Why do we continue to practice martial arts after black belt?
I have had this conversation with students, teachers, and colleagues about why we continue to practice a given martial art long after we have obtained proficient skill to achieve our initial goals of training. The initial goals of training are also diverse but common initial reasons are exercise, self defense confidence, and a desire to compete.
While there is no full proof self defense system of study, I feel our students have a fairly significant reliable automatic self defense system after only 100 hours or so of study which is not even shodan level. So it seems self defense is not a great long term option (although some refresher time probably does make the system more reliable). If for exercise, it seems the more I practice the less exercise I receive, since I teach more, expend less effort as my skill level rises compared to those I am working with. At a certain age (I have reached it) competition does not seem to drive training due to conflicting responsibilities, consequences of injury, and less desire to prove ability. Martial arts training as a longterm pursuit costs money, time, a real possibility of injury, often long travel distances to find quality training and a lack of understanding or what you are doing by your friends and sometimes family; so why continue to train?
For me, I still get an excited rush when a throw happens effortlessly, no strength, effective, eloquent technique where uke gets up with a smile because uke recognized the technique as special. This is one of the main reason I continue to train. More and more, I see these special moments occur between people I have taught and those moments are special also.
I still have goals that I want to achieve from both a technical and strategical vantage point so I constantly have something to work toward.
I still get some exercise although I now supplement it with other workout in the gym. I enjoy this exercise more than more traditional sporting endeavors such as running, basketball, or swimming.
I have made friends in martial arts training that span quite a large background in terms of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religious outlooks, political views yet they all have respect for others training with a goal toward perfection of the whole person. Most of these people I would never be exposed to if I stayed within my circle of professional and school friends. I have met some wonderful people and continue to meet wonderful people every time I have a new class on the mat or go to a new seminar.
I have heard various answers from practitioners of many different arts. Ultimately, it does not matter as whichever reason brings you to the mat night after night is a valid reason for you. So why do you still train?