For those considering martial arts - article

[bastadin]

So you wanna do Martial Arts huh?
by Andy Murray


Why are you reading this?

So you have always wanted to do Martial Arts right?

You have seen the movies with Jean Claude Van Damme, Jackie Chan, Bruce Lee and Steven Seagal.

You think to your self 'that looks cool', and put the thought on a shelf in the back of your mind.

You see an advert in a magazine about a new Martial Arts club near you, and off you trot to join.


Or do you?

I've met some people, who researched the subject of Martial Arts thoroughly before going anywhere near a club! More commonly people join a nearby club with some mates for moral support.

No two people think alike!
You say "Skateboard"; I say "broken leg".
You say "Coconut", I say "yuck".
You say "TV", I say, "Book".

This is one of the reasons for the diversity of the Martial Arts available. We are all individuals!
Before going onto the subject of 'choosing an art', I'd like to point something out!

While you may aspire to be one of the people spinning around, doing flashy techniques and looking cool, it can be very intimidating at first. You may think 'I'll never be able to do that'.

The trick to any difficulty in life is to ignore the boundaries that restrict other individuals. There is risk involved, and sometimes pain in failure, but the reward of inevitable success through persistence is the sweetest fruit of all.

When we say, "That's impossible!", we really mean;" 'I don't know if I could do that". The trouble is that we fear defeat, so we accept defeat without trying. Taking the easy way out!


Different people have different abilities!

Some people seem to be born with advantages!
We all know someone who is really strong, fast, flexible, intelligent, funny or good looking!
Something I have observed from experience though, is that the people at the forefront of Martial Arts today, are not the people with the 'natural gifts' of strength, speed, agility etc.
They are the people with an inner strength!
Something to prove, perhaps a physical or mental limitation.
Bloody-minded determination can overcome Mr or Mrs Lucky if you are persistent about it.
Learning a Martial Art is a 'War of Attrition' with yourself.
The people with 'natural gifts' tend to find things so easy, that they wander off and find something else to do that is easier still!

If someone ever says to you; "What you? Do that? You have no chance", just smile to yourself, and take steps to make them eat their words.


Choosing a Martial Art!

If you are looking at Martial Arts for the first time, you just opened the biggest box in the toy store! In fact you could spend your whole life just trying to decide what to start with!
I would personally recommend that you find a good instructor, rather than trying to choose an art.
All the arts have something to offer, if someone tells you otherwise, smile and walk away as this person has a lot to learn.

Please carry on... we are getting to the point now!


There are no bad Martial arts, only bad Instructors!

So you are now asking yourself 'how do I recognise a bad instructor?'

Most schools will let you watch a class before joining. If they don't, walk away as they may have something to hide.

When you watch the class, don't just watch the techniques, watch the Instructor! His/her eyes should be everywhere, ensuring the safety of his/her students and looking for ways of improving them!

If there is misunderstanding apparent on the face of a student, what does the Instructor do?

If there is negative emotion apparent on the face of a student, what does the Instructor do?

Do the students revere the Instructor?

Have you seen anything that would make you revere that Instructor?

Can you see yourself practicing that style, with that instructor for two to five year's minimum?

Has the club been established for a long time?

Has the instructor been involved in the arts for a long time?

You must ask questions, not just blindly accept what you read in an article or advert!


Once you have chosen your Art!

1/ Show respect and loyalty to your Instructor!

2/ Show respect and loyalty to your fellow students!

3/ Show respect and loyalty to your style!

4/ Show respect to practitioners of the other arts, as they have gone through everything that you have!

5/ Conduct yourself in a manner that others can respect!


Training in the Martial Arts, is like setting off on a journey!

As you travel to the mountain, there may be people ahead of you. You may pass some of these people on the way, and some of them may pass you. You are all going to the same place, so it is as well to be civil to each other on the journey!

Good luck on your journey, I hope that our paths cross, and we may travel together for a time!

Andy Murray

Article courtesy of Martial Arts Planet

[s25]

Brilliant! This is something I will sticky, In the future if anyone asks me about what art to chose I shall point, It sums up my own opinions perfectly.

[TheFallen]

I keep meaning to take up a martial art, excercise. I just never get round to it, something shiny always distracts me.

[Beyond]

One point that this article should include, although I guess it's up to the authors choice really, is that when you are certain of your future gym/dojo PLEASE BE SURE TO mull over any contracts/agreements you have to sign to join the gym.

In other words, a years contract right off the bat is not a wise choice. Start out with a month. In my opinion, unless you hit it off with the owner or he seems like a generally nice person, don't even go above 6 months in on a contract. Why? I'll give you a perfect example.

Nearly all dojos export their contracts to commercial companies like ASF. If for some reason you need to cancel a contract, and in most cases you have 30 days to do so, you are shit out of luck on payment.

I worked out at the same gym for 3 years and was very, very good friends with the owner. He cornered me on about 4 of my amateur fights and was just generally good towards me (free private lessons, took the time to work with me on his own). Well, on my 3rd year, I took off a month and came back to sign another year contract (I had done (2) year contracts before). Well, I injured my ankle and had basically zero desire to rehabilitate it and get back into the ring. My last fight ended in a bad, bad decision and I basically had a bad taste in my mouth for the politics in the kickboxing community around here.

I wrote him an email, the same one I had talked to him through previously, telling him of my situation. The contract stipulated that I had 30 days to cancel as long as it was in writing. Email is kind of a grey area and that was my fault but it got very ugly soon after.

I began getting charged on my credit card for months I didn't even show up the gym. I paid for my first month because I went in a few times but stopped soon there after.

I had my mother call up to the gym to alleviate the discrepancy mainly because I had no idea what to say or how to go about it. He got very ugly and terse over the ordeal. Why? Because when they export their contracts, ASF pays them up front. In other words, if you spend 800 a year at a gym, ASF will pay that to the owner up front, minus their cut. When they have a person that can't pay the rest of the money, a contract signer, the owner of the gym has to personally re-pay ASF the money.

Knowing that I wasn't going to pay and that I cancelled my credit card he began sending credit agencies after me. After about 7 months of harassing letters and calls from credit agencies, they exported the problem BACK to him. Knowing that he had no legal grounds to pursue me, because he took money out of my account - unauthorized (I didn't sign that portion of the contract), he decided to stop.

I was able to recoup all of my money from my bank and last I heard, they were taking him to court to recoup their costs.

It was a nightmare to deal with and it almost left me with bad credit.

I hope no one ever has to deal with something like that. Please, do your research and don't sign long term contracts.

[s25]

Sad to hear about your experience Beyond, I believe what you say can be applied to all contracts...