Why bother?

Why Bother?

As I have been looking into martial arts I have grown weary and frustrated with the search of a genuine true master/instructor. I read this school is a mcdojo, this style is useless/ineffective, what this teacher teaches is not authentic, this teacher is only interested in the money and making himself famous, what you can do in the dojo does not necessarily prove your ability to defend yourself in a real life situation, the training method is flawed, the teacher doesn't have sound a sound understanding of training principles for healthy training, this lineage is bogus, the teacher cannot teach, the training method is aimless.

Why bother? Why put your faith in someone with so many bad instructors out there? Why put your faith in a style for self-defense when I hear that a real life situation is different? Martial art to me doesn't carry the meaning that it should when I read such things. All the marketing and BS and titles I do not know what to believe anymore. Then you have all the brainwashed disciples of masters which criticize other styles/masters when they themselves don't have the depth of understanding/skill in them.

I apologize for the tone of the post. I had all this enthusiasm for the martial arts but the more I read the more weary I become of all the nonsense and debates. I was hoping somebody could help give me some advice or a different perspective.

thank you.

 

I have felt the same as you, still do sometimes.

Its the world today, most things in life have become this way with false prophet type preaching this and that for financial or ego gains. Im beginning to think males are being born with smaller penis hence the reason for.

You have to be honest with yourself, be true to the way you feel, be your own person. It's good that you are using your head already and not falling for the first thing that is thrown your way. Just experiment for yourself, it really is trial and error. But at the end of it all it's your decision.

I always live my life with a doubt in my mind though. No one can be fully trusted, we are humans.

 

Straight up man.

Who gives a damn what other people say?

Who gives a damn what other people think?

The longer you sit on your ass and read posts on forums, and internet articles, and everything else, the more life and training are going to pass you by. Get off the computer, get to the local training halls, and start taking classes.

There is only one way to learn about martial arts. It's not an intellectual discipline. You can't learn about it in books. You can't learn about it on the internet. The knowledge most people have of Martial Arts is superficial.

There is only one way to learn, and that's to feel it. You HAVE to get to the training hall. You HAVE to get on the floor, or on the mats and practice. Who cares if it's effective? Who cares if it's flawed? Who cares if it's complete? What really matters is that you love it, that it speaks to you, that you have a passion for it.

 

If you are truly genuine about learning MA's. Get out there and find some places and start training. Only you and you alone will know what's right.
A little research is ok but take what you read on the internet and forums in general with a grain of salt.

Think about it for a minute.

You have to realize that the Martial Art internet crowd is quite small compared to rest of the worlds MA communitty as a whole. Also take into account that a good majority of posters on a board have very little real world knowledge on MA's in general.
That being said.......sift through the crap to get to where you want. That would also apply to finding a decent school.

Good luck in your search.

 

There's no need to have "faith" in anything. Just approach it with a (quietly!) critical attitude and confidence that your personal bllucarp detector is good enough. If techniques don't seem realistic or sparring doesn't feel street-relevant and this is important to you, try some other style. If an instructor tells you some adolescent adventure tale about the origin of the style and you can't stand having your intelligence insulted, go somewhere else. If a school charges an unreasonable amount of money, move on. If the other students are posers or gangsters, move on down the line. Follow this procedure patiently and you will eventually find something that works for you.

Some styles are well organized and relatively bullshido-free. You can find a good Judo dojo nearly anywhere you are likely to live. If you are in the States, I bet you would not go wrong in contacting the state rep for USA Boxing (www.usaboxing.org) and asking for a referral to a gym. State and community colleges that have MA programs usually have a certain level of quality control and reasonable fees.

 

I gotta say this post just has the tone of a quitter.

I've actually lost count of how many school Ive swapped between and I feel like its only now, 4 years on that for the first time Im doing any real training. Free fighting, grappling, full contact sparring, fitness work. I do kickboxing, Judo and strength training in the Gym. They fulfill my training needs.

So where does that leave my past? A reasonable foundation to build on and a lot of time and money that could have been better spent.

I've found a coach who brings out the best in me and inspires me by his own fighting example, attitude and history but I had to look and find him and I could only see the value because Ive trained with most of the schools within 15 miles of me.

So go out there and find what you want and be the Martial Artist you want to be.

This I totally can agree with. Just dont take the internet so seriously. Most Martial Artists on the net have more experience with watching YouTube than actually sweating.

 

Damn.

 

Choose from either thai boxing, judo, boxing, wrestling or BJJ. Choose a club that competes regularly and is affiliated to the relvent governing body for the art(or in the case of BJJ check who trained the instructors). Make sure the instructors have recognisable grades and ideally have competed at a decent level. If you follow these guidelines I think you have a very very very slim chance of ending up at a McDojo so there is still hope!

 

I want a poster of this to hang on my wall. Perhaps a black and white picture of Mitch in the background or something, lol.

 

Because it is better to try and fail then never to have tried at all.

Keep looking until you find a style that interests you.

Keep looking until you find a school that fulfills your needs.

Then train.

 

^What he said

 

sharkieeee - its okay to feel that way but just curious if you've had any bad experiences that have brought you to this point? If so, care to tell us?

 

Perhaps this will help:
IGNORE the nonsense and the debates too if that helps. One of the things that attracted me to martial arts was the lack of ambiguity. If it works, it works. Things are black and white, no shades of grey. Just do what you want to and ignore anybody who tries to drag you down. Then again, open debate is important to any field of research- and martial arts is a field of research as much as anything else.

 

Does your martial arts training entail regular fighting in a non-retarded fashion? (ie, not XMA pointfighting or compliant Toshindo "randori") Congratulations, then it's not bullshido.
It's really not that hard once you get the hang of it. Some schools might have a bit of bullshido mixed in with the good (such as when my karate instructor got obsessed with us winning kata at tournaments, and made us do Heian Yondan for half an hour), but hey, use your better judgment and you'll be fine.

 

Its funny you should say that because me and Mitch were chilling last week and I did get some photos of him making that speech.

Not in Black and White though



I know what your all thinking and, yes, he does look a LOT bigger in real life.
My camera is just not very good

 

what he said.

 

No a bad pic for someone my age Mitch. Though I think your calves are a bit underdeveloped. Tri's are lagging too and...................




GET A HAIR CUT MAN! This ain't the 70's!

 

In 23 years I have trained in some crap places and with some crap people and I have also found some gems. You will never find any gems sitting here. You must train with whomever is available and make it work for you. The goal of any martial artist should be to find training wherever they no mater what the style or system. It will come but it is also not an onernight thing. I think a lot of this type of frustration usually comes from people who want it all right now. The only quick solution to martial arts is training and lots of it and it will still take years to become adequate. Guys who go to a school take one lesson or two and leave because "That **** don't work" are fools, it did not work for them as they did not train in it they tried it out and found themselves wanting. So a teacher charges for training, do not most of the best boxing coaches also charge for there services? Why is it that of all the ways a person can eran a living only when one chooses to do so as a martial arts teacher is it said to be wrong or selling out? What is it that makes charging money an instant clue that this guy teaches crap? Point here is that as some others have said forget what you hear from others, forget what some geek on an internet forum says, go train, if you like it do it, do it with all your heart and soul for as long as you have the chance to be with that teacher. Then decide if it was worth it for YOU, not for some one else but for YOU.