I was searching the net for good selfdefense sites and came accross these two http://www.close-combat-video.com/oldss.html
and http://www.topsecrettraining.com/combat.html. They say that Martial Arts is useless and only their methods work. Is this really true?

It kind of depends on how you define useless.

Martial arts might be useless, but you can count on it that the video they're trying to sell is even more useless.

Foundation, you're post made me laugh. Good post. Thanks.

This is what we like to call marketing gimicks. Instead of competing with competition, they just convince the potential customer that the competition is useless utter crap. That way there is no need to even worry about having to explain why certain things are done/taught differentlty cause the customer is already convinced that those other ways don't work. Here is some advice that will help you greatly in life, NEVER TAKE THE COMPANY'S/SELLER'S WORD AS THE ONLY WORD. This goes for anything you will spend money on. Always do research and get opinions from other places. Its good you asked this question here, as you may have been sucked into the marketing ploys of the sellers.

Also here is something you will hear time and time again on this forum, you cannot learn from videos, books and the like. Proper instruction from a proper intructor is essential if you want to learn how to do things correctly, safely and effectively. Regardless of whether your intentions are for competition, tradition or self defense.

Welcome to the forums and if you keep an open mind, you will learn far more than you thought possible from a forum.

Many of us have studied hand to hand fighting (or fighting with weapons) from a technical viewpoint for years. I myself have studied martial arts for just over 16 years.

The ways I've learned are the following:
-Technical understanding - How do I do techniques which can hurt/injure an attacker?
-Physical understanding - Why do these techniques hurt/injure an attacker?
-Anatomical understanding - Where can I use these techniques to maximum effect based on the inherent weaknesses of the human body?
-Philosophical/consequential understanding - When and why should I use these techniques? What are the moral and legal implications of using said techniques?
-Fitness/strength training - Enabling myself to use the techniques more effectively and with more strength, speed and accuracy.
-Limited combat - Using these techniques in a controlled environment against people who are resisting every technique and trying to use their own techniques against me.

Now, apart from actually going out and picking fights that's about as close to fighting as you can get. In fact, there are things you learn from martial arts, such as elements of "applied" human anatomy and physiology, which no street fighter will have an understanding of. The benefits of martial arts training are clear and their application to self defense is readily apparent.

There is no way you can gain more than that from watching a video or taking a weekend course in self defense. (Not saying you won't get anything from doing so, just not anywhere near as much).

Crashandburn -

Please search the forum before you post. Those have been covered several times.

hmmmmm.......i think this is kind of a yin/yang thing to some MA is useless to others it is useful.....there are 2 sides to everything, and if there isn't, it's non-existant.
hope you can understand that guys because i think i do.....or do i?

Not really....

MA is useless because people don't understand the basics.

All you really need is the basics. Without the basics, all the self-defense video technique in the world is useless.

What is "basic"?

1. Standing
2. Breathing
3. Stepping
4. Striking

From these basics you have everything you need. You just have to dig deeper to understand the basics.

Everything else is really an extension of the basics.