I swear my decision to write on this subject predated social distancing and the subsequent moving our classes online. But the current situation certainly makes this conversation much more relevant. Fair warning, this might be a long conversation, and not just because I have more time to write and you in theory have more time to read. It is one in which I might be talking out both sides of my mouth. There are a lot of pros but also a lot of caveats to using video and similar resources.
The original impetus for this discussion started as we purged the basement. I have always fashioned myself a bit of a martial arts historian (though that isn’t my formal line of education), so I have amassed a great deal of reference material. Around 250 books so far—and no, I have not read all of them, but more than most. (sidebar— that is nothing compared to an online mentor of mine who has over 5,000. He is trying to arrange shipping containers to donate the collection to the Taekwondowon in Korea. My kids will not have nearly that amount of hassle.) And two cabinets of VHS tapes. Yeup…VHS. Many are instructional in nature, but most were chosen because they also had a larger historical significance…if nothing more than the person doing it. It was important to have a copy and preserve these icons performing, and I was willing to invest in my collection for posterity. Boy, that was dumb.
Pretty much all those videos are now on YouTube or other online sources. The ones that aren’t, I pretty much can’t access anyway. The most historical thing about the collection now is the fact it is on a VHS tape.
YouTube and other specific online tutorials have become an amazing archive and repository of knowledge. These resources have provided an amazing opportunity to learn…we truly do live in an amazing time…but in typical yin-yang fashion, with the opportunity comes some risks or drawbacks. Perhaps it is too easy to share info, as sifting through all the clutter to get the true gems can sometimes be daunting. If you aren’t sure what you are looking for, it is easy to get distracted. Beginners are especially susceptible to this…needing a foundation but having access to cool, fancy techniques. Or bouncing from one technique to another that are really incongruent in style. I know there are many BJJ tutorials that I immediately click off of because they are not helpful to me where I am, and then there are others immediately make me sit up and go “oohh.” But I would like to think I have a more discerning eye than beginners.
As a high school goalie attending IU soccer camp, I had a rising star goalie (eventually made the national team) give me advice that I took to heart. He told us to get our hands on footage and watch the best in the world to study them…study their positioning in goal…when they came out and when they didn’t. Watch the game being played at a high level so you have a better idea of how it supposed to be done. This was before MLS, and a televised champions league match was unheard of, so that meant I had to get—you guessed it—more VHS tapes! Maybe it wasn’t a novel idea, but that is where it was impressed upon me, and I have tried to pass that advice along. At tournaments, I encourage our lower rank students to watch the top tier black belt divisions. Sometimes they get more out of that experience than their own matches, assuming the matches are worth watching.
Students now have access to the best in the world…highlights of major championships in TKD, Judo, BJJ. Some of the greatest masters in both this era and yesteryear performing forms or doing demonstrations. You can even watch the founder of some arts, people you would otherwise only hear hand me down stories about. We are able to stay in touch with masters from Korea and people we have had for seminars. We are even able to vet additional people to see if their seminar might be worth attending in person. But the reach and accessibility we have to top flight talent has never been greater.
Of course, some content is more trustworthy or valuable than others. Is the video edited or choreographed? There is sometimes a fine line between a demonstration of good Hapkido technique and good demo-kido. When a perspective student says they are going to research HKD online, I usually tell them to be careful and not panic if they see people being thrown from 5 ft up, doing several revolutions in the air before landing. That doesn’t happen in a normal HKD class. Again, some footage is more authentic than others.
And some of the most authentic footage is extremely valuable from the perspective of self-defense. Real life encounters captured on video from security cameras, body cams or otherwise provide a treasure trove of experience one cannot typically get on their own. Nor do we want to. Even the people who are most experienced with real life violence have a rather limited sample size…unless you want to learn from someone who is psychopathic. Books have been written about this conundrum, and I swear I am trying to keep this rant form becoming one, so for now, suffice to say, the ability to see real life encounters play out, to see other people make fatal mistakes so we can learn and try not to repeat those mistakes, are worth their weight in gold. I can show a video of why a particular skill is important, with real world consequences. “By standing up in base, this person MAY have been able to avoid being stabbed in the neck.” Is a message that carries a little extra instructional weight.
Admittedly, using footage to supplement in person teaching is not the same as being limited to learning through online tutorials, and this is gets to the heart of the more pressing matter right now with most everything currently being virtual training. So how valid is learning online? A lot depends on what we are talking about learning. Solo drills and supplemental training can be quite effective. I can give you lots of exercises to develop martial attributes and improve technique online. It isn’t much different than me telling you what to do in a group setting, if the exercise is mimicking my motion or doing the exercise in air. A good portion of class is often dedicated to this type of skill refinement anyway, even if the online version is missing the group vibe and sense of team.
Other aspects of training normally require interaction, stimulus response or feedback, and this becomes trickier, but that is not to say online training can’t be of value of here. Even in the absence of a training partner to work with, walking through the motions, visualization, and mental practice go a long way. Even before the lockdowns, I encouraged my college students to come to class when sick (not contagious) and simply watch….getting the mental rehearsal while sitting on the side was much better than nothing. One of our BJJ students has recently been on crutches but still comes to observe. I can remember driving something like 14 hours to Omaha Nebraska for one of my black belt tests…I can’t tell you how much of that drive was spent mentally walking through forms in the backseat. One study found that 25% physical practice and 75% mental practice was almost as effective as 100% physical practice.
So, if solo and mental training can be that effective, then what is the point of actually coming to class at all? If we can watch their DVD or tutorial online, then why go through the expense of going to a seminar? I have mostly heard the concept of direct transmission while discussing tai chi, one of the most subtle arts to convey. I think saying it simply means learning from a qualified teacher or matters of lineage is quite simplistic, but I also can’t really explain it. I am not sure how, but sometimes there is almost an osmotic effect while being in the room with them. You have a breakthrough, but when you leave the room 5 min later while on break and try to duplicate it, it is gone again. Some people say it is the subtle mimicry we are able to do (at even an unconscious level) while the standard is in the room. And then there is a matter of feel. No matter how much describing one does, it sometimes cannot replace the sense of feel. It is hard for you to appreciate the pressure or tightness in a BJJ position until you have felt it. You more often need to experience a lock to appreciate the proper vectors involved.
In many aspects of many martial arts, the body must feel the technique, and then remember and try to recreate that sensation. Mental rehearsal can still help you walk through the progression, if you can remember the feeling of the technique. As I was prepping to assist at Dr. Yang’s seminar, I reviewed over around 20 hours of material, often pausing the DVD, closing my eyes, and going through the motions to make sure my body remembered a detail. In these cases, solo practice is good if you know the feeling, but rather limited if you have no reference.
The martial arts are not a subject like accounting that can be learned exclusively online. Obviously, we would be skeptical of anyone who only got their black belt through online instruction and sent videos in of their tests (and yes, there are organizations who have done that and such black belts have existed for a long time—even when you had to mail a VHS tape). Unlike my VHS archive, a real teacher will never become obsolete. But the ability to supplement that experience today is amazing (so long as you do it prudently.) And given the current social situation, we should be grateful we have such resources.
Gentry Martial Arts--the rants of a martial arts eccentric 