What do you enjoy about your chosen Martial Art?

The a** whoopings. Lord knows I need them. I don't mean it in a sadistic way, but after every class I leave with bumps and bruises and I go to work sore after every training session and it just feels good even though it's painful. I currently have 7 visible bruises from training and I'm sore in muscles that many people don't even know exist. In spite of this, I can't help but feel that I'm building something worth building after training. Before I started doing Muay Thai and training full contact, I never had this feeling. I tried out a good handful of things that never would have helped me reach this potential and get this feeling.

I have a great instructor, great classmates, class is fun yet can be challenging. Get a chance to work with kids and see them succeed. I love learning new techniques and forms. I love when we get to do weapons as well. The exercises and other types of training. Why has it changed me.It has giving me confidence and i know what i am capable of. It actually makes me a better person and worker. And it has allowed me to pursue a new career path. I have entered a new field and go to a tech school and for some reason i get straight A's and have great memory techniques I learned from my Martial Art studies. I may not get perfect scores or 100% all the time but i get upper 90's and that in itself has opened new doors in my new profession.

Even the people i have met at competitions have been great and supportive. Plus perspective employers like seeing that i have a extracurricular activity on my resume. And i had one employer ask what i did and he was surprised at what i do and he even noted he was glad it wasn't MMA. I actually don't know how to take that maybe he had bad experience with MMA people or just it get s a bad rap maybe.

Whatever it works for me.

Practicing martial arts has definitely changed me and made me a better person. I even feel so much better since beginning martial arts training. I've studied various martial arts, but I do and always will call myself a practitioner of Jeet Kune Do. I absolutely love Jeet Kune Do, and it's because as Bruce Lee said, it is the art of honestly expressing yourself in a combatant form. You don't think, you feel. You don't move your body, your body moves you. It is very philosophical, and I agree with all of the concepts of JKD. It gives so much freedom, and it is truly a liberating art. I also love that it is so informal unlike some of the other martial arts that I study like Wing Chun, and American Kenpo (not insulting those arts because I love those too).

The well roundedness of it. The friendship. The challenge of it. Everything about it. I love the practicality of it and that it gives ninjutsu a fresh new name out of a tarnished reputation. I take AKBAN here in the states. We learn:

Stand up

Ground

Grappling

Clinch

True Self Defense to incapacitate or kill an assailant

Weaponry

Fire arms and urban tactical fighting.

Stopping an attack dog

Sparring and fighting daily

The Dreaded 24

Basic to Advanced First Aid

Basic to Advanced Swimming

Evasion and Escape

We also focus on having superb fitness and we use techniques from other marital arts to make us well rounded fighters. We practice for sport like MMA, for self defense, and war.

Look us up at www.akban.org

It started out as wanting to learn to fight for self defense reasons, as well as for a workout. Then it became the fact that I had a great teacher. Then it became the fact that I now have a great group of friends there. I love the workout, the challenging, yet still fun atmosphere, and the people I train with. Every person there inspires me to push myself further than I thought I could go, and it's such a great, tight knit community, that (as cliche as this sounds) it's like being part of a family.

Not to mention, punching and kicking things is a tonne of fun.

I have great teachers, I love the people I train with and I get so much out of the art. It has definitely changed me in many ways especially with my anxiety.

Because my teachers have a great understanding of their arts - because they taught me the correct way - the way they were supposed to be taught - my arts are 100% effective - proven on the battle field.

That's what I enjoy about them.

BTW, they are Classical Okinawan and Chinese Martial Arts.

EVERY SINGLE THING!

Sometimes I actually ask myself why I enjoy it. And then I get depressed because there is no reason and it sounds useless.

It has changed me as a person. Made me a more confidant person.

Because my instructor is pretty cool. I have a couple of good friends in my class. I also enjoy it.