History Main / TeachMeHowToFight

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDeputyDawgShow'': In "Seize You Later, Alligator, " [[PunnyName Al E. Gator]] is having a rough time against a gator-wrestling Indian, [[LetsGetDangerous but he steps up to win]] after the Indian picks on Muskie. Al, carried home in triumph, says he's going to teach everyone how to wrestle.

* Oh god poor Shirahama Kenichi in ''Manga/KenichiTheMightiestDisciple'' . As the show goes on, one starts to wonder if he would've been better if he just lost the match to Daimonji.
** On the other hand, the benefits of the training far outweigh the initial (and admittedly still ongoing) terrors Kenichi faces from his masters; he [[TookALevelInBadass takes several levels in badass]] to the point that he's able to hold his own against low-level Master-class fighters (even if he doesn't actually ''win'') and he even ''increases his own training regimen without his masters' input''. This is far more evident in the manga, which is still ongoing after the anime ended.

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': Negi is already quite good at the start of the manga (it's suspected that he's been training from age four), but it really gets serious when he asks [[DrillSergeantNasty Evangeline]] to teach him.
** Several of Negi's students (especially Asuna) also begin training, if they weren't competent fighters already.
* Happens in ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'', a couple times. [[spoiler:The first time with Tsukune being trained by Ruby and Moka. The second time, Tsukune is trained by Touhou Fuhai.]]
* ''Literature/ShakuganNoShana'': Yuji is a NonActionGuy, but his insistence on keeping up with Shana's demon-hunting lifestyle led him to receive TrainingFromHell from several different sources, eventually taking [[TookALevelInBadass several levels in Badass]]. Most striking is when he's being pushed around by a minor demon, who intends to use him as bait to draw out Shana. He suddenly realizes that this guy is well below his current power-level, and proceeds to kick his ass. Yep, Yuji's all grown up now...

* In the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' manga ''The Lost Warrior'', Graystripe befriends a house cat, Millie, and tells her all about his life as a [=ThunderClan=] warrior. She is so intrigued that she eventually asks him to train her to fight.

* In the comic ''Franchise/{{Superman}} vs. Muhammad Ali'', Ali teaches Superman to box. This is, of course, to create a non-superpowered "fair fight" between the two.

* In ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'', Chloe requests Lexi's help to fight with her donut holer so that she can better defend herself against future threats on the Train and if they should ever run into the Apex. She later asks [[VideoGame/AngelsOfDeath Zack]] for additional training and that they fight every time they cross paths.

* Also happens in ''Film/TheForbiddenKingdom'' with the protagonist and Jackie Chan's character.

** In fact, this is pretty much {{universal|Tropes}} in kung fu movies not starring Jet Li, Bruce Lee, or Chuck Norris. Taken to extremes when the "teacher" is so completely non-badass that the suspension of disbelief is completely broken, e.g. Billy Blanks, Pat Morita, Mako, etc.

* The Creator/SteveMcQueenActor movie ''Film/NevadaSmith'' (1966). Max Sand seeks the men who murdered his parents, but can't read or write and doesn't even have a gun. He uses an [[BrandishmentBluff abandoned rusty pistol]] in an attempt to rob a travelling gunsmith, who says ItWorksBetterWithBullets. Fortunately the gunsmith takes pity on Sand and teaches him the skills for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* Luke's arc as a Jedi in training (''Franchise/StarWars'' Episodes [[Film/ANewHope IV]] and [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack V]]) begins with the death of his guardian family on Tatooine, starting with Obi-Wan Kenobi as his mentor, but this trope is particularly invoked when he goes to Dagoba and trains with [[RetiredBadass Yoda]], where Yoda at first [[AdventureRebuff rebuffs his request for training]], the training is particularly challenging, and he clearly does [[TookALevelInBadass Take a Level in Badass]] when that training is finished.

* Subverted in ''Fraternity of the Stone'' by David Morrell. A man whose parents were killed by terrorists asks his HonoraryUncle to help him learn the skills to fight terrorism. Years later he realises that the man he looked up to actually arranged the bombing himself. There's a similar plot in ''Brotherhood of the Rose'' -- two orphaned boys turned CIA hitmen realise their mentor has manipulated them all their lives, including setting up a mugging so they'd be motivated to learn martial arts.

