Reasons to learn

[pcarney]

There's alot of talk in the forums about what martial arts are effective, what are not, etc. I was wondering if anyone thinks there are valid reasons to study martial arts other then to learn how to fight. That is, would you ever take a martial art simply for the 'art' sake and nothing else. Some of the Japanese arts come to mind, like iaido, which is simply the art of drawing a sword. If a art defines itself as simply an art, with no direct reference to defending yourself, is that 'ok'? I say this as opposed to some martial arts that poise as fight worthy, but are painfully not.

And if you wouldn't take a martial art that wouldn't teach you how to fight, how do you view martial artists that do?

[Biker]

An art like Iaido actually was practical at one time. The drawing of the sword and its incorporated first stroke ended most duels in feudal Japan. The philosophy behind Iaido can probably be applied to everyday life, ie. being forced to make a snap decision with little or no information and sticking with that decision, good or bad.

[sikal]

Originally posted by pcarney
There's alot of talk in the forums about what martial arts are effective, what are not, etc. I was wondering if anyone thinks there are valid reasons to study martial arts other then to learn how to fight. That is, would you ever take a martial art simply for the 'art' sake and nothing else. Some of the Japanese arts come to mind, like iaido, which is simply the art of drawing a sword. If a art defines itself as simply an art, with no direct reference to defending yourself, is that 'ok'? I say this as opposed to some martial arts that poise as fight worthy, but are painfully not.

And if you wouldn't take a martial art that wouldn't teach you how to fight, how do you view martial artists that do?

I personally train for both aspects. But there are *many* reasons for training in MA ... and only a handful of them have anything to do with fighting. Some it's for fitness. Some it's for health. Some it's for competition. Some it's for confidence. This list is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg of reasons that people train.

I think *all* of the reasons are valid. As long as the student is getting what they want (or need ... which isn't always the same thing) and is happy with the training, then the reasons are irrelevent.

My only gripe in this area is tangential to your question. It has to do with dishonesty. Instructors who teach aerobics and call it "Self Defense." This is one of the most common misrepresentations ... but *any* misrepresentation really yanks my chain. If someone is teaching for fitness or health or whatever ... that's *great* ... but, for God's sake, don't *claim* that it's something it's not. Teach what you teach and be proud of it.

I believe that, in the long run, we each end up with the instructor(s) that we deserve ... that we *earn*. No matter what someone *says* they want out of martial arts ... if they aren't willing to pay the dues for that, then that's not really what they want. So they'll end up drifting from place to place until they find something that *does* suit them. Then they'll either realize that they didn't really want what they thought they wanted ... or, more commonly, they'll ignore the realities of the situation and convince themselves that they actually are getting what they claimed they want. (i.e.: Someone claims they want to learn how to fight. But they're not willing to take any pain in training. They float around until they end up at an aerobics school with no contact and they convince themselves that they actually are learning to fight.)

Mike

[robertlee]

Originally posted by pcarney
There's alot of talk in the forums about what martial arts are effective, what are not, etc. I was wondering if anyone thinks there are valid reasons to study martial arts other then to learn how to fight. That is, would you ever take a martial art simply for the 'art' sake and nothing else. Some of the Japanese arts come to mind, like iaido, which is simply the art of drawing a sword. If a art defines itself as simply an art, with no direct reference to defending yourself, is that 'ok'? I say this as opposed to some martial arts that poise as fight worthy, but are painfully not.

And if you wouldn't take a martial art that wouldn't teach you how to fight, how do you view martial artists that do?

There are many valid reasons to study martail arts one can learn more self understanding stronger coping skills increased flexibilty conditioning better reaction time stress relief anger control the art of fighting is apart of the training but not the whole course of time one should learn to fight not to have to fight but a self test of skills exposes the weakness that need improvement so you may say self expression can be discoverd also many people have never fought outside of training or compition the origin lies in being able to defend ones self not prove ones self at best you can know your self better the more you discover the person sats there own needs thru training a good fighter should be a good person this is martail training also take what I say with a grain of salt and form your opinion

[shredder]

Originally posted by robertlee
There are many valid reasons to study martail arts one can learn more self understanding stronger coping skills increased flexibilty conditioning better reaction time stress relief anger control the art of fighting is apart of the training but not the whole course of time one should learn to fight not to have to fight but a self test of skills exposes the weakness that need improvement so you may say self expression can be discoverd also many people have never fought outside of training or compition the origin lies in being able to defend ones self not prove ones self at best you can know your self better the more you discover the person sats there own needs thru training a good fighter should be a good person this is martail training also take what I say with a grain of salt and form your opinion

Stop the ride, I want to get off!

[Sifu]

I first trained JKD to learn to fight. Now I know that I have benefited most from the philosophy of my instructors.

[robertlee]

Originally posted by shredder


Stop the ride, I want to get off!

Ride stopped I just offered a veiw point on the subject But m/a training does offer many benfits .

[doubleouch]

why you train is very important and will usually have alot to do with why some people quit and some people hang around for a long time. my reasons in order are:
fun
exercise
make new friends
get out of the house
learn to fight
self defense

for me self defense is very low on the list. I think you will find that after training for a number of years training for self defense becomes a bit of a dead end. I still won't train at a school that doesn't teach functional stuff though. I enjoy too much testing the material with uncooperative opponents to see what I can get off.

[crazyjoe380]

learning martial arts for your future....

people learn things to protect their future.. anything can happend and having this in your tool box is an edge...

you might just need it one day..