What is your favorite aspect of martial arts?

[TMA17]

What do you enjoy most about MA? Examples- training, sparring, forms, learning to fight, reading, history etc.

What I enjoy most is learning new things and doing basic kicks/punches on my Thai Heavy Bag. I find myself enjoying working on basics, (right now boxing/Muay Thai kicks/chain punches). I can also do these things at home, whenever I feel like it.

I also enjoy reading about different martial arts, primarily on MT, and watching movies that are based around martial arts. I’m also a sucker for YouTube videos related to MA and real fight scenarios.

MA for me is more of a hobby/exercise activity with a secondary purpose of self defense.

 

[jobo]

i enjoy hitting things

 

[skribs]

I enjoy the looks on my students faces when they finally understand something they've been struggling with.

 

[Danny T]

I love that there is nothing much more honest in life than getting struck, locked, or taken down.

 

[666]

I like how well rounded it is.

 

[CB Jones]

Let me offer a different perspective:

As a parent of a MA, I enjoy that my son is learning that you get what you put in and you have to work for what you want in life.

Also, learning confidence in his ability and how to perform under stress.

 

[Langenschwert]

I mostly enjoy perfecting technique, and trying out new (to me) ways of doing things. There's nothing quite as satisfying as figuring out a technique in a manuscript, perfecting it, and then pulling it off in sparring or tournament. What could be cooler than pulling off a technique in tournament that hasn't been done in centuries?

 

[Buka]

That feeling you get when you first walk through the door every night. Whether walking into a small garage, a big school, a gym, a rented space, whatever. Doesn't matter if you're alone, with a sparring partner, a dojo acquaintance, or with someone else who's just walking in as well, whether you're first in, last in, or running not to be late.

If I ever lose that feeling.....nah, can't even imagine that happening.

 

[Xue Sheng]

let me think..... the real thing or my usual answer to this type of question..... ok got it

"To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And to hear the lamentations of their women."

I leave it to you to figure out which answer I gave

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I like to

- find safe way to enter.
- find effective way to finish.
- make 1,2,3 into 1,2 and 1,2 into 1.
- group similar techniques together.
- always train techniques in pairs.
- train a technique, it's counters, counter to those counters.
- ...

 

[hoshin1600]

the friends you make & the stories and memories we make along the way with them.

there is nothing like ....."hey remember that time i broke your ribs ...lol " "yeah remember when i kicked you in the nuts...now that was funnnny"

good memories.

 

[Headhunter]

the friends you make & the stories and memories we make along the way with them.

there is nothing like ....."hey remember that time i broke your ribs ...lol " "yeah remember when i kicked you in the nuts...now that was funnnny"

good memories.

"Hey remember that time I kicked you in the head" "No I don't you little **** because you gave me conclusion" lol

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

"Hey remember that time I kicked you in the head" "No I don't you little **** because you gave me conclusion" lol

Started cracking up...I had almost this exact conversation with someone last week.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

I can't name just one thing - so here are the few that strike me as most important to me:

• The sense of accomplishment when a technique starts to actually work.
• Seeing the lightbulb go on for a student on an important concept.
• Seeing a student gain confidence from their training.
• The sense of camaraderie with people I get punched, smashed into the ground, or submitted by. Nowhere else I know of do people get up with a smile from that kind of thing and ask how they did that to each other.
• The feeling of satisfaction after a really grueling session.

 

[skribs]

let me think..... the real thing or my usual answer to this type of question..... ok got it

"To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And to hear the lamentations of their women."

I leave it to you to figure out which answer I gave

The real thing.

 

[Headhunter]

Escapism....getting away from the crap of life to focus on something else and to get out the stress and strain of everyday life.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Escapism....getting away from the crap of life to focus on something else and to get out the stress and strain of everyday life.

That was surely at or near the top of my list for several years.

 

[yak sao]

I've answered this so many times over the years. Sometimes it's someone asking me, sometimes it's me asking myself.
I have answered many different ways. My most recent answer is this:

MA has given me not only a means to stay young(ish) and in shape, but also a reason.

I love the feeling of balance, strength and fluidity... the simple joy and satisfaction of moving my body in ways that we as martial arts practitioners sometimes take for granted.

 

[_Simon_]

Great question, and good to reflect on this from time to time .

-I love kata. No matter which one, but especially the ones you connect with are just sublime to perform.

-I love the grace, beauty, flow and power of techniques, and more importantly FEELING them, and feeling when a technique is just flowing so nicely.

-Love drilling basics. Even if we do the same one 200 times.

-That moment when you've been in nekoashi dachi for an incredibly long time, or in fact when it's a particularly grueling session in general, your legs are shaking, heart is hammering, and you recognise when you tell yourself you can't do this. When you do it, and smile.

-When you've done 30 mae geris moving forward in zenkutsu dachi, and when you finish them the instructor just keeps counting louder.

-When you're having a fight night (we had 4 fight nights throughout the year of 25 rounds for each one), and the anxiousness you feel right prior to it, but how that completely transforms once you're about 5 fights in, and you feel confident, unstoppable, and like every hit you take spurs you on and just adds even more fuel to the fire.

-Landing a perfectly placed gedan mawashi geri with power on someone, and them smiling and saying 'Osu'.

-RECEIVING that gedan mawashi geri from someone, knowing it was a good one, and responding the same.

-The spiritual depth of martial arts, and those moments where you keep realising deeper aspects of the exact same thing you've already done hundreds of times before (and writing it down straight away haha).

-How training in the dojo gets you out of your head and into your heart.

-The feeling of strapping on the gi, tying on and tightening up your belt. It's quite a feeling.

-The immense peace I feel in the car ride home after an incredibly arduous, grueling session.


I'd best stop there haha, thank you starting this thread

 

[Gerry Seymour]

-The feeling of strapping on the gi, tying on and tightening up your belt. It's quite a feeling.

I didn't include this earlier, but I agree. I still just like the feel of putting on a gi. Even when I know I'll be the only one in the training room (no students, no visitors), I still prefer to put on my gi. And the same for hakama, though I don't always wear it.