So what made you change?

[Lisa]

I have noticed a lot of the members here on the forum have done more then one MA in their training. Many have done one form, only to later change to another.

What made you change? Why did you leave one system for the other? Were you disillusioned with the system you were studying or were you looking to expand your experiences?

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Well, I'm in the process of looking for another style. I became very disillusioned after realizing the lack of "depth" in what I've been studying. That got me doing some research, and led to to find out why it lacked any depth. So if anyone knows any good schools in the Michiana area, let me know.

Jeff

 

[Shodan]

For me, it was always due to lack of my primary art-- studio failures, teachers moving away, me moving away, etc. The other arts were sort of "fillers" until I could find a good school again. I have always come back to my "first love" Kenpo though and am happy to be back doing Kenpo 4 nights a week now. Of all the places outside of Kenpo I've dabbled....Arnis was my favorite and I still use the stuff I learned today.

 

[Cirdan]

I started doing Kobudo besides Wado Karate because I wanted to train more (only two classes a week for adults at the wado club) and I wanted to try a weapons art as well. I quit Kobudo six months later because I felt that the stances and principles of the two arts were opposing each other and hampering my progress. A few weeks later I joined a Ju Jutsu club and found it much easier to combine with karate. However my focus is definately on Wado.

 

[Shaolinwind]

I have noticed a lot of the members here on the forum have done more then one MA in their training. Many have done one form, only to later change to another.

What made you change? Why did you leave one system for the other? Were you disillusioned with the system you were studying or were you looking to expand your experiences?

TSD to KF because I had to switch TSD schools within the same system when I relocated, and didn't like the instructor one bit. KF to Kajukenbo because I left the state and it was the most affordable option.

 

[chris_มวยไทย]

i used to do jujitsu and wasnt very patient , i thought id get black belt in no time and rush throught , then i realised i was rushing what i learned and wasnt enjoying myself! (i think thts te problem with people these days , not patien enough) so i gave up , however i still practiced what i learned

then a few years later a started muay thai , ive only been doing it a few months , after a couple of years of muay thai im hoping to do BJJ aswell to fill in the fighting skills i currently dont have so i can fight "all round"


chris

 

[Drac]

What made you change? Why did you leave one system for the other?

Started in Shorin-Ryu and I grew tired of the kata ( Mia Culpa) it seemed that I just couldn't "get it"..I had the blocks,punches and kicks down ok but I stunk at everything else..Took numerous Intro classes in a multitude of disciplines and sub-disciplines just to see what was out there..Finally I found Chon-Tu- Kwan ( Combat Hapkido) and here I'll stay...

 

[searcher]

I left the guidance of one instructor due to it becoming unsafe for my wife to participate with the guys in that school. She would have to fight for her life every time we would spar. The guys were at a minimum of 50 lbs heavier than her and they were trying to harm her. I put a stop to it myself and the head instructor and I had a nice discussion over the topic. We both felt it was better if we left. This coupled with the desire to improve my kicking led me to TKD. I have studied several styles and still practise each one. I may have left the school, but I still maintain the training.

 

[Kenpojujitsu3]

I started off with one instructor who taught Kung-Fu, TKD, Ju Jitsu and Kickboxing. He was murdered so I looked elsewhere. I stumbled across a friend who wrestled and a Kenpo school. I have since stayed with Kenpo and Ju Jitsu. Had my original instructor not died I don't think I would have went anywhere else. But had he only taught one system I may have left. Although I know I'll never learn it all I'm going to get as close as I can which means studying many different systems during my lifetime.

 

[Eternal Beginner]

I've never actually 'left' my first MA. I changed instructors, but stayed with the style.

I've only ever added to my MA practice with the additions of other styles, never really felt the need to abandon the first one. I think I would only leave any of the three styles I study if a) I felt I had learned it all (which isn't going to ever happen) b) time became an issue or c) injury made studying a certain art unworkable.

 

[Makalakumu]

I started training in Shotokan when I was 10 going on 11. And I had to quit after six months because my family was moving. I found another Shotokan teacher in my new home a couple of months after we arrived. His dojo was a small backyard/garage/basement dojo and I spent two years learning karate from him. Then he moved. I went through a dry MA period where I practiced what I learned from Shotokan and worked out with different kids who had practiced other arts. I remember really being interested in a Kung Fu school, as I was working out with some of their students, but my parents couldn't afford it.

