Is it possible to self-teach yourself martial arts?

Question

Could one learn by themselves off videos at home?

Answer 1

Only with simple moves. More complicated moves require an instructor.

Answer 2

the basics yes. but you can possibly get all the information you need of tapes and therefore you wont ever be as good as you could.and in the street that is very dangerous

Answer 3

No. End of story. you could copy the moves but never really learn them, or know if you were doing them right. Could you learn brain surgery from a video i fyou had no medical training? Don't think so.

Answer 4

Yeah you can but it'll take extremely hard work and you never know if you'll be able to apply it in real life. Get good at one art, then try to create yours. Trust me it will be a good head start.

Answer 5

No.

Answer 6

Yes I am a 7th degree black belt in a style I created from videos.  I call it Master of baiting.  I'm very good at it.

Seriously though you can pick up good moves and ideas from videos but it can never replace sparring and instruction from a sensei.

Answer 7

i think if you teach yourself martial arts you could create a style that knowbody else has and nobody else would know how to defeat you

Answer 8

No, it's like bodybuilding at home, you're always the baddest guy at the gym.

The real problem is that you need the tactile feel of moving with or against others.  You have to develop a feel and an intuition as well as a strategy of how to fight.  At 5'6", 140 lbs I went through one of the most thorough hand to hand combat schools (IDF School of Combat Fitness) in the world, I had to learn how to fight people of all sizes and shapes, more importantly, I had to figure out what would work for me and what wouldn't.

You have to know what it is like to hit and be hit in a fight, to really understand, you have to learn how to act under pressure, which can only come from a partner or partners.  You have to learn how to move your body when there is other body weight on it and you have learn how to react when hit by others.

Learning never happens in a vacuum, although videos are good for supplementary material, you need a teacher.

Answer 9

yes it is possible. but go to a class, it will be much more benificial to you.

Answer 10

I think it's better if you learn from someone else.

Answer 11

Yea you can but you will never get really good.

Answer 12

It is possible, but not wise. Don't expect to be good or very knowledgeable.

Answer 13

Yes to an extent.

In theory you can mimic techniques but you really need a teacher to correct your mistakes as without personal tuition you wont do things 100% correct :)***

Answer 14

It's possible, but I would want a large mirror to see what I was doing, for correction purposes. It is better with an instructor, in person.

Answer 15

Is it possible YES.  Is it recommended NO!!

WHY you may ask, because you can never get the same quality instruction or correction from a book, internet or video that cannot talk back to you and correct you, as a LIVE teacher can.

SO sure you can learn some basic self defense and Martial Arts online and books but those are TRULY meant to be resource guides not actual training books.  So  you decide, is knowing a few basic moves that MAY not even work in real life because you did not teach your self properly or would you rather have some one who knows what they are doing teach you properly so you do know it?

So my answer is no, people like Villari that offer BB DVD's to Shodan first degree are a money making scam. You are not a real BB when you are done and most get the ever living h**l beat out of them because they THINK they are a BB and have not learned humility yet.

See now why it is important to have a real teacher and the others are just extra guidelines and material.