WhoT

"It's not in my opinion possible to teach yourself something to a good level without profeshional aid. Even if you get the moves right, the foundation to it and the technique within will be weak and most probably not all that good."I agree with you.I believe that you can't. Obviously someone has to teach you the basics of a style first before you can even begin to learn the actual and proper way of a type of martial arts. I tried learning it myself. Turns out that theres a lot of things that you're doing wrong. Your foundation and basic knowledge of the skill cannot simply be taken half assed. The masters will guide you through and you'll learn pretty quick. "It's something that is often considered by many when they reach a point during their training when the going gets tough. Although in theory the principle works, the logic doesn't. It depends entirely on how much you intend to teach yourself.I am a strong believer that martial arts and boxing should be developed from your own training outside of your dojo, and I believe strongly that once you have achieved a certain level of skill in martial arts, you can actually develope your skills - notice how I use the word develope."I've taken tae kwon do or whatever when I was ...five? I learned pretty fast, but then I also dropped out of the class because there were simply too many new people, like Forbez said. I ended up taking private lessons up until the point where I can take down someone pretty quick. Took me two years or so. Therefore, get in a private class or something."I personally would encourage anybody to try their own style. There will be a style of fighting, perhaps already discovered, perhaps your very own style that will fit you perfectly."Also, I've always been wanting to learn Armizare, to disarm and disable. But I can't even find it on google or anywhere that teaches this.What I've always wondered is...whats the point of Tai Chi? You move WAY too slow to fight, maybe there is an art to parrying and 'absorbing' people's strength and using it back on them, but how can you even hope to accomplish that if you're moving slower than, say a...speedy turtle, to say the least.I don't mean to bash anyone that's taking tai chi, but that's my two cents, my views. I respect everyone's opinion and their actions."Remember that all that you learn during training at a formal discipline (such as Karate) has been engineered and passed down through the generations - it works. It's very easy to train yourself to do what we like to call ' fancy fighting '. By that, we mean a style that simply does not work, it looks good, and it may looks as if it'd do you good, but in reality it does not work because the basic techniques, principles and foundations that are key to success are not present. "Yup, which is why following a master or a teacher would be best. The skills have been perfected through countless generations, and is obviously effective (a bit contradicting to my opinion on tai chi...)"However - if we change the question to is it possible to teach yourself a new style - your style, providing you have a good understanding of atleast one art, and have good technique and strong foundation? Ofcourse. "Like all skills, of course you can. Once you have gotten your foundation, you can adjust everything to your own personal preferences, whether it be more effective, strong, or whatever.