Did you chose your style of MA or did it chose you?

SavageMan

Yellow Belt
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
48
Reaction score
1
I'm new to this forum, but I'd like to ask a question to all of you I've been asking myself. Do you feel that you chose your style of MA because of the views and nature of the MA blended with your own? Do you think that once you began training the nature of the art changed yours? For example. What I mean is did you start in your style because of the flashy styling or aggressiveness of the MA because you were an extroverted personality to begin with. Once you began training did the discipline of the art change you. Please site examples of how it may have calmed you or given you more confidence. Thank you for sharing.
 

Cyriacus

Senior Master
Joined
Jun 25, 2011
Messages
3,827
Reaction score
47
Location
Australia
My intent now is the same as when I started. I tried other MA beforehand, and they did nothing for Me. Ive always been a bit introverted, and I still am. I started to learn Self Defensive capabilities, and I continue to learn to this day.
 

ballen0351

Sr. Grandmaster
Joined
Dec 25, 2010
Messages
10,480
Reaction score
1,246
I guess it picked me. I called around looking for a place that could work around my schedule and My Sensei said he would be willing to open the Dojo at the times I was available. So I started it and I love it. As Ive learned more about Martial Arts in general I think I picked a very good place or it picked me or I picked it or wait what where we talking about.
 

Sanke

Green Belt
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
165
Reaction score
9
Location
Melbourne, Australia
It chose me. I went in looking for flashy moves and a very Hollywood idea of spiritualism, and what I found spoke to me like nothing before ever had, and opened a world I'd only ever been able to glimpse at.
I've been changed quite a bit by my experiences, and I've not been doing it that long, so I would say it chose me. But I took the first step. :)


Sanke on the move.
 

Tez3

Sr. Grandmaster
Supporting Member
Joined
Oct 13, 2006
Messages
27,608
Reaction score
4,901
Location
England
I took up the only style that was available. We don't have a lot of choice where we live. Luckily I loved it, unluckily the club closed after nine years so I had to again go with something else that was available at the time, I don't like it as much though but it's still MA and I can still train.
 

Gemini

Senior Master
MTS Alumni
Joined
Apr 12, 2005
Messages
3,546
Reaction score
37
Location
The Desert
I chose. I make all the decisions at home (when my wife lets me). It was the closest school to my house and most convenient. Faster there, the faster I could back home and watch TV. I didn't know squat about martial arts or the differences. Didn't care either. That lasted about 2 weeks before I absolutely fell in love with it. After becoming totally immersed in the world of MA and learning the fundamental difference between them, I realized this was, and always would be, my art.
 

Em MacIntosh

3rd Black Belt
Joined
Apr 17, 2007
Messages
917
Reaction score
16
Location
Lynn Valley, North Vancouver, BC, CA
Karate chose me at age 7. It was local, affordable and of good quality but if I could change things I would have started with a solid core in boxing and wrestling and would probably have foregone karate in favour of JKD or Kenpo. I'm grateful for my karate skills and they've saved my life but I feel the same effort would have yielded greater results in an art that had fit my personality better.
At 13 I joined a different club that taught a mixture of Jiu Jitsu, Kickboxing and Kyokushinkai. This was the club I would have joined if it was around when I was 7.
 
OP
S

SavageMan

Yellow Belt
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
Messages
48
Reaction score
1
Thanks to all who responded. Like Tez3 mentioned what I have available in my area is limited unless you want drive over a hour both ways. But I'm lucky in how the school I've found offers a well rounded and legitimate instructor versed in multiple arts. It's only been of late that I've started to question going to a less aggressive form. Mostly from the recovery time involved on the Thursday & Friday night grappling / sparring sessions. Part of me wants to focus on form and technique, but the other half (that would be the mid-life crisis half I think) still wants to see if he can hang with guys half his age. I keep saying to myself with my line of work I need to keep in the fight. But it seems the fight is getting the better of me.
 

WCman1976

Orange Belt
Joined
Dec 17, 2011
Messages
86
Reaction score
1
Location
Troy NY
I'd say my style and I were made for each other. Wing chun is described as a "direct" style where the creators trimmed away all the fat. The same could be said of me: I am a very direct person who likes to cut straight through any and all lines of BS so problems can be confronted and dealt with. Also, wing chun doesn't enage in a lot of big, flashy moves. All the techniques are very reserved and close. Again, this fits my personality as I am a very quiet person who likes to keep to himself. I felt such a solid connection to the style that I felt like it was almost made just for me...even though I know that certainly wasn't the case!
 

Black Belt Jedi

Blue Belt
Joined
Jul 2, 2011
Messages
244
Reaction score
8
Location
Toronto, Ont. Canada
Karate was a Martial Art system that I had always wanted to do since I was 9. Primarily because my idols Jason David Frank and Jean Claude Van Damme are Karate masters and it is a Martial Art system people come out of their minds when anybody talk about Martial Art. I also love the balance of the old ways of training and the modern ways of training. I like learning the self-defense the classical ways of budo and I love the sport side of it, going town to town competing in tournaments.
 

Latest Discussions

Top