Cross training is ESSENTIAL!

[capn_midnight]

I think, if you spend the time training, seriously training, it doesn't matter if you study one art or many. If you take the timespan one devotes to studying many arts, and you apply that to only one art, you will achieve much higher mastery, and I think, still be just as effective.

 

Most of fighting is not about skill, or technique. It's about experience, and reaction time. Experience will tell you when it is a good idea to attack with a certain technique. And you get that experience whether you study one art or many.

[Martial_Artist]

But it all depends on your reasons for training. If you truly want to be effective in the fighting arts, the limitations of one art are too great to be ignored. However, as has already been pointed out, if you train for other reasons, then cross training, or expanding your arsenal, is not that important.

 

The key isn't restriction to movement or mentality. Applying yourself to one art will make you very proficient in that art, but the only tools you'll have are the ones that art offers. When you fight you will be fighting from that art. When you fight another art you will be concerned about which of art's weapons can be used against that art.

 

The key is diversity. Fighting can be such a random act that it doesn't make sense to limit your expectations to within the boundaries of one style. Why worry about which of your weapons can be used if you have every weapon and they use themselves?

 

Now, that all just applies to the person who seeks to be a fighter.

 

Experience is a good thing and can in many times sway the course of a fight. Experience coupled with good technique and skill is much better. Why place the limit on yourself?

 

That's all I'm saying. You don't have to cross-train if you don't want to. It's as much of a personal decision as choosing which art to take. But, if given the chance why limit your knowledge?

 

That's just my thoughts.