What´s your reason for training IP?

[Daniel]

Edited for brevity.


D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[GrahamB]

I find the idea of "purely external" arts a strange concept. Is there such a thing? Maybe that's off topic for this thread though...

[Ron Panunto]

Self defense.

[Dmitri]

I remember stopping Kyokushin because I eventually felt that the dumb repetition and punching each other's stomachs and screaming was... well, dumb and boring. And I was in my early/mid 20's... Now, in my mid-40's, I REALLY find that sort of thing boring and certainly not the most effective way to develop skill. The main attraction for me is IMA's focus on awareness, involvement of the mind into your practice. It keeps it continually interesting (although it's got its "duller" moments too -- too much of ANYTHING can sometimes be 'too much'...)

And of course all the cool superpowers that come as a result/side effect of that sort of training -- hitting with substantial power from no distance, being fairly hard to take down, etc.

P.S. Oh, and of course all the hot chicks.

[middleway]

I train IMA's simply because the very best fighters and most powerful people i have met are from the traditional Chinese IMA's. The hardest hitters, the hardest to throw, the most 'changable' and the most down to earth practical. If i want to learn to be good at combat i learn from the best people i could find ... they were the 'IMAists'.

I fully accept that there are astounding fighters out there that are nothing to do with the classical group of IMA's as defined by Sun Lu Tang. But this is about personal reasons for training them ... and that's mine

thanks.
Chris

[Daniel]

I train IMA's simply because the very best fighters and most powerful people i have met are from the traditional Chinese IMA's. The hardest hitters, the hardest to throw, the most 'changable' and the most down to earth practical. If i want to learn to be good at combat i learn from the best people i could find ... they were the 'IMAists'.

I fully accept that there are astounding fighters out there that are nothing to do with the classical group of IMA's as defined by Sun Lu Tang. But this is about personal reasons for training them ... and that's mine

thanks.
Chris

+1. That comes pretty close to being my answer too.


D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[Chris McKinley]

I did it all for the nookie.



Well, that and the fact that despite all the bullshit, mysticism, sycophantism, and obsession with whatever fashions the Emperor will be sporting this season, the material is just damn good for being able to do unto others before they do unto you, and the principles lend themselves like no other modality of which I am aware to the full panoply of responses, up to and including lethal and/or modern weaponry, and across the full range of response intensity from damage control to oneself on up to lethal elimination of a hostile aggressor. Being in a position where folks are putting their trust in me to impart skills to defend themselves, their immediate charges, or their loved ones, friends and countrymen back home from the most intense kinds of physical attack under extreme conditions, I have no ethical choice but to use that which is the most tactically effective under those circumstances, and I have spent a career demonstrating and defending that effectiveness against any and all other alternatives.

[BruceP]

Don't care a whit about kicking ass or having unusual power or any of that mess.

I just like the way it feels.

[yusuf]

Something in the way she moves . . . .

+1

how can anyone argue with doing something that makes you feel better, stronger and more randy year on year

[I-mon]

I'm with Shooter. The more my body feels connected, conscious, and responsive, the more "right" it feels. It feels good, and keeps feeling better, and consistent training always has me at a point where I can feel is coming up ahead in the next few years and how good that's going to feel...

[Daniel]

Really good answers, guys. Keep them coming, please. I think this is a very interesting question, and we have a great crowd here for answering it.


D.

Sarcasm. Oh yeah, like that´ll work.

[BruceP]

The more my body feels connected, conscious, and responsive, the more "right" it feels

*nod*

The feel of working deep tissue never gets old

[Steve Rowe]

In my 20's (in the 70's) I was a Karate Dan grade working in the security industry who only wanted to fight - I thought Karate would calm me down but it only made me worse. When David Carradine came along I thought the IMA's would calm down my violence and anger. They did, they also gave me subtlety, strategy, a more vigorous health and a far deeper ability to look after myself in all respects. Without them I could well be dead by now.

Within the IMA's I can still be incredibly intense but I can direct that intensity intelligently and control it.

[lazyboxer]

Remember I once asked you the same question, Daniel?

You looked surprised for a moment, and then replied "because I enjoy it".

Same here!!!

(P.S. I have yet to find a better way of maintaining health, vitality and sanity into old age, and can also use it to duff up young upstarts when necessary.)

[kenneth fish]

I do not believe in the IMA/EMA distinction or dichotomy. I practice Chinese martial arts for the following reasons:

Strength
Health
Aptitude
Zeal
Ox, power of
Ox, power of another
Money

Well, all except the very last one