New Student: when will you quit?

[Rusty B]

For what it's worth, the ones I find most intriguing are the ones who call up on the phone, ask questions, and then say "That sounds great! I'll be in on Thursday to begin training, see you then!" Then they do not show up. That in itself isn't that odd, but then they call back. Months or sometimes years later; but they are the same person; you recognize the voice. They ask the same questions, say the same thing, still don't show up. First, why tell *us* you're going to show up on X date? We will be in class regardless of whether you do or don't. Second, why don't you show up? Third, why, if you don't plan to show up, do you keep calling and saying you're going to? So very strange.

Our Sensei also mentions that he runs into former students all the time who stop him when they see him out on the street, greet him warmly, and inform him that a) they are still working on their kata at home and b) they'll be back in the dojo next week. "Next week" must be code for "I am never coming back again." Because they never do.

But occasionally, we do have students return after being gone for months, years, and in a couple cases, decades. They come back, and some of them stay and keep training. Hey, life happens. Doesn't matter what happened to keep you from training, the point is you can train now, so welcome back and get busy!

This explains a few things. A little over a year ago, I was shopping around for a place to begin karate... and one place I stopped at, I told him that I'd be there next week for the intro class... and, in his response, you could hear the attitude of "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, bud."

I gave him exactly what he was expecting, and signed up somewhere else, where they were eager to get the ball rolling.

 

[Harry Flannagan]

Very well said! There were plenty of times I wanted to quit before, but I soldiered on. It took me longer to get my blue belt. But I'll keep working to get my purple. This is very in

 

[nikthegreek_3]

Regarding the possibility of the bad teacher as mentioned... I think that this will help you check whether a teacher is good or not. So as not to waste your time. I totally agree that whoever teaches Active Defenses will waste your time. And this is why people believe that traditional martial arts like Wing Chun are useless:

 

[Puppage]

This explains a few things. A little over a year ago, I was shopping around for a place to begin karate... and one place I stopped at, I told him that I'd be there next week for the intro class... and, in his response, you could hear the attitude of "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say, bud."

I gave him exactly what he was expecting, and signed up somewhere else, where they were eager to get the ball rolling.

I would have done the same thing.

 

[Puppage]

Very well said! There were plenty of times I wanted to quit before, but I soldiered on. It took me longer to get my blue belt. But I'll keep working to get my purple. This is very in

Love your determination.

 

[Buka]

Very well said! There were plenty of times I wanted to quit before, but I soldiered on. It took me longer to get my blue belt. But I'll keep working to get my purple. This is very in

Welcome to Martial Talk, Harry.

 

[Buka]

You know, seeing this thread again after a long time, really makes me miss @Bill Mattocks.

I hope he's well.

 

[_Simon_]

You know, seeing this thread again after a long time, really makes me miss @Bill Mattocks.

I hope he's well.

Same Buka!

 

[Harry Flannagan]

Welcome to Martial Talk, Harry.

Thanks, Buka! Appreciate that.

 

[Diagen]

Dear Prospective New Student:

First, welcome to our training facility. We are glad you decided to start your martial arts training journey and we're glad you chose us. We'd like to share a few things with you to get started, and we'd like to issue a couple of warnings, just so you know what to expect.


PRE-QUITTERS:

We'll never get to know you, unfortunately. You've called or come by the training facility, picked up some literature, asked some questions. Maybe you even stayed and watched some training. You told yourself that this is something you think you'd like to do. But for whatever reason, you don't come back. You may be surprised, but every training facility has people who call multiple times to ask about training, and to state that they will definitely be in the next week to start training. Some call every year in January; must be a New Year's Resolution or something. Whatever; you won't sign up, you won't train. You've quit before you've begun.

Some of you will ask around online about training. Where the local facilities are, if this or that art or trainer is well-respected, and so on. You'll describe your desire to start training, maybe give some background about yourself. Perhaps you've been in the military and gotten some martial arts training there. Perhaps you are a little older and trained in some martial arts style as a child and now you'd like to get back into it. Perhaps you think it would be a good way to lose some weight, to stay fit, to learn self-defense. You're very inquisitive, and seem enthusiastic, but you won't actually sign up and start training, for whatever reason.