* ''Literature/{{Pendragon}}'': After nearly being beaten to death by Saint Dane, Bobby asks Loor to do this. His training is very much TrainingFromHell.
* Jason Marshall, in ''Rogue of Literature/{{Gor}}'', devises a plan to defeat the pirates who are terrorizing the peaceful river-ports along the Vosk. But first he must learn to fight with a sword. He wins the gratitude of the broken-down alcoholic Callimachus, who when sober is an excellent swordsman, levels up as per the plan and does indeed defeat the mean old pirates over the course of the remainder of the book and the next one.
* Richard Cypher of the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' spends a good portion of the first book doing this, until he takes up the mantle of the Seeker and starts calling the shots. He's a woodsman who doesn't even let himself be ''angry'' because his mother was killed by a fire caused by an angry outburst. He knows questing, and killing, from nothing.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''

** After becoming estranged from her own family Thea Queen decides she is too weak and trusting, and joins her biological father, supervillain Malcolm Merlyn, because she is determined to become strong no matter the cost. When Thea balks at the harsher elements of his training, Malcolm realises he needs to start treating her like a student [[LoveIsAWeakness not a daughter]] and it becomes TrainingFromHell. Although she later becomes disillusioned with her father, she willingly admits that he did make her strong.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Sheridan asks Kosh to teach him how to fight "those things" ([[BigBad the Shadows]]) after first learning about them, and that they were connected to the fate of his wife on the doomed voyage of the ''Icarus'' ("In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum").

* Series/PunkyBrewster takes boxing lessons from champ Marvin Hagler as she prepares for a fight against a school bully.

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' adventure [=OA5=] ''Mad Monkey vs. The Dragon Claw''. During the sea journey {{NPC}} Ko La Ko approaches one of the {{PC}}s and asks the PC to teach him kung fu so he won't be so useless in a fight.

* Shirou from ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''. Saber starts training him just to shut him up and convince him that he's out of his league fighting Servants. In the Fate route, she then notes that his body is quite well-trained, and continues the training to help him survive against Servants for a few seconds or possibly take down other Masters. In Unlimited Blade Works, [[spoiler: thanks to Archer's skills seeping into him]] Shirou can somewhat keep up with Saber, but she then becomes very dissatisfied because he's performing better using Archer's technique rather than hers.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Subverted in ''Literature/VoidDomain''. Both Juliana and Shalise ask another person to train them. Neither are all that helpful.

* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] cartoon "WesternAnimation/CountMeOut" (1939) starred Egghead as he learns to be a prize fighter using an instructional record.
* In the WesternAnimation/DeputyDawg cartoon "Seize You Later, Alligator, " [[PunnyName Al E. Gator]] is having a rough time against a gator-wrestling Indian. [[LetsGetDangerous But he steps up to win]] after the Indian picks on Muskie. Al, carried home in triumph, says he's going to teach everyone how to wrestle.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'': In "D is for Dangerous", a few episodes after Will's boyfriend Matt found out about her being a Guardian, he asks RebelLeader Caleb to train him so that he can fight alongside her, thinking that a NonActionGuy won't be good enough for her. By the end of the episode, she assures him to BeYourself and that she's not looking for a "dangerous" guy, but he does retain Caleb's lessons and is shown to be better at fighting in subsequent episodes.

[[folder: Real Life]]

* Cassius Clay A.K.A Muhammad Ali's origin story. After his brand new bike was stolen, Ali was taken to the boxing gym by the police officer he complained to so he could learn how to fight. The rest is history.

* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'': Yuji is a NonActionGuy, but his insistence on keeping up with Shana's demon-hunting lifestyle led him to receive TrainingFromHell from several different sources, eventually taking [[TookALevelInBadass several levels in Badass]]. Most striking is when he's being pushed around by a minor demon, who intends to use him as bait to draw out Shana. He suddenly realizes that this guy is well below his current power-level, and proceeds to kick his ass. Yep, Yuji's all grown up now...

* In ''Anime/{{Madlax}}'', after Vanessa shoots a person for the first time (it's to protect the eponymous heroine and she only grazes her target, but she [[ItNeverGetsAnyEasier angsts nonetheless]]), she eventually asks Madlax to teach her to shoot. [[spoiler:It doesn't end well, as she dies when protecting Madlax again.]]
* In ''Manga/MissionYozakuraFamily'', Taiyo goes to Futaba and asks her to help him become a spy after having a nightmare where he's powerless to stop Mutsumi from being kidnapped. To his surprise, Futaba agrees, under the condition that he manage to survive living in Yozakura's highly booby-trapped mansion for one month.
* ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana.'' Yuji is a NonActionGuy, but his insistence on keeping up with Shana's demon-hunting lifestyle led him to receive TrainingFromHell from several different sources, eventually taking [[TookALevelInBadass several levels in Badass]]. Most striking is when he's being pushed around by a minor demon, who intends to use him as bait to draw out Shana. He suddenly realizes that this guy is well below his current power-level, and proceeds to kick his ass. Yep, Yuji's all grown up now...

