| One of the most shocking things in the martial | | | | key to improvement is in DVD lessons. |
| arts is how instructors don't do advanced training. | | | | You can pick up a DVD on an entire art, |
| By this I mean, after a certain amount of training, | | | | sometimes for as little as ten bucks a DVD, and |
| they never get any more instruction for | | | | you can sit in the comfort of your armchair and |
| themselves. The idea here is that they know | | | | get up and practice to your hearts content. I used |
| everything, and all they have to do now is polish | | | | to buy so many DVDs at my martial arts supply |
| it, perfect it, and time will be their teacher. | | | | store the owner gave me an automatic, good |
| The idea, of course, is ridiculous. Yes, time will | | | | customer, ten per cent discount. And I would |
| improve a person, but what will improve a person | | | | spend my late evenings and weekends learning |
| faster is getting more data. Imagine a computer | | | | new arts until I had them totally cold. |
| which never inputs any further data and you will | | | | When I walked into my kung fu school on a |
| understand what I mean. | | | | Monday morning, I always had a kettle full of |
| So you need sources of fresh info if you are | | | | great ideas. Students were always wondering how |
| going to become improved, and you need to | | | | I cam up with so many great ideas, and they |
| make mental connections with other arts. For | | | | were always blown out by the twists and |
| instance, if you've got a black belt in Kenpo, a | | | | interpretations I could give the same old same old |
| course in Aikido is going to open your mind up. At | | | | forms and techniques. I tell ya, when people were |
| the end of every Kenpo technique, once you | | | | bowing to me, they were bowing to superior |
| understand what Aikido really is, you can create | | | | knowledge by disk, and that can happen to any |
| additional techniques. | | | | instructor! |
| And, if you've got some good hard Kung Fu, the | | | | Now, when you pick out a Martial Arts DVD |
| next step is exploring the internal schools of Kung | | | | course, make sure it deals with an entire art, and |
| fu. Aside from improving your understanding of | | | | not just an overview, an overview is nothing |
| the martial arts, you now have more to offer | | | | more than icing, it's not the cake, there is rarely |
| students and prospective students. This is going | | | | any meat to this kind of DVD. And, make sure |
| to result in better quality of instruction, and it's | | | | you pick up a new art/course every month, you |
| going to be a lot of fun besides. | | | | need to make a project out of this, and not a |
| Now, let's say you don't have access to an aikido | | | | whim. Martial Arts DVDs are one of the best |
| school, or an Internal Arts school, what is the | | | | investments that I know of, I tell you, if you are |
| solution? Well, you read the periodicals and scour | | | | an instructor, it is imperative that you keep |
| the net, and this goes a long way. But the real | | | | improving yourself, and DVDs are a blast to do. |