# Self-Taught Martial Artist



## Panshumei (May 25, 2018)

Hey everyone, who else on here has self-taught themselves all of the skills they know? I know it's not the best and effective way of learning, but I got a lot of knowledge and techniques from just doing so. Anyone else here in my boat?


----------



## jobo (May 25, 2018)

Panshumei said:


> Hey everyone, who else on here has self-taught themselves all of the skills they know? I know it's not the best and effective way of learning, but I got a lot of knowledge and techniques from just doing so. Anyone else here in my boat?


Simple question, how do you know that you have" skills" that work ?

It's like learning to play soccer with out a goal keeper,


----------



## Panshumei (May 25, 2018)

Not 100% sure, but I've been training with my brother every Saturday for the passed 2 months, I follow DVD training on Wing Chun, Shaolin Kung Fu, and Jeet Kune Do. When we train I use some of the skills learned in our sparring sessions, they seem to be pretty effective. Ultimately I know that I won't know the full effectiveness of my skills unless I go up against other fighters, but I have a sparring video I made if you would like to analyze it on YouTube. (Totally Optional)


----------



## JR 137 (May 25, 2018)

jobo said:


> Simple question, how do you know that you have" skills" that work ?
> 
> It's like learning to play soccer with out a goal keeper,


Better analogy is playing without teammates and defenders.  Someone could develop very good PK skills without a keeper.  Tie a few frisbees to the crossbar and posts (where they’re hanging inside the goal) and try to hit them.  Hitting them consistently (with acceptable ball speed) easily translates into PK skills.  

I’m on a tangent, but yeah, I agree with what you’re saying.


----------



## JR 137 (May 25, 2018)

Panshumei said:


> Not 100% sure, but I've been training with my brother every Saturday for the passed 2 months, I follow DVD training on Wing Chun, Shaolin Kung Fu, and Jeet Kune Do. When we train I use some of the skills learned in our sparring sessions, they seem to be pretty effective. Ultimately I know that I won't know the full effectiveness of my skills unless I go up against other fighters, but I have a sparring video I made if you would like to analyze it on YouTube. (Totally Optional)


Link or it never happened


I wouldn’t mind seeing the video.  Curiosity question, why don’t you take formal lessons?


----------



## DanT (May 25, 2018)

Post the video and I shall analyze it for you if you wish.


----------



## marques (May 25, 2018)

Panshumei said:


> Not 100% sure, but I've been training with my brother every Saturday for the passed 2 months, I follow DVD training on Wing Chun, Shaolin Kung Fu, and Jeet Kune Do. When we train I use some of the skills learned in our sparring sessions, they seem to be pretty effective. Ultimately I know that I won't know the full effectiveness of my skills unless I go up against other fighters, but I have a sparring video I made if you would like to analyze it on YouTube. (Totally Optional)


A few random thoughts:

- Probably you are not as good/effective as you think. Maybe it’s your brother too weak to challenge you. 2 months is close to nothing.
- You are not training for status or rankings (unless you award yourself), so you genuinely enjoy your training and I appreciate that.
- To keep improving, try to find more partners or a gym (even if going there ocasionally).
- Sparring is great, just play safe.


----------



## jobo (May 25, 2018)

JR 137 said:


> Better analogy is playing without teammates and defenders.  Someone could develop very good PK skills without a keeper.  Tie a few frisbees to the crossbar and posts (where they’re hanging inside the goal) and try to hit them.  Hitting them consistently (with acceptable ball speed) easily translates into PK skills.
> 
> I’m on a tangent, but yeah, I agree with what you’re saying.



Maybe, but if you don't know your shots will beat a keeper, then you don't know they work, like hitting a bag as your only punching practise, you don't know you can hit a target that keeps moving.

As an aside, I used to do something like that, stand 25yards out and aim for the cross bar, then my dog would bring the ball back and is try again, the problem was when I did it for real, I kept hitting the cross bar


----------



## marques (May 25, 2018)

Panshumei said:


> Hey everyone, who else on here has self-taught themselves all of the skills they know? I know it's not the best and effective way of learning, but I got a lot of knowledge and techniques from just doing so. Anyone else here in my boat?


- Not self-taught, but I tried to apply what I found online (in the early days of internet, far before youtube!!) in my regular training.
- There are nice content online that most of schools neglect. We can actually learn some bits alone.
- I have been self training. But of course, on our own we can only do so much.


