger and beats up the bad guys. As a kid I used to look for bullies and make them stop picking on others.

Now a days with martial arts movies, the hero starts off as a Bad Az and we never get to see him go through that hardship of training hard to get stronger. I didn't think about this but this could have been a big influence on the "fast food" mentality that many Americans have. They want the end results but aren't willing to put in the effort and time. Rocky, the karate kid, blood sport are the last movies that I can remember where we see the character training hard, with Rocky being the one that had the most.

So me growing up I knew if I was going to be good in fighting then I would need to put in the work and effort. Because those guys in the kung fu movies put in the effort. Now a days we see people short cut a lot of things.

 

[wingchun100]

When I was 8 years old my parent's got me my very first Martial Arts lessons for Christmas, I remember opening an envelope on Christmas day and learning that I would be taking Ishin Ryu Karate lessons. At the time the only thing I knew about Karate or Martial Arts was from watching The Karate Kid, for whatever reason I thought that my classes were going to be just like the Cobra Kai and beat me senseless, I was pretty scared for my first lesson. Obviously it was nothing like that and I really enjoyed my lessons.

What (if any) expectations did you have before starting Martial Arts, and what was the reality like? This goes the same for starting a new Art as well.

I convinced my mom to take me to the Troy Judo Club in Troy NY. I thought I was going to be learning something that would actually help me defend myself, but I didn't. LOL

Don't get me wrong: I think judo CAN be street effective, but they did not teach it that way. So I abandoned it for a school over in Albany that taught kung fu. Didn't learn anything street effective there either; it was more flashy and acrobatic stuff rather than anything that can be used in the modern day. Then, at long last, I went to a wing chun school, and that was where I found my home.

 

[Kickboxer101]

lol I did the same too. I didn't think about it until now but those movies probably played a big role in how I dealt with bullies as a kids. Old kung fu movies often had the theme of a character that wasn't good at fighting and the bad guys would pick on him and beat him up. Then it goes through a training scene where you see the weaker fighter try hard to get stronger and better, at the end the weaker fighter becomes stronger and beats up the bad guys. As a kid I used to look for bullies and make them stop picking on others.

Now a days with martial arts movies, the hero starts off as a Bad Az and we never get to see him go through that hardship of training hard to get stronger. I didn't think about this but this could have been a big influence on the "fast food" mentality that many Americans have. They want the end results but aren't willing to put in the effort and time. Rocky, the karate kid, blood sport are the last movies that I can remember where we see the character training hard, with Rocky being the one that had the most.

So me growing up I knew if I was going to be good in fighting then I would need to put in the work and effort. Because those guys in the kung fu movies put in the effort. Now a days we see people short cut a lot of things.

Agreed these days there's not as many 0 to hero type movies I always loved no retreat no surrender. These days we get things like the undisputed movies or the raid movies etc. simply because there were so many of those types in the 80s that now people want to see full on pro fighters fighting now learning at an amateur level.

But there are still a few like that if you haven't already check out never back down. I know it's fairly oldish now about 2008 if I'm right but it's basically the karate kid but with mma it's got some awesome training scenes and fights. Also similar undisputed 2 where the main character is a boxing champion but gets beat in prision by boyka who's a mma fighter and then he learns mma so they are still out there.

 

[crazydiamond]

My expectations was to better understand violence/conflict, self defense, and self confidence.

General speaking I have not been disappointed, and have augmented my classes with my own studies.

I would say however that it has taken me much longer to master some basic fundamentals of body movement (positioning, angles, crossing the line,coordination) then I could have expected. Starting late in life i just have a lot to overcome - like learning to dance. I was just promoted to "intermediate class" after three years of three times a week training.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I convinced my mom to take me to the Troy Judo Club in Troy NY. I thought I was going to be learning something that would actually help me defend myself, but I didn't. LOL

Don't get me wrong: I think judo CAN be street effective, but they did not teach it that way. So I abandoned it for a school over in Albany that taught kung fu. Didn't learn anything street effective there either; it was more flashy and acrobatic stuff rather than anything that can be used in the modern day. Then, at long last, I went to a wing chun school, and that was where I found my home.

When I studied Judo, it wasn't taught for self-defense, either. But it's still what I used. The first time I ever used MA for self-defense, the attack was a rear naked choke done by a bully as intimidation. Turns out I was better at throws than I thought.

@JowGaWolf - You went looking for bullies. I could have told you where they were.

 

[Buka]

What does it say about me that I just sat there and watched that entire fight scene, rooting for the good guys, just like when I was a kid?

Only good things, bro, only good things.

 

[wingchun100]

When I studied Judo, it wasn't taught for self-defense, either. But it's still what I used. The first time I ever used MA for self-defense, the attack was a rear naked choke done by a bully as intimidation. Turns out I was better at throws than I thought.

@JowGaWolf - You went looking for bullies. I could have told you where they were.

I am glad you were able to use it that way. In my mind I was unable to take what they showed me and say, "Okay, well...this is BS, but how can I translate it so it WILL work on the street?" That was MY limitation.

 

[TSDTexan]

I am glad you were able to use it that way. In my mind I was unable to take what they showed me and say, "Okay, well...this is BS, but how can I translate it so it WILL work on the street?" That was MY limitation.

Utility of martial arts is determined by each practicing artist. Much like an armory where swords and arms are forged. There exists a mind set of instant gratification, or a plug and play mentality.

If I take classes I will know how to fight automatically. Part of gun culture is that if you pick up a gun you will shoot and hit your target, not always the case.

Of course, there is a lot of personalization to create a functional art. Drilling in muscle memory, learning to fight with the conscious mind, by entering the flow state or mushin.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I am glad you were able to use it that way. In my mind I was unable to take what they showed me and say, "Okay, well...this is BS, but how can I translate it so it WILL work on the street?" That was MY limitation.

Oh, I never had that discussion with myself. I simply learned the sport application. The bully was a human, just like the people I was working with in the dojo, so the mechanics of the technique still worked. Sure, practicing specifically for self-defense may make it easier to learn self-defense, and likely provides techniques and principles better adapted to SD, but many sport techniques work just fine in the street.