Do BETTER martial artists train ONE art or MANY arts?

[Jenna]

IMNSHO, it's kinda like college. One martial art should be your "major", and you spend the majority of your time training in it. However, some cross-training in other martial arts could be "electives" that support the major. You're not trying to become expert in those arts, you're simply becoming a more well-rounded martial artist in your own right.

I like that analogy it is sensible thank you. Can I ask please in what way those "electives" arts support the major art would you say? Jx

 

[Jenna]

in regards to the OP I am not saying I am "A better martial artiest" but I kept my core style and practiced it no matter where I traveled. I also took the time to learn other styles/systems as I traveled around the country. Each new style I learned only added to my knowledge of the arts and helped me understand what I was doing better.
I added what I found useful to what I did and kept in mind what was not useful for me but might be to a student in the future. I still tell other instructors that I know and meet that I will "steal" any technique that is useful or that fills a gap in what I do.

Thank you my friend.. So your art had sections or techniques that you felt unhappy with and that it was better to utilise replacements from another art? Am I understanding this correctly? Jxx

 

[tshadowchaser]

Yes and no. There where things we did not completely cover ( some weapons as an example) that I wanted to learn more about. There where also arts that I wanted to learn about and when learning them I incorporated the techniques that fit my personal fighting style that I used and techniques that I felt would perhaps benefit future students of mine.
I have always been curious about what other arts where and what they thought were valuable and I have never been afraid to look at other arts not only to learn about the history but why things where done differently than I had learned. In doing this I found different techniques and ways of doing things and have passed some of these things on.

 

[Hyoho]

Speaking as someone who has done more than one art for many years. Yes, as long as you don't mix them. One trains and is forever trying to remove the habits of one from the other. It might work out earlier on but as one gets to higher level, say roku/nandan or menkyo level it gets harder to separate.

 

[Jenna]

Yes and no. There where things we did not completely cover ( some weapons as an example) that I wanted to learn more about. There where also arts that I wanted to learn about and when learning them I incorporated the techniques that fit my personal fighting style that I used and techniques that I felt would perhaps benefit future students of mine.
I have always been curious about what other arts where and what they thought were valuable and I have never been afraid to look at other arts not only to learn about the history but why things where done differently than I had learned. In doing this I found different techniques and ways of doing things and have passed some of these things on.

This makes lot of sense thank you.. What was it that stopped you being able to completely cover weapons? Was your art at the time empty hand? and if so why would that art not be enough in the form it was? Jxx

 

[PhotonGuy]

To become a better martial artist do you train SEVERAL arts simultaneously (or change arts over the course of your MA lifespan) or do you train ONE art to the exclusion of all others? Thank you. Jx

I would say start with one and that will be your primary style. After you become experienced with that you can explore other arts and see how they work for you. Or, you can start by exploring different arts as a beginner and pick one that works best for you and then focus exclusively in that art and then when you become good at it try different arts, but to always have a primary art, or to start out with one. Later on you might try different styles or even switch styles entirely but its good to start with one style that you put most of your focus in.

 

[Touch Of Death]

I would say start with one and that will be your primary style. After you become experienced with that you can explore other arts and see how they work for you. Or, you can start by exploring different arts as a beginner and pick one that works best for you and then focus exclusively in that art and then when you become good at it try different arts, but to always have a primary art, or to start out with one. Later on you might try different styles or even switch styles entirely but its good to start with one style that you put most of your focus in.

Plus, good luck making rank, doing things that aren't in the curriculum.

 

[Hyoho]

Exactly how long and how hard do posters think it takes to become "proficient" in one art alone? For example Shodan in Japan is a ranked beginner. Anyone thinking a foreign rank is anywhere near as good as a Japanese one is dreaming. My students did around six/seven years for shodan.

 

[Jenna]

Exactly how long and how hard do posters think it takes to become "proficient" in one art alone? For example Shodan in Japan is a ranked beginner. Anyone thinking a foreign rank is anywhere near as good as a Japanese one is dreaming. My students did around six/seven years for shodan.

.. so is it you are saying that this precludes the idea of doing more than one art? Thank you Jx

 

[Touch Of Death]

Exactly how long and how hard do posters think it takes to become "proficient" in one art alone? For example Shodan in Japan is a ranked beginner. Anyone thinking a foreign rank is anywhere near as good as a Japanese one is dreaming. My students did around six/seven years for shodan.

I forgot it was the best country and all. I think the Okinawan guys would have a few words to say about that, if not some Bruce Lee wanna be, in the good old USA, with too much time on his hands. It happens.

 

[Hyoho]

.. so is it you are saying that this precludes the idea of doing more than one art? Thank you Jx

No of course not. Martial Arts is a lifetimes work/study. Plenty of time to research!

 

[Instructor]

I would say train in one art long enough that your teacher encourages you to teach others. That is not a rank necessarily but it could be. If your teacher says you can now teach others then you are probably well grounded in that system. Don't leave it behind when you learn other systems either but keep working and advancing in your core art in addition to trying new things.

