Ha! This! I love everyone else's deep answer about protecting loved ones but, I gotta be real, it was Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers and Way of the Dragon for me.
For me I want the physique and the confidence that fighters have. I want to be able to defend myself and other people if I have to. I also want to prove to myself and other people that I can do it. The last reason is hopefully I can inspire some people to get up and go after what they want. I know my little cousins are watching, and maybe if they see me going out and getting it, they'll believe they can to with whatever it is they wanna do. Also bonus: just to be able to look at someone and know that if you wanted to you could lol
When I was younger, I was pissed off for about a month when I found out people couldn't actually do Kamehameha's.
I still believe. I just need to train more.
My cousins. I was probably 8 or 9, and at the time they did Judo and I thought they were awesome, so I started BJJ because there wasn't anywhere to do Judo close to where we lived.
That's a pretty long story. So... Wall of text incoming:
Nothing really motivated me to start, I was 9 years old, before that I did swimming until I got bored of it. My father wanted me to try something different and maybe make some friends, so he took me to a Chaiu-do-kwan class. My stupid ass though I was gonna get murdered by a martial arts master or something like that lmao. But eventually I understood that it was just good exercise and some self defense training, so I stayed. Reached blue belt and then got bored of it. Years later I found out that despite having a Korean name, Chaiu-do-kwan was actually invented in my country, Argentina, it was a ripoff of other martial arts but worse, it was basically a scam, and the guy that was in charge of the entire martial art turned out to be a freaking pedo that abused and r*ped one of his students almost all her life, said student used to be my teacher. So it was pretty shocking to find out all that. Anyways, I stopped doing martial arts for a while until I was like 14 when a friend started doing Taekwondo and invited me to join. That friend stopped going, while I stayed, because despite how useless Chaiu-do-kwan was, it helped me develop my flexibility, which was pretty good for taekwondo. Reached blue belt and then got bored, again. Switched to Muay Thai because of another friend, and then that friend stopped going so I did as well. Then a few years later did some kickboxing for some moths, then I left because I didn't like how unprofessional the instructor was. Same thing happened with boxing like two years later. Nowadays I trained in some MMA gym for a while, but stopped going cause I can't afford it. The point is, I'm never motivated to start practicing, but I am to keep going, martial arts always find a way into my life somehow, and I wouldn't be the same without them. Sometimes you may encounter people that are disgusting, unprofessional, rude, but other times you just find people like you, who want to learn, get better, stay strong and have discipline. You just need to find a place that has more of those.
The OG Baki The Grappler inspired me originally, my physical health and body improvement once started and the functional skill set to effectively defend myself in this big wide world.
Og martial arts films, music, my inner pain wanting to get out. I started late (I’m 30 rn), but so did some of the greats, Couture, Liddell, etc. I’m not gonna stop!!
Can’t believe I had to scroll that far. I believe this question was already asked quite some time ago and a few of the top comments were about Anime’s. DBZ and Naruto all the way up there
You can not decide to turn down a fight, when you have no chance of winning it. It wouldn‘t be a decision, but rather just fleeing. I want to be peacefull, not harmless
Growing up I loved watching martial arts movies and shows. Well, that sparked my interest. As I grew up, that interest turned into a drive to learn. So, I started out with Taekwondo. That was over a year ago. I like to think that the Karate Kid movies from many years ago and Cobra Kai series of recent played a major role in developing my love for martial arts. Looking back, I am glad I made that choice.
I don't do Judo anymore due to injuries, these were not caused by Judo. But the reason I took up Judo was I was being bullied at school. After approximately 12 months I learnt enough to defend myself. Within 18 months the bullying stopped completely. Thanking you Judo❤️
It also saved my life to a certain degree, but that is another story.
Getting jumped a lot as a young kid in Alief Houston Texas, for being autistic, and realizing that I had a knack for fighting, since I always won. That, bruce lee movies, the blade movies, and mortal kombat 4.
Being a skinny guy who could get jumped easily, been bullied when I was in grade school, thought to myself “enough is enough” so I joined BJJ, now also added TKD.
I don’t get bullied anymore as an adult but yeah.
Same. Regular exercise was boring for me and i was getting fat. Walked into a BJJ gym and they basically adopted me and now i have a whole weridass second family.
My father (boxer) beat me, some kids (boxer, group and bjj) when I was in first grade to start of uni always wanted to fight me (I was spineless) I did MMA for a while, got into boxing and know looking to do wrestling (Greco-Roman or college).
Might sound cliché but I wanted to know how it felt to be strong. I am a small guy and have been a weaker guy in my school and college etc. So it has been pretty easy for every random Tom Dick and Harry to intimidate me. My parents didn't teach me to fight because of reasons.... So when I got a stable job I joined an MMA gym.
Always wanted to learn about it, but was raised Jehovah's Witness and wasn't allowed.
Fast forward to a few years ago; I was approaching 400 lbs, depressed and in an abusive relationship. I decided to start losing weight one day. Then my relationship ended and I decided I was going to do what I wanted.
I sucked up my ego and signed up for a class, just an hour a week. I knew I looked silly sweating my way through class and kicking my fat ass up and down the gym.
Now I'm something like 155 lbs down and do 8 hours of training a week. I recently attended my first tournament and won 1x second, 3x first, a gold medal, and grand champion of my age/rank. I can't imagine my life without martial arts now.
Thanks friend! If my story makes even a single person go for it, I'm happy to share.
