Does ki correlate to skill?

[mAcChaos]

Normally we think that in DBZ, power trumps skill. But where do they get their power? From training their skills. I wonder if the person's ki is supposed to be a general representation of their overall skills?

Think about all the powerful opponents they face later. Freeza used to be the poster child for, "born with huge strength, no talent," but after reading threads here for a while it was made clear that he definitely knows a lot.

So someone having an overwhelming ki isn't so much about pure power as it is them being so well honed in their training that they can run circles around you.

[B]

Uub says hi.

It's difficult to say. Is Vegeta actually a better fighter than Tenshinhan, or was he lucky enough to be born as a super-person? The fights really aren't staged that way. Characters like Freeza, Buu, et al are as powerful as they are because they just are.

[RandomGuy96]

Goten and Trunks.

[Saiga]

Super Saiyan doesn't make you 50x more skilled. I can't really see someone transforming and suddenly learning how to use their opponents' weight against them or anything.

Also, Raditz, Dodoria etc. Worse ki control skills than the humans but they're stronger than them.

[Polyphase Avatron]

If you have more skill you can learn to gather more ki. But it doesn't necessarily correlate.

[SilverArmada]

Doesn't the series establish that it's not skill that causes someone to increase their ki, but physical stress on the body? The biggest gains are made with weights or extra gravity aka training the body's physical strength and endurance. With more ki you can move faster and hit harder but it doesn't mean that technically your moves are sound. I keep thinking there was something about this with Vegeta and Future Trunks in the RoSaT but I can't recall for sure.

[GarrettCRW]

I'd say no, since Ginyu in Goku's body was not able to fight as well as some vastly underpowered fighters (Gohan, Krillin, and even Goku in Ginyu's body to an extent).

[Strife1]

Doesn't the series establish that it's not skill that causes someone to increase their ki, but physical stress on the body? The biggest gains are made with weights or extra gravity aka training the body's physical strength and endurance. With more ki you can move faster and hit harder but it doesn't mean that technically your moves are sound. I keep thinking there was something about this with Vegeta and Future Trunks in the RoSaT but I can't recall for sure.

I agree with this. Roshi doesn't teach the boys how to fight at all, just strengthens their bodies and senses.

[RocktheDragon]

Going to have to say that Ki can correlate with skill but overall there are just folks with higher Ki levels and with low skill levels. Someone in this thread pointed out Uub and I think that's a great illustration for your question.

[Bussani]

I think that bringing your ki out to its limit in a fight is a skill in and of itself, but that's not really the same thing as fighting skill. It's more like how some characters aren't good at bringing their power out at will (e.g. Gohan, Uub), or the idea that you could get rusty and lose the ability to bring your power out properly from lack of practice.