Any grief from others? Why study martial arts?

Question

Okay, so even without knowing precisely what I study, just that I study martial arts, I get the teasing remarks about karate kid and ninja and all that. Now, despite all that, I wouldn't trade the martial arts for anything else in the world. It's helped rebuild confidence and made me feel safe and saved my life a few times.

So I have to ask: Have you gotten any lip from people because of your martial arts background? And why do you study?

(Feel free to answer either or both. Just thought it might be interesting to hear other reasons. Feel both are personal? Don't answer! :D )

Answer 1

Haha yeah.

I got grief throughout my years up until I was 24. For some reason, after that people never talked down about it.

I was never ashamed or felt the need to defend myself and justify its study beyond a sarcastic retort to some people.

I do remember one time though, we were working out in the front yard of my Sempai's house and this guy walking his dog and wife walked by. I was in the middle of doing something for Sensei and this guy stops and yells. "Hey Bruce Lee, do a high kick or something!" Sensei replies, "Why don't you bring your head over here and he'll do a high kick to your face!" The old guy, stiffened and just walked off. We all had a good laugh and went back to work.

Now, people seem to have a greater respect for me or they don't react at all because of my background. I don't really care either way, I don't do it for their approval.

I began because I wanted to learn how to kick butt. As I grew up my reasons changed to becoming a complete human being, and they remain that to this day. It's more of a spiritual journey now than a physical one, though the physical part is a necessary aspect of the complete journey.

Answer 2

When i first started I took quite a ribbing from my family, yet in the 18 years I have trained they have actually become very proud of me, and also glad because they have seen what a change it made in my life.

When I first started I would also tell anyone who would listen that I took karate(especially females lol) so yes I heard my share of Hi Ya's along the way. It wasn't long though before I realized that I was doing it for me, and that kind of reined me in from announcung it.

Today the only people that know I train are my family, close friends, and people at work, and 4 of them are Black Belts also. Most of my casual aquantinces do not even know I train, unless it is brought up by one of my friends that do know, and most of them know better by now.

I still get ribbed occasionaly, but most of it I chalk up to pure ignorence, and go on with my life. People make fun of and tear down what they do not understand.

Answer 3

dude all the ****** time.i mean **** at my skool once people find out i do martial arts they either pull that stupid *** karate kid wax on wax off **** or they or they think they can look like badasses by kicking my ***, so far not many of them have had the balls to try and those that had tried have a very new respect for karate. very rarely do people accept or respect the martial arts these days, its all about UFC and if ur not a boxer, muy-thai guy or bjj artist then ur not a REAL martial artist, and thats jus ****. h**l i remember one time some guys started mocking us outside our dojo and my sensei went out there with a waiver saying they couldnt sue us if they got hurt in our dojo and challenged them, after seein some of wat he could do they baked the **** down and left

Answer 4

During the first 15-20 years of training I got razzed like most of you guys. Now I rarely have that problem. Mostly because I'm in my 50's and have been training since the 1960's. The average person on the street thinks that the martial arts are about children earning black belts,doing ridiculous moves, and yelling Hi-Yah, while breaking bricks.

One of the things that used to come up was people asking me if I could break a brick with my hand. My reply is, "Why would I want to?".  Some would try to get me to break a brick by saying,"I don't think that you can."  My reply is, "Why should I care what you think?"  If they really got me going, I'd say this.  I'll break two for every one you break. Then I'd follow up by saying that I get to break my bricks the same way you break yours.  That would shut them up quickly.

As for why I study the martial arts?...... I was fascinated by it at the age of five.  My parents thought it was silly. When I turned 13 I began to mow lawns to earn money. I began my training and have never stopped.  In the beginning my instructors would say that there were hidden applications in the kata. The desire to know what they were kept me going through the years. In the 1980's I began to learn what the hidden applications are. That only increased my desire to understand more. Now I realize after 41 years that I have only scratched the surface of what is available. I will spend the rest of my life training, and teaching others.

Answer 5

i used to get c**p about it at school when i was doign tae kwon do. mainly after the whole grade found out because we had to do a demonstration thing at our school(i was doing it with 2 other friends who came to the same school) but it kinda died of when i went into high school. now i dont get anythign about martial arts anymore because anyone who knows me and knows i do martial arts knows i could break them if i wanted to.

you just get over careing i still get it ever now and then mut more as a joke. if you really like it you shouldnt care what other people think. plus martial arts is soemthign which is a good thing not to go around telling anyway so you shouldnt have to many people giving you lip.

Answer 6

It is not so much that I have been given 'grief' about it, it's just that when I had first started karate I used to tell some of my work colleagues that I was doing karate.  They just used to smile 'indulgently' at me as if to say "she's going through a second childhood" or something along those lines.  

Nowadays, only my immediate family know that I do karate and iaido.

There are many reasons why I started my martial arts  training, so I cannot precisely pin-point why I started but, suffice to say that I originally wanted to learn tai-chi but the classes were prohibitively expensive so I started karate instead, (my son had started karate too) after seeing that ADULTS can also join LOL!!

