Webber
Sep 27 2006, 08:09 PM
Is It Really Possible To Teach Yourself Martial Arts? Well, it's a good question, and one which is often asked by those that want to master the skills of either sporting martial arts, or combat martial arts. The truth is simple, and the answer is quick : No. It is not possible to teach yourself martial arts from scratch to a good level, how ever, this does not mean that you can not teach yourself to fight. You can quite simply teach yourself to fight, but to fight to a martial arts standard without the help of self help dvd's, instructors or aid is almost impossible. The reason is that you can for instance (taking Judo as the example), learn to throw, using improvised techniques, and learn to swipe and pin down using made up techniques, but against the well engineered mechanics of hundreds of years of Judo, the little points, like maintaining balance, and the correct direction to swipe - those little things that is almost impossible to teach yourself - they are the most important techniques. It is, however possible to learn the basics of an art, and progress yourself, so long as you properly understand the under-laying principles of what you do. What do you guys think? Is it possible to master a martial art, from scratch, with no aid???
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Plenoptic
Sep 27 2006, 09:04 PM
I really don't think so. Otherwise what are you going to learn from. Obviously if you are using your head you already know it. I mean you probably can't learn that well either on the internet or book because you need to really see it. Only online way would be a video instructor. It isn't like learning how to do a math problem it involves physical movement and if you aren't taught properly you can hurt yourself.
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trace-uk
Sep 29 2006, 12:20 PM
I run http://www.learnmartialartsonline.net and I think that someone who kows abit of martial arts can use the net to teach themselves more. i don't think you can do it yourself from scratch as you don't have a grounding in the basic principles.
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lonebyrd
Sep 29 2006, 02:45 PM
I don't see how it's possible to teach yourself martial arts. I took up Tang Soo Do for awhile, and I can imagine trying to learn from a book, TV, or online. I don't think it would work. I would need a physical instructor, hands on, teaching me the exact positioning, correcting mistakes. And what about when the techniques of sparring? You would never learn that well from any other source then from live teaching.
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midnightvamp
Sep 29 2006, 04:21 PM
QUOTE(lonebyrd @ Sep 29 2006, 10:45 AM) 
I don't see how it's possible to teach yourself martial arts. I took up Tang Soo Do for awhile, and I can imagine trying to learn from a book, TV, or online. I don't think it would work. I would need a physical instructor, hands on, teaching me the exact positioning, correcting mistakes. And what about when the techniques of sparring? You would never learn that well from any other source then from live teaching.
I agree with you there... I was learning Karate for a bit, and without having trained instructors helping me, and correcting me, I don't think there would have been anyway to progress. I think from books or the internet, you can learn some things... and some moves that could help you in defending yourself, but I don't think that you will be able to learn it to the standards of the actual art, because with every mistake you make, you will keep building on that, and make more as you go along, because there is no one there to correct you, or help you to keep better form. So, yes, I think you can learn some things from a book, or online, that can be very valuable as ways to relieve stress, defend yourself, or other things... but I don't think that from there, you will be able to be a top fighter, because the people that had formal instruction had people driving them to be better and to work harder and people who would fix any errors that were happening right away. Plus... the whole two person aspect of it all wouldn't work, and even if you did find a partner to try it, I wouldn't recommend it, because it I don't believe that it would be safe.
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Hakkera
Oct 1 2006, 03:13 PM
Yes, I think we are agreed, it is a very difficult thing to do, nigh impossible. I'd say learning a martial art with aid is quite challenging, and without, you're more or less dead in the water. On another note, people that learn from these sessions, only normally want to fight, or want to learn how to do specific things, they are not interested in the whole idea, and even less in the honour of it all.
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husker
Oct 1 2006, 04:43 PM
It's hard to do a lot of stuff without lessons. I think you could teach yourself a little bit of the basics, but overall, you wouldn't get very far. You wouldn't know what the proper technique was and wouldn't know any drills or whatever. I agree that you can learn from a book, but you won't learn as well as if you had a teacher.