* ''Manga/Change123'' uses this trope ''twice'', both times a ''boy'' asks a ''girl'' to teach him... well, not actually how to ''fight'', since both boys do indeed have some confidence and experience in fighting (one of them is a black belt in judo and another one a fearless street brawler), but rather how to take their fighting skills to a higher level.
* In ''Manga/{{Monster}}'', when Tenma decides that he has to hunt down and kill Johann, the first thing he does is seek training from a retired mercenary on how to properly handle a gun.
* In ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'', Kaneki reaches this point after witnessing the death of [[SacrificialLamb Ryouko]] [[MamaBear Fueguchi]]. Seeing Touka wounded from an attempt to avenge Ryouko's death, he expresses his determination to fight and asks her to teach him.
* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'''s first arc, Phantom Blood, Speedwagon requests Zeppeli to train him in hamon so he can be more useful in the fight against Dio. Zeppeli attempts to correct Speedwagon's breathing with a finger to the chest, but winds up missing and just knocking the wind out of him.

* In ''Film/TheProfessional,'' Mathilda asks Leon to be trained as a hitwoman in order to avenge her brother's death at the hands of [[NaughtyNarcs Stansfield]] and [[DirtyCop his crew]].

* ''Film/MyBodyguard'', starring Creator/AdamBaldwin, has some of this in it.
* The Creator/SteveMcQueenActor movie ''Film/NevadaSmith'' (1966). Max Sand seeks the men who murdered his parents, but can't read or write and doesn't even have a gun. He uses an [[BrandishmentBluff abandoned rusty pistol]] in an attempt to rob a travelling gunsmith, who says ItWorksBetterWithBullets. Fortunately the gunsmith takes pity on Sand and teaches him the skills for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* Averted in ''Film/IndependenceDayResurgence''. Nerdy accountant Floyd Rosenberg asks Dikembe Umbutu to "teach him everything he knows" about using his machetes on aliens. Umbutu is unimpressed, and doesn't take up the offer.

* ''Literature/{{Pendragon}}'': After nearly being beaten to death by Saint Dane, Bobby asks Loor to do this. His training is very much TrainingFromHell.

* Subverted in ''Fraternity of the Stone'' by David Morrell. A man whose parents were killed by terrorists asks his HonoraryUncle to help him learn the skills to fight terrorism. Years later he realises that the man he looked up to actually arranged the bombing himself. There's a similar plot in ''Brotherhood of the Rose'' -- two orphaned boys turned CIA hitmen realise their mentor has manipulated them all their lives, including setting up a mugging so they'd be motivated to learn martial arts.

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' gets asked this by Gabrielle.
* ''Series/BabylonFive'': Sheridan asks Kosh to teach him how to fight "those things" ([[BigBad the Shadows]]) after first learning about them, and that they were connected to the fate of his wife on the doomed voyage of the ''Icarus'' ("In the Shadow of Z'ha'dum").
* Subverted when Connor asks Series/{{Angel}} how to fight vampires; he's actually doing it to learn Angel's fighting style [[IHateYouVampireDad so he can kill him]].
* In ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'', Elena goes to Alaric for fighting lessons. While she can't really compete with the superpowered fighters, she does take a small level in badass. Probably comes in handy [[spoiler:once she becomes a vampire herself]].
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''
** After her sister Sara Lance is killed in front of her, Laurel asks Oliver Queen to train her so she can join Team Arrow. He refuses. [[GoodIsNotNice Harshly]]. Undeterred, she gets training from ex-vigilante-turned-boxing instructor Ted Grant, and Nyssa al Ghul of the League of Assassins (Sara's former lover) and eventually becomes TheSixthRanger.
** After becoming estranged from her own family Thea Queen decides she is too weak and trusting, and joins her biological father, supervillain Malcolm Merlyn, because she is determined to become strong no matter the cost. When Thea balks at the harsher elements of his training, Malcolm realises he needs to start treating her like a student [[LoveIsAWeakness not a daughter]] and it becomes TrainingFromHell. Although she later becomes disillusioned with her father, she willingly admits that he did make her strong.

* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] cartoon "Count Me Out" (1939) starred Egghead as he learns to be a prize fighter using an instructional record.

* In the ''Series/Numb3rs'' story [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3705435/1/P-is-for-Protection P is for Protection]], Charlie asks David this after Don is injured in a fight, though it is mentioned in the end that Don would be the one who would want to teach him.

* The Creator/SteveMcQueen movie ''Nevada Smith'' (1966). Max Sand seeks the men who murdered his parents, but can't read or write and doesn't even have a gun. He uses an [[BrandishmentBluff abandoned rusty pistol]] in an attempt to rob a travelling gunsmith, who says ItWorksBetterWithBullets. Fortunately the gunsmith takes pity on Sand and teaches him the skills for his RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

[[folder:Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/WITCH'': In "D is for Dangerous", a few episodes after Will's boyfriend Matt found out about her being a Guardian, he asks RebelLeader Caleb to train him so that he can fight alongside her, thinking that a NonActionGuy won't be good enough for her. By the end of the episode, she assures him to BeYourself and that she's not looking for a "dangerous" guy, but he does retain Caleb's lessons and is shown to be better at fighting in subsequent episodes.

** ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'': After being saddled with a highly incompetent and nasty Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, who deliberately refuses to properly teach the students how to cast defensive spells, Hermione asks Harry to teach her and several other students instead, thus leading to the foundation of Dumbledores Army.

* Happens in ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'', a couple times. [[spoiler:The first time with Tsukune being trained by Ruby and Moka. The second time, Tsukune is trained by Touhou Fuhai.]]

* In ''Leon'', known in some areas as ''Film/TheProfessional,'' a young girl asks to be taught a hitman's skills in order avenge her brother's death.

* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima.'' Negi is already quite good at the start of the manga (it's suspected that he's been training from age four), but it really gets serious when he asks [[DrillSergeantNasty Evangeline]] to teach him.

* ''Manga/{{Change 123}}'' uses this trope ''twice'', both times a ''boy'' asks a ''girl'' to teach him... well, not actually how to ''fight'', since both boys do indeed have some confidence and experience in fighting (one of them is a black belt in judo and another one a fearless street brawler), but rather how to take their fighting skills to a higher level.

** After [[spoiler:her sister Sara Lance]] is killed in front of her, Laurel asks Oliver Queen to train her so she can join Team Arrow. He refuses. [[GoodIsNotNice Harshly]]. Undeterred, she gets training from two other people and eventually becomes TheSixthRanger.
** After becoming estranged from her own family Thea Queen decides she is too weak and trusting, and joins her biological father Malcolm Merlyn because she is determined to become strong no matter the cost. When Thea balks at the harsher elements of his training, Malcolm realises he needs to start treating her like a student [[LoveIsAWeakness not a daughter]] and it becomes TrainingFromHell.

* In ''Fnfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'', Chloe requests Lexi's help to fight with her donut holer so that she can better defend herself against future threats on the Train and if they should ever run into the Apex.

* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'': After [[spoiler:Sara]] is killed in front of her, Laurel asks Oliver to train her so she can join his team. He refuses. [[GoodIsNotNice Harshly]]. Undeterred, she gets training from two other people and eventually becomes TheSixthRanger.

* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] cartoon "Count Me Out" (1939) stard Egghead as he learns to be a prize fighter using an instructional record.

* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]] cartoon "Count Me Out" (1939) stard Egghead as he learns to be a prize fighter using an instructional record.

* Luke's arc as a Jedi in training (''Film/StarWars'' Episodes [[Film/ANewHope IV]] and [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack V]]) begins with the death of his guardian family on Tatooine, starting with Obi-Wan Kenobi as his mentor, but this trope is particularly invoked when he goes to Dagoba and trains with [[RetiredBadass Yoda]], where Yoda at first [[AdventureRebuff rebuffs his request for training]], the training is particularly challenging, and he clearly does [[TookALevelInBadass Take a Level in Badass]] when that training is finished.

* Any military training obviously enough. But mentioned for historical interest is the Great Louisiana Maneuvers of 1941. These were a TeachMeHowToFight on a national scale, meant to change an army meant for small border actions into one capable of fighting WorldWarII. The commanders of the "blue army" and the "red army" included many famous American generals.