Having a martial arts coach is highly overrated prove me wrong

[eli77]

Seem like unless they're national or international champions in their weight class and art its highly overrated would you agree?

 

[Stanley]

I mean... depends on what you define as coach? I picked up boxing in the past year and my coach is a bro and helps me stay on track. I started doing Sambo recently as well and the guys are great.

Movies and media paint a weird perception of what a coach is. They aren't just training you and being your mentor, far from it in fact. They are teaching classes and see tons of people a week. Most often beyond learning fundamentals they give pointers and applications for techniques when sparring and practicing. They don't interject unless they notice something or are needed.

At the highest level of fighting like UFC you're corner is represented through your gym with coaches and trainers being present, but they aren't yours alone. They support the rest of their gym.

All I can say is training has been massively beneficial for my confidence, fitness and very much my social life.

 

[Bible_Belt]

Being good at something and being good at teaching it are two different skills.

 

[Kotaix]

It really depends. You get as much as you put into it. If you get good enough that you can best your teacher then you can study under a master.

There are probably a lot of MA teachers who wouldn't be very good at a UFC level.

 

[Gamisch]

Ironically enough, from all the things you can learn online(and that is A LOT) MA is ine of the most difficult ones to master.

There are so many details..lets take the jab for example . I promise you, if you start boxing after lets say..30 ..you'll probably NEVER ever get a "perfect "jab. And the jab is seemingly the most basic punch..(just saw a video where Lewis shows (former) heavyweight champion Wilder how to do the jab(here it is)

You'd think wilder be like " c'mon now that is like you show Mozart do re mi on the piano, or Bill gates how to get Hello World in html ", but in MA it doesn't work like this

I can let you do "seemingly simple " 1 -2 (jabb cross) and work on that for 3 hours straight for a whole year. Ofcourse it would annoy and bore the F out of you so that's impossible, but just to show you how much you underestimate it.

Your stance ,balance, chin, chest ,back, lead leg, heels,toes, shoulders, elbows, stomach, knees, knuckles, wrist BREATHING distance management, creating momentum, picking shots...we're still talking about the 1(-2) ...

Imagine I'll add hooks, uppercuts ,lowkicks knees, combinations..make you do 50 push ups between 5 minutes rounds..once fatigued you'll perform even less. Spinning back kicks with your NON dominant foot, question mark kicks ,axe kicks. Sweeps clinches. Still not even mentioned groundwork ,what demands a partner ..

Short answer long: if you just wanna vent and get some agression out, then there's nothing wrong with training without a teacher. If you wanna become actually hood at it..its MANDATORY.

 

[ManFromTartarus]

You'd think wilder be like " c'mon now that is like you show Mozart do re mi on the piano, or Bill gates how to get Hello World in html ",

While I agree 100% with all your other points, using Wilder + fundamentals is a poor choice of examples. His jab is almost as bad as his footwork.

.... and Wilder and Mozart in the same sentence?

 

[Bible_Belt]

To add to the jab discussion, for anyone that hasn't done this, we're talking about your non dominant side throwing this punch, your left if you are right handed. That's part of why it is so difficult, at least it was for me.

 

[Gamisch]

While I agree 100% with all your other points, using Wilder + fundamentals is a poor choice of examples. His jab is almost as bad as his footwork.

.... and Wilder and Mozart in the same sentence?

Were talking about a former heavyweight champion, a man who prior to the Fury fight was unbeaten, and who k.oed all his opponents..i believe 42 knock outs.

Don't let the popular opinion fool you: this man will beat you and me with one feint, and yet is the perfect example of why a coach is important.

 

[ManFromTartarus]

Were talking about a former heavyweight champion, a man who prior to the Fury fight was unbeaten, and who k.oed all his opponents..i believe 42 knock outs.

Don't let the popular opinion fool you: this man will beat you and me with one feint, and yet is the perfect example of why a coach is important.

While on paper his record looked good but his best win up until then was against a 50yr old Ortiz and most of the rest were cans.

But you're right on coaching, once he was exposed for having very limited boxing skills and relying his whole career on just athletic ability, once he lost a step his coach Malik Scott had no clue or idea what to do. The results since that time speak for themselves and getting rag dolled by Parker was pretty sad.

... and yea, one telegraphed shot (cause he has no feints) from the Alabama slamma would put you & me in intensive care.

 

[eli77]

I mean... depends on what you define as coach? I picked up boxing in the past year and my coach is a bro and helps me stay on track. I started doing Sambo recently as well and the guys are great.

Movies and media paint a weird perception of what a coach is. They aren't just training you and being your mentor, far from it in fact. They are teaching classes and see tons of people a week. Most often beyond learning fundamentals they give pointers and applications for techniques when sparring and practicing. They don't interject unless they notice something or are needed.

At the highest level of fighting like UFC you're corner is represented through your gym with coaches and trainers being present, but they aren't yours alone. They support the rest of their gym.

All I can say is training has been massively beneficial for my confidence, fitness and very much my social life.

True story I had a high school friend of mine who was state runner-up who dads just had him watch videos and practice year round he parlayed that into a division one scholarship

 

[eli77]

I mean... depends on what you define as coach? I picked up boxing in the past year and my coach is a bro and helps me stay on track. I started doing Sambo recently as well and the guys are great.

Movies and media paint a weird perception of what a coach is. They aren't just training you and being your mentor, far from it in fact. They are teaching classes and see tons of people a week. Most often beyond learning fundamentals they give pointers and applications for techniques when sparring and practicing. They don't interject unless they notice something or are needed.

At the highest level of fighting like UFC you're corner is represented through your gym with coaches and trainers being present, but they aren't yours alone. They support the rest of their gym.

All I can say is training has been massively beneficial for my confidence, fitness and very much my social life.

DM me

 

[Reincarnated]

If you truly enjoy martial arts, and have the money to be able to afford one, I see no problem. Personally, it's not my thing, but I have a lot of respect for the craft.

 

[eli77]

Ken shamrock hurt his back and took steroids. His brother was a ex con who started with a losing record in his early 20s. Kimbo slice never wrestled in high school or college.israel was self taught till he was 21.

 

[AmitBajpayee]

I think having a coach is important for any martial art given that the coach is good at teaching. While you can probably learn the moves by yourself, a coach can help mold the right point of view for a given martial art. they can give you a frame of thought which can help better execute the moves. Someone who has experience can point out the setbacks in your form which is something the not just anyone can do.