So You Want to Practice Martial Arts?

If you are the type of person that has always wanted to learn a martial art, here are a few questions you need to answer before finding a teacher or a school.

1.) Why do you want to practice martial arts?

2.) What style(s) of martial arts are you truly interested in learning?

3.) How will you use your acquired skillset and for what purpose?

4.) What are you looking to personally gain from the study of martial arts?

5.) How much time are you willing to devote for training?

Notice that the questions are encouraging you to really explore your desire to learn/practice, rather than to promote a particular style, teacher, or school. Some of them even go on to explore your values. Why? Aside from the obvious violent nature that martial arts displays, there is also a level of responsibility that goes along with it. I'm going to go out on a limb to say that every traditional and modern martial arts teacher truly intends to help each of their students to excel at their art while building positive moral values and character traits to become a contributing member of society. What we don't want is that one punk student that uses their acquired skillset in undesirable ways such as crime, bullying, intimidation...etc. After all, a tarnished reputation affects business.

1.) Why do you want to practice martial arts?

Many people train in martial arts as a means of learning self defense. This is the primary, although not sole reason that people pursue martial arts. However, other's want to be able to compete and be the best, while others want to improve their health and well being. There are people who wish to learn because they were a victim of crime or because their parents made them join a school. Other's wish to learn because they want to set a good example for other people. Heck, I've learned a few techniques from different disciplines just for my personal research. Regardless of the why, there is physical, mental, and emotional value in martial arts practice.

2.) What style(s) of martial arts are you truly interested in learning?

It can be problematic to choose a style when first starting your journey. The information age gives us so much information that we may become a victim of paralysis by analysis. We can look at all the pros and cons of each system, do a comparison of three different systems then end up deciding something else entirely. If you're unsure as to what types of styles there are, here is a short list of some of the more commonly taught systems.

- Boxing: A combat sport in which competitors wear protective gloves and throw punches at

each other for a predetermined set of time in a boxing ring

- Karate: A Japanese Martial Art characterized by striking techniques such as; punching,

kicking, knee strikes, elbow strikes and open hand techniques like knife-hands,

spear-hands, and palm-heel strikes

- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Focuses on grappling techniques, especially ground fighting

- Tae Kwon Do: Developed in Korea, it's known for fast kicking combinations, with jumping

and spinning kicks

- Krav Maga: Developed specifically for the Israeli Defense Force, it's known for training in

real-life situations to perform highly efficient and brutal counter-attacks.

- Kung Fu: A broad term for hundreds of distinct styles developed throughout the long

history of China. It was a major influence in developing other styles throughout

Asia. Elements of Kung Fu can be found in Karate, Tae Kwon Do, and Filipino

Martial Arts.

If you are still kind of confused as to where to start searching what's out there, a simple Google search will do. Also, why not go back to your childhood and think about the times you pretended to be a Power Ranger or Ninja Turtle. Maybe you watched one too many Chuck Norris films and you wanted to be able to do what he did. Sometimes we just want to follow in our hero's footsteps. Therefore, if Chuck Norris is your guy, you can practice what he's practice: Tang Soo Do, Tae Kwon Do, and/or Chun Kuk Do (He founded the third one).

3.) How will you use your acquired skillset and for what purpose?

There really isn't much that needs to be elaborated, but it's important to know what you're going to be using your martial skill set for. Each martial art practitioner uses their art for any combination of the following: Self-Defense, competition, attain inner peace, personal growth, health/fitness, performance, military, and law enforcement...etc. Knowing your martial purpose will sharpen your training and personal growth. It won't allow you to simply perform technique. Your martial purpose will empower you to question, explore, and improve your skillset to make you the best martial artist you can hope to be. For example, if you wish to compete in tournaments or sanctioned fighting, then it would be feasible to focus your training on becoming a better fighter. On the contrary, if you are in the military then it's a necessity to forego competitive rules and train for life/death combat.

Don't allow yourself to cash in on the idea that training for competition will accurately train you for life/death situations. Competition training typically fails to address various weapons(blades, firearms, clubs, improvised weapons...), multiple aggressors, and protecting a loved one. On the flip side, battlefield training can lead to tendencies that are illegal in the competition circuit. Therefore, if you find yourself needing to train in both categories, then finding the right balance to excel in both is key.

4.) What are you looking to personally gain from the study of martial arts?

As far as personal gains is concerned, it is not about getting a trophy. Rather, what values or self concepts are you looking to improve upon while training in martial arts. Are you looking to develop self respect and confidence? Maybe you are just tired of being afraid all the time and jumping at anything that catches you by surprise. This is really the heart of the question, and is something that you should explore. Some styles even go as far as adding elements of Buddhism, other religion, or philosophy to help develop inner peace.

This question, at first, seems identical to the first question. Rather, it challenges you to expand upon why you wish to pursue martial arts. My personal journey into martial arts started because I was a teased a lot for being skinny; to the point where I was quietly ashamed of my body. I ate plenty of food but no weight gain. I participated in high school football and gymnastics but I didn't get the kind of results I was hoping to get(but finishing 13th in the State of Illinois in my event still stands to be one of the coolest achievements ever). So, I began practicing martial arts because I wanted to get bigger/stronger like some of the major martial arts movie stars throughout the 90's. By training, maybe I'd get some form of respect from the those around me and some much needed self confidence. Fast forward to over a decade later, and I'm still physically skinny. But martial arts training made me stronger, faster, and more confident.

5.) How much time are you willing to devote for training?

The amount of time you are willing to devote to training doesn't just mean having a set schedule, but also the quality of time you spend training. It's easy to train for one hour a day to become stronger, faster, quicker, more agile, build power, endure longer etc.... But how much of that time is spent on the nuances of strategy and adapting to situations versus time spent on drilling. How much of that training time is devoted to discovering your own tendencies that leave you vulnerable to counter attack? If you're style has forms, sets, katas....are you going to spend the majority of the time becoming a better performer? Or are you going to explore each technique in that set, finding ways to modify those techniques to various scenarios? When you're training, you need to somehow find a way to make scheduled training, quality training.

There are also the typical obstacles that must be accounted for. Family, social obligations, transportation, and work are just a few things you need to work through in order to train. By the time you finish with daily responsibilities, do you have the energy to train? How you overcome these obstacles to excel at your chosen martial art will determine your rate of improvement. Don't let these obstacles stop you from training, however. Persistence will see you through!! Who knows, maybe you'll one day earn the title of Master.

If you take the time to really answer these questions, you'll more than likely find yourself becoming a better martial artist than you first imagined. These questions are meant to help you find your niche in any martial art. It will guide you into finding the real essence of martial arts and keep you away from the McDojos of the world.