Some of you will ask about video and book-based training. You may or may not be pleased with the reply, because although there are some who think martial arts can be learned from a book or from a video, many trained martial artists do not, and they'll give you their unvarnished opinion. We realize that this will probably lead to some angry words and a rapid departure. Not only won't you join a martial arts training center, you also won't practice your asked-about book or video learning either. We won't see you again online, although the discussion threads you've begun will probably continue for some time after you've gone.

Some of you will describe all the ways that it is impossible for you to train in person. You live many miles from the nearest training facility. You do not have a job, and therefore no money. You do not have a vehicle or access to transportation. You work or go to school when the training facility offers classes. There are many reasons why local in-person training is not possible for you. We can offer only this; finding a way to attend training is the first part of your martial arts journey. If you cannot do this (and your reasons may be quite real, we're not calling you a liar), you would not keep training anyway; because it only gets harder from there. If you really want to do it, you will find a way to make it happen, even if it means doing things that are quite uncomfortable or difficult, or making long-range plans that include waiting until you can change your circumstances. Some will recommend that you wait until you can change your circumstances, but that in the meantime, you consider doing calisthenics, working out, doing weight training, becoming flexible, or taking other classes that can help you later; like ballroom dancing, or jazzercise or yoga or other forms of physical activity that require you to develop balance, rhythm, and increase your endurance and basic fitness level. You may reject these; after all, they are not what you want to do. We agree, but we know from the benefit of having trained for awhile in martial arts that these things can and will benefit you; dancers are often quite good martial artists, people who are flexible from yoga find it easy to perform higher kicks, and so on. Again, if you are unwilling to consider this type of training while you wait until your circumstances change so that you can get started with martial arts training, you are probably not that serious about martial arts training.

And let us just say that being a quitter is not a bad thing. It's not meant to hurt or insult you. People choose to do or not do things for all kinds of reasons, and just not wanting to do it is a perfectly valid reason. There is no shame, and no harm, in deciding you don't want to do something; or in deciding after trying it that is just not for you. Have no fear; walk away and do something you DO like to do. We're all different, and we all want different things out of life. No harm, no foul. You're still a good person; you just don't want to be a martial artist. Totally OK.

DAY ONE QUITTERS:

About half of our prospective new students quit after the first day. Reasons vary, and we don't even know all of them, but our theory is that for many, the reality of our martial arts training does not meet up with their expectations.

For example, we spend at least 30 minutes of our 2-hour training session doing calisthenics and stretching exercises. We understand if you are not in good physical condition or if you have physical limitations that prevent you from doing everything we do; but do ask you to do what you can. We do pushups, we do jumping jacks, we do crunchers and situps and we skip rope. If you are able to keep pace, you will be breathing hard and sweating by the time we're ready to start any kind of actual training. We do this because it is important to prepare the body and the mind for the activity that is to come. We have found that some new students did not expect to have to do hard physical exercise, and that's not what they want to do.

We also start our newest students off with extreme basics, such as how to make a fist, how to stand, how to step forward and back, how to punch. This may seem a far cry from smashing bricks or doing 'real' self-defense, but in grade school, you practiced writing your alphabet before you started writing words, and this is no different. We have found that some new students do not like the idea of beginning at the very beginning.

It has also been noted that invariably, new students ask us "How long until I get my black belt?" This is a very common and legitimate question, we'd be surprised if you did not ask it; but the answer may not be what you want to hear. In our training facility, the answer is that it varies, depending upon the student. At the minimum, it will take several years, and the average for us is probably somewhere in the five year range. That's a long time, and we understand that may be disappointing for some. We cannot say that it is not legitimate for a person to have 'earning a black belt' as a goal for their training, but in our training facility, we keep two things uppermost in mind. First, for us, we're more interested in the training we receive than the belt we wear around our waists and second, sho-dan (first degree black belt) is only the beginning of a lifetime's commitment to martial arts training. We do understand if that is not what you are interested in, but it is what we do here.

