Learn from Youtube

[YouKnowWho]

If we look at the "inner hook (Ouchi Gari)", this clip shows the footwork.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir0_ND2xIho

This clip shows the set up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4IxLY9n_-o

This clip shows how to use it against noncompliant opponent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDdMbxsD0z8

Can anybody learn this technique just from these 3 clips? What more information do you need? What's your thought?

[jimbob]

Yes - I think it's perfectly possible to learn from Youtube if you have good body awareness and perhaps already a little background.

I'm not saying it's possible to learn everything from Youtube, but I don't see why someone who is reasonably experienced and can pick things up quickly shouldn't be able to understand a fairly simple technique like o uchi gari.

There have been some UFC fighters who competed in the cage after spending much of their time with vhs tapes. Again - not recommended as the first choice in instruction, but if you learn easily and understand your body and you have no other option, why not?

[EarthDragon]

^ agreed with jimbob, if you have an understanding you can be shown a techniques practice it and become proficient in it.

[ginosifu]

My question is:

How many of those youtube videos have techniques that were done improperly? How many individuals thinkin that they are going to learn a awesome technique but, learned it wrong because the youtube video was of some joe average who did it wrong? How many beginners are getting hurt cuz they watched a youtube video.

ginosifu

[LFJ]

The same questions could be asked regarding schools with incompetent teachers, only beginners would be more inclined to trust them even if they said or showed basically what some bad videos say or show.

[jimbob]

My question is:

How many of those youtube videos have techniques that were done improperly? How many individuals thinkin that they are going to learn a awesome technique but, learned it wrong because the youtube video was of some joe average who did it wrong? How many beginners are getting hurt cuz they watched a youtube video.

ginosifu

It's a fair cause for concern, although as LFJ says above, it probably happens even without video. Which is the lesser of two evils - watching video of someone known to be good and capable, someone of high level and/or a very good teacher, or learning directly from some clueless Shaolin Do survivor (not pointing fingers at any Youtube superstars here), who has no idea and whose teachers may have had no idea?

Isn't the history of martial arts littered with people who founded their own now famous systems, simply by hiding in the shadows and watching what was happening when others were training?

I've did most of my learning in Singapore and have also spent some time in Japan (watching, not participating). In Singapore, we were shown a technique and then went away to practice it, and we did get corrected by senior students. In Japan at the school I saw, the senior student performed a series of techniques and students were expected to follow along. There was no correction given at all. I can't say if this was standard for every class, but I went 5 times and it was the only teaching method I saw. Watch and follow as best you can.

It's not ideal, but I think, if someone has some pre-existing knowledge/experience, it's possible to add to that just through visual learning.

[jdhowland]

Even if the techique shown (whether video or live instruction) isn't perfect, the solution is simple: train it with several partners and then train it more in competition. If it eventually works you have learned it well.

[YouKnowWho]

Even if the techique shown (whether video or live instruction) isn't perfect, the solution is simple: train it with several partners and then train it more in competition. If it eventually works you have learned it well.

That's how I feel too. Most of the throws are just to push your opponent's upper body down, sweep/hook his leg up. By following that principle, it should be easy to learn any throwing skill. If you have a training partner, you can develop a lot of useful "tools" to put into your "toolbox".

When people argue whether a certain style has roundhouse kick or hook punch, it make no sense to me. IMO, how hard is it just to put both techniques into your system?

[RD'S Alias - 1A]

Speaking as someone whos actually tried this (And I still get grief for it, even though it was the flipn late 90's when I did it), I can say that i *Thought* I had a lot of stuff right. Then I started to study Kuntao with a teacher and found out all the details I was missing.

If you have achieved a level of detailed, conceptual understanding, and you can ALREADY fight. If you are ALREADY trained, you can look at videos, see the techniques, or forms and pick them up pretty well if you have a partner to work with.


Someone who is still learning his fundamentals, on the other hand, has no prayer of getting much out of it.

[jimbob]

^^^

Agree 100%. If someone is trying to learn in this way, a lot of prior experience and a practice partner should be mandatory.

[YouKnowWho]

Assume you are good at longfist or TKD roundhouse kick.

- longfist roundhouse kick only deal with the waist area. The knee is not bent before the kick. The kick come back in the same path.
- TKD roundouse kick aims to the head. It's a 45 degree upward path. You bend your knee before the kick. Again, the kick also come back with the same path.

