# Do you do another art besides your FMA?



## geezer (Oct 9, 2008)

Some purists only practice one martial art and know that even a lifetime is not enough to master all it's subtleties. But most of us enjoy experiencing more than one art. If you train in an FMA _and_ another art, what arts do you do, and how well do they complement each other? Is one your foundation and the other secondary, or do you give them roughly equal attention? And, does this create any problems for you?


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## arnisador (Oct 9, 2008)

I also do JKD, in order to strengthen my FMA!


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## MJS (Oct 9, 2008)

geezer said:


> Some purists only practice one martial art and know that even a lifetime is not enough to master all it's subtleties. But most of us enjoy experiencing more than one art. If you train in an FMA _and_ another art, what arts do you do, and how well do they complement each other? Is one your foundation and the other secondary, or do you give them roughly equal attention? And, does this create any problems for you?


 
I do Kenpo and BJJ along with Arnis.  Kenpo is my base art.  IMHO, the 3 blend very well with each other.  Its amazing how easy it is to transition from one to the next.  I train each as much attention as I possibly can.  Out of all of them, I'd say the grappling gets the least attention.  However, one of my Arnis instructors does ground work, so during some sessions, it'll be half Arnis and halkf ground work.


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## Blindside (Oct 9, 2008)

I came to Pekiti from Kenpo, and though I now consider PTK to be my base art, I do not neglect my kenpo.  I'd be the first to say learning PTK made my kenpo better, and I can say quite confidently that I learned PTK faster than the average bear due to my time in kenpo.  There is a significant overlap in motion between the two arts, but a divergence in application.  I have never seen a two-handed choke defense in PTK, I'm sure it is there somewhere, but I'm more inclined to think that it neglected because the answer is somewhat obvious from the blade users perspective, draw your knife, insert repeatedly, thank your opponent for doing something so dumb.  

As it stands right now I am something training something like 70/30 PTK/Kenpo ratio, though the more I do this, more the lines between the two get blurred.

Lamont


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## geezer (Oct 10, 2008)

Blindside said:


> I came to Pekiti from Kenpo... There is a significant overlap in motion between the two arts, but a divergence in application...


 
That _overlap_ you talk about is what really fascinates me. I practice Wing Tsun and Escrima. I have more time in the WT, and am probably better at it, but I really love the Escrima. I began with Latosa Escrima Concepts and now practice Martin Torres' DTE. Both these FMA's emphasize concept over specific techniques, so they mesh quite nicely with each other and with the WT. I'm constantly finding conceptual similarities between these arts. I feel that studying both Escrima and WT is making me more aware of the many different ways a concept can be expressed effectively. That sense of _universality of what works_ might be missed if I only studied only one art.


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## loui_ludwig (Oct 19, 2008)

The last time i trained in martial arts was this last september in muay thai for a few days on my vacation in Thailand.

I want to learn FMA but would like to take kyokushin karate or muaythai.


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## tshadowchaser (Oct 20, 2008)

I train  in Pai Lum along with my Sikaran .  I also dabble in a few other arts to keep my mind filled with fresh ideas


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## chris arena (Oct 20, 2008)

Probably the hardest thing to even be a "purist" these days is the explosion of knowledge available to the martial artist today. Also the scientific advances in athletic physical training seem to have eliminated the "secret squirrel" techniques of any individual martial art. Movement is movement and perfection is the key! I have seen countless so-called "purist" do complex form with absolutely no idea as to what they were doing, application-wise! However, years ago, a non-purist was punished as teachers were few and far between and the need for fimmediate fighting skills left little chance for experimantation. That was then-This is now.

Don't get me wrong. I highly respect anyone who is loyal to thier individual art. But, in another sense, as in my case, age and injury have forced me to radically change how I train today compared to how I trained years ago. I went from long-fist Choy-Ly-Fut and Tai' Chi in my early thirties to Arnis in my sixties. Also after spending over 12 years with arnis, I have gone back into Tai'Chi and am spending most of my time nowadays working on understanding some of the obvious similarities within the two, especially in DeCadena play. Does this make me a non-purist? I don't think so.

Time changes, your body changes. What is Purity? If you spend time learning your art and give credit to those who taught you. Or / And if age and experience dictates that you change your art to fit your body/mindset, does this make you some kind of non-purist?
Absolutely ridiculous! The back pages of blackBelt Magazine are full of B.S. Purtists trying to sell you blackbelts via the mail. Again, train hard, give credit where credit is due and be honest with yourself and your supposed skill level. Then your art is "pure". As it is now yours, you have learned it and earned it.

Chris A


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