How many years does it take to become a Martial Arts Master? What a fascinating question. There is an easy answer to this, and it will apply to any art you study, be it taekwondo, aikido, pa kua chang, or whatever.
To get to this simple answer, however, you have to consider a couple of things. Really, you have to toss out the misconceptions people have about the fighting disciplines. If you can get rid of the garbage, the answer is quite easily arrived at.
First, it really matters who you study with. You see, your teacher's history doesn't matter. What matters is whether the sensei you study with actually has the hard core data.
Second, the fellow who teaches you must be able to teach. It is important that he know the real reasons for the katas and such, but he must be able to get that data to you. A martial arts teacher must actually be able to teach.
Third, you must study an art that includes all arts. Well, there goes the ballgame. You see, with very few exceptions, no art includes all arts.
All martial arts have held themselves apart, believing that they are better than the next fellow. This is rather ludicrous, as the most important factor of the fighting disciplines is that a punch is coming, or a throw is about to happen, and everything is grown from those two datum. Using those two datums as your yin and yang, you can actually grow all martial arts, and even translate them into one martial arts system that includes everything.
Fourth you need a superior training concept. Drilling as a group is okay, but only for young children. Somewhere along the line you are going to have to actually learn what is actually occurring when you perform a martial arts technique.
Fifth, and this is one of the crucial yet most neglected of all the factors I have listed, you must understand what you are doing. In most Martial Art Dojos, you see, the students do endless repetitions of the drills, and the belief is that if you drill long enough you will see the reason for what you are doing. Unfortunately, this is why so many people drop out of such arts as Wing Chun, Tai Chi Chuan, or even Ninjitsu.
People don't want to practice blindly, you see. Would you like to sprint through a darkened room filled with thrusting fists, damaging kicks, body slamming throws, and other dangerous things? Nobody would, and that is why so few people complete their training and actually learn Karate, or kung fu, or kenpo, or whatever.
To get to this simple answer, however, you have to consider a couple of things. Really, you have to toss out the misconceptions people have about the fighting disciplines. If you can get rid of the garbage, the answer is quite easily arrived at.
First, it really matters who you study with. You see, your teacher's history doesn't matter. What matters is whether the sensei you study with actually has the hard core data.
Second, the fellow who teaches you must be able to teach. It is important that he know the real reasons for the katas and such, but he must be able to get that data to you. A martial arts teacher must actually be able to teach.
Third, you must study an art that includes all arts. Well, there goes the ballgame. You see, with very few exceptions, no art includes all arts.
All martial arts have held themselves apart, believing that they are better than the next fellow. This is rather ludicrous, as the most important factor of the fighting disciplines is that a punch is coming, or a throw is about to happen, and everything is grown from those two datum. Using those two datums as your yin and yang, you can actually grow all martial arts, and even translate them into one martial arts system that includes everything.
Fourth you need a superior training concept. Drilling as a group is okay, but only for young children. Somewhere along the line you are going to have to actually learn what is actually occurring when you perform a martial arts technique.
Fifth, and this is one of the crucial yet most neglected of all the factors I have listed, you must understand what you are doing. In most Martial Art Dojos, you see, the students do endless repetitions of the drills, and the belief is that if you drill long enough you will see the reason for what you are doing. Unfortunately, this is why so many people drop out of such arts as Wing Chun, Tai Chi Chuan, or even Ninjitsu.
People don't want to practice blindly, you see. Would you like to sprint through a darkened room filled with thrusting fists, damaging kicks, body slamming throws, and other dangerous things? Nobody would, and that is why so few people complete their training and actually learn Karate, or kung fu, or kenpo, or whatever.
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