>>754287>>754297>>754298The pasta doesn't say that average people can learn on their own, but there's still knowledge to be had.
It is in fact possible to learn a martial art and effectively apply it without a teacher and or sparring.
A common myth is that one is unable to perceive the flaws on one's movements when mimicking the movements of a martial art, and that a teacher is required to detect these flaws in form and aid in correcting them.
Detecting the flaws in one's form can easily be done with the utilization of attention to detail and a mirror.
It would take some very severe cognitive impairments and or lack of effort to be unable to do this, given that adiquate information is provided.
Another common myth is that muscle memory is required to apply martial arts, and that one would be unable to participate in combat without getting a gluteus maximus kicking.
One reason people believe this myth is because of how much more quickly humans tend to react to a stimuli with muscle memory rather than conscious reaction time. They fail to understand that this in no way means that conscious reaction cannot be utilized. With higher aptitude for reaction time and or training, one who may have never engaged in hand to hand combat will be able to perform as well if not better than one who has trained muscle memory for hand to hand combat, not to mention how muscle memory can be used in combat if trained with proper knowledge and understanding beforehand.
Experience is only as creditable as how it's interpreted.
Not saying that learning with a teacher isn't almost always more efficient.