Hi Tim,

I recently have pieced together numerous articles regarding the internal master's of old often crosstraining in supplemental arts after they obtained a certain mastery in their original art. The more famous of these early 'crosstrainers' were Cheng Ting Hua, Sun Lu Tang, Wang Zhang Zhai, the list goes on and on. These master's would go on to create their interpretation of that respective art.

Even Dong Hai Chuan (founder of Bagua Zhang) let his 72 'students' do their own thing after he taught them the principles of Bagua Zhang.

My two questions are, why do you think there is such resistance in the internal circles to crosstraining in the martial arts today? Also, it seems even back then that regardless of the art, the master's of old were smart enough to crosstrain with some type of grappling art (standing grappling, but even some southern styles (often called Dog boxing) and Shuai Jiao incorporated ground fighting) Why do you think grappling is necessary and why are people so resistant to the concept of grappling in internal?

Sorry for the long post, but I'm curious. thank you,

Shou Hou Zi (Macaco fino)

All of the famous Chinese masters (those who were famous for actually fighting) cross trained. Here's the bottom line; if you are going to fight for real for a living, and the potential of injury or death is high, nonsensical notions about being 'true' to one style never arise. You learn whatever you think will help you win (and survive). No one martial art has all the answers to every situation. Fights in old China went exactly as fights go today; punch and kick-grab/clinch- one or both fighters go down and the fight continues. Besides the occasional 'one punch knockout,' and fights between two vastly mis-matched opponents, this is how the vast majority of real fights go. It is also true that the famous 'Internal' masters of China all cross trained (because they really fought). It is also true that virtually without exception, they all learned some Shuai Jiao (Chinese style wrestling). it is interesting to note that although illegal in competition, Shuai Jiao contains basic ground fighting skills. Anyone who can only grapple on the ground should learn some practical stand up skills. Stand up fighters need to learn some ground fighting. If our goal is practical fighting skills, and in light of the fact that the famous martial artists of old we so admire all cross trained, in would seem fairly presumptuous of us to think that we know better, and only need to practice fragments of the martial arts.

excellent point, i am experiencing the whole need for cross training first hand, im a stand up thrower/striker, and i get choked and tangled up at least twice a day.