Why do you train?

This excludes those people that need the skills, such as police, prison guards, military, bouncers, etc.

Did you grow up in a safe neighborhood, went to school, have a good job (or are in school now), live in a nice neighborhood, and only got in a fight once back in 5th grade - yet train hard to fight that mythical street brawling, ninja-bred, lava-immune monster?

My last ‘fight’ was in grade 10, some guy wanted to beat me up (in the library of all places) so I put him in a head lock, bent him backwards over my back, asked him if he was done, and then let him go.

I program computers for a living, I went to university, I’ve never been in a knife fight, or any kind of serious altercation, ever.

And yet, I’ve spent the better part of six years training. I enjoy the activity, and I like getting better at things, but why train to fight when there is no practical reason?

There’s that old truism that goes something like ‘we always do what’s best for us’. So obviously training to fight is something that’s best for me (and probably you), but why?

I think the deep down motivation is insecurity and fear. Why else attempt to perfect the skills needed to beat down and kill people?

My point is this, instead of spending years training hard, wouldn’t it be simpler and easier to deal with the insecurity and fear that drive the need to train?

Should training to fight be seen as a mental health issue?

I train because it feels really good to go head to head with someone, testing yourself mano e mano, and come out on top.

The first time I ever choked someone out became an addiction for me. :XXbuzzsaw

paging kungfoolss

Balance... physically, mentally and emotionally...

insecurity and hatred(what the ****? is this even a real word? "i hate them" i mean) for all human beings

I think that a lot of people get into MA to compensate for certain personal issues (e.g. a lack of perceived autonomy, irrational fear of strangers, a need for mastery, etc.). There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's how you surmount those types of things. However, there's a pretty significant difference between compensation and overcompensation.

One of the biggest problems with the latter is that people often get trapped within a certain loop and continue to push the boundaries of what they're doing (be it body-building, eating competitively, bedding as many humans as possible, yada yada yada) beyond healthy levels, negating the balancing value of such efforts. In other words, while certain activities might wind up building your self-esteem, things like steroid tumours, distended bowels and HIV will not.

In MA, overcompensation probably amounts to things like an unnecessarily-aggressive mindset, a need to create conflict, frequent injuries from over-training, etc. However, I think that it’s a minority of people who take things this far (ok, maybe the last category is an exception).

Why do you train?

This excludes those people that need the skills, such as police, prison guards, military, bouncers, etc.

Did you grow up in a safe neighborhood, went to school, have a good job (or are in school now), live in a nice neighborhood, and only got in a fight once back in 5th grade - yet train hard to fight that mythical street brawling, ninja-bred, lava-immune monster?

My last ‘fight’ was in grade 10, some guy wanted to beat me up (in the library of all places) so I put him in a head lock, bent him backwards over my back, asked him if he was done, and then let him go.

I program computers for a living, I went to university, I’ve never been in a knife fight, or any kind of serious altercation, ever.

And yet, I’ve spent the better part of six years training. I enjoy the activity, and I like getting better at things, but why train to fight when there is no practical reason?

There’s that old truism that goes something like ‘we always do what’s best for us’. So obviously training to fight is something that’s best for me (and probably you), but why?

I think the deep down motivation is insecurity and fear. Why else attempt to perfect the skills needed to beat down and kill people?

My point is this, instead of spending years training hard, wouldn’t it be simpler and easier to deal with the insecurity and fear that drive the need to train?

Should training to fight be seen as a mental health issue?

Why would you think that lumping a group of people into ONE category is a good idea?

I think that a lot of people get into MA to compensate for certain personal issues (e.g. a lack of perceived autonomy, irrational fear of strangers, a need for mastery, etc.). There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. That's how you surmount those types of things. However, there's a pretty significant difference between compensation and overcompensation.

One of the biggest problems with the latter is that people often get trapped within a certain loop and continue to push the boundaries of what they're doing (be it body-building, eating competitively, bedding as many humans as possible, yada yada yada) beyond healthy levels, negating the balancing value of such efforts. In other words, while certain activities might wind up building your self-esteem, things like steroid tumours, distended bowels and HIV will not.

In MA, overcompensation probably amounts to things like an unnecessarily-aggressive mindset, a need to create conflict, frequent injuries from over-training, etc. However, I think that it’s a minority of people who take things this far (ok, maybe the last category is an exception).

I agree with you that overcompensation can take the form of an overly-agressive mindset, etc. However, that type of overcompensation is the really obvious type. And also by its nature tends to burn out/injure those that do it - basically its eventually self-correcting.

However, couldn't overcompensation be seen by how much time/money you spend training, how much time you spend thinking about it, how much time you spend read/writing about it, watching video's on it. As well, how much of a time/money commitment you've made to do more in the future? (ie. signing up for the masters program, or planning your progression for the next few years)

If you plan to spend the next 5+ years trainng, spend 10+ hours a week in class, think about technique and such when not in class, read about it here (or elsewhere), post about it, etc. Thats alot of time and energy.

In a given week, how many hours and dollars do you spend doing all these things?

Couldn't this be called overcompensation?

Why would you think that lumping a group of people into ONE category is a good idea?

PWNED!!11

I've been in maybe three fights in my life, only one of them serious. That was seven years ago. The reason I train BJJ is because it's so much fun. I don't care about self defence at all, although knowing that the sport I train in has self defence applications is nice.

People train for fitness, fun, SD, sport, money, glory, honor, spiritual improvement, hopeless supernatural power developing...

If you plan to spend the next 5+ years trainng, spend 10+ hours a week in class, think about technique and such when not in class, read about it here (or elsewhere), post about it, etc. Thats alot of time and energy.

In a given week, how many hours and dollars do you spend doing all these things?

Couldn't this be called overcompensation?Depends on your motivation and goals. Personally, I have a genuinely good time training and really like the people that I train with. If that's overcompensation, then I don't want to be undercompensatin', baby.

Why would you think that lumping a group of people into ONE category is a good idea?

Because this category of people has something in common - they all train, they all read and post (some a huge amount) about martial arts, they all want to become better. And almost all have spent a large amount of time/money doing so.

I genuinely enjoy training. I enjoy the process, and the result. I've also done alot of it.

I've asked this question in trying to understand why I train as much as I do, not to try to jam people into a group they don't belong in.

It's a helluva lot more fun than running in circles or staring at a wall on a stairmaster. It also takes more "headwork". It gives me the opportunity to exercise my body and mind at the same time.

will to power

Because this category of people has something in common - they all train, they all read and post (some a huge amount) about martial arts, they all want to become better. And almost all have spent a large amount of time/money doing so.

I genuinely enjoy training. I enjoy the process, and the result. I've also done alot of it.

I've asked this question in trying to understand why I train as much as I do, not to try to jam people into a group they don't belong in.

So you take a group of people that have only ONE thing in common and even that ONE thing is a variable ( different types of MA attract different types of people), you don't take into account, history, upbringing, chidhood events, socio-econimical status, education, etc, etc...
And you make a snap "judgement" that they are "overcompensating" or that they have "underlining physcologocal factors" , is that about right ?