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Off-Topic Distance learning martial arts

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I’ll add one more suggestion for your distance training. For kickboxing, Joseph valtellini has a great YouTube channel with instructional exercises you could do with a partner, or by yourself with a heavy bag, or I guess the bully device from northcoastmiller.
 
After searching all (that i've found) on distance lessons, I believe it is safe to say one cannot master an art this way atleast not easily. Maybe possible but extremely difficult. But I think very possible to learn technique and forms etc. Keeping boxing as my center adding some hand work from wing chun wooden dummy and mauy thai strikes and elbows with some low sweeps thrown in. Its very possible to train learning pieces of each that I find useful. No rank advancement this way but I really would feel subpar with an online rank anyway. First to the bully dummy drawing board lol. Thanks for all the input guys.
 
Hello and good morning everyone,

I'm a little late to the discussion but I had an idea that would help you. I teach US Army Combatives and Defensive Tactics. Obviously you need to practice whatever skill you're learning with someone who will resist you so that you learn what it feels like to apply the move vs just gping through the motion. Stress inoculation. The best partner is the one that is better than you. But none of that will help you. What I do at work, because I'm one person, is pair my students up and have them roll while actively resisting the other. I.e. when one tries to slowly apply an arm bar the other rolls or strikes so it's hard. Neither one has any experience usually but resistance they provide makes the technique make sense. Rolling with a dummy won't reproduce much of that because it doesn't have a brain. I say go ahead and do your online training but het a friend to practice with you. All they have to do is not comply with you and slap your face a little bit to increase your stress levels. Book some sessions with a Blackbelt when you're able to check your form and provide cues just like you would do with an SFG.

I find that those who are interested and familiar with BJJ or UFC are actually pretty quick at learning my curriculum with some reps and hard practice. Hope that helps!

/Mac
 
I've heard this 'you can't learn from videos' stuff for literally decades at this point. However I have seen 2 or 3 people who became phenomenally good primarily through video learning. Add to that a couple of people to work with and a few times a year hitting seminars/camps (within the system- not a smattering of this and that). Mileage varies of course and learning styles and any sports/movement background probably play a big role but I'm inclined to think that top-notch video instruction is better then so-so in person instruction.
 
Mileage varies of course and learning styles and any sports/movement background probably play a big role but I'm inclined to think that top-notch video instruction is better then so-so in person instruction.
You make a great point there.
 
A lot is going to hinge upon the martial art in question as well. Some (might) lend themselves to video learning more so than others.
 
A lot is going to hinge upon the martial art in question as well. Some (might) lend themselves to video learning more so than others.

I agree, and the same applies to book learning, which is another proven way to get some benefit in addition to hands on.

It makes a big difference if you've ever had ANY hands-on in any tradition, or even some experience in actual fights. Is much easier to extrapolate from existing knowledge or skill set.

I know several people who got very good primarily from books and video in a given tradition, but they were already well accomplished in another.
 
@offwidth
any recommendations as to which ones might be?
Well from my perspective it would be ones that have a large component consisting of forms, kata, waza, or whatever the discipline calls them.
Karate, Tai-Chi, Various Sword Arts. I also suppose one could learn some striking techniques as well. But even then I struggle with the concept of not having a Sensei guiding and making hands on corrections.
Arts that require human to human contact are (again in my opinion only) going to be extremely challenging (if not impossible) to learn to any level of real competency through anything but direct participation. I'm thinking things like...
Tai-Chi Push Hands, Judo, Grappling, Wrestling, Kendo, Aikido, etc.
 
I got a lot of mileage from the Inosanto series for Kali/FMA.



footwork drills at 29 minutes:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-Z0X70cAl8&t=1485s

I wound up doing a lot of the double stick drills solo (always add some basic footwork just as soon as your mechanics are OK) between any sort of formal classes and it served me well. Ingraining the 1,2,3 contact mode or abbreviated 2,3 contact/counter is something you can get OK at developing an instinct to use, just with a bunch of solo practice. This is also applicable to Wing Chun (in terms of application, not execution).

You still need some hands on or partner work to apply with any confidence, trying to apply without contact/partner experience will be frustrating if not self-defeating. Combining this stuff with basic boxing and learning to swap palm strikes for punches will take you a long way.

I am also a fan of the simplicity and defense offered by a lot of the 52 handblocks system. It gets very little respect among MMA and other mainstream MA practitioners, but is structurally very similar to a lot of SE Asia traditions once you strip away the theatrics. I moved from the boonies to the city when I was in my late teens, and I met many white boys who had been knocked around by brothers using 52 (this back in the 80s), though the specifics were virtually unknown outside the black community back then. Useful for bareknuckle/multiple assailant encounters.



 
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Just for anyone this thread might help . I ordered a book after suggested by a friend via pm. Karate -do kyohan written by Gichin Funakoshi I believe around 1950. He is the founder of Shotakan Karate. Quote from Funakoshi "although learning kata is very difficult. I do believe a student can even through self study, have confidence that following the training in this book that he will have reached a substantial level in karate-do" while I probably wont take up karate someone might be interested. If he invented modern karate and studied it, wrote a book on his 70-80 year experience then we really cant say different.
 
