Originally posted by KickingMantis
Meat shake the reason so many people cross train, especially in the USA is because they are inpatient, unloyal, undisciplined and in a hurry to achieve something in a another style that they dont want to wait to learn in their own.
Not true. muay thai has no ground grappling. period. you're not going to strike much in bjj. period. Most kung fu has ground fighting, but not ground grappling. Simple fact is that no single style has EVERYTHING. you can train muay thai all your life, and you will never learn a triangle choke, because it has no ground grappling. consequently, you cross train. Longfist kung fu - no ground grappling, and chin na doesn't transfer directly to the ground. Consequently, grappling training will have to come from elsewhere.
In addition, you want to learn your skill from those who are the best at it. I don't want to learn ground grappling from a longfist school - they don't focus on it like the grappling school does. On the same token, I don't want to learn striking at a grappling school.
As far as loyalty, loyalty to whom or what? training in another style is not disloyal. Those are mentalities that should be abandoned in this day and age, IMO, in the context of fighting.
If you stick around long enough in a particular style and be willing to learn the basics and master the basics...you will understand your style and see that it has more of what u need than less.
But not EVERYTHING. and what you lack can and will be exploited. look at TMA and how grapplers exploited their flaw.
"... a student moving around from SCHOOL to SCHOOL, thinking they are learning all they need to know about the style in one year, that student hasnt even touched the surface of the art. "
That's not cross training, that's style hopping or forms collecting. There's a difference.
Im sure good Tae Kwon Do has ways to defend themselves on the ground just as many other styles.....the thing is very few students stay around long enough to learn it.
False. And even if it were true, why wait 10 years to learn how to grapple?
if you go to high school and u leave at grade 10 or 11, the reason u didnt learn chemistry II or III is becasue u didnt stay around long enough to finish the curriculum. Not because the school doesnt offer it.
The flaw there is that not all MA offer everything. you will never learn a spinning crescent kick in bjj. you won't learn a rolling knee bar in TKD, etc.