Martial Artists: Why do you train?

[jimanyjim]

Reviving this thread cus i think it was interesting

[ANVIL]

i have always trained in relation to what i regard as holistic self-development. i try to ensure that i am active socially, spiritually, intellectually, emotionally and physically, and i that i try to develop all those areas of my life (along with others!). if i'm going to challenge and develop myself physically i'd rather do something that has as much benefit as possible. so for example, if was to play football i would get fitter and become a better player, but if i train in martial arts i can not only get fitter, but also challenge myself mentally and acquire some self-defence skills, which unlike football skills, may be of use in other areas of my life.

 

yes, we could all get shot or stabbed, but most encounters (or at least the majority of those i've been involved in) are devoid of any weaponry, and so hand-to-hand self-defence skills can prove valuable. i'm not suggesting for one minute that people shouldn't train in weapons skills, in fact it's something that i'd be interested in doing (i saw a quote from an old time brawler recently and he recommended training in boxing and wrestling for one-to-one encounters, and single stick if there's more than one - it was along time go though!).

 

i also heard frank shamrock describe a couple of street encounters - in one of which he had a knife pulled on him - and in reference to these encounters frank said he did what any good fighter should do - he ran.

 

i think martial arts and combat training can provide self-defence skills, hence why the likes of geoff thompson, peter consterdine, jamie o'keefe, dave briggs, etc. all train regularly and are heavily involved in RBSD - all hard, hard, men with bags of experience on the street.

 

depending on the club it can also be great fun and a place to meet new and interesting people, so for me it means being socially active, mentally active, and learning potentially useful skills, as well as providing spiritual development in that i have to confront my fears and constantly motivate myself. whenever things are not going well for me on other fronts i almost always end up missing training, but it's something i go back to time and time again.

[jimanyjim]

Great post anvil! Think you've hit the nail on the head - self defence is a skill that you obtain from training martial arts but it is only one of the many things that you can gain from training - ultimately you are developing as a person.

 

'It especially intrigues me that the most effective arts (if we can trust cage fights as a measure of effectiveness) are the least popular for the average joe who might get picked on by muggers, bullies etc. Gyms that require heavy sparring tend to be 'survival of the fittest', picking off those who can't take the pressure in the first lesson, who then flock to less pressured but perhaps less effective arts.'

 

I posted the above ageeeeeeeeees ago, anyone care to agree/disagree?

[ANVIL]

i think it's a good thread/question - i saw it ages ago but wanted to think about my answer!