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the_aggie10
Oct 1 2006, 07:21 PM
QUOTE(Webber @ Sep 27 2006, 08:09 PM) Is It Really Possible To Teach Yourself Martial Arts? Well, it's a good question, and one which is often asked by those that want to master the skills of either sporting martial arts, or combat martial arts. The truth is simple, and the answer is quick : No. It is not possible to teach yourself martial arts from scratch to a good level, how ever, this does not mean that you can not teach yourself to fight. You can quite simply teach yourself to fight, but to fight to a martial arts standard without the help of self help dvd's, instructors or aid is almost impossible. The reason is that you can for instance (taking Judo as the example), learn to throw, using improvised techniques, and learn to swipe and pin down using made up techniques, but against the well engineered mechanics of hundreds of years of Judo, the little points, like maintaining balance, and the correct direction to swipe - those little things that is almost impossible to teach yourself - they are the most important techniques. It is, however possible to learn the basics of an art, and progress yourself, so long as you properly understand the under-laying principles of what you do. What do you guys think? Is it possible to master a martial art, from scratch, with no aid??? QUOTE(Plenoptic @ Sep 27 2006, 09:04 PM)
I really don't think so. Otherwise what are you going to learn from. Obviously if you are using your head you already know it. I mean you probably can't learn that well either on the internet or book because you need to really see it. Only online way would be a video instructor. It isn't like learning how to do a math problem it involves physical movement and if you aren't taught properly you can hurt yourself.
well if its not possible how was it made up? the guy that thought of it had to be GREAT at it...so he taught himself....why could we do the same and teach oursellves? im sure there are quite a few people around the U.S. that have achieved this goal....im not saying that i could....but im sure there are a lot of people in good enough physical condition that could do this
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FLaKes
Oct 1 2006, 08:24 PM
It depends what you mean by teach yourself. If you mean teachyourself, like buying a book, dvds, etc, teaching yourself with that material, I bet if you are concentrated and dedicated enough, you will learn martial arts. It does not mean you might be the best at it, but you will definitely learn something. But in no way will it ever compare to taking classes with a professional and experienced martial arts instructor.
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AnGeL KiSS
Oct 1 2006, 09:50 PM
That's interesting... I registered for a martial arts class that actually pays you to learn it, $5 an hour; but I don't know if I'd get accepted. I'm actually looking forward to it, since I've read this topic.
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iGuest
Oct 28 2009, 01:51 AM
my reply
Teach Yourself Martial Arts?
to a certan degree yes. I did karate and kickboxing for about a year and have made up moves using the little knowledge I know to K.O thugs walking around my Sh**hole of a town.
If you purchase a dvd or get yourself a boxing bag u can teach yourself a certain amount which will stand up in a street fight but u wouldn't compare to someone who was being taught professionally.
-reply by alfie
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mentat
Apr 11 2009, 02:31 AM
I agree. If you understand the underlying principles and apply them and do your best, you can go far. I didn't understand what people meant by "rotating the hips" when doing the muay thai roundhouse, but I stumbled upon it and noticed an immediate change in the way my shin made contact with the heavy bag. I've practiced it over and over again and made sure that the underlying principles of proper footwork, timing, and made sure my overall form did not suffer. Now I can kick hard. Of course, it took a lot of practice and I've watched so many fighters over the years that I can name most of the famous ones by now... so it takes a lot of practice. You do learn bad habits, true. also, you don't need to master a martial art. You just need to be able to apply the very basics well. I don't need to know the ins and outs of all the major guards in bjj, but being able to apply the closed guard and butterfly guard quickly in a fight is what counts.
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iGuest
Feb 11 2009, 02:02 AM
Interesting question but here's something to think about, how did the original Shaolin monks learn martial arts before there were any teachers? They would have had to teach themselves. I know it seems contradictory to say you can teach yourself to do something when you don't know how to it, but the first generation of kung fu practicing monks did precisely that. It's like if you dropped someone with no survival skills in the wilderness. They'd struggle at first, but eventually they'd learn even though they didn't have a clue how to survive in the wild before they were dropped there. Knowledge does not necessarily have to come from another person. You can learn a lot from within your own mind if you put it to work.
-reply by Author Name - e.G. John, Mike
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Xalor
Jan 28 2009, 04:09 PM
The best way is to learn with a teacher, and a class. Then you get the feel of ambition and conquest. That feel helps you try to get better, by competing with your fellow learners. Its rather hard to learn on your own, but its possible to practice on your own. Its simple to think that its easy to learn on your own, because its there is a couple of kicks and punches, but the combination can never truly be reproduced from a book. If you really are determined to learn on your own, start by learning a couple of kicks and punches from a friend and then do them over, and think about the flow. If the flow really does go in a certain direction play on your strengths and go in the same direction. The snap in any kick is important, and that goes for all strokes. The snap determines the force and length. You really need to know one thing that you can't learn from a book is to limit the length appearance. Any attack is less than a second long, and you should pull back to defense right away, or risk being attacked or counterattacked.
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chakri
Jan 28 2009, 03:08 AM
I think to lean in a proper way you have to have at least a few months with an instructor. After that you can learn yourself. The first few months are important because they teach you stuff like breathing, your stances, the way you make your fist. The way your leg should bend when you kick. These basics cannot be learnt without an instructor as you don't know your mistakes. Someone has to overlook you.
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