Black Belt Home study courses?

[katana007]

Helo everybody, I have just recently found this awesome site, and would like to hear your opinions. I have some martial art experience and I would like to learn more. The problem is that I don't have a regular job schedule, so I can't join any classes. I have seen alot of advertisments about these home study courese on dvd, where you can get your black belt. Now I now you can't get the true essence of the martial art thought the tv, but can these courses help me keep up some skills that I have gained. Could these courses tie me over until I can join a class, or are they all just a waste of time and money?
Has anyone tried or know some one that has tried any of these home study courses? and what are your/their thought about them?
Also, what about all the martial arts books out there, are any of these worth buying?
Thanks for your help!

If this was the wrong place to post this thread please let me know.

[Flipping Good Time]

I would not recommend home study courses as a substitute in any sense to real training/learning. If you want to keep up skills you have gained, just practice them carefully and constantly. A DVD instructor cannot see what you are doing and tell you if it is right or wrong. I would advise you to join a class or practise the skills you are confident you can do by yourself without developing bad habits, and use DVDs etc. as aides for when you know a technique or have been exposed to it previously and are interested in correcting small flaws or looking for an example of good technique to help understand the motion.

Class is so much more than sitting down and watching the instructor teach at you and I think DVDs would be expensive, inferior, and a way to develop bad habits as you have no instructor watching over your technique.

Of course I am not the expert on learning from DVDs, I only look at videos of technique to see the high-ranking senseis in action. Or to check out different styles.

[Eliz]

Look around for clubs and such that offer day and evening classes.

Most MA's are self defense oriented. It is difficult to learn self defense without a partner!

Tapes and such are good tools for review. Books are certainly good tools for expanding knowledge and learning. These tools are generally used in conjunction with a regular instructor. Tapes and books alone cannot offer you the solid basic foundation needed to advance.

As for offering a BB through a home study course, heck, you can just buy a BB for a lot less money.

[DragonMind]

Don't give up so easily on finding a school. You didn't say if the problem was timing or funds, but either can be overcome. I've worked with many folks over the years that had weird schedules (mostly LEO and health-care for some strange reason :laugh: ). Talk to the instructor. I've used folks as my private uke because that was the only time they could train - during my training time. They got awfully good at taking falls...

There are many low/no cost clubs out there. It can take some digging but worth it.

[Fat Buda]

i think that's only good if you need to pad your resume. For example at one job i noticed some guys were getting hired mainly because they had a Black belt in somecrappy thing or another.

on the other hand i allso think if you have a good training partner it might be ok cause alot of schools out there are garbage anyways

[slamdunc]

Just Say No!

[kagemi]

They are good for a quick reference on how to or how not to, I use them once in a blue moon. This way I keep tab or control of influences. Well the collection looks nice to, besides its the modern day makimono. What is worth your money is Seminars,and Private lessons. This type of route is more rewarding, some instructors allow you to video yourself and instructor covering the material and the what to and not tos' of the Martial Arts .
Have a Blessed Day

[Mark Barlow]

Martial arts home study courses remind me of Drew Carey's joke about a guy getting a mail-order degree as a veterinarian and how the family dog hated to hear the door-bell ring. In this case, the dog is whatever poor schmuck takes lessons from the the grand master who's training is from the Shaolin Temple by way of the U.S. Postal Service.

[Musubi Dojo]

Martial arts home study courses remind me of Drew Carey's joke about a guy getting a mail-order degree as a veterinarian and how the family dog hated to hear the door-bell ring. In this case, the dog is whatever poor schmuck takes lessons from the the grand master who's training is from the Shaolin Temple by way of the U.S. Postal Service.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

If you are buying tapes to play around by yoursself I don't see any harm.

If the tapes are related to an art you have experience in you might even learn something good while picking up a bunch of bad habits. (Instructors are there to stop bad habits before they become bad technique which is difficult to unlearn)

If you're buying tapes to get rank and teach others you're not doing anybody any favours especially the poor buggars you "teach"

I'd avoid anything called "A Black Belt Home Study Course" Anything that offers rank by mail is pure kaka in my opinion.

Cheers
c

[Lame Leopard]

If an individual has a strong martial arts background already, and a home study course is the only way to study a style you want to that isn't readily available in your area, then it is better than nothing. Some of the people who offer these courses even admit that they are for people who live in the boonies, and that finding a qualified instructor and school is the better way to go.

[aplonis]

You should hunt high and low for a non-commercial martial arts class. There do exist qualified teachers whose day professions provide sufficient income that they can indulge in propagating their cherished art at trifling cost...barely enough to meet expences or even at an endurable loss.

But the one thing such groups cannot afford is the high cost of advertising. They won't have a Yellow Page ad at more than $100 per month. They won't have a building with a sign by the road. They'll be a club and meet as clubs do...wherever they can.

