what is it with people not wanting you to cross train?

Question

every school i have been to they say dont cross train they dont enforce it they just say its bad whats up with that

ps and before you say its for the money i have trained at 2 non profit schools where u payed crap all for lessons and they still suggested not to cross train

i never thought of the keeping a god student thing it does suck when people you know leave i guess it would be even worse if they were your student good thinking you are indeed wise mr foot

Answer 1

pride and holding on to their style too much.

Ain't nothing wrong with cross training. I personally consider it to be the best way to build experience and knowledge of how to really handle yourself effectively. Some people are however so stuck in their vision of their art that they don't see that. Of course you must know that to grow within an art is to perfect yourself within that art but there's nothing wrong with knowing how to perform some other tricks.

Answer 2

Every school will have a different reason, sometimes it may be that cross training will genuinly hinder your development in the current art that you study

If the arts compliment eachother, or are completely different, like one is grapling and the other striking and cover different aspects of fighting, then it could be a question of money or pride, not wanting to loose any students, especialy if you become a better fighter as a result and start useing your skills in the dojo

imagine if you did any striking art, then told everyone you are cross training at so and so place, and sudenly you strated to kick everyones ***, don't you think some people will want to cross train too? i know I would

If its not money then like I sayed, cross training may hinder the progress in the art, some styles have different stances, different ways of punching and so on, its not so good to cross train some styles but if that is not the reason then its money and trying to keep the student there for some reason, whatever that reason maybe

Answer 3

Depends on what you mean by cross training. If you mean learning two arts at the same time, that is not recommended simply because you will at some point confuse the arts and bring the one training method into the other. Talk about a headache for the instructor.

If you mean leaving one school to train at another style, I have no issue with that and have accepted a great deal of cross-trainers. Of course, they have to be completely separated from the previous school for the reasons stated above.

Answer 4

The answer to this question largely lies in the type of cross trianing you refer to and the experience of the person engaging in it.

If you mean training in a second martial art discipline, this is actually to be encouraged at advanced levels of training, once basic competence and skill has been obtained in the primary discipline. That will often be after 2nd or 3rd degree black belt is obtained. Some training in a second discipline can begin earlier if the two compliment each other very well, but taking on a second discipline for junior and inexperienced stuents can be exactly like trying to learn two foreign languages at exactly the same time - impossibly difficult and confusing for the majority of people.

Thus, most reasonable instructors will discourage new students from taking on a second discipline too soon, for the benefit of the student. There is often so much curriculum and leanring and refinement to be done in the primary art to achieve competence and basic proficiency that it would be folly to disrupt that journey with a competing discipline.

In some cases if may be a fear of losing students that leads an instructor to inhibit guest instructors or looking at other disciplines and how the relate to your own primary disicpline. This is truly instructor folly though. Unless you have a chain and padlock, no instructor can stop a student leaving to train with someone else if they decide to. The best way to retain students is to allow them the freedom to choose the best place for them to train. In this way, those who truly desire to learn from you stick around, and those who may not be ready for the journey or what you have to teach them will hopefully find someone else to help them in the meantime.

I personally don't encourage my junior students to take up a second discipline but I require my 3rd Dans to be studying a second discipline of their choice. We don't and can't prevent anyone from takin gup a second discpline if they choose to, but we always ask to be informed of what they are studying and where, so that we can look after the student. There are a few who contemplated going to schools that I would never recommend for safety or moral reasons that we are able to steer them clear of.


Ken C
9th Dan HapMoosaKi-Do
8th Dan TaeKwon-Do
7th DAn YongChul-Do

Answer 5

For beginners it is more of an issue than a seasoned, advance student or black-belt. Most people don't have enough time to properly devote to learning one martial art and developing their skill in it much less two at the same time. Also some arts take a different approach to certain aspects, emphasize certain things that others don't, or are similar but yet different so that a student literally gets confused or has more difficulty in leaning and developing to their full potential in one of the two arts. This also makes the instructor's job harder in helping the student to sort this out and learn and develop his skills to the standard that he expects for his style.

Some arts can compliment each other like a standup martial art and a ground oriented or wrestling martial art so for beginners that is not so much of a problem except for the time factor. At my studio any student above black-belt can study anything with anyone they choose to and I encourage them to so that they can broaden their skills and abilities. For brown belts it requires my approval and for lower ranks I have only approved it once out of several and that was a unique student who worked out seven days a week and was very talanted.

I do agree with Bigfoot in that some instructors are mediocre and insecure and so they tend to try to isolate students from other schools and instructors. At the same time there are unscrupulous instructors out there that like to steal an instructor's best students so that they can add them to their own school for profit and recognition which further compounds the problem.

Answer 6

No one really looks down upon cross training anymore. But the idea is that you should master one art first and then branch out to have some sort of specialty or background. If you start off in 3 different arts at the same time your gonna find yourself in a mess.

Answer 7

Alot of it is pride.....when someone is a qualified teacher, they spent years perfecting their art. Why would they think that any art is better than theirs? That is a tradition that goes back years. Now, due to the popularity of what has become known as MMA, many people do cross train.

Which way is right? Well that depends on your goals. Many of the traditional arts have philosiphical links that are aimed to improve all aspects of your life, finding inner peace ect.

MMA is more about becoming a dominant fighter.

You have to ask yourself what is more important to you, but the traditional route is wise if you want to practice the art for many years to come......MMA may be destructive to your body in the long term, where traditional martial arts make you stronger and healthier as time passes.

Both have pros and cons.

Answer 8

The problem with a lot of cross training is people who want to cross train in everything that comes down the road.You should pick something that compliments your "parent art" and only cross train in one other art .Because of time limitations training in 3 or more means you won't get very good at any of them.Wrestling compliments boxing judo jujutsu compliments karate .
If your sensei is against it dont tell him you are.
Create your own personal MMA with technique that suit your body type and movement.

Answer 9

It's possible that you'll mix up the diff styles your learning and thus not really learn anything at all. It can be a matter of pride, the "my style is all you need".
Usually it's best to wait until you reached a high belt before cross training, to ensure that you're already competent in that one style. On the ther hand you might not have any difficulties at all.

Answer 10

In a quick overview.
If there afraid of cross training then I'd say there just scared you'll find something else that works as well or better or are just plain scared you'll relize what they teach dosen't work. Short and sweet, to the point.