3 MONTH QUITTERS:

We're always happy when a new student returns, especially after the first day! Unfortunately, we have also noticed that a lot of students stop coming around the the three-month mark. Again, we're not certain, but there may be a number of reasons for this. We have noted that some students seem to quit after they have received their first or second belt promotions. This is disappointing to us, because we've invested a lot in you as a student by now, we've gotten to know and like you as a person, and you've put in a lot of hard work. We've welcomed you into our family, and no that you're not there, we notice it and we miss you. We wish you'd come back!

When asked, some have said that they quit because even after three months, they felt they were not learning 'martial arts'. That is, they were still spending a lot of time on basics. Stepping, standing, punching, kicking, and the beginnings of kata and the foreign vocabulary words we use in our training facility. Some of it does not feel like it's very much geared towards self-defense or even the kind of fluid, graceful, martial arts moves one can see in movies or on the Internet. They might become discouraged or think that they are not progressing. The fact is, you are progressing, you just don't see it in yourself yet. You are adding speed and balance and power to your punches, even if you are punching air or a bag. You are learning distancing and how to hit without hurting your hand, how to kick without hurting your toes. You're improving; but you just don't see it in yourself yet. The truth is, you'll probably never see it until you get to the point where you see yourself objectively, but you will get to the point where you see new students who are where you were, and you'll realize that you're not like that anymore.

The seasons are also changing after three months, in many places. Fall turns into winter, the weather turns bad. Students go back to school, schedules change for many of us. It becomes harder to get to the training facility, harder to dedicate the time necessary. People catch colds and flu and although they are understandably out for a short period, starting again afterwards can be an uphill slog. The thing you should remember is that there is only one thing that separates many advanced students from beginning students; they kept attending training. That's it. No magic. They're not more talented than you (OK, maybe some are, and you may be more naturally gifted than some of them), but they kept attending training. If they seem much better than you are now, that's what time and practice does. That may seem difficult to accept from the 'beginner' side of things, but it's true.

Boredom. Yes, it's true. Although we vary the routine in our training facility to try to keep things fresh, ultimately we are doing the same things over and over again. And there is a certain amount of tedium in it if you do not have a long attention span. But training the body is not exactly the same as training the mind; the body requires repetition to make certain movements natural and reflexive, to apply speed and power to them. There will come a time when you will see an opening during sparring and you'll throw a punch or a kick and it will go right where you intended it to go, just as you intended it to land; but it will happen because you have thrown that punch of kick hundreds or thousands of times until it seems as natural as swatting a fly or reaching for a kitchen utensil. It will be in your 'bag of tricks' and you can call upon it anytime you need it. But until you do it over and over and over again, knowing the movement is not the same as applying the movement. Yes, it's boring and repetitive and it gets old. Part of your martial arts journey will be doing things that are not that much fun, without any apparent short-term benefit.

Afraid to come back after an absence. Yes, we understand that there are good reasons why you have to stop training for a period of time. Jobs, school, children, parents, seasons, sickness, injuries, finances, all kinds of reasons, many of them valid. But we also want you to come back. We like you by now. We miss you. Yes, some of your fellow new students will have advanced since you've been gone. But that's not a big deal; this is not a race. You will have lost some training too; you'll forget your kata or forms, your moves will be slow and rusty, you'll have to relearn some things. But you'll also be surprised at how quickly you'll get it all back once you start training again. It won't take as long as you think. So don't think that it's a good idea to stop training permanently just because you had to stop training temporarily. You don't even have to explain to us why you had to stop; we know how life is. Just come back and start training again.

BLACK BELT QUITTERS:

The saddest thing is to see a student quit training when they receive their sho-dan or first-degree black belt. One instructor put it this way; "It hurts to know that they see the benefits and choose not to train anyway." A student who earns their black belt has generally shown the kind of dedication needed to keep training, to keep learning, to keep trying, no matter the obstacles put in front of them. You are actively helping others in the training facility; you are looked up to as leaders and newer students model themselves after you. You are respected and liked; your absence will be sorely felt.

