To be Well Rounded or to Specialize?

[Big Don]

While I acknowledge it is better to be a well rounded Kenpoist, able to do it all well. Is it wrong to want to be especially good at one thing or another? At my school we have some people who excel at teaching, some that are exceptionally good at kata, and some that are phenomenal fighters.
We all have our own strengths and weaknesses in everything we do. I am well aware of my weaknesses, but, have a very hard time seeing my strengths on the mat.

 

[Cyriacus]

Why not do both?

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

My idea is to become well rounded, and try everything at one point or another, but stick to what you like best until you're specialized in that, and capable in all the other stuff. For me, specialty is SD situations utilizing strikes rather than straight up sparring, kata, teaching or throws/grappling. But, I still know how to do the rest of it (and can teach somewhat well, just not an official sensei, only senpai)

 

[Dirty Dog]

Be as well rounded as possible, because that will only make you better at the things you're best at.

 

[seasoned]

An art is like building a house. You start in the basement, where the concrete and large cinder blocks are, and you build a strong foundation. As you progress to the first floor and second floor your building materials begin to shape the house, which is the metaphor for you. Once the house is finished, you can choose any room you want to hang out in............

Deep thoughts.

 

[Steve]

Not kenpo, but the general wisdom in bjj is that you should actively pursue your weakest position. Doing that ensures that you don't have holes in your technique.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

 

[arnisador]

It's good to be well-rounded but you have to have your own go-to specialty. My philosophy is: Go with your strengths, but work on your weaknesses.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

FYI, my main problem with being too well rounded is the problem I have with being well rounded in any aspect of life...you focus too much on your weakspots, you never become 'really' great at any of your strong points, kind of like the 'jack of all trades, master of none' saying, except applied to MA's

 

[Drasken]

Well I am pretty well rounded, but I am especially good at countering. I am thus more of a specialized counter fighter. I make people very sorryif they attack me. But while I am comfortable in defending, sometimes you have to go on the offensive. If you are especially good at something, go with it. But specializing too much in anything is very bad.
If you over specialize, then the rest of your skills suffer. If you train too much in things you're not good at to the point of neglecting what you ARE good at, you don't really excell at anything. It's good to practice everything, and realize that your style is like a fingerprint. Nobody ever truely has the same one. You might have people close to the same within the same dojo, but everyone makes their way of fighting or competing all their own.

 

[zilverkakashi]

well rounded and then specialize...

 

[Ediaan]

While I acknowledge it is better to be a well rounded Kenpoist, able to do it all well. Is it wrong to want to be especially good at one thing or another? At my school we have some people who excel at teaching, some that are exceptionally good at kata, and some that are phenomenal fighters.
We all have our own strengths and weaknesses in everything we do. I am well aware of my weaknesses, but, have a very hard time seeing my strengths on the mat.

It's awlays good to be well rounded, but that doesn't mean you can't specialize.

 

[Steve]

FYI, my main problem with being too well rounded is the problem I have with being well rounded in any aspect of life...you focus too much on your weakspots, you never become 'really' great at any of your strong points, kind of like the 'jack of all trades, master of none' saying, except applied to MA's

I think that the idea is to continually put yourself outside your comfort zone. It's human nature to do what we're good at. It takes effort to seek out challenges. If you focus on working the areas where you are weakest, putting yourself in situations that are uncomfortable, you will be continuously looping back to fill in gaps and every facet of your technique receives attention. It's not at all like a "jack of all trades" unless you quit. While you continue to train, you will continue to improve.

 

[Rich Parsons]

While I acknowledge it is better to be a well rounded Kenpoist, able to do it all well. Is it wrong to want to be especially good at one thing or another? At my school we have some people who excel at teaching, some that are exceptionally good at kata, and some that are phenomenal fighters.
We all have our own strengths and weaknesses in everything we do. I am well aware of my weaknesses, but, have a very hard time seeing my strengths on the mat.

There is a process to learning.

