Can you teach yourself martial arts?
I’d really love to learn ba gua zhang – my personal preference, but I’d settle for just about any martial art – but I currently don’t have the money to spare for lessons. Will I just have to wait until my finances allow for me to learn, or can I at least learn the basics on my own? If so, are there any texts or videos you would suggest? Are there any martial arts that are more easily self-taught than others? Any and all input is welcome. I understand it would be a great deal harder than having a teacher and fellow students to practice with, but I’d really like to learn as soon as possible and am willing to try doing so alone.
Thanks for the input, everyone. I suppose I was being a little too optimistic about learning while forgoing formal training. As far as purchasing DVD’s and books goes, I was actually hoping I’d be able to find something at one or more of the local libraries. Guess I’ll just have to start saving.
No, you can only develop bad habits that will get you killed in a real fight. Find an instructor that knows what he is doing. That is much harder than you may think. Don’t be concerned about style as much as finding a good instructor.
Videos work if you are willing to actually spend the time with them. Videos are used by martial arts students who may have troubles taking notes or for refreshing what one already knows from practice.
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Just like you can learn heart surgery, hair cutting, or airplane flying on your own.
Save the money you would be wasting in books and videos in the bank, then use that to pay for lessons.
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If you have no other recourse, than clearly text and videos are better than absolutely nothing, but only if you are dedicated, and learning from reputable sources.
It can be better to have no training at all, than to have flat out bad training.
Keep in mind that the best videos for training are actually quite expensive, so I’m not sure how this will work for you.
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I would suggest you save your money until you’re able to afford lessons.
But until then, do things that will prepare you for martial arts. Run laps around the track, pump iron, do push ups, have a daily stretching routine, etc..
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Jeet Kune Do experience.
No, you can only develop bad habits that will get you killed in a real fight. Find an instructor that knows what he is doing. That is much harder than you may think. Don’t be concerned about style as much as finding a good instructor.
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Martial arts training and research since 1967.
Teaching martial arts since 1973.
Yes, you can. But you’d need to be very careful in learning your proper forms, That would be the most difficult- posture, and form.
But you can do it.
Jump on youtube, google some things
Bas Rutten,
Tai Chi,
Karate
Boxing
Kick Boxing
And get to know your body, your balance,
You can do it.
And don’t take the word of other people who say you can’t.
But don’t except to be a super star at it, because just like most things
it is better to have someone train you, and criticize /critique your forms
to tell you what you are doing right/ or wrong
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It is not impossible to train yourself in the basics of a martial art, but to have perfect form and technique you need an instructor. To truly learn an existing martial art, you must find an instructor of that martial art.
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Its impossible to PROPERLY learn any MA by urself from books, dvds, or the internet. They should only be used as refference material while or after learning a MA. Nothing beats learning from a qualified instructor. They correct ur mistakes, answer ur questions, and explain techniques.
Just start saving money for lessons.
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Chen Taijiquan Practitioner
Let me bottom-line it for you: experienced martial artists laugh at people who claim to be self-taught. Usually it’s because they think they’re much, much better than they really are.
The biggest danger with trying to train yourself is that you have no point of reference for anything. It takes years of training to ingrain and understand the basic principles behind the techniques and strategies of martial arts.
Instead of trying to teach yourself, I would first recommend trying to find someone you know, who knows martial arts, to teach you for free. I’ve met so many people who’ve taken at least a little martial arts, and a teacher with two years or so of experience is better than no teacher at all.
Failing that, if you really want to give training on your own a try, I’ll say that videos are best for learning techniques, while books are best for learning the principles behind those techniques. Most of my instructional material is MMA/grappling oriented, so the only video recommendations I can give are for Mark Hatmaker or Stephan Kesting, who are very clear and detailed in their instruction. Book-wise, for MMA, anything published by Victory Belt is a step above the rest, with color photos and multiple camera angles.
For Chinese martial arts, I’ve always found the books published by Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming to be very good. His publishing company, YMAA, has produced a few books on Baguazhang; if that’s your primary interest, that’s the first place I’d suggest that you look:
http://www.ymaa.com/
To be fair, it would be easier to construct a HAM radio on your own than to learn martial arts on your own, and it will still cost plenty of money to get good quality stuff, but I hope I’ve at least given you a few options to look into.
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Bro, this is the day and age of the self-acclaimed master/sifu/kancho/kyoshi (whatever).
Usually these guys have had a few lessons, maybe got to the level of about green belt (weren’t good enough to get any higher – or more likely weren’t willing to put in the time needed to truly develop), and then suddenly they have developed their own systems and declared themselves to be 8th or 9th Dan Masters. They are a joke and they make martial arts a laughing stock.
Don’t be that guy!
In your case, finance is an issue, but how is it that you can afford DVDs or videos? The price of 1 DVD might be enough to cover a couple of lessons a month until you can afford to train more often.
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