Why did you quit? Perhaps you felt like taking a break. After all, it was a long and difficult climb to that first black belt rank, and there was quite likely an even more difficult last-minute push to make sure you had everything in place to test and pass that milestone. You were in that last sprint to the finish line and perhaps now it feels like the race is over, or at least that you're not ready to immediately start another race to the next belt.

Hopefully, you don't think you've learned all there is to learn. Most black belt students are quite aware that those who have advanced black belts have a level of mastery above them as much as they themselves have over a beginner. You may have learned all the kata or forms, all the exercises, all the weapons; but it would be wrong to say you've mastered them. Just as a person with a Bachelor's degree in biology understands the basics of human health, they are in no way a medical doctor.

Perhaps you feel that you've ticked a box off your bucket list. If that's all all you wanted, it's perfectly valid; but it does mystify many of us who have turned the corner of perception from martial arts as a way of learning something (self-defense, good conditioning, etc) into seeing martial arts as a way of life, something to be pursued forever, perpetual students who always strive for a deeper level of understanding. Everyone has their own reasons for training; and for quitting. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' to it; but once a student reaches black belt range, many life-long students start to think that all black belts feel the same way about training that they do. It's often a shock to find out that's not the case.

THE WAY OF MARTIAL ARTS SUCCESS:

The secret, prospective student, is simple, even if it is difficult to implement. Find a training facility you like, with a qualified instructor that you respect, that teaches what you want to learn. Find a way to attend regularly, even through difficulty and sacrifice. Then keep training. Through boredom, through injuries, through changes in your life that make it difficult to train. If you have to stop, start again as soon as you can. Practice when you are not able to train in person. Repeat this for the rest of your life. That is the secret to martial arts success.

One of the issues is reaching a certain level then realizing you're still really vulnerable in any fight, and that all your work is useless most of the time anyway. There are many people much better than you, some people with a style or training that you are inherently vulnerable to (something direct and quick for instance often catches people; like a good and quick side kick for reach and power followed up with an effective maul takes most out). There are groups of people that may maim you. There are melee weapons like a blade. There are guns. There are beer bottles to break over your head and gauge you with. There are those that kill or attack before you know it. There are cars -- that run you over. There are cars -- that hit your car and crumple it.

If martial arts made you much much tougher then hell yeah you'd get people showing up every day. Most people don't train for toughness though, or the training is brutal and painful. Even if you could train to stop bullets with your bare flesh the training would be worse than death haha!

Seriously training is just brutal or it isn't very effective. Sure you can do some cardio and lift some weights or calisthenics, knock out some untrained folk and take a few punches from someone with average strength, but Mike Tyson or anyone else more trained more explosive will just knock you out and shrug off your punches. Most "dojos" don't train toughness even.

Wasting time on something that should be as efficient and effective as possible. Who the hell would subject themselves to that? You might as well Olympic lift, chew rubber, strengthen your neck, do some agility training and do general strongman training (lift heavy things) at home because all you need to fight is to be tough and hit hard.

If you can fight and beat Mike Tyson then I'll sign up, how's that for a standard? If you beat up Mike Tyson people would sign up. Everyone knows he's good, everyone wants to learn from the guy who is better than him. Simple. That's how it is.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

One of the issues is reaching a certain level then realizing you're still really vulnerable in any fight, and that all your work is useless most of the time anyway. There are many people much better than you, some people with a style or training that you are inherently vulnerable to (something direct and quick for instance often catches people; like a good and quick side kick for reach and power followed up with an effective maul takes most out). There are groups of people that may maim you. There are melee weapons like a blade. There are guns. There are beer bottles to break over your head and gauge you with. There are those that kill or attack before you know it. There are cars -- that run you over. There are cars -- that hit your car and crumple it.

If martial arts made you much much tougher then hell yeah you'd get people showing up every day. Most people don't train for toughness though, or the training is brutal and painful. Even if you could train to stop bullets with your bare flesh the training would be worse than death haha!

