What has changed for you as you've trained?

[dvcochran]

I guess I am going to shortly find out, Am I passed it?, just turned 49, I have believed in everything I have been taught, but just recently my belief in what I have been taught has been questioned. 3 years ago I started training in a controversial art called systema, I have seen **** videos, of on youtube and questionable material from said teachers online, this past week 2 IFC fighters have mocked said art, and issued a challenge to film a Systema practitioner in a full contact session with one of them, I have accepted said challenge and agreed to have the result filmed on their youtube channel, the date is 6th June, the youtube channel is perfect fight. So shortly I will find out, Am I past it, personally I think I am better than I have ever been, will post the results regardless.

Best of luck. I am very impressed by your attitude. Believe you can but maybe do not know for sure, but wanting and willing to find out. I love this! I have a favorite saying that makes my wife laugh. When I am not sure about something I will say "I'll take a swing at it". Give 'em hell.

 

[isshinryuronin]

Recent discussions have reminded me of how much has changed for me as a martial artist since I started training.

When I started, I didn't know much about what I was getting into. I chose the dojo because it was near my apartment, and because it was a style I knew a little about from my background as a Marine stationed on Okinawa, but that had been back in the 1980s; I had never trained in the art while I was in the military.

I wanted to lose weight; I had been recently diagnosed with diabetes and I was very overweight and sedentary. I also wanted to learn some self-defense; I had been involved in an altercation with some decades-younger roommates and I realized I might not able to defend myself against them if they attacked me.

I lost a lot of weight. I still have diabetes, but I'm doing my best to manage it. I feel reasonably confident that I can defend myself and I've progressed over the years to a third-degree black belt at a dojo that doesn't exactly hand that rank out often. Not bragging; there are many better than me at my own art who have a lower rank in my dojo. Just noting a fact.

However, much has changed for me with regard to my training. My goals have shifted.

For one thing, I stopped thinking of my training as having an ending point, a place where I had learned 'enough' and could simply stop training, or train on my own instead of being taught. I began instead to see my training as a lifetime commitment to myself. I've been training at my dojo now for longer than I served as a US Marine, and I don't see any reason to stop.

It's not that I'm learning significantly more in terms of karate. I mean, I am learning still, but the new information comes in smaller doses and less frequently. Instead, I feel I gain by simply being there and doing the training alongside my fellow students. What do I gain? Not sure. Something inside. Call it hocus-pocus if you wish, but honestly I don't care. I know what I know, that's all.

I also started assisting in the dojo as I progressed. By the time I was a green belt, I was helping to clean up after class. By the time I was a blue belt, I helped out with cleaning supplies and water besides just paying my monthly dues. By the time I was a brown belt, I was entrusted with helping the youngest students and the newest adult students, under supervision. At black belt, I was teaching. When I earned the title of 'sensei', I was entrusted with more serious training of advanced students, kids and adults both. I enjoy teaching. It can be frustrating at times, especially with the kids. Some of them don't seem to want to be there. Some have a short attention span. Some learn very slowly. Some are lazy and do the absolute minimum. All of them have their own unique personalities, and have to be taught in the way that works best for them. Sometimes we can get through a class doing the curriculum and sometimes we have to have them play a game or punch the bags for a while or something other than more strict training.

I find that learning to deal with those frustrations, to keep a positive attitude, to challenge myself to find the best way to reach any individual student, is something I very much enjoy and it informs my life outside of the dojo. The lessons I learn on how to teach, are lessons I can use in communicating with others, with helping coworkers, with living my life in general. I don't get as angry, I don't get as frustrated. Still a lot of work to do, but I feel I've improved.

