I always wanted to learn martial arts while growing up but my parents didn't have the money and I didn't either. I'm 24/male and for the past few years I've been particularly interested in it. I like the idea of martial arts styles and I like sparring with my friends when I get a chance, (usually just boxing, no kicks, and maybe a little wrestling I guess we just did whatever we would do in a real fight without seriously hurting each other).
Anyway it's still going to be a big stress on my budget if I get into any kind of martial art. I'm a little confused what my motivations are for being so interested. Here is what I think:
1) I enjoy sparring so the more moves I learn and the more skilled I get the more fun it will be for me and rewarding (aka a hobbie).
2) I think martial arts are cool and I know MMA is becoming mainstream as the UFC has become real popular so me and my friends talk about martial arts sometimes and it would be cool to get involved in it.
3) I really don't feel like I want to carry a gun or knife at this point in my life but I want to feel more confident defending myself and my friends/my girlfriend in the rare instances where I need to. When I say defending I mostly mean standing up for myself and others verbally and being ready for something physical to happen. As it is I usually just stand silent when people are talking shit to me and if they continue talking I might occasionally tell them they need to stop. I am not big on the bar/club scene but about a year ago this guy put his hands on me and i threw him back and got my empty bottle ready in case i had to hit him with it. This guy then proceeded to talk endless shit to me from a distance for about a half hour until I decided I had had enough and got my friend and left. This was on my female friend's birthday and I feel bad that I had to leave the club but he was saying how all his albanian friends were going to kick my ass. by the way he put his hands on me because apparently I had sat down in his reserved section and he wanted to pull me out of it instead of just verbally telling me it was reserved... This "section" was just a soft bench next to the dance floor.
anyway it's not that that one incident is causing me to overreact and want to learn martial arts. I actually just want to be confident that I can defend myself as best I can in situations where I feel guns are unlikely to come into play.
EDIT: Oh I meant to also say that I have exposure to but not real training in martial arts. And what I've found is that learning complicated techniques is kind of frustrating and boring to me, but some of the techniques are fun. I guess I'm not sure if I want to commit the time and effort into learning martial arts but I think when I actually learn some it will make sparring more fun and really I just want to be confident that I can defend myself and my people. I kind of wanted to think this all through and by typing it out I think I'm convincing myself that I need to learn some sort of self defense I just need to find something affordable.
Anyway it's still going to be a big stress on my budget if I get into any kind of martial art. I'm a little confused what my motivations are for being so interested. Here is what I think:
1) I enjoy sparring so the more moves I learn and the more skilled I get the more fun it will be for me and rewarding (aka a hobbie).
2) I think martial arts are cool and I know MMA is becoming mainstream as the UFC has become real popular so me and my friends talk about martial arts sometimes and it would be cool to get involved in it.
3) I really don't feel like I want to carry a gun or knife at this point in my life but I want to feel more confident defending myself and my friends/my girlfriend in the rare instances where I need to. When I say defending I mostly mean standing up for myself and others verbally and being ready for something physical to happen. As it is I usually just stand silent when people are talking shit to me and if they continue talking I might occasionally tell them they need to stop. I am not big on the bar/club scene but about a year ago this guy put his hands on me and i threw him back and got my empty bottle ready in case i had to hit him with it. This guy then proceeded to talk endless shit to me from a distance for about a half hour until I decided I had had enough and got my friend and left. This was on my female friend's birthday and I feel bad that I had to leave the club but he was saying how all his albanian friends were going to kick my ass. by the way he put his hands on me because apparently I had sat down in his reserved section and he wanted to pull me out of it instead of just verbally telling me it was reserved... This "section" was just a soft bench next to the dance floor.
anyway it's not that that one incident is causing me to overreact and want to learn martial arts. I actually just want to be confident that I can defend myself as best I can in situations where I feel guns are unlikely to come into play.
EDIT: Oh I meant to also say that I have exposure to but not real training in martial arts. And what I've found is that learning complicated techniques is kind of frustrating and boring to me, but some of the techniques are fun. I guess I'm not sure if I want to commit the time and effort into learning martial arts but I think when I actually learn some it will make sparring more fun and really I just want to be confident that I can defend myself and my people. I kind of wanted to think this all through and by typing it out I think I'm convincing myself that I need to learn some sort of self defense I just need to find something affordable.