Well said, my friend! And you are very correct.


Archone <archone89144@...> wrote:

>
> All the "masters" of old cross-trained. Anyone with
> a good knowledge of history knows that.
>

Actually, the problem isn't a need for cross-training,
it's that most "martial arts" styles taught today are
incomplete. Let me describe a curriculum taught by
Fiorre de Libere:

Grappling and throws from a standup position, as well
as limited wrestling with the aim of successful
pinning (for a throat slash with the dagger). Throws
including a variant of the shoulder throw in which the
opponent is gripped not by his arm but by his HAIR.

Empty handed strikes, emphasizing very simple and
brutal techniques - eye gouges, kicks to the leg,
knee, or groin, and headbutts.

WEAPONS, taught BEFORE the grappling and barehanded
techniques:

Longsword, the first weapon taught. The big sword held
in one hand or two, which is actually not the best
weapon for combat, but which taught principles
applicable to all the other weapons as well as
grappling.

Spear.
Pike.
Dagger.
Staff.
Dagger and staff. Kind of like what Gandalf was using
in the LOTR movies.

THIS was a complete MA system. A student of Fiorre
learned everything he needed for genuine combat.

As a Mui Thai fighter, I've only noticed a few
deficiencies, and all stem from the rules under which
Thai fighters battle. Master Toddy once called on me
to utilize my skills as a wrestler to shoot for
another student's legs, in order to train the response
he'd devised so Kit could survive in the NHB
competition he was training for. And that response had
to be modified from existing MT curriculum because
Thai fighters don't fight on the ground.

Modern "MA" has been isolated from reality. If you
only use your techniques in the gym, under rigidly
defined limitations, then you're not going to be
effective in a real fight, when the other guy hasn't
been trained in your system and the terrain is not a
nice flat mat with soft padding and good traction.
Those old masters were so effective not because they
cross trained, but because they would fight each other
openly just to see who was better. I've read at least
one version of the origin of Tai Chi in which the art
was originally the secret of a single family, until an
outsider who had been bested three times by a family
member sought employment as a servant in order to
learn their style in secret (the outsider was
astonished to find that the clan elder had known his
duplicity all along, but was impressed by his
determination and the way he practiced so hard in
secret and so did not kill him. He then personally
taught the outsider and rebuked his relations for
neglecting their own training).

But you're right: most people do need to crosstrain
these days. But only because they're being taught crap
by fools who still insist that you must put your
body's power into a punch WITHOUT twisting your hips
or shoulders (which hinders the channeling of power as
well as eliminating the force that could be gained
from the muscles of the torso).

But that's just "IMHO"...

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