Martial Arts Annoyances?

Question

I have been doing martial arts for about 11 years now and (whilst enjoying it obviously) there are some annoyances. Here they are ;
1. The Egomaniac's/psychos/sadists:Always trying to hurt everyone no matter what-even the complete begginers.
2. Like the above but get pissed off when they get hurt (be it accidental or not)
3. The 'water tester' begginers who have no intention of staying. So you waste time going iver technices for nothing.
4. The beginers who leave after a few sessions because their not Bruce Lee/UFC standard.
5.UFC/SAS wannabes
6. Females martial artists who try and rely on their gender.
7. Instructors who flirt with female members during the session.
8.Instructors that seem more interested in money.
9. Instructors/students who are fat
10. Instructors.Students who skive out of the strenuous excercises because of 'illness/injur' yet are well enough to spar.
11. Instructors who arrive late or finish class early.

What are your annoyances?

Answer 1

i agree with most of them.

im an overweight kickboxing instructor but im more fit than most of my friends and students. i cycle 12 miles for class 2 a week and to work during the spring/summer time i do aikido 2 a week and wing chun once. my i can do the splits my flexibility is brill. i hardly get ill only a few runny nose when weather gets cold. i do some weight training so i don't look to bad my shoulders are broad so i l can get away with it. i have short power full legs due to biking. but i feel great. if in anyway i felt my training being effected by my weight i would diet.



so don't think all fat people are lazy

Answer 2

1. I was taught in class give as good as you get unless it is someone who made a mistake or is a beginner. Heck the harder they train the better. Just means I get to knock them on their end.

2. Empty barrels make the most noise. Try to tune them out and move on. Apologize profusely.

3. No problem here at least they wont stay and turn into a 1, or 2.

4. Same as 3.

5. Again these guys are fun they can give you a chance to rely up your training sessions a notch.LOL

6. I know it is a shame because they need it the most for self defense.

7. Well cut me a break I'm just a dirty old man a t heart. Talk to the school owner It is bad for business in the long run.

8. Sorry everyone needs to eat.

9. Well perhaps that is why they are training.

10. Cant spar well if they are out of shape. Again have fun knocking them on their but.

11. Hey that is called turbo-flex time. If you come in late you must leave early to make it up.

Wow. you sure do winne a lot. Perhaps you need to come over to our school where every one is perfect.

I wonder what some of the other students have to say about you?

My biggest annoyance is people who lack grace for their fellow students and neighbors. Perhaps you should try to be less critical and more of a encourager to your fellow students. May be you can turn one or two around and that would be lives made better because of you. Wouldn't that be a trip?

Answer 3

1. Instructors/students arriving late. Traffic sucks here, so 5-10 minutes every once in awhile is fine. But we have a guy that is 20-30 minutes late routinely, dude, just don't come then.



2. Bad hygiene- people who don't clean their gear, stink, don't cut their nails ect.



3. Bad partners- when drilling a move, allow the person doing it to complete it. Don't try and fight it, and on the other hand, don't be a fish and offer no resistance.



*I never have had an instructor come off like he is more interested in money, females trying to rely on gender, or people who get pissed when injured. For me, I usually feel fine after class, once my adreneline goes down when I get home I notice the bumps and bruises.



*As for excessive sweating- look, if the instructors are pushing you hard, you are going to sweat it is natural. Guess I don't really care. Don't care about new-bies, UFC wannabees.

Answer 4

While I agree with most of your annoyances I think you are getting annoyed a little too easy.

Water testers. I see no problem with those. You never know until you try. At least those people are trying and not sitting on the sofa just talking about it or worse pretend they already know it yet have no intetion of even trying it. Nothing wrong with water testers as long as they leave when they know it isn't for them rather than disrupt the class by visiting with other students during class and talking. I used to be a water tester. I trained hard and gave it a serious try but never seriously thought I would stick it out but the classes were free so I gave it a shot. I've been at it for 20 years now and nowhere close to being done.

Instructors and/or students who are fat. As long as they are trying hard and train hard and truly give it their best they are welcome in my class. Their efforts can be motivating to the rest of the students who have less obstacles to overcome to try harder. Students who really try are hard to come by. There are also a few exceptions where there are medical reasons so I do not judge those.



My biggest pet peeve and really only one is the ones who come to class never done martial arts but know how to do it up to wanting to teach the senior students and/or instructor. That is disruptive in every way to everybody like nothing else. What you describe are minor annoyances and really do not concern me if I stay focused on my own training and progress. They are the problem of others and I have no intention of making them my problem by getting annoyed.

Answer 5

A proper hierarchy keeps sadists under control or completely eject them from the dojo. That's because the guys at the top actually know what is going on at the bottom and influences it. Rather than some kind of peekaboo inspection checks that people learn to avoid or rig.



I'm not so much annoyed by these human problems, which crop up everywhere in life, as to the fact that I can't communicate smoothly with those who use a training system, you could call it MA if you wish, different from my own. So I tend to have to study up on their vocabulary and perspective before I can even understand what they are talking about.

Answer 6

My question is: what doesn't annoy you?



Martial arts, at their very core, are built on a foundation of hurting people. Pain goes a long way toward making the water-testers, UFC/SAS/Bruce Lee wannabes, etc. go away faster. And to assure you that I'm not just a sadist, I have to encourage people to actually hurt me (to teach them to apply pain – this too weeds out undesirables).



Instructors are teaching for one of three reasons: For their livelihood, for their own training, for the love of the art. A good instructor should be focused on encouraging sacrifice to learn their art (And what's more of a sacrifice than money these days?).



I know a lot of overweight students. They're some of the hardest working students in the class. Most people who eat to excess have emotional reasons underlying their eating. People like you don't help.



Your hygiene complaints tell me something: you're probably in your mid to late 20s, probably suffer from a mild to moderate form of obsessive/compulsive disorder, probably have a bit of ADD/ADHD but find that you focus really well during training. You're worried about your own appearance/hygiene to a fault, and probably have to be in extremely close proximity to your opponents. Your use of "spar" and people leaving after a few sessions probably indicates something like Japanese Jujutsu or Aikido. I'd be curious to know which. You're probably mudansha, but mid-to-upper kyu ranks, or a new shodan. It's rare that people maintain these complaints for long after yudansha.



I myself am a heavy sweater. Always have been. I don't smell (have BO), but my diet is very clean. I occasionally have bad breath when I go to training because I've gone straight from work where my one indulgence (coffee) is a necessity to stay alert.



To answer your question, I only have one annoyance in martial arts:



Whiners.

Answer 7

I personally don't get annoyed as much in martial arts because i just get on with what i am doing and try to ignore it as well as i have been lucky enough to not get a lot of annoyances. I find with the "psychos" just standing up to them in sparring is enough of a cure, the whiners i really do get ignored about when they aren't putting in the team effort by saying "i can't". Even in my new class i had transferred to i have been blessed with this kind of person. I don't really have a prob with water testers if its not for them fair enough, however if they leave because they weren't good when they started then that is a bit of a prob i don't really think about it but im glad they left so they don't get to the "i can't" stage.

Answer 8

I would call them "McDojos" that you may find this sort of conduct in, but "water breaks" during a belt test or a 2hr. class.

The word CANT.

The word can't was classified in our Dojo as a profane word, and you dare not speak profanely in the Dojo.

Answer 9

People who show up all late and dont even try to get on time its like they show up late on purpose.

Other than that I cant really think of anything else that you have already said.

Answer 10

Whiners annoy me. As in people who just keep saying "can't" when they really mean "won't".

Answer 11

itchy cups!!