When I was about 15, I met a judoka who kicked my karate practicing butt in a "relaxed" rules sparring match. I asked him where he trained and found out that his teacher was teaching out of the Community Education building where my mother worked. I talked to my mother and she was able to get a pretty good deal on tuition and I could go as long as I earned enough from mowing lawns, shoveling driveways, collecting cans etc. So, I ended up doing Judo for about two years.

During this period, I was also playing baseball and at the end of my freshman year of high school, I had a pretty bad experience with the coach and ended up quiting. So, I started shopping around for another sport. I tried golf and was okay, but my heart wasn't into it and that summer I got into a pretty horrible car accident and injured my knee pretty badly. I spent half of my sophomore year recovering from that and then went back to judo.

At the beginning of my junior year in high school, on a whim, I tried out for wrestling. Our school was huge, so the competition at tryouts was pretty amazing and hardly anyone ever got on the team unless they had been doing it for years. The good news is that my judo teacher had use do randori with and without our gis, so I wasn't totally unprepared. Anyway, during the tryout, I had a couple of full Ippon throws, including a completely lucky harai goshi on the state champion (who then proceeded to own me on the mat...but he owned everyone...which is why he was the champ).

Somehow, I was able to get on the team and I was actually the talk of the school for a while, because like I said, everyone viewed "try-outs" as a formality no one EVER got on the team unless they had come up through the system. Anyway, for that season, I wrestled. My coach said that I wouldn't get to compete much that year and that I would spend alot of time correcting bad judo habits and that, if I worked really hard, I could make first string my senior year. And I did work very hard, all throughout the season. I still went to some judo classes everyonce in a while just to maintain some relationships with friends though.

Near the end of the wrestling season, we had some pretty horrible injuries to a couple of starters, so my coach gave me the green light to compete. This is where I learned about the wonders (horrors) of cutting weight...ie the starving oneself, induced vomiting, diuretics, sauna suits, etc. I was unfortunately cursed with a body that had an optimum cruising weight at around 165. So, when I went into the weight class above me and everyone was between 185 and 188, I was getting smoked. However, I did have a chance at 160. My coach dug up some bylaws that allowed me to recert at a lower class and I went through some hell to get there.

For a couple of weeks, I was sick, I had low energy, and I couldn't concentrate on much other then wrestling. I competed well, but in the end, I decided it wasn't worth the price. When my coach said that I would be wrestling at that weight class from now on, I told him that I was quitting the squad. (I had other reason's too. I had a job that I had to work because my family didn't have alot of money and I had also met a girl and had fallen totally and completely in love with her.)

After that, I felt pretty worn out by MA. Wrestling was overall a pretty positive experience, looking back, but the negative experience at the end shaded my POV for a while. I still did some judo and my teacher was very impressed with my skill level. When he asked me to do more tournaments (competitions were required for rank btw), I quit judo. The smaller tournaments that we were going to had "small" "medium" and "heavy" weight classes, but the larger tournaments that my teacher wanted to do had many more divisions and I was, again, stuck right between the 160 and 178 weight classes.

Fortunately, my school had an after school boxing club. So, I decided to give that a go because it was cheap and the time commitment wasn't huge. I did that for a year until I graduated high school. During that year, I mostly got to spar as I learned the fundamentals. I also did lots of running in order to get my stamina up for competition. During my freshman year in college I joined a gym that was teaching boxing, submission grappling, and kickboxing.

This was in 1995 and Royce Gracie was making MMA super popular and the first small amatuer events started popping up. The gym that I was at was on the cutting edge of promoting this stuff. I was 19 and decided to give those a try, figuring that my MA experience up to that point would be more then enough. In my first tournament, I got completely owned and I had to work very hard to even be allowed to compete in another. The second one I tried, I did much better. In my third tournament, in my first match, I ended up getting thrown with a tomoenage and my arms were pinned. I landed right on my head and woke up in the ambulance. It was the most terrifying experience of my life because I thought I had been paralyzed. I couldn't feel anything.

