The other day, I was talking to a kid named Frank, who had a problem.
He wanted to learn good boxing technique, but he didn't have access to a boxing gym.
So, because he knew I reviewed a few boxing DVDs on my website, he started discussing it with me.
You see, he was worried that he wouldn't really be able to learn anything from videos, because of the hype and flash that's normally associated with modern instructional videos.
Many of them are over-produced, with fancy graphics, noisy soundtracks, and obtrusive editing.
But most of these 'flashy' videos don't actually deliver very much in the way of information and instruction.
And Frank's concerns are valid.
Take it from me, there's nothing worse than getting your hopes up about a good tutorial video, and then being disappointed by the same old stuff that you find in every video that comes along.
Many boxing tutorial vids promise a lot, but they deliver nothing new.
So here's what I told Frank about learning boxing from watching videos: You can't really learn to fight from videos as well as you would learn if you trained daily in a good boxing gym.
And the reason for this is that you don't have access to sparring partners.
Without a sparring partner, you won't learn defense, and you won't learn how to work past an opponent's defensive moves.
But (you knew there had to be a 'but', right?) you can learn a lot from boxing instructional videos, if you keep an open mind and pay attention closely.
This is because a good video packs a ton of information into each lesson.
When the instructor is knowledgeable about boxing and also accustomed to presenting information in a clear manner, you'll probably learn a lot more than you would in a noisy gym from a trainer who can barely express himself in simple English.
Here's the bottom line: just because someone is good at boxing doesn't mean he's a good teacher.
Teaching is a skill in and of itself -- many people go to school for years to learn how to be an effective educator.
So, it's not enough to just be a good fighter, if a trainer wants to make a video about boxing techniques, he has to also be a good communicator.
And that's the heart of the matter -- good communication.
So, when you look at it that way, you see that all the flashy graphics, noisy music, and sensationalistic tough-guy attitudes don't help anyone learn how to box or fight.
All they do is distract you from what is probably a real lack of good information and communication.
So when I look at a boxing instructional video, I ask myself if the teacher knows his stuff and if he can communicate the concepts in a clear, easily understood way.
Often, the answer is 'no', and I can't recommend that video to anyone.