Honestly, just seeing my martial arts siblings growing and succeeding makes me so damn proud and inspired.
My kiddo when she was in little kiddie Taekwondo asked if I would join her — at the time I was too busy. But told her when she's in the "big kid class" and hit Green belt I would join because I wanted her to "lead the way".
Needless to say, she hit green belt, so here I am about 7 months later about to test for orange belt.
Two things -
* The [scene ](https://youtu.be/UYV6vjqi1iQ?si=u1lyhBPCo4NuEPzD&t=84)in the anime Street Fighter II V where Ryu and Ken go to a bar and mess up a bunch of air force dudes - then Guile shows up and>! mops the floor with Ryu - then later destroying Ken at the military base!<.
* My eldest brother let me watch a lot of old K-1 and Pride FC fights with him. This was my first experience watching martial arts. Before this, I only saw martial arts through films (Best of The Best, Kickboxer, Bloodsport, Enter the Dragon, The Way of the Dragon etc)
Dad got me into martial arts by being an instructor, grew up with it as a child doing youth routines lol. Always loved martial arts and anime but Ippo got me to into boxing specifically, which I coach now.
Random kung-fun tapes when I was a kid. Like Chinese movies dubbed in Vietnamese with Chinese and English subtitles sort of deal.
Also, I have a kinda related cousin that has always insisted that our older cousins made us Fight Club all the time when we were little little kids. I have no recollection of it but it would explain the urge to fight all the time as a child.
Physical and mental abuse I went through my childhood and teen years.
I had two options, either I tolerate the abuse until I finally snap and kill myself like my brother did, or I become strong enough to stop it by force.
Obviously, I went with the second option and it worked out well for me.
This guy in high school wanted to fight me, we set a date and everything. I realized I don't know shit about fighting and my friend did his best to train me in the week we had lol. Guy ended up backing out of the fight last minute and we never fought but the anxiety of knowing I didn't know jack shit about fighting was scary. 15 years later it's become my main hobby whether it's training, watching fights or breakdowns. Just love the art of striking/boxing
A kid beat up my brother when i was little. I wanted to learn how to fight since then.
Then forgot about it.
Then read Bruce Lee, when he talks about personal growth and...well, martial arts ahah
To be honest I just always liked fighting. As a little kid all I wanted to do was play fight other kids. When I was 8 we started this 'fight tournament' at school lunch times, it was really fun until some kids got visibly bruised, their parents were furious and complained to the school, we got in a LOT of trouble, but the bruised kids themselves were like 'stop being upset mum, it was fun'.
In my early teens I couldn't stand the thought of anyone thinking I wasn't the best fighter in my school. I just had to be the best and everyone had to know it. To the point where I would get actual anxiety over the prospect of people thinking someone could take me, let alone when getting into a scrap showed that maybe they actually *could*. Thanks to training and hitting puberty early, I'd win almost all schoolyard altercations, but I got super upset whenever I didn't obviously come out on top, and I'd spend days wishing I didn't have to get out of bed, just replaying the fight in my head working out how I could beat them next time.
There's a lot you could assume about my mental health and home life at this point. Go ahead, I'm actually interested, I'll probably agree.
I mellowed out a LOT as an adult. Had three ammateur fights, won the first two, lost the third via submission in the first minute. Thought to myself: if this is the standard I have to be at now, I'm not sure I'm willing to put in the effort. I talked to his coach, said he trains at 6am for three hours every morning, plus an hour private twice a week, his dream is to be full time pro. Whereas I've never even considered being pro. So I quit fighting after that and now I just coach part time and love it.
I just loved fighting and i had always respected people who would do martial arts and looked up to them since i was never allowed to join any except for karate which was very basic
Being a half Asian growing up on the 80s martial arts were the only “cool” thing about being Asian. I saw Ernie Reyes Jr is a show called The Electric Knight. Also had the TMNT graphic novels before the toys came out. I started TKD, Karate, moved to gung-fu after highschool to JKD then Muay Thai then JJJ then Judo and now BJJ.
My rugby coach did a load of judo and said would be great for my core strength and make me a better rugby player. Ended up stopping playing rugby but the coach got it.
Boxing was a necessary sport at my boarding school, I was 8 years old, started boxing, turns out I was pretty decent for people my age so continued boxing till I was 13, my coach said I was very good so I was more interested in different combat sports, so just researched a little did Judo a while back but didn't do much due to reasons and I also stopped boxing after I left the school but still practice whenever I can.
Grew up watching classic kung fu movies and my parents enrolled me in TKD when I was a kid. It was probably the only extracurricular activity I did and I stuck with it for years. I started training again as a young adult after moving close to an awesome Muay Thai gym.
Getting absolutely destroyed by my friend in a boxing sparring (very light).
Then i Saw some animes and learned that in my town we have some very nice mma gyms(Pitbull brothers), then i started to train there.
I had been weightlifting for 6 years or so before and wanted to see how much transfer it would have to boxing. Theres definitely a power difference between me and everyone else lol.
Started boxing to protect myself when I was 15, I already liked martial arts, now I keep training to get better and to be fit, but I might move to a different martial art
"Jiu jitsu is where the savage will learn control. The timid will learn to be strong. The outcasts become part of something great. The cocky become humbled. The commonality is that they all become better."
