My official start in the martial arts was back in 1967. I walked into a Chinese Kenpo Dojo, signed up, and off I went. The truth, however, is that I had been getting free Karate Lessons for years.
They weren't much, as far as lessons went, but they did the trick. They kept me interested and happy. After all, they were the best type of conditioning, they were a good way to learn I could handle the bullies, and they were fun.
The first thing that caught my interest was knuckle conditioning. We used to knock our knuckles on walls and fences and boxes and anything that got in our way. That resulted in a lifelong interest in good conditioning, different types of punches, and a desire to have the hardest punch I could have.
The second thing I picked up was simple arm bars. This was good, as simple things always work better. To this day I take the most complex of martial arts techniques and look for the simplest method of making them work.
The third thing I learned had to do with learning how to use the different body parts. I analyzed feet, hands, arms, legs, how the joints worked, everything I could. I even read medical books trying to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various body parts.
Fourth, I engaged in a basic sort of grappling. This was good because I took away from that experience the lesson that wrestling wasn't always good for fighting. You grapple, and you are tied up, and some guy runs up and kicks the back of your head, and there might be weapons in the mix, and...no thanks.
The main thing I discovered from reading martial arts books, working with friends, and just having fun pretending we were big and unbeatable, was that sweat worked. The hours we spent exercising, running, wrestling, and experimenting with those techniques from out of old Bruce Tegner books and the like...they were golden hours. It was a youth that built strength, character, and the desire to make something of myself.
The point I am making in this article is that the martial arts aren't for everybody. So look around on the web, Google Free Karate lessons, (I always recommend Karate as a great art to start your martial arts with) or some other like term, and see what comes up. Do a few tricks, see if they work on friends, and find out if you have the character and kind of mind to be a student of Karate.
They weren't much, as far as lessons went, but they did the trick. They kept me interested and happy. After all, they were the best type of conditioning, they were a good way to learn I could handle the bullies, and they were fun.
The first thing that caught my interest was knuckle conditioning. We used to knock our knuckles on walls and fences and boxes and anything that got in our way. That resulted in a lifelong interest in good conditioning, different types of punches, and a desire to have the hardest punch I could have.
The second thing I picked up was simple arm bars. This was good, as simple things always work better. To this day I take the most complex of martial arts techniques and look for the simplest method of making them work.
The third thing I learned had to do with learning how to use the different body parts. I analyzed feet, hands, arms, legs, how the joints worked, everything I could. I even read medical books trying to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the various body parts.
Fourth, I engaged in a basic sort of grappling. This was good because I took away from that experience the lesson that wrestling wasn't always good for fighting. You grapple, and you are tied up, and some guy runs up and kicks the back of your head, and there might be weapons in the mix, and...no thanks.
The main thing I discovered from reading martial arts books, working with friends, and just having fun pretending we were big and unbeatable, was that sweat worked. The hours we spent exercising, running, wrestling, and experimenting with those techniques from out of old Bruce Tegner books and the like...they were golden hours. It was a youth that built strength, character, and the desire to make something of myself.
The point I am making in this article is that the martial arts aren't for everybody. So look around on the web, Google Free Karate lessons, (I always recommend Karate as a great art to start your martial arts with) or some other like term, and see what comes up. Do a few tricks, see if they work on friends, and find out if you have the character and kind of mind to be a student of Karate.