self taught?

[Kensai]

I work with the bokken to, but I just LOVE the Katana. I Know I probably should not run before I can walk, but it is such a beautiful weapon and no other sword style comes close. IMHO.

 

I am doing the following Cuts,

 

Nukisuke - Drawing Cut

 

Kirioroshi - Downward Cut

 

Plus

 

Chiburi - Blood removal

 

Noto - Resheathing

 

Kobudo is very interesting, its practioners gave my Samurai bretheren a hard time when fighting for the KyuRyu islands. I really like the look of the kama blades.

 

Take Care

[G95champ]

With MA today the term black belt is so watered down. I mean they are some who really worked and deserve theirs and the are others who well.....

 

I think if you have trained you can. Because all MA is up to Dan leval is reps. Do this block do this punch over and over and over. So to say I can watch a movie or read a book and be a black belt no. However if I have trained for years in one are and watch film and read about another art I would say you can pick up on the differances really quick.

 

I do not think you can learn from film or books the first time. YOu must be taught by a person but once you have a understanding of how things work then you can learn.

[Karateka_latino]

Vicious,

 

Yes, practice make perfect.... but my point is, if you learn by yourself without any instructors to actually see what you are doing and correcting you.. How can you really know you are doing it right?, i mean, you can practice it a tousand of times and still be wrong. You can even find a way to make it work, but you'll still miss a lot of details to do that techniques as you are supposed to.

 

All you'll have is a perfect "wrong" technique.

[G95champ]

Well that comes back to the age old question of what is right. TKD will say throw a round kick this way. Kickboxers will say throw it this way and still yet Karate people will throw it another much less the differances in each given art from dojo ot dojo. Is there a right way? IMO if it works its right. LOL

 

I do agree you need someone to show you rather than do it yourself. However like I said if you already have training in one art it is more likely you can pick up a book and pick up a lot of the charateristics of another art.

[ramymensa]

I guess there are many who run after that image of a BB and many opportunities arise to become like this even over the night . A real BB comes to this rank by years of REAL training. Books and videos are complementary. Honestly I find them VERY useful and I think any martial artist who really wants to keep the pace must study inside and outside the dojo. Even our chatty chat (which happens to quite serious) is another learning device, a great one

 

As for myself ... I try to encourage my coleagues to read as much as possible about the style, watch videos, think about the techniques, study them, compare and so on

 

Guess I'm a (how you call it ...) nerd, geek

[karatekid1975]

G95champ wrote:

 

 

I do not think you can learn from film or books the first time. YOu must be taught by a person but once you have a understanding of how things work then you can learn.>

 

I agree with G on this one. I personally believe for a true beginner, it's not a good idea to teach yourself. But if you know the basics in one art, you can pick up on the differences quickly and learn them.

 

I am studying Thai boxing on my own, but with two and a half years of "basic training" in MA, I can pick up the differences and learn them. I am no where near black belt in TKD, but I have enough training in the basics to learn something similar to it. But if I learned something like judo or something from a book, I'd be totally lost.

[Blade13]

I definately think that they could be just as good as any "black belt", but only when devoting MANY MANY MANY (insert about 100 more MANYs here) hours to their training. Because.. well... thats how I learned. hahahahaha I watched so many videos, read many books over and over, spar a LOT, read magazines, utilize the internet, take advice from other martial artists (like on here for example), practice constantly, spent all of my money on training equipment, I designed A LOT of new and inventive training methods, and never stop trying to improve myself. Also, my family taught me a lot of military stuff (since most of them were involved in some sort of military or law enforcement). I spar in something similar to "Fight Club". I dont mean we all meet in the basement of a bar and beat each other to bloody pulps. We all wear pads. Just aside from that, there are no rules. I am the one who forces them to wear pads. Seeing as how most of us are around the age of 16, any injuries could result in some MAJOR lawsuits from our parents. Most of us are in it to better our skills. There are some black belts involved who have been trained by instructors. Well, in fight club, I'm undefeated. Taking this in mind, I decided to begin fighting in tournaments. I entered my first tournament in fighting and forms. I entered both in the black belt division. And... well... *holds up some gold medals* I'd definately say that you can train yourself, but only if you have a VERY high amount of self-discipline. Also keep in mind that I've been doing this since I was 3 years old. Im 16 now. The thing is though... I have no desire to be a "black belt". As long as I have the ability, I've no need for a belt. The ability is all that matters.

[Severe Matburn]

Of course self-training is good. Before i actually went to a grappling gym i self-trained and when i went i surprised everyone there that i was as good as i was...even after only maybe 2 months, i was already beating alot of them, and sometimes when i'd make up a move or train a move in striking that i haven't been taught it formally, i have been able to use it effectively. Sure a formally trained person may be better, he may not, he will have gained his own bad habits and u, ur own. As one can see from street fighters who have not been trained, they still manage to knock each other out...spar...if it werks, good fer u, guess ur doin it right. And if u won an actual tournament, then damn dude, u r good...

[Pyros]

Burton Richardson teaches Jeet Kune Do via videos. He says he has had good results with it. What is the key aspect with him is quality control. He requires real life contact sparring with protective equipment. He requires lots of this sparring in the videos the student must send him about himself. And he wants to eventually meet the student from time to time (seminars, camps, private lessons) when the student gets high enough level. So I guess it is possible if the teacher is also honestly into it, not just scamming for your buck.

[NidanWarrior]

First of all I don't think "practice makes perfect". Practice makes better! I also think we are missing something here. How long does one read books, watch videos before he/she decides they are a black belt? And does this person have other martial arts training and if so, is it similar to the style they are trying to study from books?

 

A lot of you have some good points. I agree with SubmissionFighter in that you need someone there who knows the art to teach/show you all the little things that make the techniques work. I also agree that you should be tested by someone in that style to see if you really are black blet quality in that style.

 

I don't feel that getting in the ring proves you are a black belt. I once saw a guy (a BB) who was a great point fighter get his but kicked in a parking lot by someone without martial arts training. Maybe he had bad training or the wrong training for real life.

 

I have checked books out at the library and bought a few books and tried a few drills and techniques but without constant practice with others in the same style I don't think you can get any better with the techniques or the style. Bottom line for me. No. I don't think you could consider yourself a BB from just reading books and watching videos. But if you already have several years of training, I think you can learn a few things to add to you knowledge.