Why Do You Train?

By Steve Goss

I am always interested in peoples' motivation to train in martial arts in general, and, in particular, Uechi-ryu karate.

In another set of forums that I am sure many have seen, if not participated in, I get a sense of different approaches and reasons for training. Of course, that is the natural state of the issue but, in some cases, I have viewed posts that suggest traditional martial arts "don't work", or, rather, there is a suggestion that the level of violence that is a potential in all of our everyday lives cannot be met effectively with "traditional martial arts".

So I ask myself, "Do people train in order to deal effectively with a home invader? To counter an inebriated attacker? Do people train with the intention of becoming the Superman (not in Nietzche's description, of course)?

I think we all arrive in a dojo for specific reasons, but, for those of us who stay, those reasons change. I know mine has.

So, have you ever stopped to ask yourself (surely you have, especially with a discipline such as Uechiu-ryu), why do I train?