One day you saw a clip that had a MT roundhouse kick. The kick come down 45 degree to the head along with a body spin with the body momentum behind the kick.

You then realize that your leg flexibility is not good enough. You will need to stretch more so your leg can kick higher than your opponent's head inorder to be able to "come down in a 45 degree angle". You may also realize that inorder to generate the maximum power in your kick, your body should spin with the kick (instead of trying to pull your kick back).

[Syn7]

If we look at the "inner hook (Ouchi Gari)", this clip shows the footwork.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ir0_ND2xIho

This clip shows the set up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4IxLY9n_-o

This clip shows how to use it against noncompliant opponent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDdMbxsD0z8

Can anybody learn this technique just from these 3 clips? What more information do you need? What's your thought?

I think you can. The only real issue is in the refinement of technique. You can drill stuff all day to make it work, but having an experienced teacher watch you and correct you can save you A LOT of time and keep you from creating bad habits that will hurt you later.

You can learn anything from a video. Just most likely won't be as quality as from a good teacher.

Like if you use online tutorials to learn how to write C++, you will learn a lot. You will be able to write code. BUT, you will be better off having a teacher. You can correct the known unknowns but the unknown unknowns will soar over your head and if you keep moving forward you will have poor foundation. Best to just learn it properly the first time.

But if all you have is videos and no other choice, I guess it's better than nothing. A guy who trains simple punches and kicks in his living room all on his own will have an edge over somebody who has no training or practice at all. So it is better than nothing, to an extent anyways.

[YouKnowWho]

Like if you use online tutorials to learn how to write C++, you will learn a lot. You will be able to write code. BUT, you will be better off having a teacher.

Since you are using programming language as example, here is my personal experience.

I had learned Fortran, assembly language, Pascal, Lisp, Algol in school. After I got out of school, I have learned Pl/1, Pl/S, C, C++, Java, JavaScript all by myself without teacher.

The funnest thing was when I was a teaching assistant in UT Austin, one semester I was assigned to teach the "Knuth MIX assembly language". I told my professor that the assembly language that I had learned was for CDC6600 and I knew nothing about MIX. My professor said, "Nobody in our computer science department knows this. Why don't you just study yourself and teach it at the same time." It was quite challenged to study one chapter and then teach one chapter. If my students asked me any question in a later chapters, I won't be able to answer those questions and that was for sure.

During my IBM job, when the internet just came out, I had to design the "security center" for the IBM Websphere product. Back in school, I had not learned anything about web design. There were no text book and no documentation available. I pretty much just learned by "trying by errors".

After those experience, I believe there is nothing that I can't learn without teacher. After all, to learn how to do "MT flying knee" is still much easier than trying to figure out how to write a "Google search engine" or "virus removal program" by yourself without teacher.

[Syn7]

John, that's awesome.


Anyways, having a background makes a difference. What I wrote was under the assumption that you are a novice. I chose C language because it is an intermediate level that takes some thought, but anyone can do it if they try.


Having already learned a system makes learning another system WAY easier.

When I was younger and I first tried snowboarding, I already knew how to skateboard, skim board and ski. I knew snow and what the effects were of dry vs wet, deep powder vs hard packed. I knew what it was like to balance in a side stance on a skate and skim board. I had a lot of prior knowledge going in and I was doing huge airs by the end of day one whereas some friends were still falling all over the bunny hill and catching their downhill edge over and over and never quite absorbing the lesson there. They couldn't even use the rope tow very well after a whole day practice. Meanwhile I was out of bounds taking 15 foot kickers with my friends that were already really good. So prior experience in related fields makes all the diff.

For MA's, I was already a gymnast and a B-Boy. MA's felt natural at that point. I already knew my body. I already knew how to isolate and connect movements that were unrelated. I already could do one thing with my feet, another with my knees and hips and another with my upper torso and another with my arms without any confusion. It makes all the difference in the world IMO.

Whereas if you stuck me in front of a book on how to make wine, my first batch would prolly taste like shit! My grampa made some nice whiskey tho. So I'm a bit knowledgeable there.

[MightyB]

I think youtube is great to show you new ways to look at things that you already know. So in a sense you can learn a great deal from youtube.