"Can you learn martial arts from BOOKS?!?!" [stares in HEMA]

Watching Seth instead of the Mr beast video 🙏

Imagine being at the local gyms and "oh here comes that giant with his unorthodox crap of the week. What do I even do?"

As a teenager, I learned Shotokan Ryu Karate Do from a book. I really dedicated myself in learning the techniques. Years later, IHad the opportunity to go to a real dojo for a try and, to my surprise, the instructor asked me why I was wearing a white bell instead of my real degree. I had to tell him that I never joined a Karate dojo before and what I was doing was from my book study. So I think sometime you can really learn something valuable from martial arts manuals. Just a quick story : Kareem Aslim who teached French savate and Jeet Kune Do at Dan Inosanto's academy, learned Savate from a book, went to the qualification exam in France and came back with his certificate as a golden gloves. The main point is : You can really learn basic and even advanced stuffs from a book, but you have to train, not just read and think you're able to use it in real situation without practicing hundred of repetition and tests with partners ( I used my elder brother to validate my techniques ). Have a good day !

Seth is always the most entertainment martial arts KZfaqr 👍

You can learn techniques from books, but you can't learn to properly use them in a fight without sparring. Great vid as per usual Seth

I read Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do as a kid, even practicing the forms that were illustrated. Still got bullied, relentlessly. After I started training, I put a stop to the bullying real quick and I never looked back, developing a life-long love of martial arts and combat sports. With that said, I revisited the book recently, and I'm in a much better position to learn from it now that I have the foundation of actual, physical training. Great video, Sensei Seth. I especially loved the quote, "I do my best thinking in the woods." Same, my dude. So do I. Being in nature is always a great way to relax and center myself, away from all of the noise and distractions.

If you’re of a certain age, books were all we had. I don’t know if you knew, and I’m sure you’ll be surprised by this, but KZfaq wasn’t very good in the 1970s and 80s. If you wanted to learn something new, you got a book and worked through it. By the late 80s, training videos on VHS were starting to become available which was a much more efficient way to learn new stuff. Honestly, I wish we had KZfaq in the 70s and 80s.

My initial guess before watching the video is that you can't learn it solely from books unless you already know a lot of very similar martial arts, then maybe, but books can be a good supplement to help you learn martial arts along with proper instructions.

Imagine cornering someone yelling at your fighter to "trap the tiger in a pit covered in bamboo" over and over

The beginning of Seth's war on reading...

You know you have a serious fighting style when some of the moves are designed for centaurs.

A "jin" is roughly a pound, super conveniently! Loved this video format

I just wanna point out that seth’s white sweater has “sensei seth’s school of punch kickery” written on it, and thats really fucking awesome

I mean books can certainly be a good reference, hema started with people examining historical manuscripts, so basically books, but even with that it still took a couple of decades to workshop everything adequately, Books can also be a really good reference if you also have a proper place to train or adequate knowledge in something similar to film in the blanks

Seth I hope I can live a life just like yours, doing what I love everyday of my life, learning different martial arts. You inspire me to chase my dreams man🙏

If you already have a functional base you most definitely can learn from books or videos.

You can learn, but how effective you will find it depends on your reading comprehension and time spent practicing. Pictures help too. It'd do more for your mentality than your technique, but it'd still be beneficial.

Oh there is the American Combat Judo book. Bernard Cosneck was a legit fighter, he was trained boxing, judo and catch wrestling with Jack Dempsey. He collaborated with Dempsey on writing a self defense/combatives book. Ramsey Dewey made a vidéo on Dempsey/Cosneck's book

Bruce Lee's Tao of Jeet Kune Do was foundational to my love of the martial arts. Every now and then I dig it out and re-read it. A lot of my martial arts life has been self-study, so I definitely think you can learn from books, but you have to be the kind of person who can translate verbal to physical. Usually in book instruction, there's either lots of biomechanics/anatomy terms or lots of analogies to paint a sufficiently detailed picture, but its not easy for the teacher to write or the student fully grasp without the innate connection and immediate feedback of live instruction. Some people just can't/don't learn physical skills that way.

Absolutely love how much sparring footage we got your live rounds are always so entertaining.

I've learned different styles of fencing from books, styles which went extinct decades or a couple centuries ago. But..... 1) I already had a background in fencing, FMA, and Silat. The basics of how to use a sword were already there. 2) These were manuals designed and written for the express purpose of teaching soldiers, sailors, and cavalry troops. 3) Most importantly, it became part of regular fencing practice. We did one person drills. We did two person drills. And we sparred integrating the new techniques a little at a time.