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I'm in the same boat. I've been self trained since my teens.
Now that I'm older and getting back into training, sidelined for a few years due to serious injury, I understand things better.
First it's better to master ten techniques than know a hundred. Second KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid. Open hand strikes, for example, offer more options than closed fist. Palm to the head can be a finger strike to the eyes, claw to the face or any variation on dangerous palm strikes to the face/chin. Slaps to the face work well to as long as they have power.
Define if you want defense or art, self defense is much simpler to learn that an art.
Any fight should be controlled within the first ten or fifteen seconds. Even that is long. After that point everyone starts to grapple. Somewhere in the internet is a White Crane guy fighting a Bagua guy both internal stylists. Both resort to grappling rather quickly but their fan boys comment on this or that technique being used.
Train for open hand because a closed fist looks to the police as if you wanted to fight. Open palm can shove which can send someone flying if done right. Also legally if you are a trained MAIST you are more liable for damages if sued. Open palm, back up, never formally trained, never strike first. Watch the first season of Lie to me. It mastered how to look weak and defenseless, monkey like, shrinking back hands up near head neck down. Easily turned into a defensive stance. Same with palms open facing front. I think Hapkido has an open stance with hands at the side.
You can also "accidentally" step on an ankle or knee after they are down.
You can buy a full size artist dummy with adjustable arm and leg joints for around $300. If you want to practice various fine techniques it works better than a grappling dummy.
There used to be a home training MA mag years ago. Someone had the idea of running rebar inside of swim noodles and bending it to form two arms. It works. You can make an entire dummy that way.
Youtube has literally thousands of training ideas, techniques and full length training style videos. Use them.
Also watch movies. There are many simple techniques used in film.
Cheat whenever possible.
Finally, it's simple to train to kill or seriously injure an opponent. That is a benefit of home self training. It's also the downfall. It is a very fine line. One one side the person you think is stopped may grab an ashtray and slam you in the back of the head, true story from a cop. On the other side you may accidentally knock someone down and kill them because they hit their head, true story from a contractor that happened to his friend.



I hope I'm addressing the right person in this part.

North Coast Miller
You could add actuator motors and do some simple programing for strikes/kicks.
Most likely you could randomize the attack pattern.
Basically you are building a simple robot.
Which is also saleable.

Question on the 52 handblock style. Count Dante trained in the Black community. From what I read he developed a very effective style which he taught to ex cons and within the Black community.
Is this in any way related or influenced by the Count?
 
So you know where I'm coming from: I've been doing Okinawan Karate for 33 years now.

The truth is, most people quit training in almost any martial arts, within a couple years.
In my karate association, a person can get a blackbelt in about 4 years average.
I've seen a lot of people Quit shortly after getting that belt!

Learning from a legitimate Martial Arts School will give you good Instruction.
But Nowadays, Good instruction cost a fortune!
I failed as a Karate School because I wouldn't charge enough money.
Unless you are a teacher, coach, military/law enforcement/security or into serious competition, Then the martial arts are just a hobby!

Karate is just a hobby of mine. I taught(part time) for 10 years, gave it up, I was spending to much of my own time and money to teach others.
I now train with my training partner once a week, and practice alone at home the rest of the week.

My opinion for you is: Find a training partner, or several, even better.
Purchase or find online beginner courses for different martial arts that you might be interested in.
Then practice it with your training partner.
If it's just a hobby, this is all most people really need.

Also! Your training partner, in martial arts, can been your training partner in Strength Training !

Al
 
North Coast Miller
You could add actuator motors and do some simple programing for strikes/kicks.
Most likely you could randomize the attack pattern.
Basically you are building a simple robot.
Which is also saleable.

I had thought about putting a weighted cam on the back. An operator could pull a release line and go, the side the weight fell would be random and the energy might power one-three strikes before running out of juice if no hard blocks were executed. I'd be a bit nervous about putting motor on it.

Question on the 52 handblock style. Count Dante trained in the Black community. From what I read he developed a very effective style which he taught to ex cons and within the Black community.
Is this in any way related or influenced by the Count?

I honestly do not know. My first exposure was in the mid 80s by a co worker. A few years after that I moved to an apartment in Rochester and came across many casual references to it. There were commonalities of technique reported by people who had tousled with brothers who applied it.

It is my understanding a lot of it goes back at least to Dante's time and probably much earlier - is possible but not likely due to the lack of any recognizable traditional MA strikes or blocks in 52. It shares some structure with FMA panantukan but similarities to other traditions do not go much further. In fact it was the similarity to FMA that initially drew me to it, as well as my leaning more toward cover defenses over intercepting/following blocks.

The actual history and evolution of 52 is a bit murky due to the oral passing of it / lack of any written record.
 
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