----------



## jobo (May 25, 2018)

Panshumei said:


> Not 100% sure, but I've been training with my brother every Saturday for the passed 2 months, I follow DVD training on Wing Chun, Shaolin Kung Fu, and Jeet Kune Do. When we train I use some of the skills learned in our sparring sessions, they seem to be pretty effective. Ultimately I know that I won't know the full effectiveness of my skills unless I go up against other fighters, but I have a sparring video I made if you would like to analyze it on YouTube. (Totally Optional)


You can reach yourself fighting " skill s" of that there is no doubt, I doubt you can reach yourself wing chUn or any other art. 

There nearly always some cooperation from a partner, Even if it's unconscious, they stand still whilst you perform at the very least,


----------



## jobo (May 25, 2018)

marques said:


> - Not self-taught, but I tried to apply what I found online (in the early days of internet, far before youtube!!) in my regular training.
> - There are nice resources online that most of schools neglect. We can actually learn some bits alone.
> - I have been self training. But of course, on our own we can only do so much.


Didn't I see a vid of you fighting trees?


----------



## Panshumei (May 25, 2018)

Well, the training started while the age of 15, I'm 27 now, but I haven't been doing it consistently over the past years... life stuff. But now that I'm getting back into it, (3months ago) I'm taking it a lot more serious. I haven't enrolled in a school due to finances, but I don't let it stop me from learning the art mentally and training myself physically. I know it's a long shot away from being "skilled", but it's definitely s right step in the right direction. I have 2 links I'm going to post, both are from sparing sessions with my bro. I'm the one with the longer hair. Feedback is definitely encouraged. Thanks for helping guys 
(



)
(



)


----------



## Panshumei (May 25, 2018)

jobo said:


> Didn't I see a vid of you fighting trees?


We used to train with trees to for bone density training. It helps to withstand pain while striking sometime.


----------



## Panshumei (May 25, 2018)

Panshumei said:


> We used to train with trees too for bone density training. It helps to withstand pain while striking sometime.


----------



## marques (May 25, 2018)

jobo said:


> Didn't I see a vid of you fighting trees?


It is possible. But if you did, I am surprised because they are not listed. Actually, I need to log on to find them myself!


----------



## jobo (May 25, 2018)

marques said:


> It is possible. But if you did, I am surprised because they are not listed. Actually, I need to log on to find them myself!


It was in the members in motion section, it was quite a thin tree, are you working you way up to heavy weight trees


----------



## Panshumei (May 25, 2018)

DanT said:


> Post the video and I shall analyze it for you if you wish.


Video is posted. Thanks for analyzing.


----------



## marques (May 25, 2018)

jobo said:


> It was in the members in motion section, it was quite a thin tree, are you working you way up to heavy weight trees


Thin tree? It was not me.


----------



## hoshin1600 (May 25, 2018)

the clip was better than i thought it would be.  as a side note im not a big fan of the stop action stuff with the "hit cam" message, replays and cut edits.  that might be ok for YouTube viewers but as another martial artist for me to really evaluate i would like to see a continuous stream of action.
i could tell right away you have been watching Bruce Lee stuff by the little iconic shuffle steps you were doing.
you were also using a very low lead hand guard, where your hand was hanging around your stomach.  from what i saw, this is not working well for you.  Bruce Lee did it but he had incredible hand speed.  he had his reasons for using it, but like i said its not working for you.  it wasnt effective both as offense and defense.
   Your sparring is also following a pattern similar to playing "tag"  you hit only once.  i would start working on some better boxing skills and work on combinations.  this is not easy, i understand. to apply the combination you have to be willing to take a hit in return of striking with your own better hit,  or you need to learn body, foot and head movement that boxing can also give you.  you are evading but when you evade your putting yourself out of range for your counter.  you need to evade while still staying in the "pocket"  so you can hit.
   i didnt see any real kicking.  that may be due to the environment and wearing shoes or you have not integrated the hands and kicks enough to use them.  either way a lot of the time you were in perfect range for kicks.  you should learn that distance and fire those kicks or stay out of that range because if someone had better kicking skills they would have an easy time with you..

looks good so far keep up the good work and get some real lessons as soon as you can.


