A little story on keeping it simple...

[Dana Sheets]

A cat and a fox were exchanging views upon the difficulties of living in peace and safety from those who were ever ready to take their lives." I do not care a jot for any of them, "said the fox at last. "Things may be very bad, as you say, but I have a thousand tricks to show my enemies before they can do me any harm." ''You are fortunate, '' replied the cat. ''For my part, I have only one trick which I learned well, and if that fails all is lost. ''I am sorry for you with all my heart, '' said the fox. ''If it was not so hard to tell a friend from a foe in these difficult times, I would show you one or two of my tricks.

Hardly had he finished speaking when a pack of hounds burst suddenly upon them. The cat, resorting to her single trick, ran up a tree into the security
of the topmost branches. The fox, unable to make up his mind which of the thousand tricks he would adopt, was torn to pieces before he could put even one of them into operation.

[jorvik]

Chineses philosopher to boatman " do you know Philosophy?"?
Boatman "No!!"
Philosopher " Then you have lost half a life !!
Boat starts to sink
Boatman to philosopher "Can You swim?"
Philosopher "No!!"
Boatman " Then You have lost all of a life "

[Sochin]

Addenda, for the non-specialist:

"The cat ran up the tree and the fox hurried off into the forest and soon lost the dogs with her tricks. They returned to the tree where they had last seen some prey and set up a howl, to call the hunter.

The hunter arrived and angry that all he had bagged was a cat, blew it out of the tree."

"Sometimes the magic happens, sometimes it doesn't." ~ Chief Dan George

[John Giacoletti]

Is this not a parable vis a vis "cross training?"

The fox, unable to make up his mind which of the thousand tricks he would adopt, was torn to pieces before he could put even one of them into operation.

What conditioned response wells to the surface? The Uechi technique or the analog? Aren't variations like plaque on the old synaps?

[Dana Sheets]

That's not really what I was thinking at all.

There aren't really "only uechi" and "not uechi" fighting techniques...there is a emphasis placed on some elements by the Uechi system but it doesn't exclude other effetive methods.

What I intended, in posting it, is that you can clutter up your mind with too many "what ifs" and not spend your time training something and getting good at it. So whatever it is you choose, choose to do well. But I think it important to make the choice.

So not all cross-training is clutter in my world. But it could end up that way taken to an extreme.

[T W Armstrong]

Is this not a parable vis a vis "cross training?"

Aren't variations like plaque on the old synaps?

Thats true to a point. But how effective do you think we would be with just Sanchin and kumite 1? Do you think we would be faster because we would not have to pick from a large box of tools? I think we would be up the creek , what say you. I don't see any dojo's advertising the big 1 yet.

[John Giacoletti]

TW ....

Do you think we would be faster because we would not have to pick from a large box of tools? I think we would be up the creek , what say you.

I look at a rake in a Zen garden. One tool, many tines.

Or a samisung ... one string but many notes according to where the length is stopped ... angle, intensity, duration.

Thanks for asking .... I'm getting a lift from my own response ...

One tool, many tines.

[-Metablade-]

It is better to spend a lifetime in the pursuit of mastering only one thing.
As one strives to earnestly achieve completeness with this thing, it, in itself, becomes an entity.
There will then come an unconscious time beyond mastery when no separation from the actor and the action exists.
In this way, all such perceived separations then dissolve, and one will be invincible.

~Thomas Dehn

[Stryke]

the generalist will 9 times out of 10 beat the specialist

having you guys watched any MMA ?

how many one style wonders survived there ?

Cross training very rarely gives you other options , just other variations .

the human body is inherently limited to what it can do , two arms two legs .

your either learning something out of range of your experience , or your learning a variation of what you know .

the problem lies if you dont understand what you know , and it`s only a technique and not a principle .

if this is the case youll have trouble making the connections .

[MikeK]

The cats one trick worked because there was a tree handy. No tree and the cat would have been dog chow. So the cat won that round but he's stuck to staying by that tree. He's not adaptive to a changing situation.

your either learning something out of range of your experience , or your learning a variation of what you know.