My dojomates have become my family. We come from all walks of life, and we're all equals. One high-ranking teacher mows lawns for a living. One student is a lawyer. One works in IT, one is an EMT. One's a fire-fighter. One is a commercial pilot and business owner, with a PhD who teaches at a local university. Some are students. Some of us work in IT. One guy raises jelly-fish as a hobby. Several play guitar. One guy's a physical therapist (awfully handy when one of us gets hurt training). One works in an animal shelter. Ones' a librarian. None of that matters to us in terms of how we feel about each other. Some of us socialize outside the dojo. Some of us don't. Doesn't matter. We all care about each other, we are friends, we are family. We'd all step up to help one of the others, we've got each other's backs. That kind of friendship doesn't just happen, and it's worth treasuring.

I have also turned inward in my training. I know that nothing that I consider now when I train makes me hit harder or react faster or become more adept at defending myself, and I don't care about that either. When I consider potential applications for a given movement, or experiment with breathing techniques or how I center myself or my stance or things of that nature, it's all about the exploration, the journey, and not for a particular result. If it gains me nothing material, nothing I can hold up to others and proclaim as a new discovery, so what? It makes me happy, and I categorically reject any assertion that I should not do what makes me happy.

To draw a comparison with a Japanese form of archery I find fascinating, Kyudo, I am far more interested in how I draw the bow, how I stand, how I breathe, how I feel, how my mind is behaving, how I release the arrow, than whether or not I hit the target. The target means little to me, it is what's inside me that matters.

I have stopped caring about types and brands of gi. I have gone back to a simple cheap white gi and a simple black belt. My patch is from my dojo, with one for the style I represent. That is all. I don't care about brands or types of sparring gear. I don't go to tournaments or conventions or seminars. Not because there is nothing I could learn there, but because it doesn't take me further along the path I'm currently on. I could learn lots of things, I'm certain. But nothing that interests me at this moment in my journey.

This is who I am now as a martial artist. I don't know how I will feel in another ten years, if I have another ten years left. I'll try to remember to post something then and we can compare.

How about you? Where are you now, compared to where you were? What do you want as a martial artist now, compared to what you wanted then?

We are of a similar mind on most of the thoughts you expressed. I liked your allusion to Kyudo. I recently expressed that same idea on another thread: The feeling of the technique, well done, being the payoff.

On the side topic which somehow evolved about knowing 200 throws/sweeps, etc.: There are tens of thousands of words in the dictionary, but we do very well with a relatively few. Many are synonyms and seldom do you need 5 ways to say the same thing. We each have our favorite words or phrases to express a thought. To be practical, a technique must be able to be instantly employed. If you have dozens of possible choices for a specific situation, the decision process takes longer. That instant reaction requires a LOT of repetition and practice. Hard to achieve that with too many techniques. Better to have quality rather than quantity of moves.
Fighting isn't that complicated. After all, this entire reply used less than 24 letters, and if I didn't care about spelling and wrote phonetically - even less. I just want to get the thought across and consider the job done. Just like in a fight. KISS.

 

[isshinryuronin]

We are of a similar mind on most of the thoughts you expressed. I liked your allusion to Kyudo. I recently expressed that same idea on another thread: The feeling of the technique, well done, being the payoff.

On the side topic which somehow evolved about knowing 200 throws/sweeps, etc.: There are tens of thousands of words in the dictionary, but we do very well with a relatively few. Many are synonyms and seldom do you need 5 ways to say the same thing. We each have our favorite words or phrases to express a thought. To be practical, a technique must be able to be instantly employed. If you have dozens of possible choices for a specific situation, the decision process takes longer. That instant reaction requires a LOT of repetition and practice. Hard to achieve that with too many techniques. Better to have quality rather than quantity of moves.
Fighting isn't that complicated. After all, this entire reply used less than 24 letters, and if I didn't care about spelling and wrote phonetically - even less. I just want to get the thought across and consider the job done. Just like in a fight. KISS.

My 3rd sentence of my above post of a minute ago: I was actually referring to earlier on THIS thread. The side topics threw me off and I lost track of which thread I was on! There's a thin line between senility and wisdom.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

On the side topic which somehow evolved about knowing 200 throws/sweeps, etc.

