I started taking martial arts because of struggles with bullying in the past. I earned my Black Belt in Tang Soo Do in 2015, right before graduating high school. It really helped my confidence, which was the main reason I wanted to partake in martial arts. Unfortunately, I haven’t practiced in years because I’ve stopped after reaching my first degree Black Belt. The knowledge is something that has stuck with me though.
Which arts have you practiced and how long have you been practicing? I believe this deserved it’s own thread because martial arts, to me, is more than just self-defense. The confidence and knowledge you gain from it is amazing. I believe martial arts can improve your life in many different ways.
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’ve done Karate for eight years and earned my black belt first degree in that, and Aikido for eight years as well now and have a second degree brown belt in that. I’m still doing Aikido and I return to classes today, actually. I agree that it does improve your life in many ways including giving you confidence and more knowledge. I’d say I’m a much better person now than if I had never done it in the first place. My goal for my martial arts is to have a black belt in multiple arts and be like my sensei, who reminds me of All Might from MHA. The dangerous thing about him is not only is he super strong, but if someone figures out how he’s fighting he can switch arts mid fight to catch them off guard. Both the art itself and him inspire me to be a better person.
I was in Karate from the time I was 9 until about 16 or 17. I was a brown belt when I stopped but I was basically at the point of being prepped for the next big black belt grading. I stopped though as I had a lot going on in my life at the time and my club really demanded several nights a week for brown/black belts. On top of the two nights a week for my own classes they wanted me to help for another 1-2 classes with the younger kids. It was too much stress for me to handle and I dropped down to only going about once a week which wasn't enough to keep up with it.
It definitely helped me with my lack of confidence, which I still have today but it's a lot better than it used to be.
I used to do Karate, because it was the only thing that was close enough to my home and not overpriced like crazy. I couldn't do it for super long tho, as it was still costing money and not every family has the luxus of being able to spend it like that. But well, me being always sick and having lots of problems with my back and wrists it was getting more and more hard anyways. I did manage to get my yellow belt though. It's nothing crazy, but I'm still proud of it.