There is so much depth of knowledge waiting to be uncovered in martial arts that will likely take more than a lifetime to study and learn. What a person uncovers and learns while studying martial arts is far more enriching and fulfilling than what can be offered in our consumerist society these days. In our society right now, there is a tremendous need to learn and grow beyond our abilities. This is where martial arts can help.

When one begins martial arts training, a change occurs. Yes, martial arts can change you at the start. It is often said that when it comes to martial arts, the first step is the hardest. I'm sure many people will know what I mean.

Martial arts will test your resolve, your determination, your limits. It will determine what kind of person you are. It might change you a little or drastically. Everyone knows about the physical changes martial arts can make, but it goes beyond that. Martial arts can change you mentally and spiritually. You will experience life differently and will perceive things differently. You will also begin to feel a finer connection to the world and will understand the delicate connection we have with everything around us.

You will achieve beyond what you ever thought possible. (Once I thought, "I wonder if I can do that..." Now I think, "I can do that if I just practice.") Your resolve and determination will be tested when the training gets tough (the training will always get tougher) or if you get hurt. I know of many people who have had to recover from some injury and came back to martial arts (myself included) more determined than before. These are some of the many remarkable changes that will occur through martial arts.

I started this journey intending to find myself and I found a martial artist. The end of this one journey is near and it is with a smile that I look towards a new journey as a martial artist.

Answer 7

Any grief I get is just kidding around from friends.  No one is serious about it.  If it's kids saying this to you then you already know it's just their own insecurities.  

Why do I study?  I just always wanted to.  I did it a couple of years in college and then got back into it with my daughter many years later.  I keep doing it because I like the camaraderie and the workout.  Plus it makes me a better person all around.

Answer 8

Actually other than you folks in yahoo answers and the people who know my team from the fights that they've participated in via MMA competitions there's no one that even knows about what I do enough to give me any grief.  I like my privacy and what I practice I kind of try and keep quiet and I'm often falsely modest about it if someone does find out about my team or any of the practice that I go through on a daily basis.  I like that my world wide web "cyberspace" associates are in a different world from my every day people that I come in contact with.

Why do I study? ..... There are so many answers to this one question, for me personally,  that I could write a book about it for sure.  My short term answer would have to be "Because it fills my time and keeps me away from society in general".  Alcoholics and drug heads are all over the place man and stupidity abounds all over, not just my neck of the woods, but also the through out the rest of America.  I can't stand backwards, uneducated, dope head, no job having, vain, shallow, self centered, misinformed, T.V. educated goofs so I just stick to what I know and what I practice fills my time quite nicely.  There are days when I spend the entire day driving my self mad with technique practice and technique deveolpement, almost like a "mad scientist" as weird as that may sound.  Studying the Japanese language and culture is another area that I do spend quite a bit of time at as well.  Nothing's more important than education and I think the "martial arts" in general are always an on going education for life for those of us who get truely deep into it's every facet and aspect.

Answer 9

YES!!! most of the time in school.

I remember one time when i began taking up taekwondo in school we were practicing a form then suddenly one of my batch mate(not anymore because he stopped for one year!!!)who was watching laughed and then my instructor said: "Why are you laughing?!?! What's so funny?"

Then my batch mate just moved away. Only Dumb people like him does those things. If he does that in an arnis session he would get killed because, people who take arnis swore on an oath to slit the throat of anyone whos disrespects the art.

To the main point:

a martial artist does not care about what people say about him because he practice martial arts. You should not be ashamed of your art, in fact you should be proud!! I have a friend who also practices aikido and swimming, he was teased by our classmates because of his swimming background. Then this year he said to me that he will shift to my art taekwondo. What the?!?!  That is a very bad example of a martial artist. He shifted to taekwondo because he is teased of his

swimming background?!? After many years of competing in swimming he would give it up just like that because of the remarks of the people

around him? HE SHOULD NOT BE ASHAMED!!! HE SHOULD BE PROUD!!! Does the people who tease him gets to compete in national competitions and gets over a hundred medals in his lifetime in swimming?!?!  

Answer 10

Yes, depending on who you ask I am one of the following-

Ninja guy

Karate dude

Stick fighter guy

Tae Kwon Do guy

Samurai guy

Kung Fu fighter

...the list goes on

By the way, only two of those are even close.  I study and teach Kenjutsu (an art used by the samurai) and I have a Ninja philosophy "whatever works" (obviously from the Ninjutsu-from the Ninja)

It used to bother me, but no so much now.  I just realized that in their position of never having done the martial arts or researched them, I would likely make such remarks myself.

Answer 11

I used to get a lot of teasing but generally don't anymore.  Most of my friends realize I am a serious martial artist.  On the few occasions that some of my friends or co-workers have taken it beyond that and pushed for a demonstration of my skills by grabbing me or throwing an easy punch they got an impromptu demonstration that they were impressed with.  While not seriously injuring anyone during these things I have taken it to a point where it was slightly painful for the uke (stupid person or student in Japanese) that pushed or forced the situation to that point.  Initially I would always tell them I got enough contact and fighting in competition and the studio when training for competition but sometimes I guess people are curious and and just have to feed their curiosity.