Why?

[Nips]

I'm sorry if this has been covered, but I couldn't immediately find anything.
I'm just wondering what are the reasons for people training in martial arts, and seperately, why you chose your martial art system over the others?

I'd love it if this didn't result into people having a go at other people for their reasons, or claiming that their system is "the best", as this has already been covered in other threads (at great length ).
Get reasoning

[OmaPlata]

Originally Posted by Nips

I'm sorry if this has been covered, but I couldn't immediately find anything.
I'm just wondering what are the reasons for people training in martial arts, and seperately, why you chose your martial art system over the others?

I'd love it if this didn't result into people having a go at other people for their reasons, or claiming that their system is "the best", as this has already been covered in other threads (at great length ).
Get reasoning

Reasons are endless: fitness, fighting ability, self defense, competetion, etc.
Styles: BJJ is popular due to its high success in early MMAs. so people think it will help them in real life fights, which it will. But since people figured out how to defend that, now people have to train stand up fighting to compensate.

[sapatiero]

For fitness, and also for the confidence in knowing you can defend yourself if needed.

I started BJJ because I could see how much more practical it was than my previous art - JJJ. It also seemed that the classes were a lot more relaxed & friendly as opposed to the umm... 'geeky' classical stuff (no offence to anyone, but that's how my class was). Never looked back.

[mfpd]

I started in TKD when I was 13. I started because I was a smaller kid and wanted to be able to protect myself as I entered high school. I studied that for about 3 years. Then, in my mid 20s, I started Ishin-Ryu. I was looking to get back into training and a buddy of mine was studying that, so I started training with him. I was there for about 6 months before moving. Then, in my mid 30s, I started in BJJ and Muay Thai. I started training those styles because I realized that I needed some form of exercise, and combat arts were one of the things that I loved. I chose BJJ because I figured that I had done some standup already in my life and wanted something on the ground. The school I train also offered Muay Thai, so I started that as well. I have been doing BJJ for about 8 months and MT for about 3 months.

Being in my mid 30s, I have no real desire to compete at a high level. I did my first BJJ tournament after about 3 months of training. I lost on points in the first round. I may do another tournament at the end of this year. However, it is only to gauge myself for my progress. I have no desire to get into MMA. I train with several MMA fighters and admire the dedication. Had I started this in my 20s, I would have loved to give MMA competition a try.

[danfaggella]

I train in grappling (BJJ specifically but I'm open for (and have done) wrestling/Judo/ect...) because I enjoy the intriquite use of body mechanics, leverage, timing, ect... It is a way to train live (randori) without really harming myself (you see 80 year old judoka, not 80 year old kickboxers). I enjoy developing the skills and even the physical benefits of an evenly toned body. Grappling is an aspect of sport and self-defence that particularly facinated me with its strategy and positioning, with is far more intriquite than that of standup fighting (with I don't knock, I enjoy my kungfu/boxing/muay thai here and there, and respect almost all martial art systems). For me its mostly about the physical chess match, with to me means smoothness and strategy, not strenth and anger. It also has the side benefits of a fun social activity, a good form of self defence, and a healthy physical activity that works all your muscles.

[Nips]

I've started doing martial arts, because, I did Kyokuyshin Karate a couple of years ago, but I was rather young, and when my friends at the dojo quit, I lost interest because I didn't really have anyone to talk to after session and felt detatched (I was 14, the person closest to my age was 19), I know, poor excuse, and it wasn't any fault of the dojo, it was more me being a lazy sh*t. But, ever since I quit I've really felt like something's missing, so I did alot of research over the past 2 months deciding which martial art would best suit me, visited alot of classes, participated in a few, and finally after all that, I went back to my old dojo which had now changed organisations to Shinkyokushin. Like I said, I largely felt that something was missing, and I started losing focus in my life, not neccersarily directly due to me not doing a martial art, but just lifestyle choices in general. So, I've made lifestyle changes and am back fully motivated to do a martial art.

ShinKyokushin Karate - I saw it as a good compromise. It's almost as hard of a martial art as something like Mauy Thai (By hard, I mean a large emphasise on full contact sparring and practicality), but also has the disipline and atmosphere of more traditional martial arts.

I'd love to get a bigger variety of martial arts to post here, but I didn't know where to really put it considering it was a more of a "open" topic, but no one really seems to go to Open Access and this seemed like the most neautral area

[KiotoQuinn]

Im a natural competidor and a former Marine. I was always involved in sports and competition and health is paramount to me. Martial arts is one of those unique sports where there are so many options to the same genre. They are all martial ares but there arge grappling arts, striking arts, combination arts, throwing arts, strictly self defense. I prefer BJJ because my heros growing up were the little guys (Royce) who were outweighted and still prevailed. This goes well with my stature. It is a sport where your mind is actually more important than your physique, although I maintain a good physique to multiply my potential. It is a sport that, when facing a larger opponent, you still learn, only in a different manner and different techniques. I like BJJ because as an athlete, and out of high school and too old for college sports, it is a good activity to test myself physically. It is a challenge, and everything that I learn is new to me. Life is a journey and when you stop exploring the journey ends. I always need to be tested and I always want to see just how good I really am. Facing people with comparable experience and similar weight is a good test for this. Its a very tight community.

