Can I learn martial arts online?

Can I learn marital arts online?

We have questions in mind to that we had very certain answers until covid-19 changed them 180 degrees. Sometimes it didn’t change the opinion but it presented a need of re-assessment. One of these questions is: Can I learn kung fu or martial arts online? The plain answer would be no! That said, throughout the history of martial arts and specially Chinese martial arts there have been individuals who made that effort and it worked out to a certain point. The fact that I cannot mention anyone of these by name shows the quality they would have achieved, though. Historically many martial arts manuals where circulating in ancient China and many people, for sure, learned out of these manuals, which is the equivalent to our online courses now.

Let’s start with an analysis: What do we need to learn a martial art? This question can be answered by the focus one has for the practice of the art. Most of the times, it’s self-defense or learning fighting and combat skills but often it’s also to be in shape and stay that way which means the art is more health focused. If you fall into the latter category the answer to learning martial arts online is a soft yes. If you want to learn self-defense we can stick with the straight no, don’t learn it online.

To learn a martial art you need: technique, condition and strength, application, correction aka supervision and lastly the movements have to get into your body memory.

Some of the above mentioned can be learned solo. Mainly condition and strength, maybe some technique, but the majority needs someone to look after you. You can learn the basics and foundation of martial arts such as punches, kicks, stances, footwork and some drills to enhance your strength. Now: what is the difference to learn from a sifu, a coach or just a certified instructor?

You will learn faster, the quality of your techniques will be higher and drills and techniques will move quicker into your body memory. Besides, self-defense techniques need a partner to learn them. Sparring or fighting is only proper done with a partner even though you could imitate it with a punching bag. The problem here: the bag doesn’t punch bag so it is not very realistic.

The foundation of traditional martial arts are forms or katas (in Karate) and to learn them correctly from a video is very unlikely since there are many details not taught nor seen on video. The same refers to the applications from the different movements within the forms. For a beginner it can be hard to understand abstract concepts of movements and how to apply them on others.

How about practitioners with experience?

If you have a few years of experience in a certain martial art, you definitely can learn and improve from videos and online courses. The more experienced practitioners are able to focus on details and work them into their own practice. Even then, learning a form from a video as someone experienced is still not an easy task.

What should I do online?

There are many things you can learn or practice online. One good thing you can do is conditioning, strength training and stretching. There are tons of videos and online courses that can help you with that. Besides that, internal arts such as Tai Chi or Chi Kung are great to keep you healthy and are easily comprehended online. Immortal Dragon offers live online classes where you can learn kung fu foundations and internal martial arts such as Tai Chi and Chi Kung. If you are already practicing an art then you can use online and home training for improving you condition, technique, forms and stretching. At Immortal Dragon, we are developing right now the Red Lion Academy, an online academy where people can easily start learning the foundations of Chinese martial arts but later on also hopefully other traditional martial arts. This way, martial arts will always be near you and near me.