See in a martial art like taekwondo, judo, kung fu, karate or all of them for that matter take years to master so can it be said that it is effective? Then they have those " 4 week " classes that teach youy self defense like martial arts but you don't practise them as much as martial arts you just know how to do them but in martial arts you practise them for years. Ya see i'm saying is it worth doing martial arts for years or just learning some effective techniques for a few months or weeks?

A course that runs a few months or weeks is not the same thing as taking a martial art for several years. You will learn a lot of useful techniques in such a course, but the problem is you need to set aside time to keep practicing those techniques in order for you to be able to use them effectively. If you want to just take self defense moves, that is fine, but I recommend practicing them regularly as well.

The answer to your question depends entirely on what your goals are.

I agree with jerrylove

 

if you want years of experience or do you want something simple that may work in some situations, if you train for years you will learn several things and you can build and add more throughout your experiences, yet if you only learn some key techs, that is all you learn, nothing more, no experience....

I believe you can learn a few things in a few weeks but to be really effective it takes time. In a few weeks you could learn enough to defend yourself against an unskilled opponent but to do the same against a skilled opponent would take years.

Ad me to Jerry Love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! too...Good Luck and one foot in front of the other.

There is no such thing as mastery! It should not take years to become proficient in MA. Epert? Yes. Highly skilled at? No!

It shouldnt take a person years to learn how to defend themselves. A person can still deffend themselves against thugs with a handful of techniques. Maybe not as well as someone who has been practising martial arts for years. But knowing a few techniques is better then knowing no techniques.

 

Some of those rapesafe programs for women teach some pretty harsh techniques.

The US Army teachs a profency for matial arts (including field survival, marksmanship, basic demolitions, basic chemical and biological response, etc) plus MOS training in 6 weeks. I don't know where you get your "years to become proficient" idea from... IME, the people that don't teach their students combative proficiency within a year have general shortage or poor quality of material and are trying to streach out their little knowledge over a long cirriculum.

 

I'm well past proficient, and a truely dedicated student could go from nothing to my skill in under 2 years.

I don't know that it should take that long but it will. Their is a differance in knowing and using the move and profecting it.