Home study course?....

[de_medici99]

hey all,

I was searching online for different styles of karate, and I came across a home study course for Kenpo. Is this study method even valid? what is kenpo, and can it be taught and advanced with belt ranks all from home? Karate/ MA seems to be a "one on one" instruction art, not something that can be learned from home, but I may be wrong..... any opinions??

[jaymac]

This topic has been brought up alot. kenpo is a mixture of chinese and japanese art. It is IMO a very poor idea to try to only train from DVD. The individuals who promote this are really only in it to make money and do not care who they promote in their style, which gives them a bad name. Kenpo is a pretty cool art. Check it out in a real dojo near you.

[MartialArthur]

These days you can get a home study course for just about anything. Look at all the "make millions in real estate by working from home" videos you can buy from infomercials. Are there really a bunch of millionaires running around who started with this course? Probably not. Just a lot of wannabees. Same thing with the video MA courses. There are no shortcuts.

An instructor must be able to work with you and see your techniques, forms, and sparring to be able to develop and correct you. Only an instructor can evaluate your progress and determine when it is time to start working on new material. We all have a self-image in our mind of how we are doing, and we tend to overlook the flaws. Most of our self-images are inflated. Your instructor brings you back to reality.

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[Fenris-wolf]

These days you can get a home study course for just about anything. Look at all the "make millions in real estate by working from home" videos you can buy from infomercials. Are there really a bunch of millionaires running around who started with this course?

There probably are a bunch of millionaires running around who started this course... By sucking in and using people who would believe that stuff. Look at pyramid schemes.

[de_medici99]

It does make sense that if an instructor was to give video feedback in return for learning the techniques, then it sounds to be a great idea. The only dojos around me ones that dont really offer much variety of material, this method would ease those "middle of no where" people that are interested in learning an art.

[Eric_]

Is the home study course you found the one offered by the IKCA?

If so, then I've met people who have used it to great effect, including my instructor. If there's a kenpo school in your area (probably not) then definitely take that over the video course, but the video correspondance makes it a very effective learning method. Also, if you have a friend who is interested, try training with them, because it will be difficult to learn what you are doing without a human to practice with.

[de_medici99]

it was the IKCA program, but i had also found others that offer home study. Its nice to hear about actual people that have taken the program and to hear the success. The IKCA seems to be more accredited and trustworthy/ structured than other sites that have come up.