Learning from books

[3hitKO]

What's everybodys opinions

 

concerning learning MA

 

from books as opposed to being taught by an instructor-

 

Do you get enough information from books and websites?

[cathal]

You can learn some moves, no doubt. But you have to train with an instructor to really "get it".

[ShotokanKid]

Do you get enough information from books and websites?

 

Nope

 

There's a difference between instructors and books. You can learn moves but you wont really learn the art.

[fangshi]

Just before boarding an airplane you notice on the wall that all of the airplane mechanics had gotten their training through a local corespondence school .

 

Would the plane be safe ? Do the mechanics know their craft ? Would you choose another airline ?

 

I think that books and other resources are great ! The exposure to knowledge that is available to us in this day and age is absolutely amazing . I buy just about every well written book I can find on the subject of the martial arts , sometimes I even practise a few of the moves that I see in books but in order to truely know the craft or art proper hands on instruction is needed . A good instructor with knowledge of ALL of the principals of the art (often I find that then books only show a limited veiw of the basics of the art ) , training partners and lots of time .

[username9]

You can't learn a new art from scratch from a book.

 

But you can learn the basics and maybe more in a similar style or art.

 

eg. I have done Ju jitsu for 3 years now and I have learned some submission stuff from a book

 

eg2 (hehe) I have bought a book on Krav Maga and have picked some moves/concepts up because they are similar to Karate that I have studied for about 13 years

[A. Orstrom]

The problem of learning from a book is that it doesn't correct you when you are wrong and that you will run a much greater risk of learning bad habits that will stick.

[stoneheart]

The above comments are true in my experience. I would add that if you are already at instructor level (skill not rank) in one martial art, learning new material from a book or video becomes much more feasible. You cannot expect to become a master in another style learning this way, but you can certainly pick up new techniques and new perspectives that you can add to your existing knowledge base to become more well-rounded as a martial artist.

[aefibird]

I think that books/videos can be a good training tool when used in conjunction with a good instructor.

 

For example, when I first started Aikido I bought myself a book written by an instructor who taught the same style as I was learning. It contained a list of many Aikido techniques, along with photographs and illustrations. I bought the book in order to use it as a reference - when you start a new martial art, there are so many things to learn at once that it can be confusing. That's where a book can help. The Aikido book helped me to remember the names of techniques and to study the finer points of them. Aikido is a difficult art to train in on your own, but when I was reading the book I felt that I was mentally training, even though I couldn't physically train in the techniques without a partner.

 

However, I wouldn't have bought that book had I not been training with a competent instructor - I bought it as as useful addition to having a Sensei, not as a replacement. If I'd tried to learn basic Aikido from a book I would have ended up confused and with a poor knowledge of the style. As it was, the book helped me to progress in Aikido, but only because the techniques I was studying from the book were the same as I had actually been taught.

[3hitKO]

Thanks for all the replies

 

I'm not sure if there was some confusion, but I never meant

 

that I was trying to master an art from a book.

 

I was just wondering if it would be a good way to get some

 

basic information about the style

[greenbelt_girl15]

I think that you can gain basic info from a book and in many cases learn alot, however I also think that to truly gain a proper understanding of the style you have to have an instructor.