 

[Shajikfer]

To become a better martial artist do you train SEVERAL arts simultaneously (or change arts over the course of your MA lifespan) or do you train ONE art to the exclusion of all others? Thank you. Jx

In my experience you cannot 'perfect' an art , being as perfection is something usually subjective rather than objective. All you can do is become better at the techniques, your application of them, and transmittance to others through teaching or fighting.

There are a number of styles in Tae Kwon Do, one can begin with one and after receiving say their second Dan or have ten years experience I see nothing wrong in moving on to another style of Tae Kwon Do. This applies to any art. Given you can practice both without confusing the techniques (say one style crosses their arms differently than the other, or one kicks more traditionally korean and the other more like shotokan) and can recognize which technique from which system you are doing, I see nothing wrong; its when you begin to mix and match you begin to sacrifice the integrity of a martial system you practice.

I agree with Bruce Lee's quote, one who has practiced 10,000 kicks once is not as formiddable as one who has done one kick 10,000 times, but that is incomparable to one who has done 1,000 kicks 10,000 times each.

As it is written in the book of five rings;
"In strategy you must know the Ways of other schools, so I have written about various other traditions of strategies in this the Wind Book. " -Book of Wind 1st Paragraph

"To attain the Way of strategy as a warrior you must study fully other martial arts and not deviate even a little from the Way of the warrior. With your spirit settled on your duty, you must practice day by day, and hour by hour. Polish the twofold spirit of Shin [heart] and I [will], and sharpen the twofold gaze of ken [perception] and kan [intuition]. When your spirit is not in the least confused, when the clouds of bewilderment are cleared away, there is the true void. " -Book of Void 4th paragraph.

It seems concurrent to the parabolic view that martial arts as a whole are kind of like a sphere- and each point on that sphere is a different style of the arts. There is no one style superior to others, merely practitioners who may superior to others. It is kind of like how you can get a hundred people together, train them all in the same style for the same amount of time and degree of skill, and in some way they each will express that art differently, as the arts are a means for us to express ourselves.

 

[Hyoho]

I would say train in one art long enough that your teacher encourages you to teach others. That is not a rank necessarily but it could be. If your teacher says you can now teach others then you are probably well grounded in that system. Don't leave it behind when you learn other systems either but keep working and advancing in your core art in addition to trying new things.

Sadly nowadays we have to delegate responsibility to some that are not ready but in general what you say works.

Ah perfection! Its some thing we all strive for in a lifetimes study but will never reach.

It also depends on what you practice. My grandaughter was up to a junior black belt within a few years in Tae Kwon Do. On the other hand I spent 7 years on one waza in HNIR before being allowed to move on. Some ryu will have you sweeping up and making tea for two years. Study other schools is tantamount. Mixing them? Any idiot can do that and usually give it a new name and become 'Kaiso' (first Sohke).

 

[tshadowchaser]

Sadly many people today studying multiple arts for a very short period of time then move to a different art without learning what the first is really about.
There are many reasons for someone starting a new art but that should be a different discussion/thread but it should never be done because someone has studied a month of this two months of that and a few other things for a short period of time and then wants to make themselves look good by becoming an instant head of some made up system.
Those that study many years and learn from other arts as they go are opening there eyes and mind to different possibilities and expanding their knowledge. Those that dedicate themselves to a lifetime of training acknowledge that there is always more to learn

 

[PhotonGuy]

Plus, good luck making rank, doing things that aren't in the curriculum.

Doing things that aren't in the curriculum? What do you mean by that?

 

[Touch Of Death]

Doing things that aren't in the curriculum? What do you mean by that?

If you were in a TKD class and you solve problems with Kenpo, you are doing things outside the curriculum.

 

[Dirty Dog]

If you were in a TKD class and you solve problems with Kenpo, you are doing things outside the curriculum.

Well, if you're doing forms, then there is a prescribed, specific way to do particular movements. But you're not 'solving problems' while doing forms. Frankly, that sounds like the sort of thing you do in sparring or self defense practice. In which case, there's nothing "outside the curriculum". There may be a sparring rule (i.e. no low kicks) but low kicks are certainly a part of the curriculum.
Maybe you can be more specific about exactly what you mean.

 

[Touch Of Death]

Well, if you're doing forms, then there is a prescribed, specific way to do particular movements. But you're not 'solving problems' while doing forms. Frankly, that sounds like the sort of thing you do in sparring or self defense practice. In which case, there's nothing "outside the curriculum". There may be a sparring rule (i.e. no low kicks) but low kicks are certainly a part of the curriculum.
Maybe you can be more specific about exactly what you mean.

I do Kenpo; so, I will put it in that court. When I do a move my teacher did not teach me, or do it a move he did teach me in a different style, that is fine, but I must be able to do the stuff the way he says, and I must show him I can use kenpo, and only kenpo to get through any exercise, and that includes sparring. I don't make rank unless I can do that.

 

[Touch Of Death]

There is a flow to it, or, a logic you buy into...or not.