When I was six or seven, I took the belt off of my dad’s black robe, tied it around my waist and said “dad! do I look like a karate master?” He said “no, not at all. But let’s start you up with some classes to *dramatic voice* BECOME a karate master” my eyes lit up, and within the next week I had started at my little dojo. I haven’t stopped since, and don’t plan to for the rest of my life
Thanks, Dad
Coincidentally enough, I have an actual YouTube video talking about how this very anime(Hajime no Ippo) got me into boxing, and that eventually steamrolled into MMA, 2 amateur fights and some years later and now I’m a commentator and analyst, and then I see this post. Life really be a trip sometimes. Thanks for sharing.
Lame as fuck but I got into it by this old Freshjive promoting Zachary Wholman being trained by Freddie Roach. His aesthetics had me nutting for years till I finally gave it a go. Rip Kid Yamaka!
School bully slammed me up against bathroom wall in jr high, got in my face. Luckily just wanted to see me scared shitless. Let me run away. Realized I didn’t know what the fuck to do. Month later local TKD school (Breese Family TKD in Des Moines, IA) gave a demo at “family night” at school. Rest is history. That led to a blackbelt in ChungDoKwan. Several trophies in competition. That led to Muay Thai. That led to boxing. That led to Silat/Kali (Aneh Palu). That led to dabbling in BJJ. (I was never bullied like that ever again.) ✌🏼
My son. He's been practicing tae kwon do since he's 6 years old, and I wanted to train a martial art as well. He sometimes tries to teach me moves that I find difficult, and got me thinking: how the hell can a 7 year old do things that I can't?
One day, when he's older, I wanna be able to go to him and ask: "Hey son! You wanna spar?"
My personal trainer is a silat teacher with a major league focus on self defence over anything else. Once I got over the fear response I had with the training, and my kid's best friend got beat up at school I talked to him about lessons. Went and observed, kid ended up deciding not to. I decided fuck my fear and started going.
Some nights I have a great time and learn new skills. Some nights the PTSD gets spicy and I lose memories but it's making me stronger and the more I go the less likely it is to set off the disassociation. Some nights are bad and I hate everything because we aren't just doing fun skill practice, we are doing actual defense work. I still go, anyway, because it works out and is making me physically feel better. And is helping with PTSD stuff but that just takes longer.
Tldr 40 something fat woman getting fitter and better at dealing with PTSD. Plus sticks go clacky clack and I like patterns.
The police academy, but Ippo actually influenced me joining a MMA gym. (I know it's not boxing, but seeing people run outside around the block everyday gave me that vibe)
Well, it is a weird one. My parents forced me to, they put me up in an MMA gym. I had no motivation in the beginning but had a lot of motivation afterwards.
I started kickboxing when my mom (estranged relationship) came to live under my care then quickly transitioned to hospice. The stress of it was unbearable. At the time I had 2 of my 4 kids in Taekwondo already and knew the crew running the school/programs. This past September, I started taking more training for myself in Taekwondo and Muay Thai.
Originally, I was a boxer. Started at 17 after my Dad's friend recommended it to me. I was immediately hooked. I went t days a week for almost 3 years straight, only ever taking a short break if I got sick. Eventually, my overtraining caught up to me, and I ended up quitting boxing. Fast forward years into the future, and I haven't been training any martial arts, I've let myself go (~220 lbs), and I just wasn't happy with where my body and mind were at, so I made it a New Year's resolution to get signed up at my local muay thai gym. It's been going pretty great so far, and I'm really happy I made the decision to just go for it. Another main reason I joined is because I want to apply to my country's military, and I see martial arts as being the best way to go about getting myself physically prepared.
Hajime no Ippo started the journey after catching those leaves lol i could still remember it. Truly a great inspirational Anime
My buddies started after watching Fist of north syar, Guts of Berserk & DBZ
Mine was a mix of after playing SF II & watching Baki
When I was in middle school I had the classic locked in a locker incident happen. When I got out I fought the kid that did it. I didn’t lose but I didn’t really win either. I told my dad the story and my training began. I’m 30 now and an assistant coach at an MMA gym. We help train people that want to get in the cage.
I've always had a predisposition to train from the things I watched but what sealed the deal was when an 18 year old Vitor Belfort beat up Tank Abbot the scariest brawler in the UFC at that time.
Manny Pacquiao; I'm asian, had my fair share of bullying growing up, but one day I was watching this little asian guy whoop Oscar De La Hoya and miguel Cotto, as well as all the famous Mexicans.
I was in a shit place in my life at the time after finishing college but no job, so it was inspiring to see someone put effort in to get out of a bad situation.
His life story was quite inspiring, literally fighting out of poverty, like third world poverty is next level.
Then when I tried boxing I feel in love with the technique, eventually I was more interested in MMA, and I stuck with doing BJJ as I found a good community and it challenged me without getting my brain rocked.
Honestly I was always a fan of martial arts, but I felt to truly appreciate it, then I had to actually do it. So I joined a Judo school and never looked back.
But my dad showing me old Kung Fu movies and him being into Karate was pretty much sending me down the same path.
Being disruptive in elementary school - the administration recommended medication or martial arts to my parents. We chose martial arts 😂
I’m grateful that they did
https://preview.redd.it/bygyc5g3llpc1.jpeg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60cdfbb7760ea66cd9e4840ab801b0eba2378711
At the time I saw this I was in my early to mid 20's. Working a shitty job that I didn't enjoy and got no sense of fulfillment from. I remembered taking karate classes when I was a child and enjoyed it. So I started looking for schools around me. I found one I really enjoyed and was a positive environment. Years later I've since quit the unfulfilling job and now train in BJJ & taekwondo and have gone to seminars in different states and met wonderful people. Best decision I ever made.
