Martial arts learned from DVD's etc.

[Cilarnen]

I'm curious what other peoples opinions are on learning martial arts using other mediums is. Do you think you could gain a skill level to match someone who trained in a dojo or is it just a worthless gimmick?

[Wastelander]

I'm curious what other peoples opinions are on learning martial arts using other mediums is. Do you think you could gain a skill level to match someone who trained in a dojo or is it just a worthless gimmick?

This has been discussed, at length, on multiple forums and the answer is almost always the same--no, you can't gain a skill level to match someone who trained under a good instructor. That isn't to say that it is necessarily worthless, however, because if you have a training partner to work it all out with you will most certainly gain some level of proficiency over time, but the progress will not be as fast as if you had an instructor and your technique will not be as clean and efficient as if you had an instructor.

[Kodiak]

Somebody has to tell you when you make a mistake, or you'll keep repeating it over and over. And unless you have a really good ability to copy moves, I doubt that enough detail will be in the video to do it right.

Missing details can include safety things too.

[JusticeZero]

Right. Last time I saw someone trying to learn something from a video, they were missing details like "don't lock your joint out at the end of the movement", "turn your foot to point away from the target when doing side kick so you don't twist your knee", and a lot of the structure that made the technique work was completely unclear to them. In short, they were tearing themselves apart and their technique was ineffective. Nobody was there to catch those mistakes. For most things, the dvd's are pretty awful. It's OK as a supplement to your normal training in that art.

[bushido_man96]

I feel using Martial Arts DVD's, books, youtube videos, etc, can be a valid medium to learn from, but is best utilized if one already has experience in the Martial Arts, and has been established enough to have a good understanding of various Martial concepts, like movement, range, attacking ideas, etc.

I think in this age of technology, its important to not let Martial Arts be the one thing that doesn't benefit from it. Modern technology makes many things better, and makes many more things available to us, especially via the web.

Take, for example, sensei8's example of setting up training time via Skype. No, its not like being in a class setting, but it can be a viable way for MAists that are hunderds or even thousands miles away to colaborate on things and work out together. Not unlike a conference call.

[joesteph]

Picking up bunkai from DVDs and YouTube can be interesting and fun. It also helps you understand kata better. They don't take the place of an instructor, and they just satisfy curiosity if they're not practiced, but I think DVDs and YouTube have their supplementary place.

[tallgeese]

Certainly, it's most useful as a supplemental form of training. It's a good thing if you're already familiar with material and are just looking at variant movements or strategic differences. Because of this, it's usually best reserved for those with more experience.

It can also be useful if you're in an area where there is just NO live instruction in a specialty that you're interested in. Where I'm from, there are no, and I mean zero, BJJ academies within at least 1.5 to 2 hours of drive time. At least at the time I grew up there. Given that, I'd have killed to have the much maligned Gracie Combatives DVDs. It would have been insightful.

Even then, I think the idea of ranking via distance learning is a bit of a stretch at this time. But for information and tactics, they do have a place.

[Spodo Komodo]

I've seen excellent DVDs and I'ev seen abysmal schools and on the whole I think that a good DVD is at least as good if not better than a bad school. I have my suspicions of where the teachers at said bad schools got their training from though...

Having said that, they can really help a beginner get through the initial stages of learning an art if used alongside decent face to face instruction. Going to a video is often easier for the newbie than asking a question for the umpteenth time. Kata videos are a godsend for us kinaesthetically dyslexic.

[LittleW]

@ tallgeese: Seeing the list of your styles, you probably could learn a new style from DVD, for you allready know MA in general.

But I don't think, that one could learn any style from DVD without any other experience in MA.

At least when I think of how often my trainers tell me how I have to stand, that can't work.

[tallgeese]

I've seen a lot of stuff and been on the floor with a lot of people in the last 22 years, but I couldn't pick up a fresh, unrelated art, ground up, from a video. Not and understand it beyond the most basic movements and strategies.

Having delved into BJJ almost completely for the last 4 years or so, I can say I've seen this first hand. Despite having grappled as part of MMA training for years, I had to admit that I was missing huge amount of details in the most common movements. And that's even related.

Learning via video is less than ideal. Again, supplimentally, I think it's excellent if you're familiar with the material. Looking at BJJ, it's easier now for me to look at say an armbar video and look at different set ups and methods of controlling it. But to learn specifics of where everything goes and understand the leverage is something else altogether.