As it turns out, the swelling in my neck was causing the paralysis and feeling began to return after a few days. My neck was not broken, but neither was it in very good shape. It took me six months to recover from that injury and during that time, I was unable to practice any MA. I did alot of fishing instead. When I felt good enough to start doing something, I gave archery a shot. I was pretty gun-shy from MA and I was also pretty embarrassed because all of the time on my back had atrophied my coordination and strength. I tried a couple of different things, but my heart wasn't into it, so I quit. I did manage to meet a pretty cool chick though...(My wife)

Anyway, through archery, I met a student of my current teacher and he introduced me to Tang Soo Do. I decided to give it a go with my gf at the time and found that I had discovered a diamond in the rough. My teacher was high quality and he really knew alot about TSD and MA in general. He had also practiced many other Martial Arts, so we learned those alongside TSD.

It's been 10 years now and I've been practicing TSD ever since. I consider it my base and although I've tried some other stuff, its always been a supplement. I just turned 30 on sunday and I realized that I had been practicing MA for 20 years. Overall, I'd have to say, its been pretty fun.

To get back to the original questions, so what made you change? Lots of stuff.

upnorthkyosa

ps - wow that was alot longer then I had thought it would be...

 

[Grenadier]

Shotokan to Tae Kwon Do, back to Shotokan, to Shuri-Ryu, to Wado.

In all honesty, I would have gladly stayed with any of the above systems, especially Shuri, but I was living like a gypsy, having to get up and re-locate after a few years, on a regular basis. Nothing wrong with any of my teachers; it's just that with college, graduate school, a postdoctoral fellowship, and then, finally, a "real" job, I was on the move.

In the end, I'm glad that I did get exposure to all of those systems, although I do enjoy the fact that I've settled down. It's nice to have some stability in one's life, not having to worry about whether a furniture purchase is going to be extra costly due to future moves.

This reminds me, that I do have a horror story for y'all when it comes to moving, but that's for another time.

 

[terryl965]

Well I'll be brief, started out in Okinawa Karate was happy and everything moved to California early eighties, every school I went to was a soft training school out there another teacher told me about this TKD instructor that would beat the **** out of you when you trained went there and loved his approached to training it was on the same line that my father tought so that is why I'm in TKD today with my own school, we also do Karate with my childern and some of the more serious students.
Terry

 

[ajs1976]

I haven't left anything yet, I just keep adding.

Started with Taekwondo that included some Hapkido. I liked the grappling so that lead me to try some BJJ / Sub Wrestling, that hasn't worked out yet. Went to a school to try a sub wrestling class, but it was cancelled because of the weather, so I ended up taking a boxing class instead. I liked it so kept going back.

I would like to try BJJ / sub wrestling again. I am going to go to some FMA seminars and hopefully some firearms training.

I have a lot of interests, and I would like to try out some different arts, before I really focus on 1 or 2 of them.

 

[stone_dragone]

I started with Nahate Goju Ryu, and shortly after receiving my shodan, I went on active duty with the Army, and moved. I began TKD at my next station. I shose TKD to work on my kicks. About 6 monhts after earning a 1st dan in ATA, I had to PCS again to Ft Campbell where I began studying a shotokan substyle under Bill Kellett after returning from my first trip to the desert.

After two years with him, I got deployed again and here I am. When I return to Rucker this winter, I will take up again with my TKD instructor.

Since Fort Rucker, I have been partcipating in the IKCA video program as well. I would like to find out a way to publish one of my test videos to the web, not so much to show off (nothing to show off, there...lots to learn...) but to show the level of instruction provided...

So to answer the original question, I change because I move. I never quit (except maybe TKD...I really haven't kept up with it as much), just change.

 

[Xue Sheng]

OK you asked and let me say this ruight now... You'll be sorry you did.

Started in Jujitsu changed to TDK because my Jujitsu school closed. Stopped training TDK because I moved and there were no TDK schools in the area I moved to that where anywhere near as good as my original school as a matter of fact by comparison they were pathetic. Things have changed however in 20 years, there is now 1 that is good and it is a Tae Kwondo/Hapkido School.

