Can you learn from videos?

[KungFubar]

A lot of WC videos and courses out there are they any good, if you have a practice partner can you learn from videos?

[Kymus]

Not really.

If you have a good amount of experience, maybe, otherwise, no.

You need an instructor to be around to correct your mistakes and teach proper form.

[Kymus]

addendum: there's a reason why learning from video is generally taboo and frowned upon in this community.

It's one thing to buy a tape and learn for the fun of it. It's another to buy it and think that you're really learning the art. It just doesn't work like that.

[KungFubar]

Perhaps. But this depends on many factors. Best to find a good SiFu to guide you along your journey. Where in FL are you located?

north port

[KungFubar]

addendum: there's a reason why learning from video is generally taboo and frowned upon in this community.

It's one thing to buy a tape and learn for the fun of it. It's another to buy it and think that you're really learning the art. It just doesn't work like that.

so basically its a scam then?

[Kymus]

so basically its a scam then?

It's not a scam unless it promises you something.

Just because you can practice a form, doesn't mean you can fight with the techniques from it.

The tapes are just there for people that are curious. It's no substitute for a live teacher.

[KungFubar]

It's not a scam unless it promises you something.

Just because you can practice a form, doesn't mean you can fight with the techniques from it.

The tapes are just there for people that are curious. It's no substitute for a live teacher.

if you cant find a good teacher can you start with dvds and then when you find one then he can fix you and make the adjustments? Like you said you must be very lucky to find a good teacher. If not a good teacher then its wasting a lot of time and money. Im leaning to wing chun now. Id love to find a wing chun group close by. Maybe I can get started with a dvd while Im trying to get lucky.

[sanjuro_ronin]

You can learn from a DVD.
How much, How well all depends on you AND the person on the DVD.
I've seen DVD's that the info being put out was info that took me years to realize WITH a teacher.
Some instructors are just that good.
That is NOT always the case.
I will say this:
If you are learning from a DVD then partner work is even MORE crucial.

[KungFubar]

ok thanks everyone. One reason I like wing chun is they say it is the most popular a lot of people doing it. Im sure there are some really good WC people in my town somewhere, finding them and inviting me to their group is another matter. If its so popular there should be a lot of people pretty much everywhere doing it. Its not like Im looking for some exotic kf style which actually exists near me but Im not that interested in investing my soul into something of unknown efficacy. Also I dont know if they would even let me in.

[Kymus]

if you cant find a good teacher can you start with dvds and then when you find one then he can fix you and make the adjustments?

There are at least two good schools near you.

But for anyone else.............. eh.............. I kinda want to say no. I taught a friend of mine a form he was doing for an open-forms competition for a Kempo school he was attending. I figured I would teach him the form first and then worry about fixing it later. Bad move. It was a nightmare trying to correct all the bad habbits and mistakes he got acustomed to. I learned my lesson: always make sure it's right the first time.

[hulkout]

A lot of WC videos and courses out there are they any good, if you have a practice partner can you learn from videos?

In theory, it will work. But in actual practice, it won't. Think about it. If you're both making the same mistake, you'll do the drills and there will be no one to correct you. And since you're both doing it, it will fell right. Things like leaning back, crossing your centerline, or having your elbows out. You may think you're doing it right. But a sifu will spot things that you can't. Without someone senior to you to pressure test you, you may make the same mistake for months. Then when you finally realize it, you'll have to undo all that incorrect training. Videos can be useful if you're already training under a good sifu. You can learn some tips from them or use them as a reference. I've bought dvds where I've learned drills from them and they've been very helpful. But you simply can't learn just from videos. You need a sifu.

[BlackEChan]

You can definitely learn something from a video, but an actual teacher is always the best.
"Knowledge is knowledge, it doesn't matter where it comes from, it matters how you use it."

[anerlich]

if you cant find a good teacher can you start with dvds and then when you find one then he can fix you and make the adjustments? Like you said you must be very lucky to find a good teacher. If not a good teacher then its wasting a lot of time and money. Im leaning to wing chun now. Id love to find a wing chun group close by. Maybe I can get started with a dvd while Im trying to get lucky.

Much better to do this than do nothing, or even worse, assume anyone on this forum is going to teach you anything over the web.

[Paddington]

A lot of WC videos and courses out there are they any good, if you have a practice partner can you learn from videos?

I can only echo what others have already said. However, once you have learnt through a sifu for a number of years then yes, videos can be very useful and enlightening.

[guy b.]

wing chun videos usually aren't high enough quality to learn from because they aren't intended as teaching aids or they were not very well made.

There are certainly MA dvds you can lean a lot from, for example some grappling stuff. It depends on how the video was made really

[lance]

if you cant find a good teacher can you start with dvds and then when you find one then he can fix you and make the adjustments? Like you said you must be very lucky to find a good teacher. If not a good teacher then its wasting a lot of time and money. Im leaning to wing chun now. Id love to find a wing chun group close by. Maybe I can get started with a dvd while Im trying to get lucky.
KungFubar , you know you want to learn wing chun right ? So now you have to figure out who you want as your WC Sifu , and instead of buying DVDs that may waste your money , you have to do your own research as to see who you want to learn WC from ? Go on youtube and everythingwingchun.com . And either go to a WC seminar or organize a seminar in your area , or visit the WC school of the sifu of your choice .
Goodluck in search for a WC Sifu . You can learn from DVDs you just need to know waht to look for in a DVD . I ' ve got Sifu Wong Shun Leungs' DVDs so as Sifu Gary Lam and David Peterson , and they ' re all good . Take Care .


Lance

[mawali]

You can definitely learn something from a video, but an actual teacher is always the best.
"Knowledge is knowledge, it doesn't matter where it comes from, it matters how you use it."

Don't you remember Dr Wu used to show videos as a reference so it is good to see how others teach and show stuff and it also serves as a reminder, in case one forgets.

[Miqi]

Yes, you can learn a great deal from videos. As Wang Xiang Zhai's student Kenichi Sawai said once, you can even learn from a photograph. I would go much further - you can learn from statements, stories, movies, random ambient events, dance, watching other people and most of all, from thinking. You can learn a lot, as well, just from listening to hoaxers.

The only real Quan is the Quan that unfolds from intuitive development. It is not possible for anything else to be the real Quan because it has to be a symbiosis with you, and your natural and trained skill. And that can be improved literally overnight just by having an "a ha!" moment. So intuitive unfolding is a key tutor.

People with a lot invested in being a teacher or having what they like to call, bizarrely, "a lineage", always want to lie and say you can't learn from videos. You work out why. A video fo yourself is probably the most useful video of all - followed by a video of those guys who say you can't learn from a video, ha ha.

Having said that, it is difficult to progress without a good coach, at least at first. And for top level, is there any top sports person who doesn't have a coach? Or, in fact, any who doesn't use videos as well??