I had a discussion not to long ago with a few black belts (all different styles one TKD, another Shotokan, some others) about learning from books and videos. They all said that you can not learn a martial art from a book or video, i of course, disagreed, but didn’t really make enough point to make them think otherwise… but now i was wondering what do you guys think ? My point to the discussion is this, are we stupid ? are we not the most intelligent mammal we know of? we are quite capable of learning anything from a book or video, especially if your dedicated and willing, of course it doesn’t hurt to have a few private lessons on proper form of the basic techniques, but that too can be learned from a book, you can pretty much tell if your doing something proper if it has a natural feel, and you feel strong and stable… plus, if you have visual aids in the books(which are most definitely needed if learning from a book) and you have a body size mirror, you can easily correct yourself… what do you all think?
Re: Books & Videos
You can’t learn a martial art from a video or book. However, if you already are studying one and have access to good training resources, a work by a respectable author could help supplement what you learn in class.Nevertheless, most of the time what a video will teach you is not a solid, high-percentage basic technique ( the most important ones) but more like a “bag with a few tricks in it”. The stuff that will stick with you and work under pressure is the simple stuff you drill over and over again.
Re: Books & Videos
IMHO, you cannot learn a martial art from a book or video alone. While we MAY be the smartest mammals we know, we are also the laziest. If someone is only learning from a book or video, it would quite easy to not push as hard as needed to properly train to learn a technique the right way. “Oh, it’s good enough” will be running through the person’s head once they feel that have sweated enough.Secondly, just because a move feels comfortable and natural does not mean it is being done correctly. We all know people with varying degrees of flexibility (I for one am not flexible at all). I cannot do a sidekick without turning my base foot, which is good, since that’s the correct way to do the move. However, I’ve trained with people who can kick and leave the base foot pointing straight ahead. That kick is wrong. W/o someone to correct them, they may never get the move correct. And speaking about feeling natural, I’ll be honest, when I started training, NOTHING I did felt natural. They do now, but that’s only after years of training.
Lastly, by saying “of course it doesn’t hurt to have a few private lessons on proper form of the basic techniques” you undermine yourself. You say “we CAN learn from a book or video alone” and then in the next breath contradict yourself.
Re: Books & Videos
True, I did contradict myself, but not in a true contradiction type of way. I say of course it doesn’t hurt to have a few lessons, that’s because of the fact that we are lazy… and on you saying that, someone with enough dedication, willing to spend hours, and correct themselves (by using a full body mirror) and a correct resource of the form, I believe can learn a martial art. Also.. on saying you felt uncomfortable at first, and only after years of training it felt natural, well… when I first started, everything felt natural, if it takes years of training to make something feel natural, then there is something wrong.
Re: Books & Videos
“if it takes years of training to make something feel natural, then there’s something wrong.”Very true.
About the subject at hand, I agree that a martial art can be learned from books and/or videos, however, applying the art in an actual fight can only be learned through experience.
Tags: books, Karate, Learning, teaching, videos
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