Why do people think they can learn a martial art through videos alone?

Question

I mean you'd never try to learn surgery that way, or to fly an airplane.

Answer 1

I don't know the answer because I am not one of those people.

But, Carlos Newton apparently claimed to self-taught and he did defeat Pat Militich to claim the championship. Sure, he was losing the fight until Pat left his neck open and got caught in the choke, but Carlos won.

Continuing with the Carlos Newton example, he was fighting a competitive fight against Matt Hughes in their first match until the famous "who woke up first" decision. In the second match Matt dominated and Carlos hasn't seemed able to gain confidence since.

I don't know if it is really true that Carlos learned BJJ from watching the Gracie videos, but he did make this claim prior to the Militich fight. I have seen the videos and I don't think I would have learned anything without prior training.

A more puzzling question for me is how the heck someone thinks they can learn a martial art from Yahoo Answers.

Answer 2

Same reason they think they can learn more about love from watching love story films, lack of available choices. Most of those who buy the videos do not have access to a dojo nearby and out of their great desire to learn, grasp at straws when it is presented to them. I'm sure they wanna learn from a real master or instructor themselves, but despite the growing number of martial arts schools in the world today, some people still don't have access to them either because of geographical location or financial considerations(some schools do cost an arm and a leg). Add to that the fact that most people have tight work schedules and can only train at certain times of the day, a video seems like the perfect solution to their problems. It doesn't help that Movies and Television shows tend to exaggerate some martial arts techniques to the point of brainwashing people into thinking a particular style will turn them into invincible warriors who look more cool while fighting thereby causing viewers to want to learn a particular style that do not have any available local schools over a style that does have available schools in the area.

Answer 3

I think you misread what was being said and did not take into consideration the accumulation of knowledge. Firstly, it is not that you cannot learn on your own, but you cannot learn on your own if you do not have ANY experience. If you don't even know anything about combat, you could by trail and error (and lots of pain), eventually learn how assuming you were lucky enough to survive. Plus, at some point in every martial artists learning, he or she reaches a point that they can only continue on their own -- seek their own path so to speak. They would be in effect moving beyond their style to something different or new. It's call growth. Some used Musashi to argue that you can create a style alone, but Musashi was borned a samurai and from the day he could walk, he was trained in the use of the sword. He created his Nito Ryu because he had a foundation from which to create something new. If he had been born a peasant farmer without ANY training, he would have been deadmeat the first-time he tryout his "style". Secondly, the sum knowledge of various styles of martial art did not come into being in its entirety all in one generation. The guy who created the very first "style" was probably a very lucky and observant guy who survived where his collegues did not. He learned from their mistakes, pass it on to someone and that person or persons made improvements on it and so forth. The original observation may have been something simple - keep your hands up. Don't hit someone on the head with your bare hand if they are wearing a helmet...

Answer 4

I think I'll take the side no one else has. People think they can learn from video because they can. You may not learn a spiritual aspect of an art but there is more than that. You can learn many, many things from video. It helps if you have a basic skill in the area prior to video. When it comes down to it, for me, if I want spiritual enlightenment I'll use my religion (not christian). If I want martial skill I'll study and train in a martial skill. Note: not martial art, an art form is nice to look at but as far as skilled in a real life fight? I train, in hopes I won't have to use it but if I do. Call me crazy but I have learned sooo much from video. I really don't think I'd have held my mma middle weight title without my video training. So maybe I'm the only one on the planet that thinks I learned something from video but I really did. I'll agree you can't learn the ART form with video alone but I know for a fact you can learn the MARTIAL part of it by video alone.

Answer 5

Not as a primary source but an aid in my training. With my work schedule I am very busy and can not make it to class like I use to, 4 - 5 days a week. So I have about 50 Kenpo DVDs by Larry Tatum and they have help "as an aid" so when I do make it to class I do find myself stumped on a technique.

Just over 10 years learn and teaching Kenpo and a 1st dan Kenpo & 2nd dan Kenpo Jutisu.

Answer 6

I'll answer your question with another -

Who invented the first martial art? Who were they watching? ;)

Now, I think that a Sensei is an important element if you have one, very important in fact. However, much of Chinese Kung Fu was developed by those who mimicked animal movements while they were attacking or defending. If you want something bad enough and erase all your doubt, there is nothing you can't accomplish.

Answer 7

people learn martial art videos

Answer 8

After learning wing chun from my instructor and being told i'm doing something wrong when i was SURE that i wasn't then later on after i master the technique thinking... wow was i ever doing that wrong. After that, i can't immagine anyone could truly learn a MA correctly from visual alone. I'm sure people could make it look good, but that's about it.

Answer 9

Becuase they doesn't want to have chip knocked off thier shoulder. So they perfer to train in secret so they can come and surprise everyone. Unfortunately they doesn't realize that it's easy to copy movement and pull it off when your invisible opponent is cooperating. So when reality hit them in the face, they just froze and try to understand what they did wrong and that's when it all goes down hill.

Answer 10

My guess would be that they don't know the definition of "martial arts!"

Can't learn the philosophy from watching somebody execute a form!
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