Books are great to keep your practice fresh and pick up new moves to try. The sparring partners act as the move or situation filter.

this is a super accessible and cool way to try martial arts, great vid Seth!

This is a great video idea! Love your creativity

Thank you for helping deliver the knowledge you obtained from the readings. It's very appreciated. Also i very much respect going out into isolated parks and forests to do this. Great for the focus. I think the book of five rings had a lot of useful and interesting ways of seeing and approaching combat and movement and surprise to one's advantage. bro i loved the musashi style teasings and taunts you were doing during sparring like undoing the guy's leg strap or shaking your foot in front of them. excellent. getting them off focus and throwing them out of the loop.

I've been writing in a journal about my training process for years now and most of my pages are about breaking down concepts or different ways to coach/learn for efficiency. I never wrote down actual techniques. I can definitely say that writing notes and studying other content can help you improve mentally in combat strategies. I'm thankful for videos in this day and age because I struggle learning from books.

Jack Dempsey's How to Fight Tough has some interesting grappling techniques. Ramsey Dewey did a video on most of the techniques in it.

Seth being toxic to a dummy is a mood

I'd love a full on "Seth tries Panktration" episode if you can find an instructor in reach.

I love the ancient Greek martial arts book. They take pics and sculptures from the past and recreate it from the art. It's such a fun book if you like art, history, or martial arts

Very cool, also. Love this spot you always go to!! must set a awesome vibe for you. Hope things are going well in the new year Seth!

this is how my wrestling coach learned as a kid

Entertaining , I've joined a boxing gym and a capoeira class while I was studying from a book and deciding how I wanted my perspective on MMA to look like ; four years ago I moved to the Caribbean really hard to find MMA gyms here but I'm still reading the same books and I stay honest about the areas I need to work on . Still looking for gyms

14:38 Master Ken would be so proud watching this

Great video! Interesting how some stuff worked when everyone was tired. I used to accumulate books and techniques, but it is as you say... You need to work the stuff live The most useful books for me have been ones involving generalities. Like your dad's yin yang idea - that applies to grappling as well as striking. It's a style of tactic based on psychology rather than any specific attack combo. Meta.

Awesome job.

I didn't know the Bubishi was still in print! I'll check it out.

Commenting for the algorithm, thanks for the video Seth.

This is scarily relevant to me right now. I've discovered martial art textbooks and application of patterns books and am so tempted to buy some…

Try a book called Scientific Self-Defense by Fairbairn. Its essentially the system taught to OSS operatives during WWII. Fairbairn was a British police officer in Shanghai pre-war so it draws from all kinds of stuff -- boxing, judo, southern Chinese kung fu, etc.

Banger vid brother

You should make a vid breaking down the strategy side of the book of five rings, I listen to that book like once a week and it helps with my boxing when it comes to the broader ideas and strategies

17:59 I may have to try that. I have never seen that before.

Sensei Seth's works are really important, I mean, he really shows actual things, and it's quite a long time since I recognized that he is actually an agent of objective reality in a way as not too offensive as possible to anyone but really gives you insight about the reality of Marshal arts and hand to hand or leg to leg combat if you call it that way😅, anyway, his informations are really helpful for both fighters, competitors, or regular marshal artists including people who wants to learn to defend themselves. We know self defense starts from how you handle things to not get in trouble, and the next thing is what and how should you train or learn to improve your fighting or marshal arts skills, or self defense skills if in case you don't have a better choice but to defend yourself by fighting back.

1:12 That is The Forest Theatre at UNC Chapel Hill! ❤

Sensei Seth: "Can you learn Martial Arts from just books?" The entire HEMA Community: "F*ck. I hope so.".

Most of my learning has been through books and movies, and shadow boxing. Sparred lightly with friends a couple times.

When I was 9 I read Bruce Tegner's Self Defense. Tegner was an American 1950s and 60s karateka and judoka. Former GI. Old book from my grandmother's house. It changed my life because I went from a tiny kid being bullied to a tiny kid who had learned how to make a proper fist. I still got my ass kicked but I fought back, I knew where to hit, I knew (better) how to hit, and I was scrappy. Probably more than made sense. I had confidence, and with it, my days of being bullied receded. Then I had a growth spurt. Now in my 50's I can say that book (while not a great source of training) put me on the road to the black belt I have today. There's value to ttaining manuals, it's just not as good as an instructor.

