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Leimeng
08-17-2003, 05:04 PM
~ General question of curiosity here... :confused:
~ How long after a new/beginning student starts to study martial arts seriously do you all feel that they should be able to cross-train or supplement their studies with other arts?
~ What brings this idea up is that there are several schools were there are multiple choice style mix and match arts for their classes. I have a friend who has done one art for 30 some years. He periodically gives seminars around the country in his given art. This past weekend he was telling me about a ‘professionally’ run commercial school that has no foundational art that it teaches! They have seminars each month on a different style by bringing in experienced teachers of that style to the school. When you sign up for classes you start to learn whatever they taught at the latest seminar. There is NO foundational art. How do they develop their foundation? How do they develop their basic skills and body movements?
~ The other side of this same coin is the so called ‘formless’ JKD wanna-bee’s. (My terminology.) This group of people feel because that most arts teach all their fundamentals in the first two or three weeks of class, they just learn this stuff and practice that over and over thinking they have everything their is to the art. They use Bruce Lee as an ‘example’ but fail to remember that he spent many, many, many years in ONE art before he started to incorporate other arts to his own personal style. (I wish people would leave Bruce Lee in the Grave. He died thirty years ago and probably does not even care any more...)
~ I spent the first five years of my martial arts study with Tae Kwon Do before I even had the opportunity to learn another art. (White Crane KF and Capoeira [interesting mix, I know, not from the same school though.]) Then I studied a bit of everything depending on what was available at local schools before I started to major on Bagua Zhang and Hsing I. After a couple of years of that I started to explore Tai Chi and Filipino stick fighting.
~ With the exception of the big three internals, I still don’t see how a person can effectively cross train at the very beginning of their martial arts career.
~ I hear lots of ideas on this and want to hear yours.

Peace,

Sin Loi

Yi Beng, Kan Xue
:eek:



I do – Bride to Groom
Yabba dabba doo -- Flintstone
To be or not to be? -- Hamlet
Doo be doo whop -- Sinatra


:D :D

Royal Dragon
08-17-2003, 05:45 PM
In don't think you can cross in the Big "3'" either. pick Hsing I, and spend 3 years mastering it's basics, then 3 on Taiji, and then 3 on Bagua. Then spend the next 9 mastering the one you like best as your specialty.

SevenStar
08-17-2003, 06:15 PM
that will all depend on the ability of the practitioner, as well as the arts they are training in. I knew several people that were cross training in kali and muay thai. They were all athletes in school and had the aptitude for learning such things. OTOH, I've known people who can barely be successful in one style - they don't have the aptitude.

Ideally, I would reccommend that a person have a solid grounding in something before trying to croos train, and however long that grounding time is will depend on how long it takes them to really become comfortable with and understand the basics.

Christopher M
08-17-2003, 06:21 PM
Originally posted by Leimeng
With the exception of the big three internals, I still don’t see how a person can effectively cross train at the very beginning of their martial arts career.

Right... but once you've felt the awesome power of the single palm change, you wouldn't want to cross-train anyway, so it's a moot point...


...I started to major on Bagua Zhang and Hsing I. After a couple of years of that I started to explore Tai Chi and Filipino stick fighting.

:eek: Traitor!!! :p