Saturday, May 15, 2010

Do you admit starting Martial arts to learn Self Defense?

Personally I%26#039;ve always admitted it from the very start as when a Teenager I was severely bullied.


But the amount of students I%26#039;ve heard say they simply practice for fitness and an aerobic workout as if they%26#039;re ashamed to admit it was for self defense purposes.


My own take on it is if you want fitness etc,join a running club or swim or do any one of the many other sports that can make you fit with having little or no physical contact with another person.





Your thoughts please !!!!|||I originally started studying martial arts to defend myself on the schoolyard and, over time, it%26#039;s now become a way of life and a means to protect my family.





I suppose, unlike others, I didn%26#039;t really care about the trophies or the prize money. In fact, I still don%26#039;t care about those things even though I have trophies....they%26#039;re just shallow decorations of a ruled fight in a controlled environment.





I agree with you that if you want fitness, swimming is the way to go. If you want to learn how to defend yourself or others...find a good teacher and art and devote yourself to it.





Personally, I study Wing Chun. I know it works and I have no doubt that if I were to get into a streetfight any martial arts training that I have would help.





To those that would trash the martial arts as a legitimate self defense...do your homework. Yes, some are purely for sport but the reflexes and athletic conditioning you get from them is still useful, and others are purely for combat.





A street fight is chaotic by nature...there%26#039;s no way of telling what will be the aboslute winning factor but I can guarantee that you%26#039;d be better off with martial training.|||It sounds like you are projecting a bit. I will certainly say I started because of self defense, but I see no shame in saying that as you imply with the word %26quot;admit%26quot;.





I started to learn self defense, but it became alot more than that for me, including a great workout to stay fit, and a form of meditation even.|||I take Shao-lin Kung-fu (aka Shaolin-Do). Taking martial arts is a good way to get in shape. Just in the one year i have been doing it i have noticed a huge change in myself physically. I%26#039;m a whole lot stronger and way more flexible than I ever was before, but there is so much more people can get out of it. Self defense is a good reason to take martial arts. I now know how to defend myself, and I have gained confidence in myself. But a person can also learn how to control themselves mentally and physically. I have gained a lot from my training, and I still have two more years to go until I will become a black belt. I have so much more to learn. I also take Tai-chi under the Shao-lin system. It%26#039;s amazing what you can learn from moving very slow, and I was surprised to learn that it makes you faster.





I don%26#039;t mind if people are there just to get in good shape as long as they are serious. Nothing bothers me more than to have a lot people out on the work out floor preparing for their rank advancement test and there are people out there goofing off and getting in other people%26#039;s way.|||I started martial arts as a workout and got my daughter into it to get her focused. Yes, self-defense was considered, but was not first and foremost the reason. Once I got my bb in tkd, I did go on and learn some other styles so if I ever did get in a scrape, I%26#039;d be able to defend myself (brazilian jujitsu and hapkido). However, it was more interest in the art itself and not really so much for the self-defense aspect.|||i started martial arts because it looked cool i grew up in the days of ninja turtles, power rangers, vr troopers, karate kid, 3 ninjas, surf ninjas, mortal kombat etc...i joined wanting to be like them and ended up liking it. as i grew up(and got smarter) i also looked into self defense and sporting, thats why i do capoeira(to perform), muay thai(for sport/self defense), and krav maga(for defense)





but as for fitness maybe someone doesnt like running, swimming, etc...maybe kickboxing can give them fitness along with self defense, or they just prefer martial arts for fitness than another excercise, the same reason might pick basketball over track for fitness simply because they like bsketball more. my father does aikido not necessarily for self defense but because he likes it and it helps for his arthritis





plus somethings are suppose to be used ONLY as fitness such as cardio kickboxing, taebo, etc... they have no practical martial arts training in them|||Martial arts is about getting fit and building confidence. It should be considered a sport first and a defense lesson last. Many people take it to compete in competition





If your in it to learn self-defence the cold hard truth is that it%26#039;s rather ineffective in practise in a street-fight unless you%26#039;re some kind of zen master, lol.





To say that people who do it and say they only do it for fitness or enjoy it are ashamed and are really doing it for self-defense is offensive and derogatory and says more about the type of person you are.





I did martial arts for over 10 years because I enjoyed it, I got in to it as something social to do when I was in school, long before I was ever bullying was ever an issue in my life.





It%26#039;s no different than taking part in any other full contact sport like American Football, Rugby etc.





I think you%26#039;re small minded and setting yourself up to become a bully yourself. That%26#039;s the sad truth about martial arts, the number of people who are bullied who use it as some form of wanting %26quot;payback%26quot; and end up turning in to arrogant boorish assholes. Exactly what happened to someone I used to be friends with and trained with for a good few years.





You want real payback, be a better person than them. By the time you%26#039;re in your 20s you%26#039;ll never see or hear from them again so why bother wasting time with this poor man%26#039;s revenge schtick like the guy above.|||I have a black belt.


I promised myself that what happened to me as a kid was not going to happen as an adult.


However, I also want revenge. That meant offense.


I chose old Tae Kwon Do because I heard it was more offense than defense.


I go to my 20 year high school reunion looking for payback, and every bully and mean girl were no shows.


Every once in a while someone may talk some trash, but when they see the lack of fear I display, they get cautious. I tell them I%26#039;m willing to fight you if you start, and I will permanently cripple you if you lose. All with the emotion of someone taking out the trash.


Funny, no one has ever decided to follow up their threats.

No comments:

Post a Comment