MMA: more arrows in your quiver or dilution of your form?

[ovine king]

i've done a little longfist, specifically some tan tui short forms.

everytime i was taught a little set, i was also taught every thing that goes with it; how to apply the locks, how to take to and go to the ground, how the angels of the locks work, what happens when the angles change (i.e what breaks the locks).

like i say, HOW you train.

i'm still crap at it but that's not the point.

some people only train forms.

some people don't.

the thing that bothers me is that people equate heavy fighting/sparring and weight training as being modern training.

if anything, i would say that REAL traditional training is way more hard-core than any modern martial art.

of course, i'm also really annoyed with the chinese closed door policies (trust me, i have first experience) and too much magical mystery tour. little grasshopper; look to the moon for your answer and you will find it walking on a piece of rice paper jammed right up my furry monkey rear-end....

you only learn from practice and application; proper (stressed filled?), resisting application/practice.

i've mentioned this before but it was normal for people to go to a chin-na expert to learn that aspect of training.

they recognised in the past that it is good to learn something from people who know it better.

again, cross training isn't a new thing.....

here's a simple question for all of you who take a traditional style.

do you think you train traditionally?

here's a simple question for those who do not take a traditional style.

do you think you are doing anything that they didn't traditionally do in their (non modern) training?

[baronbvp]

Apparently I'm no MMA, thank you all for clearing that in my mind. Now I understand the difference.

What I like about a pure style, that I never learned as well before during my hodge-podge training, is the physics behind it -- little technique that makes everything more effective. These nuances have obviously been perfected over hundreds and in some cases thousands of years.

I am that grasshopper, and happy to be so.

[SevenStar]

i've done a little longfist, specifically some tan tui short forms.

everytime i was taught a little set, i was also taught every thing that goes with it; how to apply the locks, how to take to and go to the ground, how the angels of the locks work, what happens when the angles change (i.e what breaks the locks).

like i say, HOW you train.

i'm still crap at it but that's not the point.

some people only train forms.

some people don't.

the thing that bothers me is that people equate heavy fighting/sparring and weight training as being modern training.

if anything, i would say that REAL traditional training is way more hard-core than any modern martial art.

of course, i'm also really annoyed with the chinese closed door policies (trust me, i have first experience) and too much magical mystery tour. little grasshopper; look to the moon for your answer and you will find it walking on a piece of rice paper jammed right up my furry monkey rear-end....

you only learn from practice and application; proper (stressed filled?), resisting application/practice.

i've mentioned this before but it was normal for people to go to a chin-na expert to learn that aspect of training.

they recognised in the past that it is good to learn something from people who know it better.

again, cross training isn't a new thing.....

here's a simple question for all of you who take a traditional style.

do you think you train traditionally?

here's a simple question for those who do not take a traditional style.

do you think you are doing anything that they didn't traditionally do in their (non modern) training?

good post. And to answer the second part of your question, no, I don't think that. I think that over the years, the concept of what is traditional has been changed. I know in old china, they used stone locks. okinawans used them as well - they did weight training. working grip by carrying vases by the wide mouth of them, etc. all of that hard training became obsoleted as we became more modern. people didn't have time/interest in training that hard. Also, many arts picked up kata from styles that died. they added them to their system, and learning them all takes ALOT of time - it takes time away from training other things. a perfect example is longfist. it's comprised of a ton of forms from other styles.