The other day while snowshoeing up Mt. Charleston I was thinking about how we are a part of our collective experiences. Meaning that as we go about our daily business work, family, vacations, training, etc. That each time we do some thing it is a part of what and who we are. I think that since this is the case it is important to experience a wide variety of different things. These expeiences are really, really necessary for any human. I am a firm believer in living in different places, vacationing to different places, visiting as many places as you can because…. you only live this life once! In the Martial Sciences I believe it is exactly the same in that you need to of course have a core system that you work with but you need to have other experiences to grow as a more complete martial practitioner. Get out and meet other martial practitioners from different systems and see and feel what they do. Take time to train under different instructors so that you have a well-rounded approach and experience different things. In IRT alone you should not just train with me but with Gary Haffey, Kerry Krick, Pat Mayette, Tim Oommen, Tony Kirby, Scott Sober, Mike Hammer and every person who has been around for a while. Experience what each person has to offer because while we all train in the same system we are each and every one of us unique and different! So training with any of us will give a different experience! Do not be someone who does not go out and experience different things in life. No instead get out there and see everything that there is to offer. Experience the world as it is your Training Hall and is full of Life Experiences for you!
See You On The Mats!
Copyright: Instinctive Response Training LLC 2011
Brian R. VanCise
Note: This blog is opinion only and neither Instinctive Response Training LLC or Brian R. VanCise are responsible for any third party actions.
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couldnt agree with you more! Hopefully I find some good training in TX. Really hoping to find an FMA school
I agree that you NEED a core system and I never thought there was anything wrong with having different experiences or meeting other martial arts practitioners in different systems or training with other instructors but I never thought it was necessary to grow as a martial artist or needed to become a well rounded martial artist. I have believed for a long time that if you really look hard into any system and work to get to the deep training of that system you will do just fine.
And I still do not think one needs to do anymore than train traditionally to become a good and well rounded martial artist. but it takes a competent teacher and competent students to work with in order to reach that goal and sadly in the world today that is becoming harder and harder to do.
My chosen style is Traditional Yang Style Taijiquan and my sifu is highly qualified to teach it. The only problem is no one wants to learn it for what it really is, a marital art. This makes it difficult to maintain the level of skill that I want to maintain. This has led me to start looking around at other arts, some would say I am looking at the same arts but I would not agree. I am looking back into my Chen Taijiquan and thinking about getting back into training it with a sifu, I am looking into Wudang Taijiquan and considering starting training it with a sifu I found recently and I am looking back at my past Wing Chun training and thinking about contacting my old sifu to return to training in the spring.
In the past I may have thought what you were talking about here was nice… but not really necessary… but to be honest I am not so sure today.
I guess this is just a long way around to say I agree with what you are saying although rewind about 5 or so years and I am not so sure I would have.
Enjoy the training
Hey Mike, lot’s of FMA in Texas as well as some good Silat!
Hey Tim,
No doubt that you and I agree on most this relating to the Martial Sciences. Long term training and commitment, qualified instructors, no short cuts, etc. I think once someone has experience and their core system is highly developed then they can only benefit from more experiences with other martial practitioners. It may be that it only reinforces their current training or it may open another door for them. If nothing else it should keep them sharp and hopefully not burnt out! Thus allowing them to continue to train and get better over time. At this stage in my training I am pretty well set but…. I still like to learn new things, experiment and grow!
Yes, we agree