Has anyone used the Tracy home study course?

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Marshallbd

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I just purchased the Orange Belt techniques video. I am planning on doing a combination and home study using these tapes. I have an Instructor who is a high level black belt in Tracys Kenpo that has agreed to fine tune my learning and do the actual testing for me. I would train with him regularly but he lives 100 miles away. So this is the best bet for me. I trained with him in the past, only to yellow belt and life got in the way and we both ended up moving. So what are the opinions concerning my plan to use both home training on video and live training with my Sifu? Im interested in how this will workout for me in the long term.
 
And you are going to need a regular training partner, otherwise all you will do is "air kenpo."
 
I hope it can work for you. Personally I find that for me it doesn't work. I own all the Larry Tatum forms and technique dvd's and find they are good to jog the memory, but I think I would find it hard to learn a technique from them. I trained with my Kenpo instructor for 4.5 years before I moved away and still travel to train with him a couple of times a year and he comes down to see me as well. Therefore, as an instructor now I find the dvd's useful as a training aid, but I don't think I could learn from them effectively.

Anyway, good luck.
 
I can't recommend doing it, ever. It's fine as supplemental material if the primary and bulk of your training is with a real instructor on a regular schedule. But as primary source of instruction it's simply not a good idea.
 
Blindside said:
And you are going to need a regular training partner, otherwise all you will do is "air kenpo."
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A Friend and I are going to be learning together. And my instructor is exceptional, He is listed in the Tracy's family tree and I have trained with him in the past, although only to yellow before I moved. He is currently a 7th degree. And I will be travelling for a training session with him at least once per month, and, as finances permit, hopefully more than that. I appreciate the feedback, and certainly understand the sentiments concerning video as a primary source. If it were at all possible, I would train in a school setting only, but it just isnt there.
 
I gather you really want Tracys Kenpo, but if there's something else good in town then I'd sure check them out before this.
 
Really video isn't a bad thing to learn from at all... it's actually better. A lot of dedicated martial artists are using videos to learn now. The benefits of having a video is that you can rewind and replay the video as many times as you need to in order to understand things. And if you have a training partner and keep in contact with the seller of the videos, and any instructor worth your time will provide you with the answers you need when selling video lessons. And at higher levels you can go back and look at old videos and gain even more from the videos with your new knowledge. It's like seeing with new eyes, if you will. Anything that can be done in a dojo setting can be done at home with a partner. Just thought I'd put my idea out there, thank you for your time :)
 
arnisador said:
I gather you really want Tracys Kenpo, but if there's something else good in town then I'd sure check them out before this.
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There are a bunch of Kung Fu schools (not interested in Kung Fu) in my area but not so many Karate schools that I know of. I did find a Kyokushin school that interests me but I need to learn a bit more about the style. I Have studied Kenpo of and on for a few years, but never progressing due to life events and moves. I have some more extensive knowledge of Shotokan than any other style but was not impressed with the one instructor I met here locally. I am still looking at other schools but right now the Kenpo DVD and Instructor plan I have seems like my best option.
 
Moving a lot kept me from progressing too--always starting again in a similar but different style. Eventually I found the FMAs and an instructor I saw often enough, combined with a grandmaster who gave seminars nearly every weekend nationwide, to make progress.
 
Flying Crane said:
it has been discussed here over and over and over
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Well, that was helpful.

I think a lot of us believe that feeling the effects of the techniques is important, and that being given correction by an instructor just-in-time rather than weeks later (if your sent-back-in tapes are being reviewed, or when you meet with the instructor) lets bad habits get settled in. In addition, in most cases there will be some "tailoring" of the art to the person and that's hard to do without meeting and interacting with the student.

Some arts are more amenable to this than others, though. In the FMAs your techniques are usually not expected to as "just so" as in karate, say, and banging sticks with a training partner provides quick feedback. But you still need personalized attention sooner or later to really move forward.
 
arnisador said:
Well, that was helpful.
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well, it was just discussed very recently here: http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/sh...ng-online-work-if?highlight=distance+learning

I've typed these kinds of answers over and over and over, and I didn't really feel like doing it all over yet again. So check out this thread, it's laid out pretty clearly.

I think a lot of us believe that feeling the effects of the techniques is important, and that being given correction by an instructor just-in-time rather than weeks later (if your sent-back-in tapes are being reviewed, or when you meet with the instructor) lets bad habits get settled in. In addition, in most cases there will be some "tailoring" of the art to the person and that's hard to do without meeting and interacting with the student.
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ayup, in a nutshell
 
This topic gets

:deadhorse :deadhorse :deadhorse :deadhorse

Congratulations

Video training has been done to death and the answer is always the same..... it is not good and at BEST a supplement to training with a real teacher
 
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