Woof Justin:
You wrote:
"For a short while I have studied the tapes on my own, but have been
somewhat leery of ingraining bad habits due to not having corrections and
was considering private lessons. I live in Little Rock, Arkansas and there
is little in the way of full time Kali Schools though there is a teacher
that gives private lessons at a fairly good rate. Would it be a good idea
to train on my own in the DBMA material and take private lessons for
correctional purposes? The teacher does not train in any sort of real
contact type training at all but i felt that he could still see mistakes
in technique if i stuck to the curriculum from the DVDs and eventually
tried to find training partners for the second series, etc."
We do our very best to have our DVDs have genuine merit for learning. Depending on the instructor, using him to complement your work with the DVDs could be a fine idea. OTOH if he lacks the fighter's understanding, or an understanding of what we are trying to communicate, you may find his input to be at cross purposes to what you are trying to accomplish. In short, you will have to use your best judgement , , ,
"As far as training the DBMA material, namely the first series of DVDs, is
there a certain way that you recommend training the different volumes? Do
you recommend training only one volume until you become proficient in it
or training the whole series in a sort of schedule/rotation? If you
recommend training thoroughly in one volume before moving to the next, is
there an amount of time that you would suggest one study each volume?"
The answer to these questions will vary according to the person asking them. The person who tends to flit from flower to flower in Life, probably will benefit from focusing and achieving some progress before moving on. In contrast, the person who tends to plod along past the point of diminishing returns will probably benefit from more emphasis on keeping things fresh. These points made, there tends to be a logic underlying the order in which we put things out, but we also understand that people do things for their reasons, not ours
and so seek to construct each DVD to be stand alone as well as part of a progression. My suggestion is to read the description of each DVD and watch the promo clip for it. We do our best to be accurate and candid as to the contents and to whom the DVD is directed. Most of our DVDs are genuinely for the full spectrum of people out there, but some are more at one end of the spectrum or the other. Also appreciate that it is our intention to make DVDs that continue to have value over time. That is, you may train it for a while and then move on to other thing for a time and then COME BACK TO IT. We continuously have people tell us that they see things the second, or third, or fourth time around that they did not appreciate the first time.
"I have also followed the postings on the Dog Brothers Public Forum in
order to get an idea of training empty-hand that is compatible with
DBMA, in one of the threads you mentioned that it was a bad idea to train in
boxing before learning Panantukan. I'm assuming this has to do with
training the body unilaterally and other habits relating to heavily
conditioning the body to use mainly clenched-fist striking? If so,would
that also make it a bad idea to train in Muay Thai before learning the
empty-handed FMA, or does more than enough of the same apply?"
I hope I didn't say that it was a "bad idea to train in boxing before learning Panantukan". What I hope I said was that if one could start with Panantukan, that in my opinion it would be best. My concern in all this is that people who start with boxing often have a hard time expanding to Panantukan later on. That said, as a general rule it is a good idea to make good use of your time wherever you are-- thus if boxing is the only option, then learn boxing.
The same point applies to Muay Thai-- however with MT you have the opportunity to work in Krabi Krabong, the military weaponry forerunner to MT, via our DVDs: specifically KK featuring Ajarn Salty Dog, the joint DVD "Cross-breeding Kali and KK" with me and Guro Lonely, and our blend of Kali and KK called "Los Triques" in the DVD of that name and in the soon to be released (estimate: 2 weeks) "The Dos Triques Formula".
"Your time and input is very much appreciated."
I hope I have answered your questions to your satisfaction, but if I have not, or if you wish to follow up with more, I will be glad to do so again.
The Adventure continues,
Guro Crafty