I recommend your book, it's good!

Seth really is the modern day bruce lee. Trying different styles, training methods, and sources, then trying them out. And then sharing the information with the world via video/movie. Ive looked at some books when i was ypunger, but not as extensively as seth did.

You would be such a fun instructor, Sensi Seth . I dont know why I point that there. Lol, you're the best .

Sensei Seth spars very well. It shows how much we missed back in the day not using pads and gloves and mouthguards (I did use a mouthguard). You can't throw hands at all bare handed in class. My instructor (5th deg TKD guy) just wouldn't listen to my suggestions to do so back then. He uses it all now, gah.

The scissor technique is very common in capoeira, from different bases and positions and also being able to lock on the hip of the target, both legs or even one leg (and sometimes even in the neck if you can jump high enough)

One thing I learnt from a book (before I started martial arts) was mae ukemi (forward roll). But then it took still years to get it really smooth 😁Nice video Nice video, also interesting to see that some techniques have been there for thousands of years.

This was excellent. Keep grinding seth ❤️

To learn from books you have to have a partner or two to pressure test what your are studying. Solo only gets you so far. Coming from a HEMA background that is where we get most of what we study.

I have an idea for the next vid; try to learn a martial art only using social platforms like youtube, twitter, instagram and more.

That scissor trip looked a lot like Kani Basami, the infamous scissor takedown that is banned in many Judo and BJJ gyms due to how insanely dangerous it can be. If your partner's legs are angled differently to what you're expecting, you're almost guaranteed to hurt their knee - best case a sprain, worst-case obliterating their ACL/MCL.

A lot of my stuff is packed in storage until I move from WV tgo NC, but I have a TON of martial arts books, some rather old. I haven't read all of them (Ok, most of them), but I love just having them.

forest theater is a great spot! and gimghoul isn't the middle of nowhere!

Had a great laugh when he said "dude I don't want this to be weird but you smell really good" 😂😂😂 Love your video‼️ Keep it up like this💪 regards from Serbia🇷🇸

12:50 in professional wrestling this move is called 'The Shining Wizard' and nothing has brought me more joy than knowing that this move is in a book about fighting. Regardless of whether or not it's viable, it's something I constantly daydream about landing in a real fight. ITS JUST SO COOL!!!

I love all the ratings without any explanation for how good they are

As a kid in the 80s, I have a friend whose father has a library of martial arts magazine (Black Belt, Kung Fu Illustrated). I started reading those. I did learn more theory than anything else, how to form a fist. The most important lesson I learned, which was applicable when I joined my silat school 3 years later, was don't miss practice.

Books, like instructionals work when you have a solid base of fundamentals. As a beginner you're still learning the vocabulary. I purchased Kazushi Sakuraba's instructionals along with instructionals by champions like Andre Galvao and Bernardo Faria, it didn't make sense because it's all greek to me and I was zoning out because I didn't understand the importance of what I'm learning. I do in my mind understand it but couldn't apply it. In the end, I only got his Kimura Grip armbar follow up to an RNC. I stopped going over instructionals and practiced for a year. Later on the instructionals made sense, and I look at it and know the technique. The same goes with books.

11:52 - such a beautiful kick there

Have you ever considered creating an audiobook platforms like audible? I'm interested in listening to the audiobook version of the shooters stance book that was from your Dad.

that scissor takedown gets used a lot in capoeira, have a look at how they set up an enter for them.

Reading is important though. My biggest guess is what is being written and how descriptive the books can be on learning how to do anything. Sometimes I'll look up something on my phone just for a quick crash course. I don't think reading numerous books will make you an ultimate fighter, but I believe there are still great benefits to reading.

I trained in Aikido as a kid/teen, and one piece of advice my sensei gave repeatedly was "avoid a fight if you can. Running isn't a cowardly act. If you have to fight, end it as soon as you can."

Don’t know if this is in the video yet but kodokan judo throwing techniques by Toshiro Daigohas improved my judo loads over the years as how detailed it has its on Amazon do recommend!!!! (It wasn't but fantastic video will recommend!)

If you do this again you should get the books "Kumite volume 1" and "Kumite volume 2" from the "Best Karate" series, they are great books for any karate practioner's collection. If you can get ahold of a good or new copy of "Full Contact Karate" that would be cool one too it's a dive into the old world of American or fancy pants style kickboxing.

