YES – training in class only is not enough, like with all skills the more we practice the better we become.

NO – there are 3 reasons why we do not encourage the use of videos, books etc as a form of learning karate:
1.  Firstly, at Southern Karate Organisation we pride ourselves that we teach traditional karate as it was taught to us.  It is important that students learn to listen to their Instructor as much as they learn to understand the moves.  This is quite a military way of doing things however it is the basis of traditional Karate.
2.  Secondly, it is important that the Instructor decides how much of the new syllabus they are going to teach the student at any lesson.  This is based upon the student’s capabilities at a rate that they can cope with.  Experience tells us that if after grading to a new belt, we show the student the whole syllabus they will become anxious that they are unable to learn it all because it all seems too difficult.  This is why we usually teach in “bite-size” chunks according to individual ability. 
3.  Thirdly, books and videos are always interesting for advanced students.  The same books however can be quite destructive and can hinder student’s ability to absorb kata and movements.  All books and videos are displayed in either what Instructors call Orthodox or Reverse Hand.
Reverse Hand is a mirror image of the Kata and is usually the way the Instructor would teach while facing the class.  From time to time, as the Kata dictates, the Instructor will switch and carry on the lesson in Orthodox.  This is a difficult skill for the Instructors to learn which is why their apprenticeship usually takes around two years after Black Belt.  We have lost count of the number of children coming to class after “learning” karate from a video and when they start to move they go in the wrong direction because they have been following it off the TV.