Hi, GreatWhiteWolf;
 I can appreciate where books and CDs might be somewhat helpful, but I couldn't imagine learning martial arts to any degree of proficiency without an instructor.  So much of it is sparing and doing..  I'm not Bruce Lee or anything like that, but I couldn't have learned what I did (mostly Tai Kwan Do and Street Fighting, with some Hapkido and Kung Fu) without skilled instructors.  I'd say yes to CDs and books with it in mind that you'll eventually hook up with a good instructor.  Good luck.

I think you need a certain minimum level of skill and experience before books or dvd's become effective.  That way, if something isn't clear, you can usually figure it out.  I've picked up a few techniques from books and videos and made them work in sparring/grappling.  If you have no training and no experience, and there are no schools near by, I suppose it's better than nothing.  You must have a partner and must put in the time, not just watch/read.

My first school taught traditional Tae Kwon Do side by side with a system of Street Fighting invented by the schools' owner, John Korab.  This system borrowed logic and dirty tricks from just about everything.  I liked it very much and to this day think it's quite ingenious.  It gave me a very good foundation to continue learning.  This was back in the early '70s so I couldn't tell you if it's being taught anywhere now, unfortunately.  From there I joined the army.  In M.P. school or A.I.T. the guy who slept in the bunk below me, Mickey Price,  was a 6th degree black belt in Kung Fu (Kung Sanda).  For two months I sparred with him every day.  I still have the scars.  He would get into this )(&^% cat stance and challenge me to attack him.  For two months I did this every day and for two months I didn't score one point on him.  I got a free education and he got a big human punching bag.  From there I was stationed in Seoul, Korea, where I took Hapkido with a ROK Major Song.  It was OK, but I found many of the moves flashy, and just overly elaborate. Consequently they took too much time, IMO.  Besides that I picked up a little of this or that free sparring with my M.P. buddies who were into martial arts.  Once in a while when performing my duties as an M.P. I'd get to test this or that move to see what actually worked in reality.  All in all it was a well rounded education.  Even though I'm old and falling apart now I still have a certain degree of confidence from it.  Sorry for totally digressing.  Sometimes you just start typing....

Yikes!  Sorry, I should have checked it out better.  I just saw my old instructor there and posted it.  I think that anyone who's been here any length of time at all knows that I'm not a racist.

Rat Man wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2011 at 5:01pm:


That's a pretty impressive resume lol. How'd you like Korea? I had a few buddies from AIT and several instructors who were stationed over there