The Cross Trainer VS The Purist

For as long as I can remember people havegone by.
argued that their particular art is better than yourIn doing so they ended up more effective
art. Log onto any of the various martial artfighters and they served to advance their arts in
forums and you'll see what I mean.the same way their forbears did.
But is one art better than any other? Should youHowever both camps can make terrible mistakes.
only train in one art or cross back and forthI personally came from a traditional karate
between a few?background, I have since trained in many other
The answer is "Yes", but lets look at both sidesarts around the world so have some authority
of the argument.when I say this.
The Purist - You must train in earnest to gainCross training is best undertaken when the
mastery of one particular art, you must practicestudents has a base to work from. It doesn't
it daily. To train in another system will distract youmatter what art (to a point) the student begins
from this goal. True.so long as he (yes ok, or she, but from here on
The Cross Trainer - Different arts specialise inlets assume I mean both) learns proper body
different things, take what you need from eachmechanics, he learns to move, to hit, to defend.
of these and you will find your own way ofWhen he has a good foundation then it would be
fighting. Also true.a good time for him to look for ways to cross
Most of the traditional arts promote the puristtrain and to improve his game. I have seen many
attitude. I believe that this is based on two things.students take up two or three separate arts only
1- Student retention, if the student thinks you'reto become entangle in a web of confusion and
the best why would he ever stray? If you arecontradictions, simply because they had no point
relying on the income from your classes, than fairof reference, no foundation.
enough.The Purists run the risk of killing their arts. By
2 - Many arts were developed in order to fightcopying faithfully the actions of a successful
for ones life or to be effective against a particularperson, you run a good chance of becoming a
style. Family systems were closely guarded, if ansuccessful person yourself. Just be careful that
outsider learned your secrets he may use themyou don't end up becoming a clone. I've seen
against you. This is further brought about by aninnumerable debates between purists regarding
elitist attitude. Many of the system founders werethe correct thumb placement in a fist, the correct
great fighters and highly respected for their skillsangle the knuckles must be etc... All while they
and could afford an air of arrogance, they werecould actually be practicing, which is what the
proven in combat and often accepted challenges,people they are imitating did, religiously.
how could these people be in any doubt that theirI know not every one takes up martial arts for
system is the best. Unless they are beaten.self defence or combative reasons, these are the
This is all well and good, but the founder mostpeople ideally suited to a purist type art. Take the
likely spent his life training and fighting, eventuallyart of Iaido, taught on Mondays in the academy.
teaching to earn a living. His system will be a mixIaido is beautiful, it is meditative and introspective.
of his original training, honed by experience, IBecause of it's focus on millimetre perfect use of
doubt his art at the end of his life would be thea Katana, don't expect it to be of any use to you
same as his art at the end of his life.on a Friday night, but if you're interested in
Then we have the cross trainers. This saw aJapanese culture and history, meditation and
massive surge in popularity over the last while. Bigfocus, it's superb. I would equate it to speaking
names like Geoff Thompson and the like openlyLatin, lovely to do but essentially useless in the
advocated adding in judo and Greco roman toreal world.
their karate foundations, grappling and floor workCompare that to Kenpo or eskrima, still both
soon followed. Then there was the explosion oftechnical arts, eskrima especially has a strong
the Ultimate Fighting Championship, that owes aFilipino culture reflected in the training. But both
nod to the ancient Greek pancration tournaments.have an eye firmly on real world self defence.
The UFC and similar events have sparked anThen there's kickboxing and Muay Thai, both
entire generation of martial artists to take updeveloped around the ring and governed by rules,
both kickboxing and jujitsu. Lads were breakingby in the name of all that's holy can those lads hit.
from their pure martial arts and taking up "mixedAnd hitting is the name of the game on the
martial arts" with varying degrees of success.street.
So which camp is correct? In my personal opinionEach arts has something to teach, be it focus and
there are no pure arts, each traditional systemcontrol, extreme fitness and conditioning,
was developed and tweaked upon by eachsystematic destruction of the human body, some
successive generation. It is only in later years thatwork in close range, other at a distance, some on
they became stagnant. People like Geoffthe floor others standing, some with a weapon,
Thompson, Iain Abernathy, Ed Parker and moreothers not. Take heed of Bruce Lee's immortal
may be considered luminaries as they took theirwords "Take what is useful"
respective arts and made them their own, ratherWhen it comes down to it are all individuals with
than purely imitating their instructors and forbears.individual tastes and individual requirements.
They instead took their teachings and ran with it.Your training choices should reflect this. At the
Looking to other arts only served to give them aWild Geese Martial Arts academy, we expect and
more complete picture, allowing them to see andencourage this. Which is why we have such an
adjust to fighting against other systems and toarray of classes, from the cerebral to the
bring elements of that art into their own. This isphysical, from the martial to the art.
no different to the great names of generations