Your Martial Arts Journey

[MacHudde]

I've searched for more recent threads on this subject and see older threads along the same lines, but I don't want to re-open an old thread. Besides, I am kind of new here, and I haven't really heard everyone's story, and this is a good community. So I will start by telling you about my martial arts journey.

My martial arts journey started 30 years ago. Like most, I started my martial arts journey with the introduction to Bruce Lee movies as a teenager. I was around 17 at the time. I remember sitting around with my friends, watching them, and being impressed by what we saw on the screen. Then, obviously, we wanted to learn what we saw. But when you grow up in a small city in Ontario, Canada, with a population of around 13,000 people, there are not many options for martial arts. We had a karate school, and there might have been a taekwondo school. Neither of these had its own dojo; they operated out of school gymnasiums. It was also around this time that UFC came out, and we found out about Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu. But it was so new that no one around here was practicing it.

One day, my friends and I were talking about going to check out the karate school. At this time, my father, who was going back to school, had a classmate that he was telling us we were interested in taking martial arts. My father’s classmate told my father that he was a martial artist and taught kung fu. My father told us this, and we decided since this was the stuff that was in the Bruce Lee movies, this is what we wanted to learn. We went to a free class to check it out and loved it. We were hooked; we signed up and kept going back. The school held two classes a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays. In between classes, we practiced. We practiced every day. After a month, we were promoted from white belt to orange belt. I should explain how our belt system worked. Our foundation style was a form of Chinese Kempo called Moo Kempo from what we were told. (Turns out years later, not really sure what it was as there is a big controversy with our grandmaster, GM Simon; yes, that guy.) Anyway, our belt system was as follows:

White Belt
Orange Belt
Red Belt
Green Belt
Blue Belt
Brown Belt
Black Belt

Like I said, after a month, we were promoted, and then a month or so after that, we got promoted to red belt. Other students who had been there longer than us were starting to get upset that we got promoted so fast. Our Sifu said in front of everyone, “I know some are upset with how fast these guys are moving up the belt system, however they are truly dedicated students. They do not just come to the classes. They practice every day. They soak up this knowledge like sponges and because of their hard work and dedication, it has paid off. Others could learn from this.”

Because of our hard work and dedication to kung fu, our Sifu made us an offer. He said if we worked around his yard for an hour each Saturday morning, he would teach us more advanced stuff. We agreed, and we did this for an entire year. We also built training apparatuses and learned weapons, such as the bo staff, bullwhip, and throwing knives. This started to cause some drama between us and some of the other students and one of the instructors (who was the parent of those students), as they thought we were getting special treatment from Sifu.

After a year and a half since we started, we were made to brown belt. Then the politics in the school really started. The one instructor was the father to those students who had an issue with us. This instructor got promoted to head instructor sometime after we got our brown belt, and we felt like he was trying to hold us back on purpose. Sifu was taking a step back and focusing more on teaching Tai Chi, as he had a neck injury from a car accident and was unable to do many of the techniques the way they needed to be taught.

I remember one time before class; we were practicing some grappling stuff that we had seen in one of the UFC videos, and the head instructor told us we were not allowed to do that, grappling was useless, and that all we would ever need was kung fu. This rubbed me the wrong way, and then there were other things as well, such as there being no pressure testing of techniques and very little sparing. Because of all the bickering and politics, stuff like this, I decided to leave the school at brown belt. I do kick myself for not staying till I got my black belt. Again, being from a small area, there was no one else teaching kung fu.

This has been my martial journey. I would love to hear about other people’s martial arts journey.

 

[Simfers]

Hello, fellow Canadian! I wrote out my journey so far in my intro thread, but here it is again for convenience:

My martial arts journey started in Tae Kwon Do (WTF style) in September of 1997 (I was 18). I kept practicing until August of 2002, when I moved cities to start my current job (government job, yay stability!)

