Training in Multiple MA?

[qi-tah]

I think there's a difference in a SCHOOL that intentionally and consciously cross-trains various styles and a student who tries to balance TKD Monday with BBT Tuesday and Choy Li Fut Thursday. When the school (hopefully, with instructors with proper training in each art, not weekend certificates!) puts the syllabus or program together -- they're doing it with a plan or structure for it. A student running independently does their own thing, there's no guarantee that what they put together will actually fit coherently.

Yes, i totally agree, but what i think you get from a school/class that has more than one art in it's syllabus is more than the practical - it's a sense of possibility, of openess and curiosity about different ways/systems of moving and fighting. At least that's been my experience. And that approach might actually prevent you from cross-training outside the school for a while ('cause you have enough on yr plate at the one school), giving you the time to improve to the point where a bit of experimentation will work with you rather than against you. Possibly...?

 

[Callandor]

I am wondering what the Martial Arts Talk community thinks about students training in more then one style? Does your discipline forbid this? or encourage this? Is it an issue of rank or experience? Is it ok with permission? OK for Black Belts but not color belts?

The problem, I think, with practicing more than one art (and perhaps the reason some teachers forbid it) is when the arts you practice are somewhat similar with slight differences. It might get you confused. For example, if you practice Soo Bahk Do (or Tang Soo Do) and karate, you might end up doing karate's back stance in Soo Bahk Do and vice-versa (they have slightly different forms and weight distributions). Their execution of the roundhouse kick also differs a bit. This is also true even within the different ryus of karate - Goju Ryu has a different feel and rhythm from Shotokan. If the arts are completely different, however, (like Judo or Aikido and Taekwondo) I personally don't think that there is a problem.

 

[Adept]

I am wondering what the Martial Arts Talk community thinks about students training in more then one style? Does your discipline forbid this? or encourage this? Is it an issue of rank or experience? Is it ok with permission? OK for Black Belts but not color belts?

As I always say:

Think of the martial arts as a library.

Think of the various styles, as the sections within the library.

To get a well rounded knowledge base, you need to read books from several sections. If you want to specialise, you need to study one (maybe two) sections to the exclusion of all else.

Many sections will contain over-laps (mathematics and physics, for example) and many will be completely different. The key is to read the books you want to, regardless of what section they come from. To build your own home library exactly the way you want it.

Now obviously the analogy isn't perfect. Beating people up is a fairly limited skill set, and a few basic techniques coupled with the understanding to perform multiple applications will get you further in a scrap, than a few random specific pieces of information are in a quiz.

To answer your question, everyone should learn from as many arts as they want.

What they have to decide for themselves is how many techniques they want to learn from each art (all of them?) and which strategy they want to use (one or the other, or form their own?).

 

[tsd]

As I always say:

Think of the martial arts as a library.

Good Analogy

 

[Em MacIntosh]

Adept always brings in the heavyweight JKD wisdom. Gotta agree with that. I think the most important thing is that you find something that works for you. Usually the more fluid an art is, the better you can fit into it. It is most important to find out what MA have to offer and choose the right school/instructor etc. from the beginning. To build the right regime to help you along the right path is the key to being proficient. Dedication comes easier when you are being true to yourself and not primarily to the art. The psychology of having no doubts that what you're doing is the best option for you is like full throttle, no brakes. A person can go so far so fast once they find the right groove. The point is, seldom does one art have everything or even most of what we're looking for. Crosstraining can be a very good thing. You take on too much of anything and it will be detrimental.