Crosstraining Questions

[Szczepankiewicz]

My question:
How long should a new student train in one martial discipline before begining to train in a second or third?

What arts are you currently training in and how compatible are they?


My answer:
I have been taught that you should not crosstrain until you have a solid understanding of your style. So for me I began to crosstrain in Judo after 18 months of training in my current discipline. I beleive that after my black belt (12-15 months away) I will go look up Mr. Kent for some JKD experience.

Judo and Jujutsu are very close together, however I still had trouble keeping them separate. The sport mentality of Judo conflicted with the self-defense of Jujutsu. In Judo we go for a pin, a tap, or a major throw. But in Jujutsu we train in full contact escape, evade or destroy. A combination of striking and grappling to either disable (which is very difficult in full pads) or to escape to a better situation.


In my opinion, BJJ would crosstrain well with MT or JKD because the philosophies are the same, just the techniques are different. But I haven't studied either one to be sure of what I am talking about.