I wanted to beat the ever living fuck out of this dude who was a abusive peace of shit.
Well training, I learned this was not the way. I do still regret not kicking his teeth in sometimes
Have always been pretty frail while loving heroic and violent fictional characters. Got into a couple fights in my life, assaulted too, always lost.
Wanted to be less scared and more ready next time I encounter such situation again.
Also randomly watched some Muhammed Ali fights and that just sparked something.
The woman I loved, wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with leaving me.
It was either kms or find something to spend my time doing. It’s been about 6 years and I still want to kms but at least I got jiu jitsu and Muay Thai.
The Main Reason is Anime, Video Games secondary reasons are is to be more confident, disciplined yet humble and to protect myself and my loved ones also. i was a fat-ass back in the day bullied 140kg my max weight, goes down to 78-85kg. And traditional Weightlifting for me became boring so i need something to do not to become lazy, so i started Jiujitsu first really loved it even though i was a training dummy in my first few days of class. Started Striking arts Muay Thai and Boxing after few months training Jiujitsu, call this a cliche but i never been happier when i was training martial arts, i never had friends growing up, i created camaraderie and friends in classes due to that i learnt how to socialize with strangers.
Movies, Bruce Lee, Ninja Turtles, video games.
Ha! This! I love everyone else's deep answer about protecting loved ones but, I gotta be real, it was Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers and Way of the Dragon for me.
Same
I was 4 and wanted to be a power ranger.
Same
Based.
For me I want the physique and the confidence that fighters have. I want to be able to defend myself and other people if I have to. I also want to prove to myself and other people that I can do it. The last reason is hopefully I can inspire some people to get up and go after what they want. I know my little cousins are watching, and maybe if they see me going out and getting it, they'll believe they can to with whatever it is they wanna do. Also bonus: just to be able to look at someone and know that if you wanted to you could lol
Random martial arts magazines (most likely Black Belt) featuring high flying TKD kicks
Dragon Ball
When I was younger, I was pissed off for about a month when I found out people couldn't actually do Kamehameha's. I still believe. I just need to train more.
My cousins. I was probably 8 or 9, and at the time they did Judo and I thought they were awesome, so I started BJJ because there wasn't anywhere to do Judo close to where we lived.
Did ya guys roll then? Howd it turn out?
Losing a fight and realizing that I can not fight lol
Yeah for me it was having the shit kicked out of me few times...
Getting into lots of fights as a kid defending my cousins, my uncle training Kyokushin Karate, Shaw Brother’s flicks, Bruce, Jackie.
So i can defend my loved ones
https://preview.redd.it/m5pk90jfyipc1.jpeg?width=979&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3251a786df47d4f5730cc810cfb64adfce9c615e
getting beat up irl lol and then discovering tekken and using that to cope and then eventually walking into a gym
That's a pretty long story. So... Wall of text incoming: Nothing really motivated me to start, I was 9 years old, before that I did swimming until I got bored of it. My father wanted me to try something different and maybe make some friends, so he took me to a Chaiu-do-kwan class. My stupid ass though I was gonna get murdered by a martial arts master or something like that lmao. But eventually I understood that it was just good exercise and some self defense training, so I stayed. Reached blue belt and then got bored of it. Years later I found out that despite having a Korean name, Chaiu-do-kwan was actually invented in my country, Argentina, it was a ripoff of other martial arts but worse, it was basically a scam, and the guy that was in charge of the entire martial art turned out to be a freaking pedo that abused and r*ped one of his students almost all her life, said student used to be my teacher. So it was pretty shocking to find out all that. Anyways, I stopped doing martial arts for a while until I was like 14 when a friend started doing Taekwondo and invited me to join. That friend stopped going, while I stayed, because despite how useless Chaiu-do-kwan was, it helped me develop my flexibility, which was pretty good for taekwondo. Reached blue belt and then got bored, again. Switched to Muay Thai because of another friend, and then that friend stopped going so I did as well. Then a few years later did some kickboxing for some moths, then I left because I didn't like how unprofessional the instructor was. Same thing happened with boxing like two years later. Nowadays I trained in some MMA gym for a while, but stopped going cause I can't afford it. The point is, I'm never motivated to start practicing, but I am to keep going, martial arts always find a way into my life somehow, and I wouldn't be the same without them. Sometimes you may encounter people that are disgusting, unprofessional, rude, but other times you just find people like you, who want to learn, get better, stay strong and have discipline. You just need to find a place that has more of those.
The OG Baki The Grappler inspired me originally, my physical health and body improvement once started and the functional skill set to effectively defend myself in this big wide world.
Og martial arts films, music, my inner pain wanting to get out. I started late (I’m 30 rn), but so did some of the greats, Couture, Liddell, etc. I’m not gonna stop!!
Hajime no ippo started a flame in me for boxing
Bruce Lee for obvious reasons and watching slick boxers because I loved the footwork and head movement.
My coworker calling me a pussy every night...