Seriously training is just brutal or it isn't very effective. Sure you can do some cardio and lift some weights or calisthenics, knock out some untrained folk and take a few punches from someone with average strength, but Mike Tyson or anyone else more trained more explosive will just knock you out and shrug off your punches. Most "dojos" don't train toughness even.

Wasting time on something that should be as efficient and effective as possible. Who the hell would subject themselves to that? You might as well Olympic lift, chew rubber, strengthen your neck, do some agility training and do general strongman training (lift heavy things) at home because all you need to fight is to be tough and hit hard.

If you can fight and beat Mike Tyson then I'll sign up, how's that for a standard? If you beat up Mike Tyson people would sign up. Everyone knows he's good, everyone wants to learn from the guy who is better than him. Simple. That's how it is.

Your points are valid and well-taken, given certain assumptions.

First assumption is that if you do not train to be the best fighter in the world, then your training is useless. This is not true.

I cannot beat Mike Tyson. I'm also not expecting to be attacked by Mike Tyson. I can, I believe, defend myself adequately against most untrained people of the sort who might attack me.

Second assumption is that "all you need to fight is to be tough and hit hard." Being tough and hitting hard are certainly important, but if you're unable to hit the person you're trying to hit, it does no good. The world's best fighters are seldom simply brawlers.

Third assumption is that martial artists train to fight. I would argue that most martial artists train to defend themselves, which may involve fighting, but with the goal of ending the danger to themselves quickly and with as little risk to themselves as possible. There is no trophy for self-defense.

In addition to training for self-defense rather than 'to fight', I personally train for many other reasons which have very little to do with fighting. I don't believe it is wrong for martial artists to seek a different path than mine, nor is my path wrong. It's simply my path.

Based on your logic, because I am 60 years old, have various illnesses, and am not in peak physical condition, nor will I ever be a world-class athlete, I should simply stop training, give up, and forget about martial arts. Forgive me, but I'm going to reject that logic.

You do you, and I'll do me. I'm going to continue training until I die, because this is what I want to do. It may not meet your standards of excellence. Somehow I'll live with the knowledge that I've disappointed you.

 

[Diagen]

Your points are valid and well-taken, given certain assumptions.

First assumption is that if you do not train to be the best fighter in the world, then your training is useless. This is not true.

I cannot beat Mike Tyson. I'm also not expecting to be attacked by Mike Tyson. I can, I believe, defend myself adequately against most untrained people of the sort who might attack me.

Second assumption is that "all you need to fight is to be tough and hit hard." Being tough and hitting hard are certainly important, but if you're unable to hit the person you're trying to hit, it does no good. The world's best fighters are seldom simply brawlers.

Third assumption is that martial artists train to fight. I would argue that most martial artists train to defend themselves, which may involve fighting, but with the goal of ending the danger to themselves quickly and with as little risk to themselves as possible. There is no trophy for self-defense.

In addition to training for self-defense rather than 'to fight', I personally train for many other reasons which have very little to do with fighting. I don't believe it is wrong for martial artists to seek a different path than mine, nor is my path wrong. It's simply my path.

Based on your logic, because I am 60 years old, have various illnesses, and am not in peak physical condition, nor will I ever be a world-class athlete, I should simply stop training, give up, and forget about martial arts. Forgive me, but I'm going to reject that logic.

You do you, and I'll do me. I'm going to continue training until I die, because this is what I want to do. It may not meet your standards of excellence. Somehow I'll live with the knowledge that I've disappointed you.

To sum up what you're saying: Martial artists train to [kill, neutralize, suppress] and being able to [kill, neutralize, suppress] most people is good, aim is required, and there is no reason to quit. I get it.

My point is that anyone can train to be tough, strong, and to aim without anyone teaching them. If they lack motivation then they cannot succeed. If you can motivate people you can become a supreme teacher, but that is not quite your responsibility is it.

