It's a bummer that last thread got deleted before I could read the most recent replies. I was out all day and just got home and I saw the thread got deleted.
Alright, everyone things I hate TMA. Just to play nice, I'm going to make a thread about all the things I like about TMA.
Reasons to study TMA:
1) Because you enjoy it. Duh, and this is really the only reason anyone needs. Fortunately everyone here who studies TCMA realizes this is the only thing that matters and don't let other people get under their skin and resort to personal insults when someone says something they disagree with. Oh... wait...
2) Fitness. Look, most TMA schools won't get you into ideal shape, but they will get you into a whole lot better of shape than most people are already in. If you are doing acrobatic forms this is even more true. You also learn to coordinate your breathing with your movement which can be helpful in other areas of life. And flexibility is a big component of TMA as well. Most people aren't very flexible. Study TCMA. Become flexible.
3) Culture. MA is intricately tied in to Asian culture and a lot of westerners who may not really have much "culture" of their own tend to be drawn to this. This one is a given if you're Asian and you're studying TMA. But for many people it's a doorway into the world of Asian culture. Even on this forum, look at the white guys who have learned Chinese because of their martial arts, or traveled to China, or discovered a new interest (Asian history). This enriches your life in a way that is beyond the physical.
4) Cool factor. Everyone thinks martial arts are cool. And the ladies dig it. especially if you can do it fast to music. Plus you can totally impress (non-MMA) people if you bust out a flashy move when they say "oh, you study martial arts?"
5) Respect, discipline. Some people lack this stuff, but the one thing I will say about most TMA schools is that if you aren't respectful, you get kicked out. Of course you can still come on forums and make personal insults when people say things you disagree with, but that wouldn't fly in a legit school.
6) Brotherhood. You meet some awesome people in the martial arts. I've found almost exclusively that people who are into martial arts are either really cool people or really weird people, so there's like a 50/50 chance that a fellow MAist will be cool. And if you're both weird, then you'll be friends, too! Now, within a single school, I've met some cool people and also been to other schools (just visiting as a guest of one of the students or instructors) and seen the cool bond that they all have. Social groups are important to people, and you can get this from TMA.
7) Mental toughness. Even though holding a horse stance for long periods of time has no carryover into fighting, it still builds mental toughness. It's easy to give up because it sucks before your muscles actually give up. Seriously if you can hold a horse stance past the "holy crap my thighs are burning point" you can pretty much do anything. And bonus points for improving your focus if you do qigong (and if you believe it helps you).
8) It's fun. Seriously this time. Practicing TMAs is fun. You feel like you are connected to an ancient tradition and that gives you a good feeling. And when you see yourself making progress it's a great feeling.
Really, the only negatives are that you're not really learning to defend yourself against a resisting attack despite building the false confidence that you can do so. Generally speaking everything else about TMA is a positive.
So if your goals are primarily to learn how to fight, look into MMA. If that's not your primary goal, find a good T(C)MA school. In my youth (and even as a young adult) I had a blast studying TCMA. The only reason I left was because I was unable to defend myself against resisting opponents using TCMA, but my primary purpose was to be able to fight competently. Your goals may be different.
Not everyone who studies guitar wants to be able to play heavy metal.
I will even go so far as to say that training in MMA, while it was awesome, didn't have some of the "magic" that TCMA had. I mean still most of these things apply, but, I dunno, like some of the magic was gone. Although that could be because I had the fighting illusion shattered and was studying MMA because I had to (in order to be able to fight competently against a resisting opponent, which was my primary goal for studying martial arts) rather than because I wanted to (because of the coolness/fun factor).
I don't hate TCMA, I just hate that MMA more closely approximates real fighting.
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Originally Posted by YouKnowWho
