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Hey, i was wondering if there are any books that someone could suggest that teaches you martial arts. (videos to). wooo...now, calm down. put the lighter and gasoline away and hold off on flaming unti lyou finish reading. I am interested in martial arts (have yet to choose exactly which i will by doing) and i'm wanting to get started. Now, due to a recent experience with a Kenpo school, i'm wary of schools in my area. Non of them teach martial arts in a...how could i put it....correct way. Sparring was non existent in that school i went to and minimal in others. Ok...so maybe they want to deal with the mind side of it instead? nope. no meditation or anything like that. All it was is stand up, they show you a few moves and you practice those few moves over and over and over. Do they ever get put into practical use? Nope. no combos or anything.

So, i am now on a quest to teach myself until i can find a school good enough worth going to. I figure i might not be able to teach the moves as easily as a teacher could but i know i'll be able to teach the patients and mind side better then anyone else around my area. So, i'm just wondering if there are any good books or videos that could help me do this. thank you....and now, if you still feel the need..........LET IT BURN :kaioken:

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The Gracies have a number of good BJJ books.

Mark Hatmaker has great MMA books.

I'd also take a look at centuryfitness.com. They have lots of training DVDs, and some at very low prices.

If it works, use it!

If not, throw it out!

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Hey, i was wondering if there are any books that someone could suggest that teaches you martial arts. (videos to). wooo...now, calm down. put the lighter and gasoline away and hold off on flaming unti lyou finish reading. I am interested in martial arts (have yet to choose exactly which i will by doing) and i'm wanting to get started. Now, due to a recent experience with a Kenpo school, i'm wary of schools in my area. Non of them teach martial arts in a...how could i put it....correct way. Sparring was non existent in that school i went to and minimal in others. Ok...so maybe they want to deal with the mind side of it instead? nope. no meditation or anything like that. All it was is stand up, they show you a few moves and you practice those few moves over and over and over. Do they ever get put into practical use? Nope. no combos or anything.

So, i am now on a quest to teach myself until i can find a school good enough worth going to. I figure i might not be able to teach the moves as easily as a teacher could but i know i'll be able to teach the patients and mind side better then anyone else around my area. So, i'm just wondering if there are any good books or videos that could help me do this. thank you....and now, if you still feel the need..........LET IT BURN :kaioken:

How about telling us where you are (general city/state) and maybe someone can tell you of someone they know of? You may be suprised to learn that many of the best instructors teach in their homes, Rec Centers, YMCAs, etc and not commercial dojos. So you might need to look hard. In my case, I spent over a year looking for the perfect fit before I started trainng.

And as far as learning from a book or video, I think you can learn some things, but you won't come close to learning what you could in a good dojo under a good instructor. And I won't even get into how hard it will be to unlearn bad habits that you teach yourself learning from a book. At the very least, try to find someone to train with who has studied for awhile or is willing to take time with you once in awhile and make sure you're learning good form.

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Well, i'm in Baltimore Maryland

yea, the main thing i'll teach myself i think are katas. that way when i do find a good school, i'll have some of the harder stuff (hopefully) out of the way ; )

also, thanks for the info

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Well, i'm in Baltimore Maryland

yea, the main thing i'll teach myself i think are katas. that way when i do find a good school, i'll have some of the harder stuff (hopefully) out of the way ; )

also, thanks for the info

What part? There is an excellent Uechi black belt in the Baltimore area by the name of Shelly Dunn. He has a fairly small dojo and health club and I think he may still teach at UM Baltimore.

In any case, if you're serious about studying a martial art, he would be an EXCELLENT person to contact and study under.

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Training books and videos are a great supplement to training, not very good for learning new material. I would recommend finding someone to teach you what you want to know. I’ve never been to Baltimore, but I’m sure there are plenty of good schools in the area.

Hey, i was wondering if there are any books that someone could suggest that teaches you martial arts. (videos to). wooo...now, calm down. put the lighter and gasoline away and hold off on flaming unti lyou finish reading. I am interested in martial arts (have yet to choose exactly which i will by doing) and i'm wanting to get started. Now, due to a recent experience with a Kenpo school, i'm wary of schools in my area. Non of them teach martial arts in a...how could i put it....correct way. Sparring was non existent in that school i went to and minimal in others. Ok...so maybe they want to deal with the mind side of it instead? nope. no meditation or anything like that. All it was is stand up, they show you a few moves and you practice those few moves over and over and over. Do they ever get put into practical use? Nope. no combos or anything.

So, i am now on a quest to teach myself until i can find a school good enough worth going to. I figure i might not be able to teach the moves as easily as a teacher could but i know i'll be able to teach the patients and mind side better then anyone else around my area. So, i'm just wondering if there are any good books or videos that could help me do this. thank you....and now, if you still feel the need..........LET IT BURN :kaioken:

These were probably the basics. In any school that you go to, you’ll be doing the basics a lot. No matter what rank you get up to, you’ll always do the basics. Sparring and other “fun stuff” comes only after you have the basics down. Martial Arts are more than sparring, meditation and combos.

If you really want to buy some training books and videos, be careful about what you buy and what you believe. There are a lot of people writing books solely for the money. Proper Martial Arts are to be taught in person, so almost anyone that writes a book for mainstream commercialization is only interested in the profit. This results in “watered down” material. Do some research and find out who’s writing good books. I obviously don’t want to slander anyone, but Ashida Kim is not a Ninja.

If you have no formal physical training, I would stick with books that discuss the theories, philosophies and history of Martial Arts. With that being said, there are a lot of good books that discuss these topics. Some of my favorites are:

Art of War – Sun Tzu

Book of Five Rings – Miyamoto Musashi

Secret Tactics – Kazumi Tabata

Tao of Jeet Kune Do – Bruce Lee

Karate Dojo – Peter Urban

Martial Arts Teaching Tales of Power and Paradox – Pascal Fauliot

For a complete list, see the sticky thread in General Topics

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The Gracies have great books and videos, also Ed Parkers books are great as well, just kinda hard to find.

There is no teacher but the enemy.

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