Not finding any TKD schools in my area, at least none that were accessible to my car-less self, I switched to Yoseikan Karate in January of 2003. Kept THAT up until 2008 or so when my main training partner (and ride) decided to stop for reasons that are his own and I stopped as well (I'd been considering it already, as I'd stopped having fun in the art and, I think especially the school, a while back).

In 2007 (yes, there is indeed some overlap there), fascinated by the grappling aspects of martial arts I kept seeing in MMA, I started training in Can-Ryu Jiu Jitsu and stayed there until 2020, when the pandemic made us all stop. The break was welcome in a way, as it let me heal from various injuries and general wear and tear, but it was longer than I wanted due to health concerns that cropped up in my wife and her mum. Long story short, it was cancer. While my mother-in-law unfortunately fought her cancer to a draw earlier this year, my wife is currently well on her way to winning her battle.

Started again in April of last year, this time in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I'd missed training so much I cried when I got back home. It's been a heck of a journey back, let me tell you. But I'm absolutely loving my new art and school. The people are wonderful and welcomed me like a long lost friend.

 

[frank raud]

Hello, fellow Canadian! I wrote out my journey so far in my intro thread, but here it is again for convenience:

My martial arts journey started in Tae Kwon Do (WTF style) in September of 1997 (I was 18). I kept practicing until August of 2002, when I moved cities to start my current job (government job, yay stability!)

Not finding any TKD schools in my area, at least none that were accessible to my car-less self, I switched to Yoseikan Karate in January of 2003. Kept THAT up until 2008 or so when my main training partner (and ride) decided to stop for reasons that are his own and I stopped as well (I'd been considering it already, as I'd stopped having fun in the art and, I think especially the school, a while back).

In 2007 (yes, there is indeed some overlap there), fascinated by the grappling aspects of martial arts I kept seeing in MMA, I started training in Can-Ryu Jiu Jitsu and stayed there until 2020, when the pandemic made us all stop. The break was welcome in a way, as it let me heal from various injuries and general wear and tear, but it was longer than I wanted due to health concerns that cropped up in my wife and her mum. Long story short, it was cancer. While my mother-in-law unfortunately fought her cancer to a draw earlier this year, my wife is currently well on her way to winning her battle.

Started again in April of last year, this time in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I'd missed training so much I cried when I got back home. It's been a heck of a journey back, let me tell you. But I'm absolutely loving my new art and school. The people are wonderful and welcomed me like a long lost friend.

Who was your Can-ryu instructor? ( Fellow Canadian, 4th Dan Can-ryu)

 

[Simfers]

Well this is turning into an all-Canadian affair, LOL.

Shihan Robert Ladouceur, out of Therien Gatineau. Who was yours?

I'm a second dan myself.

 

[frank raud]

Well this is turning into an all-Canadian affair, LOL.

Shihan Robert Ladouceur, out of Therien Gatineau. Who was yours?

I'm a second dan myself. There's a variety , from John Therien and Brian Lacroix. You had an excellent instructor

 

[Buka]

My Martial journey has been bow in, get knocked down, get up.

I’m still in the “bow in” stage. We’ll see where it goes from here.

 

[Buka]

John Therien. John-Yves Theriault.

I’m their biggest fan boy.

 

[frank raud]

John Therien. John-Yves Theriault.

I’m their biggest fan boy.

Even more than Joe Rogen?

 

[Simfers]

Yeah, Robert's one of the best teachers around, no question about it. I'm no longer at the school, but I still use quite a few things he taught me.

I've taken some classes from Brian Lacroix, he was there semi-regularly in Gatineau. Only one from John Therien. They were both on the board fo rmy shodan (John had to leave about halfway through and was there mostly informally, but he still gave his thoughts).

 

[Buka]

Even more than Joe Rogen?

I like Rogan as a commentator on UFC fights.

The like stops there.

