Showing your stuff - Warts and all

[tellner]

Martial arts videos are usually puff pieces. If it goes out on tha Intrawebs it's polished and perfect. Or at least the guys who are doing it think it's polished and perfect.

Bobbe Edmonds has done something that shows he's got a lot of hair even if it's not on his head He's put up a clip where he and his best student are just plain off. They can't get it right. People aren't targetting. The timing goes floppy. It's definitely from his blooper reel.

I learned a lot more from it than I would have if everything had been fast, crisp and gone right the first time.

 

[terryl965]

Yea it is great to see people be more human and show mistake like this.

 

[SenseiBear]

I agree - Life is like that sometimes. It doesn't have to be perfect, just get it out there. My instructor started posting things on his web site years ago, and would catch stuff from the public because it wasn't perfect. His answer was, "where is your stuff?" We didn't do lots of takes, didn't worry about getting it perfect, just turned on the camera and Got It...

I get the same things now. I post basics on my Youtube for my students to review the techs we are working - and I get random comments like "prety nice, but wten in somone gonna attak me wit a stek? Thes is stupid."

Just people who won't post their own stuff, so they run down others... If we were perfect, we wouldn't need to train, right?

 

[theletch1]

Sensei Bear, the folks that post comments on youtube are, as a general rule, mentally about 14 years old with way more testosterone than experience. I've been lucky enough to have a few well thought out comments to stuff that I've posted but not often. I think that's why more folks don't post the gritty unpolished stuff that was in the above video. Even the polished stuff invites pokes and jabs and most folks don't want to open themselves up to that type of crap. Ah, well. One good comment for me will counterbalance 100 "stoopid" comments. Kudos to the group for posting the real stuff.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Real people make real mistakes all the time. (everyone does) It is best just to keep going and keep on improving. I have seen many people make major mistakes in the moment and I have done so myself. Still we keep on going. I remember being at a TaiKai when Hatsumi Sensei was demonstrating a technique and he clearly flubbed what he had wanted to do but he just kept on going and we worked the technique off of the mess up. In the moment it will not be pretty, you may mess up and in the end but you had better keep on going.

Thanks for the video Tellner!

 

[Jade Tigress]

Real people make real mistakes all the time. (everyone does) It is best just to keep going and keep on improving. I have seen many people make major mistakes in the moment and I have done so myself. Still we keep on going. I remember being at a TaiKai when Hatsumi Sensei was demonstrating a technique and he clearly flubbed what he had wanted to do but he just kept on going and we worked the technique off of the mess up. In the moment it will not be pretty, you may mess up and in the end but you had better keep on going.

Thanks for the video Tellner!

I agree. It's a far better learning tool to see this instead of *perfection* all the time. The fact of the matter is, things aren't always going to be perfect and to hide the mistakes is a disservice to those who are trying to learn.

 

[arnisador]

Real people make real mistakes all the time. (everyone does) It is best just to keep going and keep on improving.

Excellent points here. Things will go wrong, and you won't be at your best, when something happens!

 

[DMcHenry]

LOL - reminds me of some videos I've made. I just wanted to get them on film for reference purposes - just did one take. I was recovering from a severe back injury, it was like 98 deg. out side with almost 100% humidity and misquitos buzzing all around me working on slightly uneven ground from a cable that was buried not long before through there. If I had watched them and waited before they were perfect I would have never published them. I was also concerned with their length and speed so others could view them, not so much doing them the best I could. Many of them I'll do a bit differently than shown on the video too, and I didn't put any audio as I didn't want others to learn from them, I wanted to be able to explain them directly.

My intent was only as a base reference, and I knew many had never seen all the forms, only using pictures and not the transitions. They were strating points for discussion - and yes, in real life 'stuff' happens. For instance, I don't wear shoes when training - but was wearing some TKD training shoes on the grass and during one form slipped down (I did sorta cut that part out) and continued. As much as they aren't that good, they served their purpose and many have thanked me for the reference. There are some who will criticize them, but then whenever you put yourself on the line for all to see you will open yourself up for that. Many are not willing to do that, and certainly when it's not seen as 'perfect'.

Mac

 

[FearlessFreep]

Every time I show a technique to junior students and I need to have another student throw a punch* or something, I'm amazed at how many times the punch comes in at the wrong angle, etc... to really demonstrate the technique. So I sometimes need to reposition, etc... it's somewhat annoying when you want to stage an attack/defense pairing but it always reminds me that the attack will probably not really come from the angle I expect. That and showing hoshinsul (self-defense) to a student who doesn't know what the technique is...they don't quite move as nicely as you would like..




*punches for some reason it happens a lot on. You want to show a block/redirect from a hook punch and invariable the partner throws a straight punch

 

[geezer]

Martial arts videos are usually puff pieces. If it goes out on tha Intrawebs it's polished and perfect. Or at least the guys who are doing it think it's polished and perfect.
Bobbe Edmonds has done something that shows he's got a lot of hair even if it's not on his head He's put up a clip where he and his best student are just plain off. They can't get it right. People aren't targetting. The timing goes floppy. It's definitely from his blooper reel.

Tellner, you make an excellent point with this post. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm through training with martial "gods". Infallible masters have nothing to teach me. I'll choose a real human teacher with a sense of humor any day... "warts and all" as you say.

 

[Rich Parsons]

My problem with video posts is that they could be edited. The person might have said now I am going to show you what not to do, but that part is not missing from the internet post.

I do try to look at movements and body positions and timing, and occasional mistake is just that.

 

[Jade Tigress]

Every time I show a technique to junior students and I need to have another student throw a punch* or something, I'm amazed at how many times the punch comes in at the wrong angle, etc... to really demonstrate the technique. So I sometimes need to reposition, etc... it's somewhat annoying when you want to stage an attack/defense pairing but it always reminds me that the attack will probably not really come from the angle I expect. That and showing hoshinsul (self-defense) to a student who doesn't know what the technique is...they don't quite move as nicely as you would like..




*punches for some reason it happens a lot on. You want to show a block/redirect from a hook punch and invariable the partner throws a straight punch

Well that's just it. A real life attacker is not going to come at you the way you train in class. That's why it's a great for training when your partner comes at you in an unexpected way. You may not be able to perform, or demonstrate, a technique exactly the way you're taught. You're going to have to adapt and make something work. People who learn to do this are much better *fighters* IMO.

Think Rex Quon Do, "Grab my arm. No, the other arm. No, MY other arm." Not good.

 

[theletch1]

Well that's just it. A real life attacker is not going to come at you the way you train in class. That's why it's a great for training when your partner comes at you in an unexpected way. You may not be able to perform, or demonstrate, a technique exactly the way you're taught. You're going to have to adapt and make something work. People who learn to do this are much better *fighters* IMO.

Think Rex Quon Do, "Grab my arm. No, the other arm. No, MY other arm." Not good.

Agreed. Any human conflict will involve far more variables than you'll ever be able to work in the dojo so the more you get used to just reading your opponents body and reacting instantly the better your chances at successful defense.

Rex Quon Do is hilarious. I had the old Jim Carey skit going through my head..."As with most new students you have attacked me incorrectlly!":uhyeah: