Learn Karate from a book?

[Prince_Alarming102]

If only it came with a cassette...

 

[windwalker099102]

It has been proven time and time again that it's pretty much impossible to learn martial arts purely from instructionals. Chewjitsu (a BJJ black belt youtuber) did a video where he explained that he and his friends used to "train jiu-jitsu" by watching UFC and trying to analyze the fights and practice together in the garage. After a few years of this, they went to a real BJJ school and were instantly humbled at how little they actually gleaned from their armchair studying.

Interesting, but that doesn't prove it's impossible to learn from instructionals. It shows that their understanding wasn't at the level of what they were watching—and apparently they didn't know what they were missing until they encountered people who actually had that skill.

That's a common problem. People interpret what they see through their present level of experience and understanding, often assuming that what they recognize is all that is taking place.

Without sufficient experience, you may be able to superficially mimic what you see without understanding what actually makes it work.

In the internal arts this is a common problem in both directions: practitioners attempting to reproduce what they see, outsiders attempting to judge what they see. In either case, they don't necessarily know what they'er not seeing.

 

[skribs101]

Interesting, but that doesn't prove it's impossible to learn from instructionals. It shows that their understanding wasn't at the level of what they were watching—and apparently they didn't know what they were missing until they encountered people who actually had that skill.

That's a common problem. People interpret what they see through their present level of experience and understanding, often assuming that what they recognize is all that is taking place.

Without sufficient experience, you may be able to superficially mimic what you see without understanding what actually makes it work.

In the internal arts this is a common problem in both directions: practitioners attempting to reproduce what they see, outsiders attempting to judge what they see. In either case, they don't necessarily know what they'er not seeing.

It's not impossible to learn from instructionals. It's nearly impossible to learn entirely from instructionals.

Obviously someone had to create the martial arts initially, and they did so even without an instructional. But the number of people who are capable of learning purely from instructionals or from a book is near enough to zero percent that we can effectively call it 0% without being inaccurate.

I've been watching a lot of instructionals from BJJ recently, as I've been reviewing in the BJJ thread. I've gotten little tidbits here and there that have helped my game, and I hone those tidbits against competent grapplers. I don't know how I would've learned this on my own with a grappling dummy or with a friend in a garage with no foundation to build on.

 

[isshinryuronin]

I found this educational book a while ago which teaches Japanese speakers how to use the word ‘f*ck’ correctly.

This word's meaning (bunkai) has much in common with good karate technique. Depending on context and inflection it can have many different applications.

 

[Gyakuto103]

This word's meaning (bunkai) has much in common with good karate technique. Depending on context and inflection it can have many different applications.

Yes…it’s complex for foreign nationals, but for native speakers, who learned it’s use from a young age, it’s intuitive!

 

[philwhite33]

Didn't read every post so feel free to mock me if I repeat anything. I don't think its impossible to learn from books. I watch a lot of videos and then try them out. Again it takes a few partners to figure things out perfect.

Also IIRC HEMA was essentially this. From books to an art. I think the big part is taking the ideas from the books and working with others to see if they actually work. By yourself you are unlikely to succeed.

 

[Gyakuto103]

Didn't read every post so feel free to mock me if I repeat anything. I don't think its impossible to learn from books. I watch a lot of videos and then try them out. Again it takes a few partners to figure things out perfect.

I think videos provide a higher level of learning than books. ‘If a picture is worth a thousand words, a moving picture is worth ten thousand.’ But I think you do require the correction only a physical teacher can provide.

 

[Dragonfly35]

Learning techniques from books is not easy. Absorbing the spirit of Karate and discovering the history is possible though. The martial arts are still new for me but I am enjoying reading lots of different books. Finding out about the past masters and their aims gives me a better understanding of Karate and the allied arts.

 

[Gyakuto103]

I think the history of one’s art is a lovely thing to know and books are a great pointer to spiritual ideas. Studying Karate from the age of 12 led me to Zen, Japanese culture, writings, historical figures etc. It made me a well-rounded person.

Now, advancing age and eating too much is making me well rounded!