Why do you train?

i kinda know how you feel, i'm just not attracted at all to guys without some fight in them.

they don't necessarily have to be good fighters, just someone with some real fire inside.

 

yes.

 

exactly, when i fight someone i almost instantly get a level of respect for them. theres just something about it that appeals to the caveman inside.

 

I like hurting people.

 

:wow:

 

Parents put me into TKD classes because I was a hyperactive four-year old who wouldn't stop kicking people after sneakily watching them viewing a pirated copy of "Bloodsport" on VHS. They believed training would wear me out. Instead it made me fitter and much better at kicking their shins

I wanted to be the best so winning in competitions was my primary motivation for a long time. But recently I felt burnt out and retired. Now I train for fun and I'm happier than I have been since... ever. I'm seeing better results now than I did at the height of my competition career. I do this full time so paying the bills is another reason why I train lol.

 

Man, my answer is so long and I'm too tired from training tonight D;

 

I got interested in MA for the technical aspects. All of the different ways you can use your body to hurt other people! So when I needed something to get me out of the house and active, MA is what I went for. I think it's sort of a D&D mentality, you know? I read about all of these awesome feats and skills and spells and I think, "I want to be able to do that" . Of course it's a lot harder in real life. That bit is fun too, though.

 

I trained to protect my family, but sadly I failed at that when i was 11 when i was black belt :crying: , now i just train for my fitness, self defense, and for fun XD, and of vourse most importantly to protect those i care about

 

I have a naturally firery temperment and as a 14 year old and always getting into trouble, my parents noticed I had an interest in martial arts and signed me up at the local Shotokan Dojo (was the nearest). Never looked back....

Today I am still as addicted to training as I was when I first started, more so even althrough I now have to balance training with a busy work and family life... Misses does moan about my training times and I do normally end up sleeping on the sofa on a Wednesday after late training to avoid waking her (sneaking around like I am walking on nightingale flooring )better than the aftermath of an angry misses and a screaming child.

Primary reason will always be functional ability, then fitness and then art for arts sake.

Cheers

Dan93

 

That's a point I'd overlooked actually. My wife and family laughed at me the first time I mentioned that I trust people who are willing to train honestly and who I've trained with more than anybody else. To them, the idea that I'd trust someone willing to punch and kick me more than someone I'd spent months just talking to seemed an odd idea.

My response was that how you train very much indicates the kind of person you are and its' not something you can disguise very well. To this day, the only people that have never upset me or got on my nerves are people who I've trained with that are willing to put an honest effort in, regardless of talent or physique.

As for redefining what I think of as attractive, I hadn't really thought about it. I mean yeah, I used to get turned off by guys 'n gals that would lift weights or go to the gym or do any kind of consistent exercise before I started doing MA. I also used to be terrified of anyone that did any MA who held this "deadly fighter" aura around them.

Now the only gym types that turn me off are the ones who stand there getting their gf's/bf's to kiss their biceps, flexing in the mirror over and over yelling "yeah, I'm sexy!" while tossing their weights around the room. I'm more turned off now by peeps with fake tans/breast enlarging surgery, fake hair, fake nails, make up...pretty much all that standard fakery really. On the other hand, someone who's willing to spar or stand by what they claim to believe in? Massive plus point for me. Someone that currently trains in a combat sport or MA or physical discipline? Also a massive plus point.

You might have to expand on this for me. I love D&D, but the times I've played it, its' been entirely with people who basically want to suit up, be the noble paragon/cleric/shady thief in the thick of it stabbing everyone, saving the day, getting the girl and eating the pet turtle.

 

Well, I personally spent more time reading the books than actually playing... I'm the kind of person who'd become a wizard because I loved to hoard spells. The thing I found so attractive about it was that there was so much content: all of the different classes; different races/monsters; even different worlds if you got to a high enough level. That's the sort of stuff I like in theory, at least. In practice I make a better Fighter; just give me a sword and point me at the orcs .

I treat my MA the same; all of the different techniques and strategies really interest me, but when I'm learning I'd rather just get down the basics properly.

 

My dad was a TKD practitioner when he was a young man and claimed it the best of the arts - He also did Shotokan. He tried to get me into Shoto when i was about 5 but i had no interest so gave up.

Years later i decided to try a TKD class and was physically shattered. I couldn't keep up with the class. I wasn't going to go back. The sharp intake of breath i got was that i was severely unfit. Against my will i went back and struggled through class after class. Eventually getting fitter and much, much faster. My instructor has asked me to represent my local town in competition and i am now training to compete. Only local competition but i guess that's why i train now. Funny how things change.

Baza

 

My reason/s for training has changed over the years.

I started because I didn't know how to fight and was scared of someone starting one and getting involved in a SD situation.
Then I discovered I could kick people in the bonce fairly well and so started competing in TKD.
I didn't know enough in those days to realise I'd picked completely the wrong sort of training to learn SD and got enamoured with head kicking instead.
That lasted a few years.

Then Geoff Thompson and the UFC gained momentum and I realised that even though I was now a TKD BB I still couldn't fight beyond a very strict ruleset.
So I stopped TKD and started Progressive Hapkido in order to learn some grappling, locking, trapping weapons etc.

My next few years of training then followed the idea of being functional at all ranges and formats.
If someone wanted to box I wanted good enough hands to box.
If someone wanted to grapple, stick fight, kick fight or whatever I wanted to have some idea of what to do. Not a world beater but not someone that would say "I can't do X".

So in that time I did Thai, BJJ, rapid arnis and MMA.

That desire to be functional in as many formats and ranges as possible is still an undercurrent really.

As I age my reason to train has morphed again into just being functional per se. A moving human being. Trying to be mobile and fit so my kids have a dad at 50 that can still roll about with them, teach them to cartwheel in the garden and climb trees.

 

I train to become stronger (mostly mentally) and because I reeeeaaaally love sparring. The notion of learning to understand the capabilities of the human body also greatly intrigues me.

Definitely though, without the sparring bit I wouldn't be doing it. For me, it's like the whole point of doing martial arts.

 

It's actually the other way around for me. It only takes me from a few to hours to a few days of practice (depending on the sport) and I'll give the long-time practitioner serious difficulty.

It was only with MA where this wasn't the case, which is why MA were the only sport activity I became truly attached to.