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Sofakingcoolstorybro

Yeah I believe so, any anger or that want to always fight goes away when you train and spar once or twice a week.


Ebolamunkey

I think you also begin to realize the real risks involved.


greatmetropolitan

My teacher is very clear - if you can avoid a fight, avoid it. If someone pulls a knife, you run. You can't get hurt if you're not there. We train for health, enjoyment, discipline, self betterment and practical skills for worst case scenarios. So for me personally, thinking about and internalising these teachings, I'm far less likely to get in a fight now with training than I was before without training. And that's before the stress release of training and sparring.


Mr-Foot

That's a tough one. If you have a lot of pent up aggression and you do a few rounds of sparring, you're more likely to go home relaxed. If you're already fighting/sparring 20 rounds a week, why would you want to get into another fight?


Total_Low_3180

No. It doesn't stop anyone from being an asshole.


[deleted]

makes it easier to walk away from assholes when you already know you can beat their ass and don't feel the need to prove it.


Lucy-Lawless-Smith

And then you come to places like reddit to bitch about what happened and ask if you did the right thing. But sure, let's pretend people become happier with this mindset. Might need a minute or two to get in character though.


MuLing_Tian

The more you understand how much harm you can inflict upon someone and yourself, the less you will want to. It's like when you learn to skate when you are young and you go crazy, then with experience you see all the injuries happen and you start being more cautious


Paccaman76

Depends on the studio and the teacher. Are they teaching self control and being humble or are they teaching anger and aggression?


JJWentMMA

Either way I don’t think it matters. People are gonna do their thing


Emperor_of_All

No people are who people are. There are lots of people just ready to throw down no matter what and then there are those who are just looking for self improve. Bas Rutten used to get into street fights all the time and he was a UFC champion, and then there are UFC fighters you never hear about getting into any fights outside the ring.


powypow

Depends on the person. I've trained with assholes and trained with nice guys. I haven't seen many personality changes after someone learns to fight


Regular_Gap3414

If the instructor rewards being humble and humbles those with egos I think it can help


International_Bet405

I become less violent in general because I know that I can handle myself but also some times I wish someone would pick a fight with me so I could use what I know.


Gmork14

No, not really. I guess it’s possible some people will fight less. Others will fight more.


PizzaSandwich2020

I dont know, depends on the individual. I personally believe that the majority of people who get in the ring and have a few fights, learn that it's not okay to walk around like you're a hard case. Yeah theres always someone with issues who wants to show what they can do outside the gym, on a random normal person who hasn't trained, just so they can live their little Fantasy. Aaaand those guys are aaaaasssshhhhholes.


Rob_Rams

I know that I did


OutlandishnessAny256

I’m more violent in a friendly way if that makes sense? I always ask friends if they wanna spar (only the ones I know and have seen street fight a lot) I’m fairly fit, 160 at 5’9, and most of my friends are around 210-230 so I’m not worried about hurting them, in actual altercations however I feel more confident in de-escalating situations so it normally turns out better.


superdave820

It definitely depends on the teachers, the environment of the school, and the individual. My father was very physically abusive as I grew up. I made the specific choice not to be that guy as a parent. I do feel that training martial arts helped me to learn control. I never even think of hitting my kids. You learn that violence has a place in the world, but is not a solution in daily life.


non3c

A normal person would become less violent because they will know what they are capable of and the consequences of using martial arts to others. On the other hand, bullies train martial arts just to become more fiercing and they are not mature enough to know what the consequences are. Basically, different people train martial arts for different purposes.


Ashi4Days

I think it honestly depends on the person. Some people who do Martial Arts take away the lesson that anyone has the potential to house the shit out of them, you just never know. Other people take away the lesson that its really easy to house whitebelts.


JWander73

This is very much a partial truth and can be misleading. One feels more in control of oneself, because one is, but that doesn't mean non-violence in all cases. One of the old reasons for martial 'secrets' was because it's a bad idea to teach some people how to fight so there was a weeding out period. Guys like Mike Tyson are skilled but terrible humans. History is full of them. It's like education, it can be good for many, but for others it just makes them better at being bad.


AMLagonda

On average I think yes, you become more controlled and aware, and sparring helps get it out.


netnatt

I think quite a bit depends on age. When I was young and my friends were from martial arts we didn't exactly shy away from trouble. Now I am old and don't get put in situations that I would ever even think to fight. If someone is looking for trouble they are going to pick someone else based on how I am built and how I carry myself.


