| which foot would you rather shoot yourself in?
The only way to truly learn Gung-Fu is through direct transmission, hands-on, from Sifu to student.
However, a Martial Artist with alot of experience, can pick up certain things from videos, and with a good training partner, develop his skill. This would occur mostly if the video is in a related style. For example, I train in Shuai-Jiao, throwing and grappling, and I have done some wrestling, and Hakko-Ryu Jiu-Jutsu. I can pick up alot of techniques from grappling, or BJJ dvd's. Since I have trained in the long form of Yang Tai-Chi, I can pick up other Yang forms as well.
As far as learning from a poor teacher is concerned, if you were a rank beginner, you could develop some really bad habits, and ideas. I've trained under some excellent teachers, and some horrible ones as well. I have learned from both. In my own teaching, I use many of the teaching methods of my good teachers, and try not to make the mistakes of my poor ones. The poor ones taught me what NOT to do. |