Multiple Systems or Arts:

If one was to study two arts at the beginning of their training there is a high probability that there will be instructions from one that is not allowed in the other. Most likely in the begining but could be across the board all the time. So I recommend to train in one system until you have a very good foundation. Sometimes it is Brown, others times it is Black, and others it might be someother color or title or designation or competition.

Note: Take a few classes of one system. Then talk to others and watch their classes and take the intro form them as well. Look around for a place that you enjoy going too and you also like how they run class. Then you can choose a system to train in and move from there.



Once you have a good foundation and you can put it on the shelf and go look at others and decide if their approach works for you, then you can decide to add this or drop the old and move on to the new. If the differences are too great sometimes one has to leave something behind while one learns something different. Other times it is possible to keep both as they may compliment each other in design or strategy or approach and techniques. This allows you to get breadth of knowledge which is good.

Yet, I have to say as long as you kep an open mind and go deep in a system and become specialized you have learned how to concentrate and to apply skills and into training and improving timing and positioning. Getting better with your timing and positioning in one area allows you to apply those learnings in other areas.

Single System:


If looking from a single system the last part of the argument above still applies. Once you have god foundation and fundalmentals you move forward in one area and progress in that area. As you progress you get better. Once you are better, you take those learnings and apply them to other areas to help you get better there.


So while Breadth is good for self defense, Specialty is good for self improvement, and from my point of view gives one a better chance to actually learn and apply the breadth knowledge.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

I think that the idea is to continually put yourself outside your comfort zone. It's human nature to do what we're good at. It takes effort to seek out challenges. If you focus on working the areas where you are weakest, putting yourself in situations that are uncomfortable, you will be continuously looping back to fill in gaps and every facet of your technique receives attention. It's not at all like a "jack of all trades" unless you quit. While you continue to train, you will continue to improve.

IMHO this would stop you from developing any actual style of your own,and would take much,much longer before you became decent in anything. However, I understand what you're saying, and it seems more a difference of ideologies than anything else.

 

[Steve]

IMHO this would stop you from developing any actual style of your own,and would take much,much longer before you became decent in anything. However, I understand what you're saying, and it seems more a difference of ideologies than anything else.

Fair enough. I personally don't think that you can help but to develop your own style. We are all so different. Our natural curiosity, tendencies, physical capabilities and natural gifts will color our training in ways we can't avoid. The key is to be intentional about one's training, making a point of stepping away from the things that play to our strengths and, instead, consciously work to shore up our weaker areas.

One exmaple from BJJ that comes up all the time are big guys, who are strong and heavy. Many tend to work their top game. They are, after all, very difficult to sweep and find themselves on top often. Many develop very strong top games and are beasts. But, because they don't work from guard often, they fail to develop their skills from that position. At some point, they may actively avoid the position because it's more comfortable for them to "specialize" and further develop the area in which they have devoted so much of their training time. This is all fine and well, until they roll with a person who is well rounded.

This is called "camping in your A game." It's a bad habit and those who do this limit themselves unnecessarily.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Fair enough. I personally don't think that you can help but to develop your own style. We are all so different. Our natural curiosity, tendencies, physical capabilities and natural gifts will color our training in ways we can't avoid. The key is to be intentional about one's training, making a point of stepping away from the things that play to our strengths and, instead, consciously work to shore up our weaker areas.

One exmaple from BJJ that comes up all the time are big guys, who are strong and heavy. Many tend to work their top game. They are, after all, very difficult to sweep and find themselves on top often. Many develop very strong top games and are beasts. But, because they don't work from guard often, they fail to develop their skills from that position. At some point, they may actively avoid the position because it's more comfortable for them to "specialize" and further develop the area in which they have devoted so much of their training time. This is all fine and well, until they roll with a person who is well rounded.

This is called "camping in your A game." It's a bad habit and those who do this limit themselves unnecessarily.

I think our views may not be as different as it seems. Of course, I promote the idea of not letting any of your game become complete s**t. But, not focusing on your A game and developing it as well, IMHO, prevents you from developing that A game.