Are Martial Arts Lessons Worth Online?
Martial arts studios, gyms, dojos, academies – whatever you call them – were hit like most other self-employed businesses during the pandemic. Many gyms have closed completely, while others have been fortunate enough to keep a certain number of students, they have moved most of their classes online, creating a new workout regimen for our virus-ridden environment. But does training in the style of your choice, where your movements are visible only to the instructor through the strip of the computer or tablet screen, help you to become better?
Much depends on what you want to get out of your workout, but there are still certain benefits that can be obtained even without a sparring partner.
Online learning is different
Before that, the obvious thing to note is that teaching martial arts using Zoom or FaceTime is not the same as practicing in a room with a group of friends and a personal instructor. You can’t spar with anyone, and in terms of tactile sensation, there isn’t much, like padding or a person in front of you to train on.
Another disadvantage, according to Oscar Aran, a ten-year-old Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu student, is that the bad habits you develop can go unnoticed by the instructor.
“If you can’t train with people, you can just do any other Zoom workout,” he says. Perhaps worst of all, without an instructor in the room to supervise you, he says that maybe “you just learn bad habits.” Instructors often give specific instructions regarding technique in these classes, but their capacity is often stretched when multiple students enter the same session. Everyone completes the task at the same time, which gives the instructor a limited idea of who may need additional feedback.
It is also more difficult for some students to find motivation to attend classes at home, especially when they are already lounging comfortably in sweatpants. Jack Crosby, a Muay Thai student from Brooklyn, tried to take Zoom classes at his gym but stopped after just two sessions. “I didn’t like them,” he says, “but it was harder to motivate myself to go,” when the classes were online.
Online training also makes it difficult to demonstrate techniques that require two people. Jody Wexler, who teaches and trains taekwondo online, tells Lifehacker that this is “a major flaw.”
She continues:
Some martial arts require physical contact – especially takedowns, wrist / arm techniques, and sparring. They are very difficult to learn and teach remotely.
Some martial arts are better for online training than others.
In my personal experience, it was difficult for me to train my favorite martial art, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, online. BJJ is a form of grappling that focuses on sparring, practicing certain techniques, and experimenting with new techniques. This requires a lot of close physical contact with other people – which you clearly want to avoid during a pandemic.
One BJJ lesson I did at Zoom involved training with an imaginary partner, symbolized by a pillow on the floor in my living room. The rest of the class did standard exercises that I can do on my own since I really don’t need basic instruction after a decade of training.
In fact, this is not entirely true of other martial arts. When it comes to flashy sports like boxing, there is a whole universe of techniques related to body mechanics such as footwork, head movement, and feints. This is what makes it easier for you to work with Zoom, even if the usual caveats apply. Crosby says that in the two classes he attended, “we did exercises that were more shape-oriented, which were beneficial.”
Video conferencing tools aren’t just used by non-professionals. Patricio “Pitbull” Freire, who currently holds the Bellator MMA light and featherweight title, has long consulted Zoom and FaceTime when sharing techniques with teammates around the world. He tells Lifehacker that he and his brother Patrick Freire, who also participates in Bellator, think their scaling habits helped them rise in the pandemic era:
Patrick and I have done scaling and FaceTiming with Captain Eric Albarracin, who lives in another country, to continue to develop our MMA over the years. At this special time in history, everyone is starting to train through hangouts, so we feel like we have the edge in terms of experience in this new era.
But most people don’t have the experience and knowledge of an experienced MMA fighter who undoubtedly trains with other athletes in person, regardless of the pandemic. When it comes to the benefits of distance learning for the average practitioner, the benefits have a little more to do with planning rather than pure combat strategy.
This can be helpful to keep the community and your schedule alive.
One of the main benefits of working out in the gym is the community you can build. As the pandemic spreads around the world, everyone has been drastically deprived of this community, but connecting to videoconferencing could revive at least some of that fleeting sense of unity. This is true of the Muay Thai lessons I taught on Zoom, where after class we all sit down and talk and share jokes. This is a good place for frivolity in a year-on-year tedious pandemic frenzy.
Other people find that online workouts can help you maintain a less hectic schedule. Wexler says she enjoys “not getting to and from a place – so I can move from work to workout very quickly – and then continue my night when I’m done with classes.”
How to get the most out of your online class
Obviously, in many cases, physical space matters a lot, but when you can carve out a significant chunk of space in your home, it helps a lot. If possible, remove furniture and consider buying an exercise mat to avoid ruining the carpet and scratching the hardwood floor with your feet.
And since you need to see what your instructor is doing, it’s best to connect your phone or laptop to a larger monitor as well. Wexler recommends mirroring your device’s screen to your TV if you can handle it. She actually connects her phone to a projector via Air Play, so her student’s images are even larger than they would be in the gym.
She said:
A stable internet connection is key, and if the device can be mirrored or connected to a TV or projection device, it is very useful. I use my MacBook and AirPlay in conjunction with a cheap projector that lets me see things big – on the wall.
Distance learning is not the same as traditional places, but there are still ways to benefit from it.