mixing

[aku aku]

I don't think you should make your art work.

You kind of have to make any art work whether it's aikido or bjj or boxing or anything else. The art doesn't do the work for you. I do think that some arts might train inappropriate tactics for a given situation though. Using olympic tkd on the street is just not how the art is meant to be used. If you're outnumbered, and all you know is groundfighting, you haven't trained the right tactics for that situation.

[WildWest.]

I mean the art that you practice. Make it work. I just think taht some people today are too quick to look elsewhere for answers or new techniques when generally you can find them within what you practice.

If I did Karate then how would I learn to ground fight? Or if I was a wrestler how would I learn to Box?

[jingshen]

What i mean is that in order to be successful in an encoutner youmust work to what you know and do well. If you are a boxer then you must use your timing and distancing to reduce the chance of being taken to the ground, if you are a BJJ fighter then you must work hard to getyour opponent down and into your zone.

The art i practice is very complex and although it has techniques, principles and theories to deal with any situation it des take a lot of study and research to fully develop them. All too often you see people learning or training in an art for a short periood of time before looking somewhere else to improve on a certain are.

I know some very good and well tested fighters who practice BJJ but then train MT for the stand up game. One of them however devotes his time to BJJ and is more able to take people down or indeed get into a submission position when standing throuh his undersatnding of body mechanics, positioning, posture, etc that he gets from his art.

the art I practise is over 700 years old and i assume its been tested throughout various situations. whenever i have come across someone i find difficult to control it doesnt take a lot to really look into the art and think about how they should be dealt with, i can usually find an answer.

I have learned more about my art by fighting people from diffeent arts than i ever could by not encountering them. Thats not to say i then go and learn their arts cos they are better in a certain are, no it just poses questions that i can then look for the answers within my own.

[WildWest.]

What i mean is that in order to be successful in an encoutner youmust work to what you know and do well. If you are a boxer then you must use your timing and distancing to reduce the chance of being taken to the ground, if you are a BJJ fighter then you must work hard to getyour opponent down and into your zone.

The art i practice is very complex and although it has techniques, principles and theories to deal with any situation it des take a lot of study and research to fully develop them. All too often you see people learning or training in an art for a short periood of time before looking somewhere else to improve on a certain are.

I know some very good and well tested fighters who practice BJJ but then train MT for the stand up game. One of them however devotes his time to BJJ and is more able to take people down or indeed get into a submission position when standing throuh his undersatnding of body mechanics, positioning, posture, etc that he gets from his art.

the art I practise is over 700 years old and i assume its been tested throughout various situations. whenever i have come across someone i find difficult to control it doesnt take a lot to really look into the art and think about how they should be dealt with, i can usually find an answer.

I have learned more about my art by fighting people from diffeent arts than i ever could by not encountering them. Thats not to say i then go and learn their arts cos they are better in a certain are, no it just poses questions that i can then look for the answers within my own.

I agree that you should try and get the most out of your art, but seriously mate mixing is good. New ideas, training methods, new approaches, different training partners, new techniques etc etc. This is all well worth the effort and makes you much more well rounded. All the top MMA fighters mix hence it being called MIXED MARTIAL ARTS!! And they are very very good at what they do.
I understand what your saying about too many people looking for quick answers, they've probably been exposed to too many movies. But I do 2 styles, lots of people here do more than one style because it's very healthy for your MA skillset.

What art do you do that's over 700 years old?? I assume it's evolved since then??

[Shard]

MIX!
By all, means mix. The basic idea is, if you don't know how to fight on the ground, it isn't going to be your luxury to choose whether the fight stays standing or not.

In my MMA gym, we have a guy who's an achieved kyokushin fighter. He's fought in more than a knockdown tournaments in Asia. He's also competed in lumpinee stadium as an amature.
He still understands the need and importance of learning groundwork, even though at the end of every lesson he tells me how uncomfortable he is on the ground.

My opinion is this, if you wait till you're very competant in one range you might end up feeling very uncomfortable while you're in another.

[aku aku]

If you practice an art that covers both standing and ground there might be no need to mix. Each art is set up the way it is for a reason whether it's to comply with certain rules or whatever else. It's been pointed out that most arts are pretty good at what they're designed for. If the art you practice is missing a range or catagory of training that you need, you might have to look to other sources to make the art fit your needs. People have always done that, that's why there are so many martial arts systems in the world today. I don't think you should just go learn any old thing that looks cool though, you should have an idea what you need and how it will fit in with what you are already doing.