Learning from Video: Self Defense Training

A lot of people wonder just what you can learn when it comes to personal defense from video. Well obviously I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think you could learn quite a lot. I've been producing video content for instructional purposes since the early 2000s. I've been doing television segments since about that time, and we've been producing the Personal Defense Network DVD series since 2005. Obviously I'm a big believer in learning from video, and many other instructors are as well. But you have to be careful to understand exactly what you can learn well from a video, and what things you absolutely need to go get hands on experience with. When it comes to understanding concepts, there's no reason that you can't learn everything you need to know from a video presentation or lecture. Similar to reading a book, you can understand ideas and you can have ways to influence your research come from watching a video, hearing someone speak, and learn about a topic in that format. When it comes to actual physical skills of course you can also learn what you're supposed to do. You can see how the steps are put together in any kind of a sequence such as reloading a gun, or drawing from a holster, but in order to truly develop your skill, you must go get hands on experience with those types of things. And that's an important distinction. There's no reason that you can't watch a video on how to load a gun, but you can't just simply watch that video on how to load a gun and assume that you'll be able to do it when the time comes, especially under the stress of a personal defense situation. Understanding that once you watch the video, once you see what to do, once you understand how to do it, you still need to go out to the range, you still need to go practice the actual moves yourself, is vital to completing that learning cycle. Don't discount learning from video when it comes to ideas, but do make sure that you put a big asterisk on any of the physical things that you wanna learn from video to remind yourself to actually go to the range, go to the dojo, go to the gym, or just go to your drive fire practice area and make sure that you actually go through the steps. Now one of the advantages when it comes to learning physical skills from video, is that you can always hit the pause, practice yourself, go back to the beginning, and watch it again. So unlike a live demonstration or unlike actually being in a class where you have to be paying attention and at the same time go through the moves, when you have that video archive, whether it's a streaming segment online, a DVD, or even a television show that you've recorded, you have that as an archive. You have the ability to go back and review. You can use it as a refresher. And of course with tablets and smartphones and the ability to take video right to the range with you, you can have that video reference all the time. It's kind of like having an instructor right there. Now you still don't get the feedback, you don't get the personal coaching. So it's not a full replacement for going to the range with an instructor, with a coach, or even with someone who's a training partner who understands the physical skills you're trying to develop, and understands the flaws that you might have in your technique. But video is a great way to learn. I obviously encourage you to check out Personal Defense Networks collection, and any other resource you can so that you can get the valuable information that can be delivered much more conveniently through any video medium than it can be if you have to be in person with the instructor to actually getting you valuable information.