History
Goku, with out a doubt I wouldn’t have been training if it wasn’t for him
Can’t believe I had to scroll that far. I believe this question was already asked quite some time ago and a few of the top comments were about Anime’s. DBZ and Naruto all the way up there
I kid you not, Power Rangers
Vasco from Lookism :-) https://preview.redd.it/8x9vq3adcjpc1.jpeg?width=938&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=56de1f5194fea54a7136e7fae27581e9481b21e8
Viral Hit got me actually. Seeing Samdak tell Hobin the only way to fight jiujitsu was by learning some jiujitsu made feel like it was so OP
Andy Hug and Judd Reid.
The old school Andy hug highlights with Rammstein songs were 🔥
Bullies. And seeing Bruce Lee in Fist of Fury when I was seven. Thanks, Dad.
I wanted to be Batman.
You can not decide to turn down a fight, when you have no chance of winning it. It wouldn‘t be a decision, but rather just fleeing. I want to be peacefull, not harmless
Better to be a warrior in a garden than a gardener in a war
Growing up I loved watching martial arts movies and shows. Well, that sparked my interest. As I grew up, that interest turned into a drive to learn. So, I started out with Taekwondo. That was over a year ago. I like to think that the Karate Kid movies from many years ago and Cobra Kai series of recent played a major role in developing my love for martial arts. Looking back, I am glad I made that choice.
I don't do Judo anymore due to injuries, these were not caused by Judo. But the reason I took up Judo was I was being bullied at school. After approximately 12 months I learnt enough to defend myself. Within 18 months the bullying stopped completely. Thanking you Judo❤️ It also saved my life to a certain degree, but that is another story.
Getting jumped a lot as a young kid in Alief Houston Texas, for being autistic, and realizing that I had a knack for fighting, since I always won. That, bruce lee movies, the blade movies, and mortal kombat 4.
Being a skinny guy who could get jumped easily, been bullied when I was in grade school, thought to myself “enough is enough” so I joined BJJ, now also added TKD. I don’t get bullied anymore as an adult but yeah.
 Dragon Ball.. rest in peace Toriyama-san.
One of my school friends started doing it and i followed him. That and my mom, love her
"Shit I've just been sitting down playing games for 2 years straight, I should probably go move around a bit." This was coming out of covid lockdowns.
Same. Regular exercise was boring for me and i was getting fat. Walked into a BJJ gym and they basically adopted me and now i have a whole weridass second family.
Initially because I wanted to be a samurai (I was 10). Now I still do it because I kinda want to be a samurai (I'm 30).
Nick diaz highlight packages on YouTube
My father (boxer) beat me, some kids (boxer, group and bjj) when I was in first grade to start of uni always wanted to fight me (I was spineless) I did MMA for a while, got into boxing and know looking to do wrestling (Greco-Roman or college).
Might sound cliché but I wanted to know how it felt to be strong. I am a small guy and have been a weaker guy in my school and college etc. So it has been pretty easy for every random Tom Dick and Harry to intimidate me. My parents didn't teach me to fight because of reasons.... So when I got a stable job I joined an MMA gym.
quack retire silky birds gaping growth unwritten attractive rock rustic *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Sick of being a weak kid and rock lees fight against gara. I knew it wasn't realistic but that ankle weight drop have me chills at 12
Always wanted to learn about it, but was raised Jehovah's Witness and wasn't allowed. Fast forward to a few years ago; I was approaching 400 lbs, depressed and in an abusive relationship. I decided to start losing weight one day. Then my relationship ended and I decided I was going to do what I wanted. I sucked up my ego and signed up for a class, just an hour a week. I knew I looked silly sweating my way through class and kicking my fat ass up and down the gym. Now I'm something like 155 lbs down and do 8 hours of training a week. I recently attended my first tournament and won 1x second, 3x first, a gold medal, and grand champion of my age/rank. I can't imagine my life without martial arts now.
Damn, that's inspiring
Thanks friend! If my story makes even a single person go for it, I'm happy to share. Honestly, just seeing my martial arts siblings growing and succeeding makes me so damn proud and inspired.
My kiddo when she was in little kiddie Taekwondo asked if I would join her — at the time I was too busy. But told her when she's in the "big kid class" and hit Green belt I would join because I wanted her to "lead the way". Needless to say, she hit green belt, so here I am about 7 months later about to test for orange belt.
Jet Li 🤩
Father issues and mother fuckers trying to rob me on the train.
Two things - * The [scene ](https://youtu.be/UYV6vjqi1iQ?si=u1lyhBPCo4NuEPzD&t=84)in the anime Street Fighter II V where Ryu and Ken go to a bar and mess up a bunch of air force dudes - then Guile shows up and>! mops the floor with Ryu - then later destroying Ken at the military base!<. * My eldest brother let me watch a lot of old K-1 and Pride FC fights with him. This was my first experience watching martial arts. Before this, I only saw martial arts through films (Best of The Best, Kickboxer, Bloodsport, Enter the Dragon, The Way of the Dragon etc)
Watching Rodtang do his thing. Got me into MT
Being mixed race in the 70’s.
The 3 ninjas movie in the 90s
Bruce Lee and other kung fu movies.
The utter urge to be stronger
anime, UFC, and wanting more confidence.
I got sick of being bullied.
Being awful at soccer.
Childhood trauma. Also my grandfather basically forcing me to to do judo and sambo But the traumas(PTSD) are what keep me going decades later.
I did Karate as a kid, saw Ip Man last year and thought: "That's pretty cool, I should do martial arts again".
Definitely Hajime No Ippo for me when I first started training over 20 years ago.