 

[Stuarto]

My journey in martial arts started back in 2004 when I was in high school. I was taking Aikido classes a couple times a week. Back then I wasn't really too serious about it and eventually dropped out. To this day I wish I hadn't. In 2006 I joined the army and throughout my 6-year career did some training in combatives and unarmed self-defense. After I left the service a part of me continued to long to get back into martial arts. My life at this point was busy; I was trying to adjust back to civilian life, I was searching for a new career, and I was looking for a spouse. It took me a few years but thanks to my military service I was able get a job, buy a townhouse, and even found my life partner. Fast forward to 2019. Things had finally settled down and I made the decision to get serious about martial arts.

I found a local Aikido dojo in Massachusetts and enrolled. Training was going well, and I had no desire to quit. In fact, I was finally at the point in my life where I was ready to fully commit. Then in 2020, not even a year after I started, Covid 19 arrived. The pandemic effectively closed the doors of the dojo, and unfortunately shut it down entirely. Once again, my martial arts dream had been put on the back burner. Throughout the pandemic, I never stopped thinking about MA. After the world began to get back to normal, I started thinking about what I wanted to do and which path to take.

At first, I thought about going back to Aikido since it was familiar to me, but while I was searching around and looking at different dojos, Kenpo caught my eye. I had never really given much thought to Kenpo, nor did I really know anything about it. I began reading about the history of Kenpo and the men who spread it through America. I was also becoming much more interested in a hard style rather than the soft style of Aikido. After about a year of thinking about Kenpo, I decided this was for me.

This year I found my dojo, it's about a 20-minute drive from my house and I am thoroughly enjoying the training. The men who run the school have been doing it for decades and knew Professor Nick Cerio. I have decided that I am going to be in this for the long haul and am looking forward to many years of training. That's my story in a nutshell

 

[MadMartigan]

I also started back in 1997. I had been asking my dad to let me get lessons in martial arts, and my friends and I were trying to find somewhere to learn in our small town.
It was then that I learned that my dad had done Taekwon-Do years before (up to blue belt in the 1970s) with the now instructor of the local TKD school. 4 of us tried out our first class, 27 years ago next month, and I was obsessed. I spend every day of the next 10 years kicking, punching, and teaching (eventually). I also cross trained in Aikido and earned my blue belt in BJJ during those years. Most weeks during that time (especially the latter 5 years) involved assisting classes, teaching branch school classes, or training around 25 hours per week.

Eventually, real life came knocking, and I had to move away and get a real job. Over the next 13 years, work and life got in the way more than it should have. I never stopped completely, but had a back injury and it took some time to put myself back together. Spent 6 months learning Wing Chun from a fantastic (read: hardcore, full contact wearing shoes on a basement cement floor) training group. Would have loved to keep going there, but between needing to not always come home hurt to support my wife (who was in a car accident) and later moving away, I didn't end up going back.

In January 2020, I finally got my 'poop-in-a-group' and found a way to open a TKD school for group classes while managing my rotating work schedule... you can all imagine how well that 1st year went. We got closed down twice, but eventually bounced back.

Over the last couple years I serendipitously made connections with a local semi-retired 8th dan, who is the senior student of 1 of the last living pioneers of TKD. I've been fortunate that he took an interest, we began working together 1-on-1 and he has been supporting my school, helping teach classes and working with students.

While not training as hard yet as I'd like (still recovering from knee surgery), this summer, I finally made the jump to leaving outside employment and will be teaching full time come September. I guess that's the short version of the journey so far. Not anywhere close to finished yet.

 

[Stuarto]

I also started back in 1997. I had been asking my dad to let me get lessons in martial arts, and my friends and I were trying to find somewhere to learn in our small town.
It was then that I learned that my dad had done Taekwon-Do years before (up to blue belt in the 1970s) with the now instructor of the local TKD school. 4 of us tried out our first class, 27 years ago next month, and I was obsessed. I spend every day of the next 10 years kicking, punching, and teaching (eventually). I also cross trained in Aikido and earned my blue belt in BJJ during those years. Most weeks during that time (especially the latter 5 years) involved assisting classes, teaching branch school classes, or training around 25 hours per week.

