Martial Arts Blog 2. starting your journey

After my first Post about looking for a martial arts scool, I decidet to make a series about this topic lets see where it goes:)

So you found your school and decided to start your jurney as a martial artist.
Congratulations:) your journey starts now and I hope I can help you to get started, here a few rules you should follow:

1. Hygiene
   Most martial arts are trained barefoot, in some you wear shoes, but in all of them you’re gonna sweat.
   So be a collegue and shower, or at verry least wash your feet before entering the trainingroom. Remember when you train you’re going to be close to other students and trainers. It’s simply disrespectfull to expect them to work with you when you stink. Also the trainers will not accept it, so let this be told you from me, instead of going through the embarrassment of being told to shower or being sent out by your trainer.

2. Attitude.
   Your personal attitude has lost absolutely nothing in training.
   Nobody cares where you came from, what you did before, what your religion is or if you’re a vegan.
   Otherwhise people will ask. So please be respectfull to your co-students, train with them and let them train. There is enough time to talk after the training.

3. Respect the culture and the traditions.

In every martial arts there are various different traditions and cultural backgrownd, which you should proudly learn and follow. If you don’t respect those traditions and refuse to follow them, there is no point in following this art.

Heres a little story I observed myself when I trained Karate.
Before every training we would knee down and meditate for a few minutes before bowing on oure knees.
We had a new student with a muslim backgrownd who strictly refused to bow because (as he told) it was against his religion to bow infront of somthing else then mekka and allah.
We did have a blackbelt student, with a muslim backgrownd, who took him aside and patiently explained him the reasons why we bow, that Mohamed aswell as our master was a teacher and we owe him respect for sharing his knowledge with us.
The kid understood and apologised by going on his knees and bowing.
Now he is a blackbelt himself and btw a good frend of mine:)

What im trying to say with this is not to reject a tradition because you think it’s against somthing you believe in.
There are reasons why these traditions are here so please be open mindet and ask for more background details if you’re not sure what they are good for.

1. Dont try to show off.
   Wen you start with a martial art you might feel the urge to prove yourself.
   Don’t!
   Older students which train with you already know that they can punch kick or strike harder than you do.
   There is a reason why you’re told to work slowly amd softly at the beginning.
   The reason is precision.
   I know it’s frustrating at the beginning.
   This is a problem I had myself as a beginner.
   I wantet to show how good I am and ended up hurting my colleges - one of them broke the nose because I missed a strike.
   This bothers me until today, as this mistake can’t be undone.
   So please learn out of my mistakes.
   Allow your co-students and teachers to train you their way. Never forget there will be much people which will try to show off but always keep in mind, that you don’t belong to that kind of people.

2. Respect the Master.
   When a master comes and shows you something: Be quiet - Listen!
   And don’t start to argue with him!
   Dont say phrases like... „but wouldn’t it be more effective wen“....
   Trust me he has so much knowledge, he knows what is best for you.
   There’s always a reason why he didn’t show you yet.
   Its not about performing techniques, but about understanding them.
   A moment you train with a master is always a moment you will learn, if you allow yourself to carefully listen and understand.
   So please don’t ruin it by arguing and always respect him by thanking him for his time.
   Remember he chose to come to you and show you something - be thankful.
   He could have choosen someone else instead;)

So
I think I got my little beginners guide together. Feel free to leave an upvote if you liked it and I will leave the link to my first post (how to find your martial arts school) down bellow.

If you think I forgot a topic you found important or totally disagree with my opinion feel free to leave a comment down bellow and lets discuss about it.

I hope to see you soon back on my channel! Thanks for taking the time to read my content.
Cheers my friends!

Ps: here's the Link to the first part of the series :) enjoy !

https://steemit.com/martialarts/@thestreuner/looking-for-your-martial-art-school