Watching videos better than nothing? Or worse?

[MantisKungFu]

I am thinking of purchasing some Wing Chun videos to learn from. There are no schools nearby (besides Villari's) and it would be inconvenient to try and schedule going to a long distance school around my schooling and work.

So here is my question, would I be better off purchasing a few Wing Chun videos and learning from those, or would it just give me bad techniques/habits? If I was to purchase some videos, which ones are good? The ones with Augustine Fong by Panther? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks,

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"It is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt"

[IronFist]

I think MA videos can be decent if you've had prior MA experience.

Iron

[LEGEND]

I think wing chun is too complicated to buy tapes.

A

[Jaguar Wong]

Just don't claim to have any real level of skill in the style. If you go to a school that teaches the style later on, you'll be prepared for what they'll show you, but you'll really be amazed at the stuff you missed, or weren't shown in the video.

For example, if I owned the Gracie Jiu Jitsu CD Rom, and I also played Fighting games on my SNES, I wouldn't claim any real fighting knowledge. Only a loudmouth fool would do that. :o

Note: I did watch a Gracie Jiu Jitsu Tape, and a Marco Ruas tape, and I learned a guard pass (by mixing the two they showed) that worked against other beginners at my same level (read: no experience).

It's always better to learn in person, but like you said, videos are better than nothing. At least you'll have some exposure, and perhaps a few basic drills to develop some of your attributes.

Jaguar Wong

"If you learn to balance a tack hammer on your head
then you learn to head up a balanced attack!"
- The Sphinx

[Royal Dragon]

Basically, you CAn learn from video and learn well, BUT you need some traoing partners to help compare what your doing ot the tape, and to TEST the self defense. It should be done by someone who already knows the base mechanics, as that is sometimes hard to do on your own. Bassically, you need to be a creative and self motivated individual. For example, a self made buisness owner would probually be more succsessful at it than a blue collar working slob that punces the clock and does some sort of mind numbing job, day in and day out with no hope of ever improving himself.

An artist would be better at it than an accounting clerk, because of the eye and creative mind.

I have had good results, and confirmation I'm doing right because I fly out to see my Sifu from time to time for corrections. It would probually be better to find a Wing Chun school that sells videos of thier system, and then make the trip for the corrections from time to time. Trust me, it's the best way when a real teacher is NOT avaliable.

Royal Dragon

Those that are sucessful are also the biggest failures. the difference between them and the rest of the failures is this, they keep getting up over and over again, until they succeed. "The more they try, the more they fail, BUT, the more they try & fail, the more opertunity they have to succeed, and succeed they do!!"



Check out the Royal Dragon Web site

http://www.Royaldragon.4dw.com

[Jeff Liboiron]

I've been studying wing chun for only around 6 months, i had a teacher for 4 of those months, but he moved, and i have been learning by videos, they are excellent, but yes you do need a training partner. It's weird but my training partners have formal training, but i can beat them, and i don't have formal training, so it is very possible to learn from videos. Go for it, but you still must practice very hard. Good Luck :)

The object is not to hurt someone else, but to stop them from hurting you

[RedDragon]

"For example, if I owned the Gracie Jiu Jitsu CD Rom, and I also played Fighting games on my SNES, I wouldn't claim any real fighting knowledge. Only a loudmouth fool would do that."

bwahhahahahah, right on bro! dont forget the tekken at the arcade, aaahahahahhaha!!

"I'd like to joind in but I've got to go and meet what I would be if I wasd a hot women attracted to me"-ABandit

[EARTH DRAGON]

They say you can only learn so much from a book and less from videos! I would suggest learning from an actual teacher, even if it means giving something up to find the time.

http://www.kungfuUSA.net