How can i learn a martial art by myself?

Question

I've already looked and there arn't any places to learn in my area

thanks!

Answer 1

Hi.

Most people will tell you that you can't and they are right to an extent.  You can supplement your training with books and videos but not substitute.  There are simply too many subtle but important nuances that you can't pick up from a video.  Even if you're told about them you have no one watching to correct you if you do something wrong.  Then you could be practicing it the wrong way for years before you realize.

That's all beside the point however as you asked how you 'can' learn by yourself, not how you cannot.  So here you go:

Wle.com has quite a selection of instructional videos.  I'm not saying you can buy one, watch it, practice and be a proficient martial artist but I do remember finding somewhere on that website a program where you train from home.  If I remember correctly you sign up for this program, buy a video and learn the lessons on it.  Once you're finished with a lesson you send a video of yourself to Wing Lam Enterprises and they send you back corrections and stuff to work on.  I was not able to find that section again but I provided a link to the website anyway incase I just missed it.

http://www.wle.com/

You might also try Googling "distance learning" for whatever martial art you’re interested in, or "wle distance learning" if that specific program that I mentioned interests you.  I'm not sure what styles they may have available for this program, if it still exists (probably does).

You're only other possible option is to pick up some basics on your own from reading material and videos and go from there.  I wouldn't recommend this but if your going to do it anyway you might as well do it right.  You run the risk of practicing improperly and therefore ineffectively but it can THEORETICALLY be done if you’re dedicated and obsessive about getting everything just perfect.  You would have to do a lot of self correction, to the point of video taping yourself and scrutinizing your every move for mistakes.  You would need to find accurate descriptions and illustrations or better yet videos of everything to you try.  

This would take a lot more time and effort than distance learning or training in a school.  The best way to make this strategy work would be to find a partner, a friend who's as equally dedicated as you are so you could critique each other and so both of you would have a body to practice on.

If you do try this, just be careful.  Martial arts can be dangerous, especially without supervision.

I hope this helps :)

Answer 2

Work out as much as you can and try taking in some of the training methods that actual martial artists are doing and take that in too. Don't try and just learn the techniques because you need muscles and strong bones to perform some of the moves and never stop training.

While you're doing that, go watch actual matches and some times on youtube if there's any "how to" videos.

This is basically all you can do on your own. I don't know how good you can become with this but it's better than nothing. Surprisingly, Mas Oyama is one of them. Although he did learn martial arts, he went into a mountain and trained on his own, and his training method was very tough and brutal. When he came back from training after couple of years on his own, he ended up being the best. But that's a very unusual case.

Answer 3

you can't

Answer 4

Then you have to travel, even if it's only one day a week, and then try to practice on your own on the other days.

Answer 5

you have to get experiance first.....but after that get videos from youtube or buy a dvd

Answer 6

The Silent Cobra is dead on on this.  There are many Good instructional DVD's out there and if you have a partner to practice with, some good matting on the floor and you put safety first then this can be a very good way of learning.  You can review the DVD's when ever you want and they all give detailed step by step instruction.  I'd take "The Silent Cobras" advice on this one.

Answer 7

You can learn quite a bit about martial arts on your own.  One thing  you'll quickly learn is that there is alot of people on the internet who think they are pretty much awesome.  

I self-trained for a long time, and was able to fight very effectively once I started training with others.  There were things that I was missing of course but I was miles ahead of those who had never trained.

1)  Get an 80 pound bag and hang it in the basement or garage.

2)  Focus on technique.  Some of the most effective strikes are Muay Thai kicks and punches.  Buy a simple book at Barnes and Noble, or a DVD and learn the basics.

3)  Stretch well, and practice often.  99% of all fights can be won with the very first punch your learn, so focus on form and technique, rather than trying to master the entire style in a month.

Answer 8

Well its pretty hard to practice martial arts without an instructor. But if you are really serious and interested in practicing martial arts what you could do is:

Tone and condition your body build strenght, endurance, stamina, ect.

And then when a new school pops up or when you lvie in another city, find a martial arts school there.

Answer 9

people say this cant be done. it can very well be done. understand there are some qualities that ull need to have that a more experienced person might not have. by training this way understand that the chips are against u. so ur going to have to train harder faster and stronger than the rest. that way ull develop PASSIVE attributes that help make u a good martial artist. simply put ur going to have to be extremely well prepaired than anyone else

hope this was somewhat useful

-domenic

Answer 10

you can't. you just need to keep looking. I'm sure there is. look online, look in the phone book, etc. My martial arts is boxing and I travel 3 hours each way to get to my gym. How dedicated are you?

Answer 11

Tell us your county, I'll search one up for you.

Answer 12

There are others here telling you that you can teach yourself. Sorry to say but you can only learn to mimic moves that way. To learn requires a qualified instructor. After 41 years of training I have yet to see or hear of anyone that is a good at the martial arts that taught themselves. If it were possible there would be a lot of them out there.  Wish I had better news for you. Hopefully there will be a martial arts school in your area soon. It is very likely. Martial arts schools are opening everywhere these days. Best of Luck!

Answer 13

GET A GOOD TEACHING VIDEO AND A GOOD PARTNER TO TRAIN WITH, AND TRY NOT TO KILL EACH OTHER .

YOU MUST LEARN THE BASICS FIRST BEFORE YOU PRACTICE SPARRING.

YOU MUST DO MANY PUNCHING, BLOCKING AND KICKING DRILLS.YOU MUST ALSO DO PREARRANGED APPLICATIONS WITH YOUR PARTNER.

MEDITATE A FEW MINUTES BEFORE YOU START YOUR PRACTICE TO CLEAR YOUR MIND AND SHOW RESPECT FOR YOUR  SELF TRAINING

REMEMBER TO BE SAFE AND RESPECTFUL AND MOST OF ALL  BE PATIENT.  AND DON'T SHOW OFF.

Answer 14

If you want to learn a martial ART, you need a teacher.

If you just want to learn how to fight, get gloves and a couple of sparring partners.

EDIT:

get a mouthpiece too

and headgear (optional)