Attribute Training - an overview

Cross training in martial arts is nothing new. However, since the popularity of the eclectic martial arts movie star Bruce Lee and the rapid development of the sport known as Mixed Martial Arts, prevented we have seen it practiced more overtly than perhaps ever before. As martial arts became an institution, barriers went up between clubs. Either for commercial reasons or to keep control of their students any martial arts schools their students from training in any other art. Often the reason provided for this ban was put down to protecting the purity of the style, but it was a weak excuse. The vast majority of established martial arts systems have their roots in cross-training and furthermore, a lot of their major developments came from instructors who cross-trained. Today the mainstream martial arts instructor understands that the eyes of their students are a little more open than they were in the past. As a consequence, rather than prohibit their student from going elsewhere, they bring other styles to their clubs. However, this is not to say that cross-training does not have its critics. As a strong advocate for cross-training in the martial arts, I have one particular criticism I would like to address in this article and explain how a certain pitfall can be avoided.

I think it is fair to say that a key problem a lot of people have when they cross-train is that they lack direction. They explore another style either out of interest or because they believe it will fill a gap in their arsenal. What then tends to happen is that they try to weld the techniques they have learnt onto their mother style. Here is a classic example I experienced during martial arts wanderings. I once knew a ju jitsu instructor who introduced boxing techniques into his art. He didn’t use pad-work or sparring, but simply added the strikes from western boxing to the class line up and insisted that whenever anyone threw a hand strike it was thrown like a boxer. He had heard that boxers were typically the best strikers and being a technique-orientated coach assumed that bringing their strikes into training would improve his style. This was carried over into the his attack and defence exercises. He contended that a person who attacks on the street will typically never step forward, but throw a boxer’s right cross. I have not seen evidence or data to support this assumption, but this is a classic mistake made by many martial artists – they end up attacking and defending each other using the same style. Back to our ju jutsu instructor and his decision to bring boxing techniques into his class. I would agree that, by and large, western boxing clubs produce some of the best punchers in the world. However, does this mean that copying their style verbatim will produce better hitters?

Modern boxers are typically more efficient punchers because that is the area they focus on. It is as simple as that. However, if you were to take the stance that is typically adopted by the boxer and bring into a muay Thai fight or an MMA fight you will be putting yourself at a disadvantage. This is because the unmodified boxing stance is designed to attack and defend another boxer. The boxer who fights another boxer in the ring does not need to concern himself with a kicking and grappling opponent. We adapt to our environment. A boxer trains for the boxing ring, so he can excel in the sport of boxing. So what do respected, experienced and knowledgeable coaches mean when they say that if they could choose one art for hard skills self-defence they would choose western boxing? Despite what my ju jutsu instructor thought, your typical attacker – if there is such a thing – is not likely to fight you like a trained boxer. Likewise, putting your guard up at the pre-fight interview stage is not really very advisable. This is not what the aforementioned self-defence coaches mean. Boxing will give you the attributes of a fast, accurate and powerful striker. Boxing trains you to strike from the interview range with punches that have been developed under constant pressure. The boxing ring might not replicate the dynamics of an assault situation, but it goes much further than any system that does not engage in full contact sparring or competition. The isolated focus of the hand striking under full contact conditions yields beneficial attributes for self-defence and some combat sports.

When the Dutch first started combining muay Thai with western boxing, essentially developing their own version of the sport, they markedly improved their hand strikes. Mixed martial arts fighters do not wear boxing gloves and the typical boxing stance would leave them open to low kicks and low line takedowns. However, most fighters will train boxing in isolation in order to focus on having good hand striking attributes. When they get back to their main MMA work they know they will have to immediately adapt and integrate rather than weld on what they have learnt. The same principles apply with their submission fighting, wrestling and kickboxing.

Often the attributes gained from cross-training are more subtle than what your typical technique-minded martial artist might expect. Grappling offers a huge range of useful attributes to self-defence and MMA. As far as frontline civilian self-defence goes, grappling is often considered to be a back-up strategy unless you work in security and your job is to restrain people. However, what I find grappling offers above all is positioning, stability and tactile awareness. To understand these attributes is to understand the grappler’s confidence in chaos. It offers him control and a platform to do whatever needs to be done. This is perhaps why wrestling was the key ingredient in the progression of the MMA fighter. Having a good wrestling base enabled a fighter to control and defend takedowns and, when on the ground, to still hold a strong position in the previously feared guard position.  Surprisingly it also provided the bridge required for the striker to finally regain respect in a sport that had been dominated by grappling. Good kickboxers learnt how to stay upright and to strike from grappling positions by means of developing a strong wrestling base.

Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling can be fearsome sports. Again, it is not necessarily the techniques that won my respect; it’s the training and approach. I was shocked when I first trained at a proper freestyle wrestling school at how little my submission grappling helped me. There is scarce room given for drawing people onto you as you would do in Brazilian jiu jitsu. Good self-defence encourages students to stay on their feet or to regain their footing as quickly as possible. It also teaches strong forward pressure. These are the unmistakable attributes of the wrestler.

There are unquestionable benefits from looking outside one’s respective discipline in order to bring back valuable experiences and information.  Looking outside might mean – and often does – studying subjects that are not martial arts or combative systems. In fact, looking into developments in better funded or researched sports and sciences has helped influence pioneers in martial arts. The important thing to remember is that what you bring back is unlikely to fit verbatim into your main area of training. The reason for this is that the goal is likely to be different.

So how do we get the best out of cross-training? My cross-training happened instinctively. I was not a member of a school that brought in other instructors. I lived out in the stick and always had to travel to wherever I wanted to train. I have always been a busy person and the places I had to travel were often a long distance. Although I made friends, it was never practical for me to get into a club’s social scene. My goals were often professional. I wanted to be a martial arts performer and a martial arts coach. Then I wanted to be a self-protection coach. From the age of 18 years onwards I would say that martial arts training ceased to be a hobby for me and was always attached to my career. Although the history of the various systems fascinates me, my early romantic ideas and sentimentality faded once I started cross-training. This is the philosophy of a vagabond warrior. You do not grow attached to systems or schools. You train to acquire skills, information and knowledge that will help you achieve the individual goal you have in mind.

I see the strength of a good cross-trainer being in their development of an internal compass. It’s a good metaphor for understanding exactly where you are going with your training. First you need to decide on your primary training goal and see the journey to that goal as a straight line. On that journey you have the option of leaving the line and training in other activities that you feel will enhance your training. Again, I would urge that you think about what you hope to gain from going on one of these diversions. You will need to learn and respect the rules of whatever discipline you decide to study. There is nothing wrong with enjoying that art for art’s sake, so long as you don’t start getting into self-justification for your prolonged practice of what was intended to be a diversion. However, if it is to serve the purpose you originally intended then it is necessary that you return back to the line to see if the attributes you have acquired have helped you better achieve your goal.

Note: Atttribute Training forms part of the "Hierarchy of Training" It is second after "Specific Training" and comes before "Functional Fitness".