[blitz]

I do BJJ currently. Main reason is staying fit, actually I'll be more accurate about this, I don't want to stay fit, I want to keep improving constantly, and I need a fun and competitive way to do it.

Anything with contact will be fine to satisfy me, I don't mean point sparring, I want something that keeps me alert and takes my full concentration.

Also, self defense is one of my priorities, although some people would probably study martial arts strictly for sd, I'll be honest, I love the sports side of mma/bjj and it probably drives me more to train than sd does.

[Sagacious Lu]

There are a lot of reasons I chose boxing. I wanted to do a stand-up style, and I love the thrill of competition. Boxing was more appealing to me than Muay Thai or Kick boxing because I love punching and I don't like kicks. I don't like sacrificing a stable base by standing on one foot to deliver a kick. That's strictly my personal preference though, kicking certainly works well for others, it's just not my flavor. Punching on the other hand has always come easily to me, so the sport is a good fit. From a sport perspective boxing is just more fun to me than other combat sports. From a self-defense angle I think punches are one of the best weapons available if you're unarmed because they are fast, simple and effective. They're also one of the most common ways for people to attack each other so being able to defend against them is extremely practical.

Grappling is an aspect of sport and self-defence that particularly facinated me with its strategy and positioning, with is far more intriquite than that of standup fighting

This is a really bizarre statement- I can certainly understand why you might prefer grappling but I think if you knew more about the strategy and positioning that goes into stand-up you'd see that it can be extremely intricate. Specifically the foot work in boxing is brilliant. I don't think it makes sense to compare the strategy/positioning in the grappling sports to the striking sports because they're just different, but there's a lot of thought that goes into all of them.

[cakegirl]

I started karate at 13 because my dad made me. Seriously, I had no interest in it, and said "no" for months before he convinced me to go to the school and at least watch a class. And I loved it, and 16 years later I'm still doing it.

After years of doing karate, I had been reading a bunch of martial arts magazines and kept reading about BJJ and the Gracie family. There was nowhere near where I lived, but when my karate school moved to a bigger venue, my head instructor arranged for a BJJ teacher to come and teach 2 classes a week in our back room. And there began my BJJ career!

[WildWest.]

Originally Posted by Nips

I'm just wondering what are the reasons for people training in martial arts, and seperately, why you chose your martial art system over the others?

Why not??

[Nips]

Because you should quit doing pretty kicks and get in the kitchen to COOK ME UP SOME EGGS, BUTCH

...

[sapatiero]

Originally Posted by Sagacious Lu

Quote:
Grappling is an aspect of sport and self-defence that particularly facinated me with its strategy and positioning, with is far more intriquite than that of standup fighting

This is a really bizarre statement- I can certainly understand why you might prefer grappling but I think if you knew more about the strategy and positioning that goes into stand-up you'd see that it can be extremely intricate.

I think the point is that grappling is more of a chess match than striking. From a particular position (any one of 12-20 positions) you may have 15 possible submissions, each of which may have 5 counters, each of which may have 5 'counter-counters' etc. Then there are the combination moves that may have up to 12 steps, each step with counters. Then there are sweeps, and sweep combinations (and counters to those), and distractions, multiple grip options (with, or without gi) etc. etc.

This means an experienced grappler has a complicated/intricate game. Another reason grappling is considered intricate is the fact that it often relies on leverage - someone who thinks their way through the mechanics of the position/submission is going to do well regardless of how big & strong they are. The proof in all this is the amount of time it takes to get a black belt in bjj - if it wasn't so intricate, then it would be a lot quicker.

I love watching a good striker as much as the next man, but I don't think the quote was bizarre. Grappling is more intricate than striking IMO.

[Blue Wave Gym]

Originally Posted by mfpd

I started in TKD when I was 13. I started because I was a smaller kid and wanted to be able to protect myself as I entered high school. I studied that for about 3 years. Then, in my mid 20s, I started Ishin-Ryu. I was looking to get back into training and a buddy of mine was studying that, so I started training with him. I was there for about 6 months before moving. Then, in my mid 30s, I started in BJJ and Muay Thai. I started training those styles because I realized that I needed some form of exercise, and combat arts were one of the things that I loved. I chose BJJ because I figured that I had done some standup already in my life and wanted something on the ground. The school I train also offered Muay Thai, so I started that as well. I have been doing BJJ for about 8 months and MT for about 3 months.

Being in my mid 30s, I have no real desire to compete at a high level. I did my first BJJ tournament after about 3 months of training. I lost on points in the first round. I may do another tournament at the end of this year. However, it is only to gauge myself for my progress. I have no desire to get into MMA. I train with several MMA fighters and admire the dedication. Had I started this in my 20s, I would have loved to give MMA competition a try.

You ate not too old to do mma I wasforcable rtired from fcf at 26 and if I'm ever fixed I be back fuc*ing niggas up even if I'm 80. I think you are selling your self short, most men don't even fill out untill they are 25 so I think ytou're doing your self a real disservice to say you're too old, just look at mike van aresdale in the ufc.

[osopardo]

damn bullies