But if you can draw in people that train already on their own then you are succeeding as a martial artist. See it as a state of mind -- if you are more knowledgeable than motivated self-trainers then you will become their teacher. If you can lead leaders you are the top of the top. You are old so knowledge and wisdom is paramount. You must think about what motivates martial artists and your students and get to know them, this is good in every way.

Unless you have vast and special athletic and fitness knowledge you can not teach the best of that to your students. I am "self taught" and have a **** ton of knowledge thanks to the internet's vast resources where experts have freely given knowledge. In that sense I am not self-taught, I have been taught by many. I am a good student.
I suggest kneesovertoesguy for you and your students, martial artists can really benefit and he's a coach that's learned from other coaches and his own athletes. He is an expert at lower body and some waist work but I have not checked out all of his material. You could really make the most of it with your age but your students will definitely appreciate it. I have done stuff he suggests and it's pretty great, it's all based on real athletes and anatomy.
I have known of old dudes 60 and up that are go go go with high mobility. Their activity keeps them young. Constant movement is the most direct way of keeping up your ability move. Explosiveness or power training is also the only way of keeping up power. Whatever metric is atrophying in you can be kept up with proper anatomical knowledge and direct training for the direct result. If you develop specialized training you can definitely become better than you were in your youth. In terms of diet, there's the 7 food mushrooms 7 Must Know Medicinal Mushrooms to Benefit Your Health you can check out each and read articles on them. Krill oil is big and you should get some. It's like fish oil but has higher concentrations of known beneficial compounds. Glucosamine and Chondroitin are good but you can just boil bones and cartilidge into broth. Putting several veges in a blender is great. Vinegar is known to be good for your health too. Once you're healthy though it just kind of rots without stress to shape it into something, hence why things like onion, vinegar, garlic, red pepper are all beneficial to your health. Kicks you in gear! But still, it's useless without doing something actually stressful and difficult. Hence martial arts.

Your original post is good though and I liked it. It's good for those reading it to contemplate it for a while. The question of one's motivation and the motivation of others is great. It had the well-roundedness of old age that I found appealing due to its tranquility.

However due to contemplations like this I question the motivation and work ethic of all people in all things. People just don't work hard. They will work hard but mentally and emotionally they cannot keep up with the demands and start to turn sour like rotten milk. Then they have emotional and mental issues they can't easily overcome as the underlying weakness has not been resolved. Such weakness has a visceral and physical affect on people and their ability to overcome anything else in life. As such it is difficult to be effective in martial arts without serious mental and emotional strength training.
Do you know of such strength training? I have gone the old fashioned route and it is most effective. Imagining myself dead and slowly decaying with bugs and such crawling on me and in me and chewing away is a good one. Being murdered, strangled (I have been choked out so this works well), drowning, whatever. Seeing the world end in apocolypse, social dysfunction to the point of civilization breakdown, et cetera et cetera. Old fashioned.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

To sum up what you're saying: Martial artists train to [kill, neutralize, suppress] and being able to [kill, neutralize, suppress] most people is good, aim is required, and there is no reason to quit. I get it.

My point is that anyone can train to be tough, strong, and to aim without anyone teaching them. If they lack motivation then they cannot succeed. If you can motivate people you can become a supreme teacher.

But if you can draw in people that train already on their own then you are succeeding as a martial artist. See it as a state of mind -- if you are more knowledgeable than motivated self-trainers then you will become their teacher. If you can lead leaders you are the top of the top. You are old so knowledge and wisdom is paramount. You must think about what motivates martial artists and your students and get to know them, this is good in every way.

Unless you have vast and special athletic and fitness knowledge you can not teach the best of that to your students. I am "self taught" and have a **** ton of knowledge thanks to the internet's vast resources where experts have freely given knowledge. In that sense I am not self-taught, I have been taught by many. I am a good student.
I suggest kneesovertoesguy for you and your students, martial artists can really benefit and he's a coach that's learned from other coaches and his own athletes. He is an expert at lower body and some waist work but I have not checked out all of his material. You could really make the most of it with your age but your students will definitely appreciate it. I have done stuff he suggests and it's pretty great, it's all based on real athletes and anatomy.