----------



## Panshumei (May 25, 2018)

hoshin1600 said:


> the clip was better than i thought it would be.  as a side note im not a big fan of the stop action stuff with the "hit cam" message, replays and cut edits.  that might be ok for YouTube viewers but as another martial artist for me to really evaluate i would like to see a continuous stream of action.
> i could tell right away you have been watching Bruce Lee stuff by the little iconic shuffle steps you were doing.
> you were also using a very low lead hand guard, where your hand was hanging around your stomach.  from what i saw, this is not working well for you.  Bruce Lee did it but he had incredible hand speed.  he had his reasons for using it, but like i said its not working for you.  it wasnt effective both as offense and defense.
> Your sparring is also following a pattern similar to playing "tag"  you hit only once.  i would start working on some better boxing skills and work on combinations.  this is not easy, i understand. to apply the combination you have to be willing to take a hit in return of striking with your own better hit,  or you need to learn body, foot and head movement that boxing can also give you.  you are evading but when you evade your putting yourself out of range for your counter.  you need to evade while still staying in the "pocket"  so you can hit.
> ...


This is by far the best advice I've ever received, I will definitely take this into consideration. Your analysis is very well appreciated.


----------



## JR 137 (May 25, 2018)

jobo said:


> Maybe, but if you don't know your shots will beat a keeper, then you don't know they work, like hitting a bag as your only punching practise, you don't know you can hit a target that keeps moving.
> 
> As an aside, I used to do something like that, stand 25yards out and aim for the cross bar, then my dog would bring the ball back and is try again, the problem was when I did it for real, I kept hitting the cross bar



You reminded me of a game when I was working with a soccer team...

We were tied in the 1st overtime period.  We got 4 direct kicks from about 1 yard outside the box, in the same spot every time somehow.  The guy taking the shot went about 6 inches over the crossbar every time.  Same exact spot too.

In between the 1st and 2nd OT, the guy says he’s trying NOT to hit the crossbar, so the coach told him to aim for the crossbar.  About 2 minutes into the next OT, same direct kick from the same spot.  He aimed for the crossbar.  Goal. Game over.  One of the most ridiculous things I’ve seen in the game.  And I’ve seen quite a bit of ridiculousness.


----------



## JR 137 (May 25, 2018)

Panshumei said:


> This is by far the best advice I've ever received, I will definitely take this into consideration. Your analysis is very well appreciated.


I agree with everything Hoshin said.  IMO he’s right on the money.  Especially the hands.  The white shirt guy’s hand position than I’m assuming yours.  The hand on the stomach is doing nothing for you at all.  It’s making throwing a punch with it far slower too. Keep them both up at head height, elbows close (but not too close) to your ribs.  The other guy’s was pretty good, but his fists should’ve been out a little further.

In addition to what Hoshin said...

1. The biggest thing I saw was your posture.  When you’re (both of you) not engaged, your posture’s dine.  Once you throw anything or defend anything, you’re both turning too far, bending over too far, and/or going into a fetal position of sorts.  Stay upright!!! Not doing so is a great way to get hit with a clean, easy, and hard shot to the head. Turning away and/or down like that is probably the worst thing you can do; you’re giving up way too many targets. If you can only change one thing, this is probably it.  

2.  Every time either of you punch or kick, you’re dropping your hands, leaving yourselves wide open.  Neither of you counter well enough to exploit this, but a better fighter will easily take advantage of that.  They’ll wait until you start your punch, then go in with a fast straight punch to an easy target.

3. Your range is too far away.  If you’re going to fight at this range, you’ve got to move in and out with your feet.  You’re both reaching way to far to hit each other, resulting in far less power and breaking your posture (just like number 1. here).  When you’re reaching that far, quite often your body was turned away from your target, opening up targets, and it seemed like you couldn’t even see what you were hitting.

As Hoshin said, it was better than I thought it would be.  You seem like good athletes, which is what helped you all more than MA skill IMO.

Please keep at it.  You’ve got potential. A teacher will help you live up to that potential far more.  And if you’ve posted it on YouTube, ignore the idiots.


----------



## Headhunter (May 25, 2018)

The old saying goes iron sharpens iron. Training with your brother is good but unless he's an expert black belt you won't be getting that much out of it simply because he's not that good either. 

My advice to anyone who can't train at a school is to focus on physical fitness and strength that way you can build up your body to be in good condition so if you do ever start training you have that edge


----------