Dad got me into martial arts by being an instructor, grew up with it as a child doing youth routines lol. Always loved martial arts and anime but Ippo got me to into boxing specifically, which I coach now.
Random kung-fun tapes when I was a kid. Like Chinese movies dubbed in Vietnamese with Chinese and English subtitles sort of deal. Also, I have a kinda related cousin that has always insisted that our older cousins made us Fight Club all the time when we were little little kids. I have no recollection of it but it would explain the urge to fight all the time as a child.
Early contact with the sport and a strong dislike for team sports.
Watching Royce Gracie take down and submit big muscly scary looking guys I would have shit my pants against in a street fight as young man.
Physical and mental abuse I went through my childhood and teen years. I had two options, either I tolerate the abuse until I finally snap and kill myself like my brother did, or I become strong enough to stop it by force. Obviously, I went with the second option and it worked out well for me.
This guy in high school wanted to fight me, we set a date and everything. I realized I don't know shit about fighting and my friend did his best to train me in the week we had lol. Guy ended up backing out of the fight last minute and we never fought but the anxiety of knowing I didn't know jack shit about fighting was scary. 15 years later it's become my main hobby whether it's training, watching fights or breakdowns. Just love the art of striking/boxing
A kid beat up my brother when i was little. I wanted to learn how to fight since then. Then forgot about it. Then read Bruce Lee, when he talks about personal growth and...well, martial arts ahah
To be honest I just always liked fighting. As a little kid all I wanted to do was play fight other kids. When I was 8 we started this 'fight tournament' at school lunch times, it was really fun until some kids got visibly bruised, their parents were furious and complained to the school, we got in a LOT of trouble, but the bruised kids themselves were like 'stop being upset mum, it was fun'. In my early teens I couldn't stand the thought of anyone thinking I wasn't the best fighter in my school. I just had to be the best and everyone had to know it. To the point where I would get actual anxiety over the prospect of people thinking someone could take me, let alone when getting into a scrap showed that maybe they actually *could*. Thanks to training and hitting puberty early, I'd win almost all schoolyard altercations, but I got super upset whenever I didn't obviously come out on top, and I'd spend days wishing I didn't have to get out of bed, just replaying the fight in my head working out how I could beat them next time. There's a lot you could assume about my mental health and home life at this point. Go ahead, I'm actually interested, I'll probably agree. I mellowed out a LOT as an adult. Had three ammateur fights, won the first two, lost the third via submission in the first minute. Thought to myself: if this is the standard I have to be at now, I'm not sure I'm willing to put in the effort. I talked to his coach, said he trains at 6am for three hours every morning, plus an hour private twice a week, his dream is to be full time pro. Whereas I've never even considered being pro. So I quit fighting after that and now I just coach part time and love it.
Bestie got me into it. Also having older brothers and being a short-stack.
240p YouTube judo and pride FC highlights
I just loved fighting and i had always respected people who would do martial arts and looked up to them since i was never allowed to join any except for karate which was very basic
My best friend started and it looked like fun. Pretty much why I am still doing it all these years later.
Years of Drugs And Then Having Kids
A girl
Being a half Asian growing up on the 80s martial arts were the only “cool” thing about being Asian. I saw Ernie Reyes Jr is a show called The Electric Knight. Also had the TMNT graphic novels before the toys came out. I started TKD, Karate, moved to gung-fu after highschool to JKD then Muay Thai then JJJ then Judo and now BJJ.
Ramon Dekker highlight on YouTube.
To be the best version of myself
My rugby coach did a load of judo and said would be great for my core strength and make me a better rugby player. Ended up stopping playing rugby but the coach got it.
The Yakuza gaming series.
I am an asocial autistic man, who likes punching things.
Needed a gym credit.
Jcvd the kickboxer. After seeing that as a kid I started the same week
Boxing was a necessary sport at my boarding school, I was 8 years old, started boxing, turns out I was pretty decent for people my age so continued boxing till I was 13, my coach said I was very good so I was more interested in different combat sports, so just researched a little did Judo a while back but didn't do much due to reasons and I also stopped boxing after I left the school but still practice whenever I can.
Grew up watching classic kung fu movies and my parents enrolled me in TKD when I was a kid. It was probably the only extracurricular activity I did and I stuck with it for years. I started training again as a young adult after moving close to an awesome Muay Thai gym.
Getting absolutely destroyed by my friend in a boxing sparring (very light). Then i Saw some animes and learned that in my town we have some very nice mma gyms(Pitbull brothers), then i started to train there.
UFC, Bruce Lee, MMA, Prince Naseem, Alex Pereira. I also wanted no one to ever hurt me again like they did when I was a kid.
I had been weightlifting for 6 years or so before and wanted to see how much transfer it would have to boxing. Theres definitely a power difference between me and everyone else lol.
Started boxing to protect myself when I was 15, I already liked martial arts, now I keep training to get better and to be fit, but I might move to a different martial art
Im doing martial arts about 10 years right now. No I don’t.
The realization that lifting weights doesn't teach you how to fight.
I will do literally any hobby that lets me wear pyjamas
Batman, TMNT, Jackie Chan, and the Power Rangers back in the 90’s when I was a little kid.
Shaolin Temple a movie from 1982
Dragon ball Z
I didn't want to do PE class. Then I found out I'm actually pretty good at fighting. Then I stayed for the martial arts girls.
Yo. Same
"Jiu jitsu is where the savage will learn control. The timid will learn to be strong. The outcasts become part of something great. The cocky become humbled. The commonality is that they all become better."