Hurt my back and stopped training for a couple of years. Got into Tai Chi because it is all I thought I could handle. As my back got stronger I continued to train Beijing style (24), Yang 48 and Wu competition Tai Chi but got into Chen style forms and then Bagua followed by Xingyi and a bit of Shaolin. My Sifu at that time was a Wushu guy from Shandong province and new tons of forms.

I decided to pursue Chen style or Xingyi in depth but there were no teachers of either anywhere near me. I happened to run into an ex-student of my Sifu (Wushu) who was training Yang style with a legitimate Yang style teacher (student of Tung Ying Cheih). I went to my second Sifu. But I was also interested in Wing Chun and found a school near me so briefly I trained both while continuing to work on Chen and Xingyi from my first Sifu. Also I was teaching Beijing Style, Yang 48 and Wu competition at this time. I also went to a few Push hands seminars and Qinna seminars with Yang Jwing Ming as well. However my Yang Sifu wanted more dedication to Yang Tai Chi so I stopped training and teaching everything else.

Fast forward 12 years my Yang Sifu was no longer teaching the real deal and was more interested in money than being faithful to what his teacher had taught or to Yang style Tai Chi. Then, much to my surprise, found that a friend of mine was a real live Sanda/Sanshou guy (Police Version) and I trained with him briefly (as I have posted way to much, I beat up a lot of trees training Sanda). I then started training Yang style on my own and decided to return to Wing Chun. Also at this time I found a Cheng Manching style teacher that also taught Xingyi and Bagua. I went there briefly but my work schedule and his class schedule seriously conflicted. Work being unreasonable and not allowing me to work 3/4 time and get paid for full time forced me to stop.

I then had a chance to go see a Yang Style Tai Chi class where the teacher was a student of Yang Chengfu and his form and internal power and the form and internal power of his students was better than I have ever seen in a Yang style person before, I was amazed and seriously impressed. I was told I could go to his class and that I would have to start form the beginning. Although I had no problem with that I all of a sudden realized if I am going to start from the beginning I would rather go back to Chen. I have since been training the Chen I remember as well as doing Chen Stance training and Chen Silk reeling. I am also training at home to get back in shape to handle the Wing Chun training. I have talked with the Wing Chun Sifu, I have known him for years and I know his training is very good, but very hard and after the stuff with my Yang Sifu and this whole getting older thing I realize I need work before I go back there. Tentative start date for official Wing Chun training is January. And if time allows both me and the teacher I will return to Sanda too.

As far as Official Chen training I am (still) waiting for a response from a local group affiliated with Chen Zhenglei to see if they will allow me to train with them.

There, greater than 30 years of training summed up in a few short paragraphs and I am guessing, much to your advantage otherwise it would be longer, I missed something.

 

[Dark]

I have noticed a lot of the members here on the forum have done more then one MA in their training. Many have done one form, only to later change to another.

What made you change? Why did you leave one system for the other? Were you disillusioned with the system you were studying or were you looking to expand your experiences?

I care about one thing what works, nothing else matters but effect. I don't consider myself a martial artist who came from the "streets" I'm a street fighter who learned martial arts. There is always a different focus, thought or idea to follow. They need not be better just different, and all things have merit in that they can help you improve. How much better is that? Why follow only one way? We are martial artists, street fighters and in short professionals on some level, not a cult of warriors or Assassins from some cheesy 80s kung-fu flick...

 

[Flying Crane]

I never left an art, but rather was always interested in what other arts had to offer. When the opportunity would arise, I would study another, and add to what I was already doing. I keep my arts separate from each other in training, but would mix them in use, as appropriated.

Started with kenpo, then some judo for a short period but eventually had no one to train with, then some Chinese stuff that I think I never learned very well so I eventually let it go, then Capoeira which I have trained extensively for several years, then Chinese arts, including Tibetan White Crane, Tai Chi, and Wing Chun.

I still practice my kenpo, the later Chinese arts, and capoeira. I would like to revisit judo or some other grappling art, and perhaps get some more training in kenpo, but my schedule doesnt really allow it at this point.

 

[OUMoose]

Life, as others have stated, made me move from art to art. Either teachers moving or me moving away have caused me to bounce around. Plus, a healthy dose of general curiosity about MA's helped.

 

[matt.m]

I wrestled and did judo. I practiced hapkido, took time off. Now I am strictly hapkido and tae kwon do.