Your original post is good though and I liked it. It's good for those reading it to contemplate it for a while. The question of one's motivation and the motivation of others is great. It had the well-roundedness of old age that I found appealing due to its tranquility.

However due to contemplations like this I question the motivation and work ethic of all people in all things. People just don't work hard. They will work hard but mentally and emotionally they cannot keep up with the demands and start to turn sour like rotten milk. Then they have emotional and mental issues they can't easily overcome as the underlying weakness has not been resolved. Such weakness has a visceral and physical affect on people and their ability to overcome anything else in life. As such it is difficult to be effective in martial arts without serious mental and emotional strength training.
Do you know of such strength training? I have gone the old fashioned route and it is most effective. Imagining myself dead and slowly decaying with bugs and such crawling on me and in me and chewing away is a good one. Being murdered, strangled (I have been choked out so this works well), drowning, whatever. Seeing the world end in apocolypse, social dysfunction to the point of civilization breakdown, et cetera et cetera.

Time will be your tutor.

 

[isshinryuronin]

I am "self taught" and have a **** ton of knowledge

This explains a lot.

 

[Diagen]

This explains a lot.

My mistake but I have learned by transmission of knowledge from experts and footage of real fights including competition and street fights via the internet. I have also trained on my own. Most successful people are motivated without needing to go to a gym or with an instructor present. It lends to my credibility rather than detracts.
I used quotes because I have learned from others.

Apologies for editing the post you are all responding to but it took a while to edit when I realized I wanted to say more and reword some things right after posting.

 

[Diagen]

Time will be your tutor.

Are you going to check out the kneesovertoesguy ? Here:

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Are you going to check out the kneesovertoesguy ? Here:

No, I'm not. Thank you for your time.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

My mistake but I have learned by transmission of knowledge from experts and footage of real fights including competition and street fights via the internet. I have also trained on my own. Most successful people are motivated without needing to go to a gym or with an instructor present. It lends to my credibility rather than detracts.
I used quotes because I have learned from others.

Apologies for editing the post you are all responding to but it took a while to edit when I realized I wanted to say more and reword some things right after posting.

Everybody knows a lot until they get their wig split.

 

[Diagen]

Everybody knows a lot until they get their wig split.

It was all basic logic. If you can become tough, strong, and aim, you can fight and beat 99% of people. Martial arts has to be more than what someone can do on their own or it's not really serving the most motivated people.
Essentially everyone is on their own because everyone has low ability in martial arts and the knowledge has to be pieced together and made from scratch. This is fine since most people are not very good at fighting or defending themselves, and most people are not trying to assassinate each other. The kneesovertoesguy stuff is genuine gold and you're just shitting yourself if you don't realize it though.

If you don't want to know how 50+ year old dudes train to keep dunking and playing basketball like when they were younger then go ahead and ignore it. You don't play basketball but the exercises keep you young and makes both YOU and the Young much much more athletic but you're ignoring it for the sake of what? Learn from someone that's learned from the best [the youtuber] and you can develop to be better than when you were young even.

Your line about me getting beat up makes no sense. 0 context. Stop trying to sound tough ffs it sounds like you just thought of a Mike Tyson quote and wanted to hide the fact.

 

[isshinryuronin]

Essentially everyone is on their own because everyone has low ability in martial arts and the knowledge has to be pieced together and made from scratch.

This is why serious martial artists have a good, in-person, instructor, and so don't have to piece together from scratch. It is not possible for someone without considerable formal training to correct themselves. You don't know what you don't know, and we tend to gloss over bad habits that creep in over the years. This is true even for experienced black belts. That is the value of an instructor that can provide feedback.

If you don't want to know how 50+ year old dudes train to keep dunking and playing basketball like when they were younger then go ahead and ignore it.

I don't play hoops, but I do karate. I've kept it up since 1966, off and on, and consider myself more formidable now than when I was a 20 yr. old black belt. My karate training, with some weight training, has allowed me to "keep dunking." I could not have reached the level I'm at from anything youtube has to offer. I've learned from the best so have no need for the inferior route.