Eventually, real life came knocking, and I had to move away and get a real job. Over the next 13 years, work and life got in the way more than it should have. I never stopped completely, but had a back injury and it took some time to put myself back together. Spent 6 months learning Wing Chun from a fantastic (read: hardcore, full contact wearing shoes on a basement cement floor) training group. Would have loved to keep going there, but between needing to not always come home hurt to support my wife (who was in a car accident) and later moving away, I didn't end up going back.

In January 2020, I finally got my 'poop-in-a-group' and found a way to open a TKD school for group classes while managing my rotating work schedule... you can all imagine how well that 1st year went. We got closed down twice, but eventually bounced back.

Over the last couple years I serendipitously made connections with a local semi-retired 8th dan, who is the senior student of 1 of the last living pioneers of TKD. I've been fortunate that he took an interest, we began working together 1-on-1 and he has been supporting my school, helping teach classes and working with students.

While not training as hard yet as I'd like (still recovering from knee surgery), this summer, I finally made the jump to leaving outside employment and will be teaching full time come September. I guess that's the short version of the journey so far. Not anywhere close to finished yet.

Inspirational story, thank you for sharing

 

[Jeff_Beish]

My fingers are tired, so here is a file of my stuff: https://www.alpo-astronomy.org/jbeish/Resume_of_Judo.pdf

 

[Hot Lunch]

1986 - 6 years old. Tang Soo Do two-week trial. Didn't get to finish it, because I was way too rambunctious and disruptive; instructors decided I wasn't a good fit.

1992 - "Shorin-ryu" at a local Salvation Army recreation center. It was called "Shorin-ryu Karate-do," but looking back, it was likely a fraud. I believe the katas we were doing were made up by him, with the exception of "Four Corner Drill" (which means he had some exposure to Kobayashi Shorin-ryu under Frank Hargrove - I only figured this in retrospect). The techniques we were doing in class are things he likely saw in movies, either way, I did this for about three months and was left with a pretty bad impression of karate. To illustrate how bad of a fraud this was, when he said "karate-do," he pronounced the "do" as "dew" and not "dough."

1994 - Isshin-ryu 8 week trial, under Reese Rigby. My parents signed me up, even though I didn't want to. I do have regrets with not continuing past the trial - the problem is that my experience at the previous dojo was still fresh in my memory, and I didn't exactly have an open mind at the time.

2010 - Signed up for boxing, but found out I was deploying soon. Only got one month in.

2018 - Decided that I wasn't getting any younger, and started creating a bucket list. Getting a black belt in a martial art was on it. Decided to check out a hapkido dojang. Instructor required a one week trial before we could "discuss business." And when I saw his prices, I realized why - about $230 a month.

2019 - I decided that I'll just go ahead and pay that. When I signed up for Shorin-ryu, I was shocked to learn that it was only about $135 a month. It was some pretty hard training, and even some hellacious testing (which amounts to hazing, in my opinion). Did this for almost three years, before I began learning that what I was doing wasn't normal around late 2022. In early 2023, I decided to check this out for myself. Drove to the parking lot of the strip mall where the Shotokan dojo was, grabbed my binoculars, and watched a class from the car. Later that week, I went to class on a particular holiday that the dojo happened to be open on. The instructor who was teaching that day was pissed off that the adults showed up, thus stopping her from going home after the children's class like she wanted to. Our punishment for inconveniencing her? A whole class with nothing but pushup exercises. That was my last day of class.

2023 - Started Shotokan, where I train to this day. Also, added judo and BJJ that year, but dropped them both as me being out of the house too much was starting to create problems between my wife and I.

2024 - I do plan on adding judo back into the mix - within the next two months, as I found a school with a schedule that works with maintaining the balance I need for my personal growth and my family responsibilities.

 

[Simfers]

In January 2020, I finally got my 'poop-in-a-group' and found a way to open a TKD school for group classes while managing my rotating work schedule... you can all imagine how well that 1st year went. We got closed down twice, but eventually bounced back.

