I have a few questions for those that do train in multiple arts and those who teach or own multiple art schools.
One of the things I wanted to ask those that train in more than one style at a time do you feel like you are missing anything in one or both of the styles you train in? Does having to split training time working on new material from one school then the other slow you way down in retaining what you are being taught? Over the last few weeks Ive seen a lot of posts on cross training more than one style. I got to thinking about it a lot. I even kind of had myself worked up thinking well Im getting older and by the time I invest five or even ten years in one style I may not have time to retrain in another two styles or even one for that matter. I was thinking maybe I need to add Jujitsu, Judo, and maybe even some TKD to my Kenpo training. But then reality set back in myself, I am one of those people that can only give my full attention to one thing at a time. What I mean is that I would be a better martial artist over all if I stuck with one style for many years vs. training in several styles at the same time. But thats just me.
Then that brings me to the question for those that teach more that one art at a school. I looked at a few schools in the Dallas area when I was considering going to more than one school at a time. Some of the schools I looked at offered a mix of styles as the primary style they teach. Not to start a toe stomping match but if an instructor has say 3rd Dan in X style and a 4th Dan in Y style and a 5th Dan in Z style and teaches all three as the core curriculum for said school. And as a general rule a student would test for 1st Dan in about 5 years average. Now this is just the opinion of a student that has only been involved in martial arts for about 8 months now. But what would that 1st Dan be? If it took the instructor 10 years to reach 3rd Dan in well use Kenpo for style X, the it took another 10 years for the 4th Dan in Y= TKD and so on for the Z style say Judo.
What would a student have after only 5 years? Wouldnt the instructor have to leave a lot of material out if you have at least 10 years information to pass on in five? Thats if the instructor studied several styles at one time. Seems to me that they would have to teach just the basics of three styles and leave out a bunch of useful information due to a sheer lack of time? Again I dont want to anger anyone this is just the ramblings of a first year student in the martial arts. I took the day off today so I have too much time on my hands. (And a belt test to pass tonight) wish me luck.
2004 Hemi
One of the things I wanted to ask those that train in more than one style at a time do you feel like you are missing anything in one or both of the styles you train in? Does having to split training time working on new material from one school then the other slow you way down in retaining what you are being taught? Over the last few weeks Ive seen a lot of posts on cross training more than one style. I got to thinking about it a lot. I even kind of had myself worked up thinking well Im getting older and by the time I invest five or even ten years in one style I may not have time to retrain in another two styles or even one for that matter. I was thinking maybe I need to add Jujitsu, Judo, and maybe even some TKD to my Kenpo training. But then reality set back in myself, I am one of those people that can only give my full attention to one thing at a time. What I mean is that I would be a better martial artist over all if I stuck with one style for many years vs. training in several styles at the same time. But thats just me.
Then that brings me to the question for those that teach more that one art at a school. I looked at a few schools in the Dallas area when I was considering going to more than one school at a time. Some of the schools I looked at offered a mix of styles as the primary style they teach. Not to start a toe stomping match but if an instructor has say 3rd Dan in X style and a 4th Dan in Y style and a 5th Dan in Z style and teaches all three as the core curriculum for said school. And as a general rule a student would test for 1st Dan in about 5 years average. Now this is just the opinion of a student that has only been involved in martial arts for about 8 months now. But what would that 1st Dan be? If it took the instructor 10 years to reach 3rd Dan in well use Kenpo for style X, the it took another 10 years for the 4th Dan in Y= TKD and so on for the Z style say Judo.
What would a student have after only 5 years? Wouldnt the instructor have to leave a lot of material out if you have at least 10 years information to pass on in five? Thats if the instructor studied several styles at one time. Seems to me that they would have to teach just the basics of three styles and leave out a bunch of useful information due to a sheer lack of time? Again I dont want to anger anyone this is just the ramblings of a first year student in the martial arts. I took the day off today so I have too much time on my hands. (And a belt test to pass tonight) wish me luck.
2004 Hemi