Iagree with that and to be honest it's something that Marcus and I have been discussing. To me keeping things simple isn't about limiting knowledge or stovepiping, but looking at things and finding commonalities. I believe that people make simple things more complicated than they really are and that's what causes the mental conflict when it's time to act.

[Van Canna]

Well said.

One of the problems apparent in these years of discussion, is the fact that many Uechi traditionalist, feel that any cross training into _ especially the 'tactical' end of dealing with street violence, develops through the kata and drills 'mushin'_ and these is no need to complement our Uechi skills with 'cross tactics' by violence specialists.

When I read that, I have problems avoiding the hiccups from out of control laughing.

It is like arguing that because you were trained to fire a pistol, and hit the target, and able to take it apart and clean it, is all you need to survive a gunfight or a deadly force encounter.

So most of us 'licensed to carry' feel there is no need to undergo specialized training with LFI, as an example, to learn gun handling/retention/disarms/malfunctions clearing_ under the stress of combat, and to learn the judicious use of lethal force_ from a moral, legal, and financial aspect.

It is really comical to me.

[Stryke]

I believe that people make simple things more complicated than they really are and that's what causes the mental conflict when it's time to act.

this stuff truly comical , and leads to the thumb check mentality , you get folks who`ve been training for 20 years working on there technique ... when the fact is any ability should be generated by now .

there still shuffling there heels and checking there thumbs when they should be addressing broader material , and how it fits into the system .

but this is all IMHO , I do see this stuff as simple like Mike says , it`s the overcomplication that stiffles , and we create a mindest of thats advanced , or worse I cant ....

[Dana Sheets]

there still shuffling there heels and checking there thumbs when they should be addressing broader material , and how it fits into the system .

whether or not thumbs are aligned has quite a bit to do with why and how you train. So while worrying if your thumbs are aligned in your form might not matter to some the personal challenge of maintaining a perfect posture is what some are looking for.

I seem to waffle between both ends. Some days I want my form to be perfect (to see if I can control myself and make it happen) other days I just want to fight. Other days I just want to hit things hard because it feels good and some days I just want to do stepping because I need to clear my mind from the troubles of the world.

So what is meaningful to some is meaningless to others.

The problem is when one concept is being trained under the guise of another without a clear understanding.

For example - I may think that if you develop the personal discipline to hold perfect posture in your form you are also developing the patience and self-control to avoid a fight or resolve a conflict without force. But how in the world are you supposed to know that I think that if I don't tell you?

*Note: this is not what I think.*

So the dangerous road is for the (gross generalization here) western mind is to train something and not know why we're training it. Because if we're not given the answer up front we start to make up our own and that can lead to confusion.

Some are happy to continue on faith. Others aren't. However I think it important to know what kind of way you're training before you decide to teach other people. Again - in order to avoid confusion.

[Joe B]

Hi Dana,

Excellent post. I just started training again after a lengthy leave from Uechi-ryu. I've done other things and will continue to cross-train with BJJ. However, I'm training with Walter Mattson and we had a great conversation about returning and "crossroads" we often have in our training. But, in essence your post was dead on.

One of the hardest things to do in a dojo is to confront yourself and understand why you are there. It's all about being able to look at yourself in the mirror to look at the person (understand the reasons why you train) without a mask on. Some people have a real problem with doing it.

Good training,
Joe

[Stryke]

I agree Dana !!

But no ones ever been able to answer one simple question for me

the personal challenge of maintaining a perfect posture is what some are looking for.

Perfect for what ?

And while I beleive I`ll never reach perfection , I dont think I`ll find it battling against myself .

But to each there own , most folks know my path is application based . If it works can it be wrong ?

I dont see it as less of an artform however .

When I mean thumbcheck i dont mean leaving it out to snap off , just the minute corrections that are common and seem to become the focus rather than the general .

I guess I cant articulate this properly , it has nothing to do with not striving for perfection .