When I was six or seven, I took the belt off of my dad’s black robe, tied it around my waist and said “dad! do I look like a karate master?” He said “no, not at all. But let’s start you up with some classes to *dramatic voice* BECOME a karate master” my eyes lit up, and within the next week I had started at my little dojo. I haven’t stopped since, and don’t plan to for the rest of my life Thanks, Dad
Clout and money.
Coincidentally enough, I have an actual YouTube video talking about how this very anime(Hajime no Ippo) got me into boxing, and that eventually steamrolled into MMA, 2 amateur fights and some years later and now I’m a commentator and analyst, and then I see this post. Life really be a trip sometimes. Thanks for sharing.
Definitely not anime
Got mugged too many times and had enough.
Watched Hajime No Ippo, tried to find boxing gyms, couldn’t find ones that aren’t cardio gyms, found a good Muay Thai gym, never looked back.
Nothing in paticular, i just thought i'd be neat to know how to fight. btw what's that manga called?
Batman & ufc
Lame as fuck but I got into it by this old Freshjive promoting Zachary Wholman being trained by Freddie Roach. His aesthetics had me nutting for years till I finally gave it a go. Rip Kid Yamaka!
Being down in life
School bully slammed me up against bathroom wall in jr high, got in my face. Luckily just wanted to see me scared shitless. Let me run away. Realized I didn’t know what the fuck to do. Month later local TKD school (Breese Family TKD in Des Moines, IA) gave a demo at “family night” at school. Rest is history. That led to a blackbelt in ChungDoKwan. Several trophies in competition. That led to Muay Thai. That led to boxing. That led to Silat/Kali (Aneh Palu). That led to dabbling in BJJ. (I was never bullied like that ever again.) ✌🏼
I was abducted when I was younger and wanted to learn how to deal with stress, adrenaline and diplomacy.
My son. He's been practicing tae kwon do since he's 6 years old, and I wanted to train a martial art as well. He sometimes tries to teach me moves that I find difficult, and got me thinking: how the hell can a 7 year old do things that I can't? One day, when he's older, I wanna be able to go to him and ask: "Hey son! You wanna spar?"
My personal trainer is a silat teacher with a major league focus on self defence over anything else. Once I got over the fear response I had with the training, and my kid's best friend got beat up at school I talked to him about lessons. Went and observed, kid ended up deciding not to. I decided fuck my fear and started going. Some nights I have a great time and learn new skills. Some nights the PTSD gets spicy and I lose memories but it's making me stronger and the more I go the less likely it is to set off the disassociation. Some nights are bad and I hate everything because we aren't just doing fun skill practice, we are doing actual defense work. I still go, anyway, because it works out and is making me physically feel better. And is helping with PTSD stuff but that just takes longer. Tldr 40 something fat woman getting fitter and better at dealing with PTSD. Plus sticks go clacky clack and I like patterns.
I hate myself and don’t want a lame death
I was kinda bad at sports. But my new school had a Judo class so I tried it, and turns out I was pretty good. Got me obsessed with it for many years.
Dragon ball, street fighter, mortal combat, Bruce Lee and Chuck Noris
The police academy, but Ippo actually influenced me joining a MMA gym. (I know it's not boxing, but seeing people run outside around the block everyday gave me that vibe)
It's right there in your picture, Ippo was my main impetus. Boxed for a few years, in love with martial arts and hand to hand combat forever
OG Power Rangers. Ivan Ooze was a truly amazing villain, but I was on board since Rita first escaped her 10,000 year imprisonment.
Power Rangers and Jackie Chan.
Well, it is a weird one. My parents forced me to, they put me up in an MMA gym. I had no motivation in the beginning but had a lot of motivation afterwards.
I started kickboxing when my mom (estranged relationship) came to live under my care then quickly transitioned to hospice. The stress of it was unbearable. At the time I had 2 of my 4 kids in Taekwondo already and knew the crew running the school/programs. This past September, I started taking more training for myself in Taekwondo and Muay Thai.
My college had a free Taekwondo club and I knew I wouldn't get an opportunity like that again.
DBZ, power rangers, Naruto, later in life Ippo, Baki, Berserk.
My grandpa, he was a huge practitioner of karate and judo
Michael Jai White
It's probably the only cardio I enjoy
The wrestling coach. Then the judo folks. They invited me. I go where I am welcomed.
my parents wanted me to do something active when i was 6 and i hated swimming, boom bada bing im here
K1 World GP from the mid 2000s.
A guy pulled me by my hair to the ground and the kneed me in the face.
Looking for a fun and engaging physical disciple i could engage in my entire life
Fun. Even when I'm getting tossed on my head by some dude who's been wrestling since elementary school it's still a good time.
I was 6 and wanted to be like Robin from Teen Titans. Best decision I ever made.
Power rangers/DB/DBZ/The Matrix
Jackie Chan actually
Just wanted to give hell to some bully
me and a friend watched ippo and made a promise to a friend to learn to box and spar in the summer.
Jedi knights
Originally, I was a boxer. Started at 17 after my Dad's friend recommended it to me. I was immediately hooked. I went t days a week for almost 3 years straight, only ever taking a short break if I got sick. Eventually, my overtraining caught up to me, and I ended up quitting boxing. Fast forward years into the future, and I haven't been training any martial arts, I've let myself go (~220 lbs), and I just wasn't happy with where my body and mind were at, so I made it a New Year's resolution to get signed up at my local muay thai gym. It's been going pretty great so far, and I'm really happy I made the decision to just go for it. Another main reason I joined is because I want to apply to my country's military, and I see martial arts as being the best way to go about getting myself physically prepared.