You can

- write a book with 200 throws.
- make a DVD with 100 throws.
- teach a workshop with 50 throws.
- demo with 25 throws.
- fight with 8 throws.

Life is too short trying to master too many things.

 

[Buka]

OK, I've got to ask where, since we're planning a trip to Maui next year. I promise not to get Too out of line at the door you guard 2x/week, but I need to know which one it is.

Sure bro.

I work as a police officer at the airport on Maui. Couple times a week I work the TSA checkpoint, where every outgoing traveller has to pass through. I have two main duties -
A, preventing a breach (someone trying to circumvent TSA search procedures, or just making a run for it upstairs to the gates)

B, preventing anyone from bothering TSA workers, employees or other travelers. There are other things, but those are the main ones.
It’s the A that’s "door guarding" work. Same as working any door, instead it’s a checkpoint. You have to go through it in a certain way established by state and federal law. Or you ain't going anywhere. Period. Either way, I'm guarding that door. I'm not alone, but I'm the only one you'll see. At least at first.

 

[JP3]

Sure bro.

I work as a police officer at the airport on Maui. Couple times a week I work the TSA checkpoint, where every outgoing traveller has to pass through. I have two main duties -
A, preventing a breach (someone trying to circumvent TSA search procedures, or just making a run for it upstairs to the gates)

B, preventing anyone from bothering TSA workers, employees or other travelers. There are other things, but those are the main ones.
It’s the A that’s "door guarding" work. Same as working any door, instead it’s a checkpoint. You have to go through it in a certain way established by state and federal law. Or you ain't going anywhere. Period. Either way, I'm guarding that door. I'm not alone, but I'm the only one you'll see. At least at first.

Got it. We may already have met then, without our knowing about it as my wife & I've visited Maui 3x so far. We like the laid back, surfer time vibe of the cost around Kihei.

And here I was, hoping I could drum up some excitement to keep you from falling asleep while leaning against a post in one of the Front St. bars... Ah well.

 

[Buka]

Got it. We may already have met then, without our knowing about it as my wife & I've visited Maui 3x so far. We like the laid back, surfer time vibe of the cost around Kihei.

And here I was, hoping I could drum up some excitement to keep you from falling asleep while leaning against a post in one of the Front St. bars... Ah well.

I like Kihei as well. My wife and I go to the bird sanctuary all the time, we like birds. Great place to walk, too.

The beach there, just yards away, sometimes gets crowded. I once saw a half dozen people on it.

Do you go up to Haleakala summit at all? Pretty cool place.

Let me know when you come back. And if you need anything on this end, just say the word.

 

[JR 137]

I like Kihei as well. My wife and I go to the bird sanctuary all the time, we like birds. Great place to walk, too.

View attachment 22272

The beach there, just yards away, sometimes gets crowded. I once saw a half dozen people on it.

Do you go up to Haleakala summit at all? Pretty cool place.

Let me know when you come back. And if you need anything on this end, just say the word.

Those half dozen people must be stupid. Who’d ever want to hang out at a hell hole like that?

Is that offer for anything you need on your end open to everyone?

If so, I need airfare for 4. And a hotel. I’m not too fussy; I’ll settle for 4.75 stars out of 5. We’ll meet up and I’ll buy you dinner. At McDonald’s.

 

[JP3]

Buka, our first trip we stayed exclusively in Lahaina after driving there from the airport. The next two times we explored all around Kihei, but didn't do much else... so we've not visited the summit, no. Things to do next time, or times!

 

[Buka]

Buka, our first trip we stayed exclusively in Lahaina after driving there from the airport. The next two times we explored all around Kihei, but didn't do much else... so we've not visited the summit, no. Things to do next time, or times!

I'll take you up the mountain, bro. And I have warm clothes for you guys. It can get cold up there. Snowstorm cold. But it's a real special place. You might even see a star or two.