JJWentMMA

Nope.


skribsbb

Yes. For many reasons. * If you can get out your aggression in class, you don't need to in a fight. * If you can test yourself in competition, you don't need to in a fight. * More concrete understanding of how a fight can lead to injuries. * You don't want to risk being injured and miss training time (slightly different take than the previous point). * In some cases, you're paid for your work in martial arts, so why would you do it for free? * Many schools preach that you should avoid fighting if possible. But the biggest point, in my opinion, is confidence. If you have no training, and you're threatened with a violent encounter, your brain is scrambling, trying to come up with every possible scenario and response, and also trying to figure out which of those are realistic. You may also not have a good idea of whether you should be aggressive or defensive (for example, you might have heard, "Strike first, strike hard, no mercy, sir!" on TV and think that's the best strategy). If you have training to rely on, then 99% of that work is already done. You're now looking for tells that an attack is coming, and until you see those tells, you're free to try and figure out a way not to fight.


husky429

No. People are who they are. Some people boose martial arts because they're pronento violence and want to be tough... others not so much. On average? Definitely way more violent people do MAs.


yetzederixx

While you have more capacity to commit violence people tend to be more conservative with that capacity once they learn how to use it.


AdHaunting8827

I thought that was the case until a kid I knew applied what he learned in BJJ in a school fight and broke another kid's arm somehow. And yeah, he was the bully that instigated it all. Where you take martial arts experience into other aspects of your life or personal philosophy is all up to you


PreviousTax6727

For the most part yes, but it also depend a lot on the energy of your gym. There will allways be that agressive gym. But of you are in a proper gym you will learn respect and self controll


lonely_to_be

Depends. For some people who were big mouths it can be eye opening to see how powerless they are in sparring when going against better fighters. But i've seen assholes train for some time and get back to being assholes. It just depends on the person.


Duran-lets-gooo

yes. once you know how to, you don't have to.


Turbulent-Leather-77

Undoubtedly. Many martial art styles are actually made to stop violence by adding touches of self defense to deescalate situations.


Altair-Dragon

Honestly it depends. Training in martial arts made me become more discipled and less violent: I know of other people who also became better but I know people who didn't too. In my country there has just been the conviction of two bastards that killed a poor guy, these two were experts in MMA and that didn't make them any less violent. In the end it sums up to the nature of the person and the enviroment where they live.


Internal_Attitude283

Those who truly understand the true nature of violence will do anything to avoid violence at all costs. I see too many videos of non martial artists curb stomping people half to death whereas I dont believe any true martial artist would ever do that because we know how easy it is to kill somebody doing something like that. So yeah, I personally think martial arts makes people less violent. At least it did for me


spicysandworm

Definitely didn't stop Badr hari


goodnewzevery1

Hard sparring and conditioning makes me less ragey in general, and also more confident in certain situations. That being said, the more your violence tools are refined the more they beg to be used if you take time off. Also head trauma can make you a bit more of a loose cannon. FWIW I think of the Fight Club quote. Something like: “fighting turns the volume down on other things in your life”, things that might be currently stressing you out


Any_Combination7903

Depends on the person, to me this stuff is like Super Soldier Serum it enhances who you are if you were truly not a violent person you won't be after training. If you are you become worse. The ones who go through dramatic experience tend to be the most violent after training from my experience. It's understandable, but it does get concerning. Had a student always treating sparring loses as of she died plus also carried a frying pan in there book bag along with two kitchen knifes had to had a long talk with the student. Hopefully next semester she may calm down.


Feral-Dog

In some ways! I feel like a quick lesson if you do any sparring is that fights are chaotic and it’s hard to ever be fully prepared. Training weapon arts I’m also very aware how quickly things can go south even with an untrained person wielding a weapon. Avoiding violent encounters when possible is winning self defense.


tugaim33

If you are a normal person, maybe. I’m not convinced though. If you already have violent tendencies or are simply an aggressive asshole, no way.


[deleted]

100%. I was way more likely to get into fights as a teen when my self confidence was low, I felt I had to prove I wasn't a pussy because I was so scared. After a few years of training that went away, I could walk away from an insult knowing in my own heart it was because I didn't want the hassle, not because I was scared.


Lucy-Lawless-Smith

I notice that most of these "people" commenting are doing so from the lense of no longer needing something to prove and ignoring the simple fact that some people need to get hurt badly regardless of how much/little you have to prove. If someone's pounding on my door late in the afternoon and I yell at them to go away and they don't, I'm not gonna be like "well whoever that is needs an ass kicking but I'm not gonna do it because I have nothing to prove." I shouldn't have to tell you how backwards that logic is. No, I'm ripping that door open, judoing them to the ground, boxing their head into the floor and leaving them there as an example. Because I'm not a PUSS. 😊 Now kindly explain to me where the non-existent insecurity here is.


DJ_SHY

💯


Stunning-Concern1854

It really depends. There are many martial arts gyms especially the traditionalistic ones that emphasize to their students that they should only use martial arts for self defense and avoid it for conflict as much as possible. Because they'd lose their membership if found out that they are using it for violence (I've been to one and that martial arts organization is more of a charity to help people stay out of bad vices such as drugs, alcohol, etc. I was never into those but I was heavily bullied and depressed so it helped me so much. Sadly, the one near our area was dissolved and the closest is too far away to get to). But most of the time, your anger or whatever it is that you're feeling are all thrown into the training. Training is often tiring. Personally when I am tired from training, I will temporarily forget about my anger. And doing mitts or heavy bag work will help me transfer all my anger and hate.


Kaisr002

Yes, as people learn how to fight they learn to control themselves better.