Examples: My first TKD class was run by a high steel worker who charged $15 every month or so...when he botherd to ask at all. My one-time TSD teacher was the Vice Principle of a local Middle School and had use of the gym at night. My one-time Hakko Ryu instructor was a professor of psychology at the local university and had use of the wrestling gym on Saturday mornings. My current TKD teacher, a 6th Dan, is a part-time CSI cop and a high school science teacher and holds his course thorugh the auspices of a local hospital's health and fitness program. We have use of their aerobics room two days a week. Current dues: $20 every eight weeks.

All of those teachers were 2nd Dan or above, with non-MA related day jobs but who were dedicated to teach mearly for love of the art. They were fairly demanding of their students, as a rule. With no profit gained, none was lost in showing anyone who might waste their time the door.

There are, to be sure, many a very fine school with Yellow Page ads and signs by the road. But they have rather high bills to pay just to cover costs...and salaries.

But if all you require is your own equipment, some floor space, partners and tutelage. Then costs will be commensurately less. But you are going to have to look hard for them. There won't be as many. But some there will be...and inversely more difficult to find.

Gan Uesli Starling
Kalamazoo Chapter
Western Michigan Tae Kwon Do
http://wmtkd.us

[David Craik]

Hi Gerry, in my opinion books and videos are good for reviewing things you have already learned in a dojo that teaches the same style as the book/video, but not so good for learning new things.

A lot depends on your future intentions too. I would see no harm in watching some (just for example) Shorin-ryu videos and trying some techniques myself just for interest's sake as I trained in Wado and Shotokan...unless I intended to join a Shorin-ryu dojo in the future. Your perceptions of the technique presented, either in print or video, will engender bad habits and errors which are difficult to "unlearn".

Any belt you get through "distance learning" is worthless. Martial arts cannot be taught that way.

[DragonMind]

Awww, Gunny! Does that mean the "So You Want to be a Concert Pianist/Airline Pilot" video tape I bought isn't going to get me a high-paying and exciting new job?

[Eliz]

Awww, Gunny! Does that mean the "So You Want to be a Concert Pianist/Airline Pilot" video tape I bought isn't going to get me a high-paying and exciting new job?

You can play around on the piano - just step away from the plane, Barry. :laugh:

[Gordon Nore]

DVD home study? I couldn't imagine it. One of the important elements that keeps me coming back to the dojo each week is the people I train with. All of them. The ones who challenge me, the ones who encourage me, inspire me, ask me for help, and especially the ones I can't beat on the mat!

[DragonMind]

You can play around on the piano - just step away from the plane, Barry. :laugh:
The passengers are all seated on the plane when two guys with white canes get on and head to the cockpit. Needless to say, the passengers were a little concerned, but figure its just a joke on the flight attendants. As the plane starts its take-off roll, the passengers realize there is a large lake at the end of the runway. Just before they're going to crash into the lake, the passengers scream, the plane goes nose up and they smoothly take off. One pilot turns to the other and says, "You know, one of these days they're not going to scream in time and we're gonna kill ourselves."

[Eliz]

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

[Don Roley]

If an individual has a strong martial arts background already, and a home study course is the only way to study a style you want to that isn't readily available in your area, then it is better than nothing.

I actually have the exact opposite opinion. I think that in that situation it would be the worst possible thing you could do.

If you are reviewing or going over stuff in preperation for a class, that is a case where videos can help. But the important thing in martial arts training is having a teacher point out your mistakes. Maybe they are mistakes you don't know you are making.

I know I have been doing something that I thought was correct only to have the teacher point out the problems with what I was doing. I have seen others do things like that as well.

Well without a teacher, you are going to practice those mistaken moves until they become a habit.

If you have strong habits from one art, then you are much more likely to try to carry them over into another art. I have heard people talk/ laugh about Katori Shinto ryu students trying to do things with aikido footwork, people trying Silat moves with bagua angling and Taijutsu folks trying to do things with Taiji power generation. And this is just my personal experiences that I can think of off the top of my head.

You really need a teacher to stop you when you fall into the trap of your old habits. You need them to point out mistakes, not just show you what to do. Videos are great if used correctly as a supplement. But nothing of any signifigance can be learned from a home study course.

Musubi Dojo probably said it best.



If the tapes are related to an art you have experience in you might even learn something good while picking up a bunch of bad habits. (Instructors are there to stop bad habits before they become bad technique which is difficult to unlearn)

If you're buying tapes to get rank and teach others you're not doing anybody any favours especially the poor buggars you "teach"

I'd avoid anything called "A Black Belt Home Study Course" Anything that offers rank by mail is pure kaka in my opinion.

I actually know a few cases where people have learned from a video black belt course and then not only taught others, but made up their own style of martial art and called themselves soke. Imagine the poor students these guys teach!