Cross training in other arts?

 In my previous post I wrote about the importance to look at the 'root', and not the branches.

Subscribers to the JKD concepts method tends to train in various martial arts, often combining the strengths of many into a personal expression of JKD (not Bruce Lee's ),and/or looking at similarities (but you'd then invariably need to know the original material too, that's a lot of time invested), whilst those on the other side of the fence focus on the fundamental material, (just learn to punch and kick etc etc.) and apply Bruce Lee's teachings on strategy and structure..  One trains the root, the other the branches (you should by now know which is which).

However, if you are on the 'original JKD' side of the fence, does it matter or is it even beneficial to train in other arts?  The answer is obviously not a one size fits all.  Firstly, you need to be mindful how you approach that training. Why are you cross training? Is it because you simply enjoy it, are you in to the sport element of the other art(s) perhaps? 

Me and one other student recently did a little of this. We went to a workshop hosted by a local kickboxing school, who had invited Bill 'Superfoot' Wallace to teach.  Truth be told, we went primarily to meet with this legend of the martial arts world, after all he's not getting any younger. (79 by the time of writing). 

That said, it was fun to spend about 2 hours training kick boxing combo's and techniques , predominantly his approach of course (and boy, does he love the side kick, we threw a lot of them).. But what did we learn from it?  

What stood out for me personally is that all drills we did, were aimed at the 'competition' strategies you may encounter. All kicks/punches were above the belt etc, so the structure/approach and execution of all we did was aimed at that.  If you have trained in JKD for a while, this should hopefully be immediately apparent.  Some of the combo's we trew, could be simplified if used on the street. (why bother trying to make the opponent move his arms so I can kick him in the ribs), when just as easily I could have kicked him in the knee or groin?   

Nevertheless there were some pointers for me personally that I found helpful. It is always good to have another person pick up on little habbits you may have (bad or good, but usually you want them to pick up on 'bad' stuff, that's how you learn and grow) and Bill found a few on me. 

Truth be told, I wasn't used to fight on barefeet (and I developed blisters about 15 minutes in that continued to distract me for the rest of the session), and I'm not used to a kick boxing approach so I naturally didn't perform certain techniques the way he wanted me to (muscle memory can be a dissadvantage sometimes, I wrote about that before..). Personally, I wasn't too happy with my personal performance, but that's OK, I picked up a few pointers and had a great time! 

My main focus will always be JKD, but it was fun to get some other insights and to learn how others approach a fight. You can get a lot from books and videos, but occasionally experiencing it helps further your understanding.  And in this case, if you can learn from a legend,  then take the opportunity if you can, it's fun!

Walk On!