Pieces of the puzzle

All the founders of martial art styles and systems were those rare geniuses that come once in a… No, wait! Really?  If that were true, then how come we have so many of them? Is it possible that just a relatively small place such as Okinawa gave birth to so many geniuses in less than half century, some 150 years ago? Not to mention much larger cultures, such as those in China, India etc. Thousands of martial expressions in the East Asia alone. And there is one more thing… How come we often see quite notable differences among the practitioners of the same system?

If you take a look at the above comment, you will see two equally important attributes being mentioned: personal and traditional. At the first glance those might seem to be contradictory. After all, the whole point of traditional training is to do the things the same way they have been done for centuries, just like the founders, right? Well, sort of. If you think about it a little, and do some research, you will find out that those very founders have actually codified their own personal expression of the previous traditions, and named them (or their students did). Which means, in turn, that tinkering and experimenting with your training is the traditional approach anyway.

But, how is different to modern, non-traditional approach then?

First, nowadays more people have the tendency to give new names to their personal expressions (hey, we live in the world of brands and marketing!), although there still many of those who keep training, doing their own thing, without stopping to think about how to call it. Second, we live in the information age, when instructors are not so secretive and more open towards cross training. It is, therefore, no wonder we can choose among dozens of schools and styles. Matter of fact, we don’t need to pick just one! Heck, why not attend a few and combine the stuff into our own system!?

Wasted time and effort

This is the problem of the media age. It’s just too easy to get lost in the huge amount of information all at once, but without certain filters in place it can be exceedingly difficult to make the right selections and see if they fit together. I remember a guy coming to an instructor friend of mine who teaches sort of JKD-inspired MMA and asking for Wing Chun lessons, in order to better deal with the clinch range. Asked how he would deal with grappling, the guy answered “I do aikido for that purpose”. He did not think for a second about the gap between the underlying principles of the two systems, but started from the perceived strength of each. Also, and even more importantly, he flat out refused to join that MMA+ class (as my friend called it) which already had worked out the work in different ranges of combat; instead he preferred developing his own system after the hefty experience of six month of martial training.

Another issue is the failure to recognize the most probable challenges and problems you would face, depending on your reason for training, but instead focusing the rare extremes that get the attention of the media. This is where people dedicated inordinate amounts of time to various lapel grabs and two-handed holds, while completely neglecting tackles, headlocks and standing guillotine chokes. In other words, inexperienced practitioners engage in cross training looking for solutions, while not seeing the problems in the first place.

The way I see it, there are two paths to finding the proper fit in cross training, and they are not mutually exclusive.

Yeah!

One, join a club/group that does something different than you, and accept being their “toy”, thus experiencing the problems their style might put before you. Then go back and see what answers you can find by digging deeper into your own system, its technical principles and tactical tenets. This may require some adaptation of the stuff you have been already doing, but that is where the  personal aspect comes in.

Two, if unable to solve the problem on your own devices, then go elsewhere for instruction. However, keep an eye open for the potential problems that may arise from their solutions, i.e. opening doors for new problems, especially if those new problems are more serious that the ones you came to solve.

Personally, if training different systems, I usually keep them separated for a while before even looking at amalgamation possibilities. Sometimes, in fortunate circumstances, such possibilities will present themselves, kind of jumping out at you as a pleasant surprise. Other times it will take conscious analysis and pondering to direct your research. Of course, there is always the possibility of not finding the right fit between the two, and that’s perfectly fine. In that case you can either drop one thing, or stay with it for its own sake.

Naturally, you may be entirely satisfied staying for the same system for years or decades, and I have utmost respect for people who do that. Again, people’s motives for starting a martial art may vary widely and wildly, so as long as your are able to find something according to your needs you should be fine…just be honest with yourself.