How has your view changed?

[apoweyn]

Lots of people here have been training for years and years. I started at about 13 years old. And I'm 32 (is that right?) now. Obviously, my views on most things have changed considerably in the past 19 years. And my view of martial arts has been no exception.

There have been a couple of posters here (e.g., Red5Angel and perhaps Meat Shake) who have gone through a shift in perspective as well.

So what's changed? And why? Age? Experience? (Obviously, yes in both cases. But elaborate.)

Did you realize your school was a crock and go looking for new experiences? (That's one from my own experiences. Not a jab at anyone here.) Did your teacher undergo a shift in perspective and bring you along for the drive?

What mattered then? What matters now? Blah, blah, blah.


Stuart B.

[Suntzu]

this is a tuff off....... i have to get back to u on this one...

[Meat Shake]

Hmm... Good question.
First off... In my younger days (8 years old - 16 or so) I tried TKD, tried Hapkido, tried BJJ... didnt really care for any of them. Started SD a year and a half ago or so... after a few years of being a complete bum... I wanted to learn death touch and all that crap when I first started... Learned quickly however, that it was close to useless. I hunted forms for the first few months... then realized that it was pointless. Started SC about 3 months ago... My SD training was kinda conflicting with the SC, due to light contact sparring and certain sweeping aspects from SD... I was a little low on cash as well. Stopped SD... Shortly thereafter, I found a Chen style Taijiquan teacher, named Sal De La Rosa. Bad mofo. Decided I couldnt miss an opprotunity to train with such a talented person, and I am now training under him as well as Sifu Kirk. Kirk trains for free, solely for preservation of the art, and I gotta say, hes a d@mn fine sifu. Sifu Ryan (My SD sifu) was a great sifu as well, but I just didnt feel that the SD was working for me quite as well as a more specified style would.
A lot of my views have changed because of, beleive it or not, this forum. Kinda opened up a new can of worms for me, made me question things a bit more. (Also have to give WD props for letting me know there was SC here in town )
My views have changed considerably even since a couple years ago... More than age Id have to say its due to experience and being open minded. Always remain open minded...

[apoweyn]

Good reply. Cheers MS.

[Meat Shake]

Ahoy hoy, matey.
Im sure I could have written more, but Im busy looking up the etymology of profanity. We have to write a paper on a personal problem for english, So... I chose profanity. I figured hey, Im in college, I can cuss in my papers. Why not write a paper about my problem with cussing so I can cuss a whole lot in it?

[apoweyn]

Originally posted by Meat Shake
Ahoy hoy, matey.
Im sure I could have written more, but Im busy looking up the etymology of profanity. We have to write a paper on a personal problem for english, So... I chose profanity. I figured hey, Im in college, I can cuss in my papers. Why not write a paper about my problem with cussing so I can cuss a whole lot in it?

That, my friend, is oddly brilliant.

[fa_jing]

Well, back in the day I though TKD was a superior art - I mean your legs are much stronger than your arms, right? And we always schooled the Shotokan guys in point fighting, 'cause they couldn't deal with our kicks. I practiced for about 2 years...Then I f'd up my knee and had to stop...I didn't practice MA for 9 years. When I saw "Lethal Weapon 4," I wanted to do all those cool stop kicks and such like Jet Li. I started up with a guy that was living in the same house as I was....a real character. I saw some cool concepts in Wing Chun so I bought the whole line, including GM William Cheung's shady style transmission story. That lasted for 6 months then I moved. Later after a long search, I found a good 7* mantis school that taught mantis 4 days a week and Wing Chun on Wednesdays. But the mantis class began to suck, it was traditional and hardcore and such, but Sifu Kwan wasn't allowed to teach the class for some legal reasons, and although his appointed Sifu did a pretty good job, his senior student was a total ass. They wouldn't teach me the form, yet expected me to know it. Everytime I asked something, it was "go sit in a horse stance for a few minutes, then I'll tell you the next move." The Sifus "punished" the students for not lining up and not putting enough effort and such - the punishment was no sparring for months. Then we were doing punative pushups collectively, and the senior student kept bashing my arms, not respecting the fact that I have nerve damage in one wrist. The class was geared to teenagers and I ain't taking sh!t from one, even if he could kick my ass at the time. So I guess I learned not to waste my time on something that wasn't oriented towards me. I learned some stuff and moved on after 6 months...decided to study semi-privately with the Wing Chun/JKD sifu...Found out that Chueng's wing chun is by no means the best wing chun. Also found that modern training methods with equipment and heavy sparring with 16 oz. gloves was the way to go as far as becoming a better fighter. I found out that training in sweat pants and forgetting about class heirarchy and si-hing this and Da Mo that was a more more beneficial way to train. I also found that thinking about movements in both Western and Eastern terms was the way to go for me, personally.

[Meat Shake]

Yeah... It was either that or smoking herb, which Ive cut down significantly. I dont like writing serious papers either. I like to write funny papers. Im better at it.
Anyhow....
TTT

[red5angel]

Experience is a lot of it. I have worked with some people who have some incredible talent, and some who haven't. Some of those were worth working with regardless of talent, and some were not. What I think it has come down to for me is that I got into the martial arts because I thought it was "cool" meaning I had no real reason for doing it.
Now a days it has become more of a lifestyle thing, has introduced me to alot of other things in the world, Eastern philosophy and culture being big ones. Used to be I didn't know what pursuing the martial arts really meant for me but along the path I started to get a picture and find myself where I am now. Of course all things change and over time I imagine my goals and outlooks will change more but for me things have taken on more substance.

[apoweyn]

By the way, Red5 and MS, I hope you don't mind my mentioning you by name.

[MasterKiller]

LOL....mentioning by "name."

Reminds me of the line from Boogie Nights, during the interview movie they shot. Marky Mark says, "I'm not Brock Landers. Brock Landers is a character I play. I'm Dirk Diggler." Both were made up screen names.

[Meat Shake]

lofl.
Dirk Diggler. Great porn name. There is an arena in round rock called the "Dell Diamond" arena.... If Dell Diamond isnt a porn name, I dont know what is.

Brock landers... bahahaha...
Jesus... porn names are funny as ****.
And Ap - No I dont care.

[red5angel]

No problem Ap, actually you and a few others have been around through a couple of transitions for me. I call them transitions because now that I am older and wiser in the ways of martial arts I can see that many people go through several of the phases I went through. There is a source to these sorts of attitudes and it's basically what bothers me most about trying to follow the martial way.
to many people out there in positions of responsibility, instructors "masters" "grandmasters" etc..willing to perpetuate the idea that anything but what they know must be inferior. too many people willing to try to tout what they have as the answer to all your martial needs.
What I have come to learn is that there is no complete art, no set of secret techniques that allow you to stand undefeatable by all other martial artists. That anyone can take just about any art, and if they have the will and the drive to learn, can make it work for them. While good teachers are a large contribution to how good you are, only you get to decide whether your good or not. You put in the time, the effort and the concentration and you WILL be a good martial artist.


As for you Ap, I owe you a bit of thanks for sort of being an internet guide without being aware of it. Your levelheadedness and open mind to the martial way has always given me pause to think about the things I am involved in, studying and what not. MP contributed alot to that as well, and a few others I just haven't named. Sorry to get all touchy feely, go back to kickin ass and taking names.

[yenhoi]

So what/where/who are you studing from now?

Last I heard it was SPM/MMA?

At least your not a WC Forum troll anymore.

[fa_jing]

Red5: clean out your PM's, you focker.