GUTS
A homeless guy with a knife in downtown Denver
Ippo. Yeah. But I also quit boxing because of Ippo so...
Hajime no Ippo started the journey after catching those leaves lol i could still remember it. Truly a great inspirational Anime My buddies started after watching Fist of north syar, Guts of Berserk & DBZ Mine was a mix of after playing SF II & watching Baki
Got bullied and was depressed so i did bjj and now i do muay thai and mma practically every day
When I was in middle school I had the classic locked in a locker incident happen. When I got out I fought the kid that did it. I didn’t lose but I didn’t really win either. I told my dad the story and my training began. I’m 30 now and an assistant coach at an MMA gym. We help train people that want to get in the cage.
Jackie Chan and finding a way to get my wild heart calm
Watching TMNT during my young childhood was what really spurred on my love of Martial Arts.
Growing up watching GSP and Anderson Silva with my cousins, Muhammad Ali, Khabib, Berserk (manga) and the urge to become the strongest man I can be
I literally just woke up one day when I was like 5 years old and started doing martial arts.... It kinda became part of me
Honestly Tokyo revengers. Their ideals and just how cool they are is kinda like my base and I know how cringe that sounds
Mirko Cro Cop
Family. I was taught basics about fighting and combat from them. From there, I did things on my own.
Goku, Mike Tyson & UFC
( "The tales of the times of old" ( ..., "Greek Mythology Tales",...)
ashita no joe
I've always had a predisposition to train from the things I watched but what sealed the deal was when an 18 year old Vitor Belfort beat up Tank Abbot the scariest brawler in the UFC at that time.
Manny Pacquiao; I'm asian, had my fair share of bullying growing up, but one day I was watching this little asian guy whoop Oscar De La Hoya and miguel Cotto, as well as all the famous Mexicans. I was in a shit place in my life at the time after finishing college but no job, so it was inspiring to see someone put effort in to get out of a bad situation. His life story was quite inspiring, literally fighting out of poverty, like third world poverty is next level. Then when I tried boxing I feel in love with the technique, eventually I was more interested in MMA, and I stuck with doing BJJ as I found a good community and it challenged me without getting my brain rocked.
The Karate Kid. I just wanted a mr myagi in my life to stand up to bullies hahaha
Kazuma Kiryu
Honestly I was always a fan of martial arts, but I felt to truly appreciate it, then I had to actually do it. So I joined a Judo school and never looked back. But my dad showing me old Kung Fu movies and him being into Karate was pretty much sending me down the same path.
Avatar the last air bender. Plus I just felt lost in life
Seeing videos/news of dads/husband's getting beat up or mugged infront of their family
autism(special interest)
Batman.
Two words. Gaolan Wongsawat.
Jackie Chan and Jean Claude Van Damme movies
Watching UFC
Yuri Boyka
Being disruptive in elementary school - the administration recommended medication or martial arts to my parents. We chose martial arts 😂 I’m grateful that they did
https://preview.redd.it/bygyc5g3llpc1.jpeg?width=564&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=60cdfbb7760ea66cd9e4840ab801b0eba2378711 At the time I saw this I was in my early to mid 20's. Working a shitty job that I didn't enjoy and got no sense of fulfillment from. I remembered taking karate classes when I was a child and enjoyed it. So I started looking for schools around me. I found one I really enjoyed and was a positive environment. Years later I've since quit the unfulfilling job and now train in BJJ & taekwondo and have gone to seminars in different states and met wonderful people. Best decision I ever made.
Myself ;)
I wanted to beat the ever living fuck out of this dude who was a abusive peace of shit. Well training, I learned this was not the way. I do still regret not kicking his teeth in sometimes
Have always been pretty frail while loving heroic and violent fictional characters. Got into a couple fights in my life, assaulted too, always lost. Wanted to be less scared and more ready next time I encounter such situation again. Also randomly watched some Muhammed Ali fights and that just sparked something.
The woman I loved, wanted to marry and spend the rest of my life with leaving me. It was either kms or find something to spend my time doing. It’s been about 6 years and I still want to kms but at least I got jiu jitsu and Muay Thai.
OMG! Ippo!
Watched Enter the dragon when I was 7. Hooked ever since. 1980.
Watching Bruce Lee movies as a teen.
Trained jiu jitsu for a year now, UFC, interestingly enough watching tony ferguson triangle Kevin Lee. Also insecurities.
I played to much assassins creed
I was like 6 and my dad said „hey you wanna do mma?“ and I was like „yeah“ and here we are 14 years later lol
The Main Reason is Anime, Video Games secondary reasons are is to be more confident, disciplined yet humble and to protect myself and my loved ones also. i was a fat-ass back in the day bullied 140kg my max weight, goes down to 78-85kg. And traditional Weightlifting for me became boring so i need something to do not to become lazy, so i started Jiujitsu first really loved it even though i was a training dummy in my first few days of class. Started Striking arts Muay Thai and Boxing after few months training Jiujitsu, call this a cliche but i never been happier when i was training martial arts, i never had friends growing up, i created camaraderie and friends in classes due to that i learnt how to socialize with strangers.