Why do you study what you study?

[jarrod]

my martial arts training has been an amazing journey for me. for every phase of my life there has been a corresponding art form. i want to know how to hurt people (but not necessarily do it) so i study judo & jujitsu. i was terrified of getting hit so i kickbox. i love the concept of absolute focus & self-mastery, so there was tai chi (which i will return to someday) & now kendo. when i was 16 i saw a neighbor kid in his backyard breaking cinder blocks & i asked him how he did that. he studied tkd so i started to also (i never got around to breaking a cinder block but it doesn't seem important now). i could go on.

 

[Phoenix44]

My first art--kenpo, which later evolved into more of an old Japanese style at our dojo--was just dumb luck. I was looking to train in a martial art, I knew nothing about the various styles, but my first session clicked, and the teacher was highly skilled and knowledgeable.

When I started tai chi a few years ago, that was a conscious decision. I'd tried a class at the National Women's Martial Arts Federation Special Training, and I immediately KNEW I had to do this. I loved the internal aspect, the flow, the yin and yang, the deliberate movement, the philosophy. I knew it could add to my ability as a martial artist. Plus, I know I can be practicing tai chi if I live to be 100. So I actively sought a qualified tai chi teacher.

 

[chinto]

I study what I do because, The system is an older Okinawan system that works. It has a real history of being tested over the years as well as my instructor has been teaching for a long time. I took a similar style for a little bit as a child and that same similar system a bit as a teen. This system is actually a much better system, and older then the seito system i took back then. I like that it is both hard and soft, liner and circler, and of course like most Okinawan systems at least, has grapples, locks sweeps, brakes and throws as well as strikes. ( oh for those of you who have never been around the Okinawan martial arts, they always have had strikes, locks, sweeps, brakes, throws and grapples when taught properly. )

 

[tellner]

I had been a dojo bum of one sort or another since fencing when I was a kid. I'd done a number of other things, was already into FMA and had heard of Silat through Donn Draeger's books. When I heard that a Silat teacher was moving to town I decided to give it a try. It was different than anything I'd ever seen, and I liked the teacher's mindset and practicality. After a while my current teacher moved to town, and my old teacher strongly recommended I study with him. That was sixteen years ago. I've never looked back.

 

[Tomu]

I had always wanted to study MA, but the places I lived when I actually had time always seemed to be TKD which I had no interest in. Part of the problem is that I also had some preconceived notions about what certain MA's were about. I've always wanted something practical and that would work for someone who wasn't a brute. I moved to my current home and still only found TKD schools. But a new friend was telling me about a JJJ school that was just starting up and that I should come and check out a class. I did and have been there ever since.

 

[Mike Hamer]

Well....lets see.....I train in Instictive Response Training because it has a little bit of everything packed into one. One moment we might be working on 6 and 10 count with 26" sticks, bust out some focus mits and work cover parrys and hand strikes, work on firearm drawing/disarm techniques, then switch right into some good ol' grappling......I train in IRT because it is a flexible art, with almost no rules to what what you "can" and "cannot" do. If it can work in the moment to protect you or your loved ones, then its a welcome addition to an IRT practitioners skillset. I will continue to train in IRT because I think I have a one of a kind teacher, a one of a kind art, and I see great potential for myself if I stick with it.

 

[bowser666]

I train in Shaolin Chang Chuan ( Northern Longfist) and I started training in it because it has loads of weapons I also like it for the powerful kicks, punches, and long graceful movement. It is beauty in motion.

 

[shihansmurf]

Well, the shotokan school where I began my training happened to be a few blocks from our house when I was a kid....

I have stuck with shotokan as a base art ever since due to the simple fact that the building blocks of every system is kihon. Being highly proficient in basic punches, blocks, and kicks is eessential for attaining any decent level of skill in any art. Shotokan excells at training basics.

After a few years my family moved and there was no shotokan school in the new town we were in. I wasn't interested in Tae Kwan Do so I got involved in a system called Han Foo Wa, which was for all intents and purposes JKD with belts. I was introduced to a more "Chineese" way of looking at the arts. Softer and more circular movement. I have retained much of that.

So I got inton Boxing cause I wanted to punch the crap out of an opponet and they frown on that in most sport karate tourneys. I learned how important conditioning is to a martial artist during those years.

After I joned the Army I got to train American Kenpo. It tought me how to verbalize many physical concepts. I learned how to be a much more effective teacher due to the analytical nature of the system. I don't think it made me a better fighter but it certainly gave me a great toolbox for imparting underatanding of the concepts and principle that govern movement and fighting. As an aside, the instructor there, Dave Coppock, tought me through example more about how to be a good instructor than anyone I have ever encountered.

So to sum up(sorry I got a bit verbose) I stay with shotokan because I find the basics unsurpassed, Kenpo for the depth of fighting analysis, and JKD/Boxing for the heavy contact fighting.

I'm looking for a good grappeling class around these parts but so far no luck.

Mark

 

[pesilat]

From '78 to '95 I had formal training in TKD then in Okinawan Goju-Ryu. I was also, during that time, exposed to a variety of other martial arts. In Feb '95, though, I was introduced to Sikal. It felt as though it was what I'd been searching for for 17 years. By the end of my first class I knew that it suited my body, mindset, philosophy, etc. better than anything else I'd ever studied or been exposed to. It was like coming home after a really long trip.

Sikal is my home. Since '95 I've trained in other systems (most of them have still been Filipino or Indonesian, though, and most were things that Sikal draws from so it was really like I was still training in Sikal). I also train in a system called Shen Chuan. Shen Chuan, like Sikal, called to me from the moment I saw it - though the calling wasn't as strong. Sikal is my home and Shen Chuan is my best friend's house - a home away from home.

These are my primary systems and I doubt that will ever change - though I am always willing to work out with other people and get exposure to other systems and perspectives.

I began my study Sikal and, later, Shen Chuan because they suit me. I continue training them because I enjoy them and my instructors in them will always have more to share with me based on their own explorations within their systems.

In a broader sense, though, I can attribute - directly or indirectly - every good thing in my life to my training in the martial arts. I continue to train because I enjoy it and I enjoy the benefits it brings to me and the camaraderie I find with fellow martial artists. I teach because I love teaching and it feels good to help other people find benefits in their own lives similar to what I've experienced in my own.

Mike

 

[wrc619]

The way the instructor taught the kids was phenomenal. He encouraged us to watch a couple of classes before we decided. After my first class, I was hooked. The art is brutally effective for self defense, which can serve me well on guard duty(heaven forbid it become necessary).