Between learning from books and sparring and pressure testing HEMA has shown itself equal to a lot of living traditions in terms of sparring and weapons competition results under varying rulesets including Dog Brothers.

totally agree with the "step on the knee" one, I think most opponents would already crumple from a broken knee if us chonkers tried that XD

You should check out the book Kill or Get Killed by Rex Applegate. He's one of the guys who help develop the Army's combatives program. It does have pistol shooting techniques in addition to martial arts. Also check out Defendu by William Fairbairn. It was written by one of the guys who trained special forces in WWII. So basically two of the most dangerous dudes who ever lived.

I wish i could spar with you one day, you look like the kind of guy who is always fun to spar with 💜

You should have done some ninjitsu Seth and done wresting with the strikers, and striking at Jiu Jitsu.

I'm of the mind that if I can build an entire IKEA furniture set using the instructions and STILL have some parts leftover that I missed, I'm never going to get a full picture of how to fight using books 😂

13:30 this is also an advanced/banned Judo technique known as Kani Basami. Extremely dangerous to try and practice given how much it instantly destroys ACLs especially with those who don’t train.

Always thought that learning just about anything from reading is like reading a menu at a restaurant when you’re hungry.

I would say absolutely yes you can. We essentially did the same with manuals and literature about swords/spearmanship, archery, and warfare, as well as many other forms of martial arts We did the same in many other disciplines, like engineering and medical science, to understand and learn from the people of the past

Lookin at you hema!

It’s good to have a little brother to try stuff on

I myself am a 3rd degree black belt in taekwondo and my instructor is a6th Dan (degree) in taekwondo a 5th Dan in tang soo do and has black belts in a few other Korean arts and he swears by learning from books. I personally can’t do it but he says it’s easier for him. To clarify he and I practice what he reads but he seems to be able to figure it out perfectly before we even try it

I used to go home after jiu-jitsu class and refer to my library of books by various Gracie's. In them, I could always find an answer to problems that I had while rolling, and usually apply those techniques during the next class. It was great! However, when I was training kyokushin I had a book by Benny Urquidez that was full of his winning combos. Looking at that book didn't help my sparring one bit.

love the vids i know this is a weird question but could you find a way to brace the dummy? like have something holding him up like a bag until you want to toss him around unvelcro and go? or like a rope just some hopefully helpful ideas could be dumb just wanted to help

Could you maybe have a look at Kyokushin Karate? It's relatively new and different from normal Karate.

It's a three step process learn the theory, practice in sparring to build muscle memory, and then irl/tournament

Seth you should know one that a ufc chsmpion alan belcher leerned to fight from books and videos. No joke. You know, the ufc champion middleweight in like 2005

I definitely picked up some things for boxing from Jack Dempsey's Championship Fighting. But obviously you need to actually practice the things in a real setting, as Seth says at the end.

Seth is just doing what I was doing in middle school so I could learn to become a ninja

Hello Seth, in 3 months my teenage students will have kata tournament. Could you give any advice on how to prepare them? For some of them it's first time to compete. Thank you in advance for your invaluable advice. Keep doing great job. Best regards :)

In that period of time when mma started blowing up with the ultimate fighter and before KZfaq grappling magazines really blew up. Should do this same concept based on those old magazines if you can find them

I love at 21:10, Seth's like GRAB MY LEG! And the other guy's like, noooo? And Seth keeps hopping at him, like JUST DO IT! Anyhoo, if you do another of these, my picks would be: This Is Karate!, Mas Oyama, 1965 Chinese Gung-Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense, Bruce Lee, 1963 Bruce Tegner's Complete Book of Jukado Self Defense, 1970 Get Tough, William E. Fairbairn, 1942 Secrets of The Ninja, Ashida Kim, 1980 The Art of Shen Ku: The First Intergalactic Artform of the Entire Universe, Zeek, 2001 What Is Self Defense, Mitose Masayoshi, 1953

Hey Sensei Seth could you try greco roman wrestling?

Seth, try kudo the japanese mma please

What is that set of stairs for? Like ive seen it in a few videos, looks like a cool place to make videos like weather you're talking or doing something like, is it just stairs? Or is there something there with history? Dunno, thought id ask, looks cool haha, dope video, hope ya well :)

interesting topic but... can you learn to read only by fighting?

It's always best to learn from an instructor, especially for proper technique. But you can definitely learn to fight from books and youtube videos, As long as you spar for appropriate feedback. Theoretically, You don't even need any instruction, like if you gave someone infinite lives and threw them into a cage with sean strickland or jon jones for a few years and just told them to go at it that person would eventually adapt and learn how to fight purely from experience.