Other hobbies? How do you think it affects your martial art(s)?

Question

I don't know how to really explain it better, but I'll give an example:

My other real hobby is music: I play the guitar and piano. Both have made my hands much stronger and much more precise (at least, I believe they have. I've been training and working out in the meantime, so there's really no definitive proof that this is a correlation) which has helped with striking as well as manipulations. For me, like I've said many times, it's about balance creative and destructive influences in my life, and otherwise helps keep me sane.

So what do you do? Do you feel it's had any effect on your martial arts skills?

Answer 1

I think that you are wise to find that balance. I know that many of the Samurai practiced different peaceful arts as well as the fighting ones, to achieve that balance.

I myself cook, which makes my wife happy lol. I tend to just invent my own recipes, and I think it helps me become more creative in my interpritation of kata motion, and maybe look at things from angles that I wouldn't if I didn't have that creative outlook that cooking gives me.

I have no talent for art or music, so it was either cooking or macaroni collages.

Answer 2

I really feel that other hobbies help you with your martial arts.  i have trained and had other interests.

You must balance family, work and hobbies.  Remember a sound mind will do nothing  but enhance your martial arts experience.

Just remember to have fun and learn something new each day.

Answer 3

I play the piano and bagpipes as well as write and draw quite a bit. I found that when I began martial arts my writing and drawing helped my training because this is what I began to scribble down on paper (or the screen).

Just like teaching, having to articulate the fine nuances of any technique in written words really adds insight for that move.

Drawing different techniques is fun but you really need to spend more time drawing successions of images to detail the same nuances you can write down much faster (for me at least).

Answer 4

The Asians practice their martial arts to be a 'holistic man' or a complete man, so in China kung fu includes: cooking; music; poetry; languages; chess (Go) and the classics (Confuscious).

Only a low level soldier is only taught how to fight.  The high level soldiers, such as the Japanese Samurai, include a liberal education within their Budo.

So include all the 'cross-training' you can in your martial arts curriculum  

Answer 5

We suggest to all our students to be involved in some hobbies outside of their martial art. Some write, some are musicians, some sing. Of those I have talked to about their hobbies the have all said that their training in Taekwando has helped the enjoy their hobby more.

A person is a threefold being. Physical, Mental and spiritual. Martial arts seems to balance these aspects. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of this.  It has brought balance to my life and I am fairly certain I would be either dead or disabled by now if i had not been lead to Martial arts and the particular school I'm still associated with.  

Answer 6

I'm into music myself as a singer

since I do capoeira , which envolves music, my sence of rythm have improved on both sides of the fence.  Plus it helps me to focus in day to day life

martial arts is very beneficial to reaction speed, balance, rythm feeling and a few more things.  so anything that envolves any of these elements is bound to help you

Answer 7

I like to draw and read, and watch movies.

I think that the art helps with visualizations, reading and film are outlets for the other emotional baggage that the days bring.

I don't really think they impact with physical skills as much as my mental stability.

Answer 8

Great question.

I myself am a martial artist (Kenjutsu) and a student of Military strategy.

The link is not so much physical as it is strategic to me.

When Sun Tzu said-"Divide a strong defense to make it weaker." I use that in Kenjutsu by feinting several attacks in quick succession, opening up my opponent's defense when he tries to defend against all my feints, at which point I strike him.

For Military Strategy, I learn to think quickly as a result of Kenjutsu.  You don't have time to think out some long solution to a problem like an ambush, just like you don't have time to draw your sword and get centered during a sudden attack from behind.

I am actually in the process of writing my own version of the Art of War based on Martial arts.

What I learned is that the goal is not to have many different unattached hobbies, but to find the underlying principals behind them to strengthen them all.