High five for the bolded, made me laugh.

LOVE the stories, everybody.

 

[Holmejr]

A long time ago in a dojo far away….
I took couple years of TKD. My FMA class folded due to the instructor becoming ill. I enjoyed the kicking and general workout, but I could never spar using TKD techniques alone, I would fall back on my FMA. My instructor would get so pissed off and yell “Holmes, knock that Kung fu sh!t off!!”. I quit at brown belt, due to finding a school that offered a FMA program.

Hapkido>JKD (Inosanto)>Kali (Ted LucayLucay)>Kali/Muay Thai>Pedoy Derobio escrima> currently Eskrido de Alcuizar (guro Ron Manrique)

Eskrido De Alcuizar
World Eskrido Federation
Buena Park, CA

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

I would love to hear about other people’s martial arts journey.

I was in my 1st grade when I was 5. Everybody in my class were 6. Since I was the youngest one in my class, everybody tried to pick on me. One day I even swung a broom to fight against my whole classmates. Every day after the school, I jointed in the school kid group and fought against the farmer kid's group. There was not even a single day that I didn't get involved with fighting. There was a HUGE Mongolian girl in my class (she later on became the woman swimming champ in Taiwan). Her father was a Mongolian wrestler. Every day she mounted on top of me and beat me up. I went home with bruises on my face all the time. A year later, one day she mounted on top of me. I bite on her arm. She cried and never bother me again (I then knew that biting worked well in ground game). Since I didn't want to be mounted by any girl for the rest of my life. I decided to take some MA.

When I was 7, I found a Taiji teacher. He taught me a Taiji form. One day I got into a fight and my Taiji training didn't help me. I then found out that he was a "Taiji for health" teacher.

When I was 11, my brother-in-law taught me an open hand form and a pole form. Again, one day I got into a fight, and I didn't know how to use the stuff he taught me. After my brother-in-law found out that I like to fight, he forced me to train "1 step 3 punches" for the next 3 years.

When I was 14, the 1st year in my senior high school, I jointed in my senior high school long fist informal class. During the 1st day of my long fist class, I asked my teacher what he would do if I punched at his face. He said, "Come and punch me". I punched him. He pulled my arm and blocked my leg; I was on the ground. Since that day, my long fist teacher always addressed me as "a boy who likes to fight". My MA training then started formally.

 

[Balrog]

I've searched for more recent threads on this subject and see older threads along the same lines, but I don't want to re-open an old thread. Besides, I am kind of new here, and I haven't really heard everyone's story, and this is a good community. So I will start by telling you about my martial arts journey.
...snip...

This has been my martial journey. I would love to hear about other people’s martial arts journey.

I was bullied badly in high school. Aa a result, when I went to college in 1966, I started training in Taekwondo in Jhoon Rhee;s organization. Got up to Brown Belt, then life happened and I stopped training.

Fast forward to 1987. I was doing contract work on the island of Kwajalein in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Ran into one of the chopper pilots who was a 2nd Degree with the ATA and running a small club. He talked me back out onto the floor and I've never left.

I'm now a Master Instructor, semi-retired after running my own school for 26 years. I now teach in a friend's school part-time.

 

[Stuarto]

I was bullied badly in high school. Aa a result, when I went to college in 1966, I started training in Taekwondo in Jhoon Rhee;s organization. Got up to Brown Belt, then life happened and I stopped training.

Fast forward to 1987. I was doing contract work on the island of Kwajalein in the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Ran into one of the chopper pilots who was a 2nd Degree with the ATA and running a small club. He talked me back out onto the floor and I've never left.

I'm now a Master Instructor, semi-retired after running my own school for 26 years. I now teach in a friend's school part-time.

Love your story. It really is never too late to start the martial arts. A sensei told me that he started at age 41. He's now 58 and teaching me and many others. The success stories are great!