does your current system allow you to train in other styles?

Himokiri Karate · Green Belt

100 percent allowed!

Bruce Lee cross trained, the founder of Kyokushin Karate trained with judo legend Masahiko Kimura. Tang Soo Do is takkeyon mixed with Kung Fu, then it got mixed with Karate. This makes it a mixed martial arts of sorts.

I will be teaching soon and I want to make sure what I teach to students is extremely solid and that they can go to a boxing gym or a karate dojo or any striking martial arts and be able to pull of what I have to teach them.
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Miick 11 · Orange Belt

Good for you . I feel cross training is essential for a serious studen or any student that wants to become a 'senior' .

I did a lot of aikido . Moved to current location, no aikido . Eventually found a karate school nearby so joined that . Years later aikido turns up in town so I start doing that too . I would encourage karate instructor to do an aikido class - no way ! Once they had a seminar with Dave Brown visiting (he has done the best seminars I have ever attended and he is fairly well known ) . I wanted instructor to come - no way . I informed him that a few karate instructors from other schools around that area where coming . Nope.

Oh well, he missed out < shrug> . At the end of one seminar I asked Dave why his aikido seemed different yet very effective ; " Oh, I cross - trained all over the place to test out what I had learned against all sorts of people that didn't do aikido , I focused on and developed what worked , and changed or threw out what didn't . "

( my emphasis )

Spartacus Maximus · Black Belt

The short answer is yes, one should ideally have some knowledge of what others are doing and learn from it as much as possible. Cross-training can be useful, but to be useful it should be done with an open mind and a frame of reference

The question better question to consider should be when cross-training should be done. Anyone who presently trains in an Okinawan karate dojo, probably and unknowingly cross-trains in kobudo. The two used to be separate and taught separately by different instructors. Teaching them together as part of one dojo’s curriculum has only been the norm since the early 60’s. There are in fact two or three styles of kobudo including different weapons or tools as weapons.

As far as cross training in different styles or martial arts, when carefully considered, it should ideally be attempted when one has gain a firm grasp and understanding of one martial art before venturing to learn another. It wouldn’t do much good to try to begin two or more martial arts at the same time, for the beginner will most likely either burn themselves out from over-training, become confused with seemingly contradictory details and miss what a student with experience in something else would see.

Lastly, there is always the exceptional case where the different martial arts in which one wishes to train are so radically different that conflict or interference is impossible such as Aikido and karate or Brazilian JJ and Taekwondo.

advfhorn · Yellow Belt

my personal experience - my Goju Ryu Sensei of 6.5 yrs (I was 2nd Kyu) was strongly opposed to me starting Shorin Ryu (and I felt and still feel) for the wrong reasons. The Shorin Ryu instructor explained how hard it would be to both switch and dual study (he was very right) HOWEVER I did it anyway for 1 year and eventually quit the original (Goju Ryu) bc
1. the original Sensei stalled me out of advancement bc he was so mad
2. Doing both was much harder to learn new bc your body relies so much on muscle memory
3. With the above two reasons I got tired of paying for both

Had I chose MMA or something totally different than two "karate styles", I prob would have faired better. For ME it worked out bc I learned the most important lesson and that was "i love karate and sometimes you are just not training in the right dojo for YOU"

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

Welcome back to KF, advfhorn! Great post with great points!
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sensei8 · KF Sensei

ramymensa · Black Belt

Our sensei allowed cross training in other martial arts styles as it gives a broader understanding of the MAs. Most styles rely on the same principles, even if the movements are slightly different. I was amused to find some Shotokan principles even in my daughter's tennis training. Her coach applies some of the main principles we apply in Karate and it was pretty amazing to see that it made actually sense.
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