Learning from a DVD?

**Earth Man** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 9:30pm

Originally Posted by PizDoff

How about moving to a larger city?

Believe me, I wish I could! But im grounded here with my folks, and school. I hope soon I can get outta here!!

**Sford** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 9:40pm

Are you attending college? If so, have you checked to see if there are any MA programs within the Phys. Ed or Philosophy departments? Might be worth a look.

**Earth Man** · Posted On: 2/22/2006 9:45pm

Yes im in college, you have a good point! I'll take a look tommorow, and see what I can find!

**Meager** · Posted On: 2/23/2006 12:31pm

According to Yahoo Maps, Clarks Summit is 8 miles from Scranton. A quick Google search revealed that Scranton and the surrounding area has tons of martial arts, including lots of Kung Fu if that's all you're interested in. What's the problem here?

**Poop Loops** · Posted On: 2/23/2006 7:55pm

Originally Posted by Roundedgame

Nothing can compare to a quality instruction at a good school; however, some (not all) DVD's, books, tapes etc... really do have something to offer. I know many excellent martial artist who perfected their "bread and butter" moves this way.

Names.

**Shard** · Posted On: 2/23/2006 8:20pm

Originally Posted by Roundedgame

Nothing can compare to a quality instruction at a good school; however, some (not all) DVD's, books, tapes etc... really do have something to offer. I know many excellent martial artist who perfected their "bread and butter" moves this way.

Like asia said, DVDs, books and manuals are meant as reference. Not as a substitute
teacher.
The only reason i can come up with on how people can perfect their "breakfast" moves is because they've had prior training in those forms. Perhaps they forgot what came before move XYZ and they checked the DVD or manual and their memory gets jogged.
Trust me, i tried learning Xiao Hong Quan from a manual i borrowed from my teacher. I got to step 3 before everything confused me, i later learnt that steps i leant were wrong. Ok maybe it was cause there were too few pictures. Or cause i couldn't read chinese(yea i'm chinese but i can't read it, sue me already). But what i'm trying to say is that its pretty darn hard to learn just from a DVD. Get a teacher. Period.

**standstill** · Posted On: 4/03/2006 12:53am

i think learning from a dvd is a good start even if they are meant for reference.

u should do some research on what taichi form u are trying or wanting to learn then get the dvds closest to that form. for example yang-style..there are so many variations but i would stick with yang cheng fu form.

there was a time where u would need to find an instructor because there weren't many quality instructional dvds or books. but in this modern time there are plenty of quality instructional dvds and books to learn from!

with taichi even from a good teacher... it'll still take u a long time to get proficient with the form.

good luck,
standstill