I have trained on and off for years and have known and met a lot of fighters. I have always wondered what motivated people to train. Is it for self defense, pay back, exercise, world domination, confidence, a movie, what?
But seriously, I think it’s a combination of things. Everyone is different, but for me it’s a broad spectrum: Self defense, being competitive, confidence, fitness, mastering skillsets, etc etc.
I might be going out on a limb here, but I think those of us who participate/compete in a pragmatic/full contact sport get addicted to it to some degree. I know myself I was having somewhat of a withdrawal symptons from boxing over the holidays.
This may sound strange, but one of the things I love to do is watch how differently people treat you when they know you’re a fighter. I’ve met people who I haven’t seen in years, some of them may have used to treat me like I was below them, and when they find out I’m a fighter, they treat me completely differently, almost fearfully.
[quote]Aussie Davo wrote:
World domination sounds pretty good to me.
But seriously, I think it’s a combination of things. Everyone is different, but for me it’s a broad spectrum: Self defense, being competitive, confidence, fitness, mastering skillsets, etc etc.
I might be going out on a limb here, but I think those of us who participate/compete in a pragmatic/full contact sport get addicted to it to some degree. I know myself I was having somewhat of a withdrawal symptons from boxing over the holidays.
This may sound strange, but one of the things I love to do is watch how differently people treat you when they know you’re a fighter. I’ve met people who I haven’t seen in years, some of them may have used to treat me like I was below them, and when they find out I’m a fighter, they treat me completely differently, almost fearfully.[/quote]
Absolutely agree with this.
I train just cause I like to… too many injuries to compete, but I like knowing what I’m doing with my hands, and watching a boxing match and saying, “I can do that.”
AHHHHHH…very well put…“but one of the things I love to do is watch how differently people treat you when they know you’re a fighter.” I have to agree that became one of my motivating factors, while not the original reason, it was a cool feeling…
Pusharder started a thread a long time ago in another forum that discussed this, and I think he put it very well. He lives in the country & was riding his horse when he was disturbed to discover a big wolf had been following him for some time. He was alone, just him (& his horse) and the wolf.
He said he discovered then why he really trains.
He trains for when the wolf comes.
I do too.
If the wolf is outside yourself, hopefully you can overcome it. If the wolf is inside yourself, hopefully you can subdue it. Either way, training helps give one the courage to face it head on.
I agree, people treat you differently when they know you can fight. This makes me happy.
I was a bit drunk still this morning, so I also want to add that there’s a feeling of power that comes with this shit. The first time I strapped on a pair of gloves and “sparred” when I was 16, I got into a brawl and half. Let me tell you, there’s no better feeling that taking someone’s best shot, and keeping coming… the only one that might be better is beating on a guy so bad he quits. Or when a guy breaks your balls because he’s been going to the ghetto learning how to box, and you spar with him and use an old trick from karate and punch him square in the solar plexus and drop him.
Knowing that you can physically hurt another human being, and badly, is a powerful idea and a powerful feeling.
In the same vein, being choked out to the point where you know that if your partner wanted to kill you, he could, and there’d be nothing you could do about it… well, that’s awfully humbling.
I’ve been in a pretty good amount of fights from grade school to about 21. I’ve seen violence in all sorts, and know that it happens in this world pretty damned often. I’ve been caught off guard and sucker punched too many times, and I want to minimize it now that I’m at the age where things get really serious if violence goes down.
So I train because I’ve lost about a half dozen fights, some worse than others. The next one, if it happens, won’t be a fight- it’ll be for my life. And that’s not one I want to lose.
Hi guys, signed in from my usual lurking to post in this thread.
A lot of you guys have posted your reasons being related to physical dominance. Just curious; what are peoples childhool backgrounds in this matter? What I mean to say is, when you were a kid, were you picked on? Were you smaller? I think it’d be interesting.
I was never a sporty kid, and when I moved schools half way through elementary school it was really jarring. I was bullied etc.
So I suppose before I started training, I was never serious about sports or being physical. I started lifting at my Dad’s request to toughen up, and even know I’m interested (that’s why I’m lurking here on T-Nation I guess!).
I started kung fu as a way to keep active for 4 months so I could improve leg strength and speed for soccer, haha. As you guys said, I got hooked. Been 2 years now. Why I do it? I guess it feels good to be good at something. Obviously I have the odd power fantasy, but I really like the self-improvement aspect. It’s great to be a better you than you were 3 months ago!
Been gone a while but this sparked my interest. So why I train . . .
When I was younger I was sent out to bring my baby brother back home from the park. A guy I knew from high school came up to the park with 3 of his friends. Never liked the guy, he didn’t like me but we stayed out of each others way.
For some reason he decided he was going to pick on my brother and his friends. He didn’t know he was my brother, and didn’t know I was walking up as he started hassling them. I yelled for them back off, he said “what you gonna do about it.” and it was on. We fought, I won.
I then told my brother time to go home, and keep your mouth shut to mom. As we walked home his 3 friends slowly walked in our direction. They never advanced, cause they had to help their buddy along. But I always wondered what would I have done if they had?
After that I started training martial arts.
I’m not saying I train to be some bad-ass one man army. I train because there are people out there who will hurt the ones I love if given the opportunity. And GOD forbid, if that day comes, and all that’s between them and my family/friends is me. No matter what happens, it will not happen because I was unprepared.
That’s why I push my self in the gym, ring, on the mat, etc. Kind of like what Ms Parker said I guess. But that’s my story. Outside my family and close friends no one knows I train though.