Peoples Opinons On Attending Two Schools

[sak]

Before I proceed any further on doing this, I just wanted some insight from you guys on what you think about this.

I currently want to attend two schools. Both offer BJJ....one has BJJ/muay thai....other has bjj/judo.

Is it wrong or I should say, is there a sense of "disrespect" in doing this?

 

[fighterforlife]

I am curious about this too, thanks for starting the thread. My kid started at one place and his main instructor just left to another place. So now he's signed up at both. My son trains 5 days a week so it's not a big issue as far as paying for two places. Here's the thing. Now that his main instuctor left, there is a semi-rivalry between the two gyms. Is the correct thing to do to make a decision on one place and be done with it?

 

[ItsArun]

In my personal opinion, you are entitled to what you pay for. At the end of the day, you have to think about yourself and your own training, not how you look through the eyes of your academy.
Take advantage of your opportunities and don't limit yourself.

I don't think it's disrespectful at all, but different people will feel differently, and I've come across ppl that are hardcore when it comes to their own school, but like i said- it depends on who you're training for. Are you training for YOURSELF, or for your school?

-Arun

 

[Balto]

I think Frodo could write a book on this.

But anyway, I think it's fine as long as you're upfront about it. There is no reason to hide anything you do.

If one of your instructors has a problem with it, then you probably just shouldn't train at that place anymore. I know plenty of top notch instructors who do not have any problem with this, and if you want to do it you can just go train with them instead.

I don't understand the arguments against this practice. They basically follow two lines of reasoning:

1. It's disrespectful -- That's a pretty stupid way of looking at it. Everyone I know who trains at multiple places does it to get a more well rounded knowledge of the martial arts. There is nothing disrespectful about wanting to improve yourself. As someone who has taught a lot of people, all I want for my students is for them to get better. If that means training at another place too, so be it.

2. You are stealing their secret moves -- Even stupider than the first. Nobody has any secret moves anymore (if they even had any in the first place). Plus, having secrets is the worst way to advance in the martial arts. You only learn by being open about your knowledge and thus subjecting it to scrutiny by others.

So most of the time I don't see why an instructor would take offense to this (and I know many who don't in the first place). But still I'd just be upfront about it to avoid any problems.

 

[ItsArun]

2. You are stealing their secret moves -- Even stupider than the first. Nobody has any secret moves anymore (if they even had any in the first place). Plus, having secrets is the worst way to advance in the martial arts. You only learn by being open about your knowledge and thus subjecting it to scrutiny by others.

Very Nicely Put!!!!

 

[lethalweapon]

Like others said, talk to the instructors.
I imagine a school/instructor can feel betrayed, because you think they're not offering enough... more of an ego-thing on their part?

I can understand different schools/instructors have different things to offer, but talk to both schools before moving forward.

If you're a competitor, it would make sense to stay and represent one school.

 

[davejitsu]

I did this for two years and it was not that bad, but it create stress amongst teams and coaches. Stuff like: "No, we do this this way." So I finally stuck with one camp. I think it depends on ones goals. If you joining an MMA school they will most likely frown upon the idea, because they feel that you are betraying the team. The best thing to do is to find schools that have formed alliances with one another, so that you can get the most out of your training and still keep everyone happy. JMO

 

[Balto]

I did this for two years and it was not that bad, but it create stress amongst teams and coaches. Stuff like: "No, we do this this way."

I think stuff like that is one of the main benefits of training this way though.

It's obvious that each place does things differently. But which way is right? Most of the time, both ways are right, and each way has its own particular reason.

If you do a technique differently that was shown somewhere else, a bad instructor will react by saying "Oh that technique is wrong. It is not our way. Only use our way here."

A good instructor will react by saying "Oh yeah, that is one way to do it. That way can be pretty good, but personally I like to do things in this way. Here's why..."

The fact that you will understand the nuances between instructors' styles and the good reasons behind them is extremely important to your development.

 

[irc]

It can cause problems is you compete, for sure. I use to box at one place( where they also did grappling), and do BJJ at another. Both schools would show up at grappling tournaments and it started to cause some tension. I was getting pressure from one the the gyms to quit the other.

At the end of the day, it is up to you. But the reality is that under some circumstances it can cause problems.

 

[hayliks]

There is still very much the oldschool train of thought that moving from school to school is disrespectful. I look at it as 2 separate businesses. You are the consumer, and you pay for whatever you want. You want to attend both schools, pay for them both.

 

[infamy]

whores... all of u

 

[radman]

I dont think its a problem, its not about disrespecting your sensei, but you actually; Do you have the time and money? 3 schools, you got cash to burn!

But more importantly, can your body take it? You must be at least training 3 times a week if not almost everyday to get your money's worth..

Well more power too you, just hope your body and most importantly. your mind can take all that punishment- Unless your plan is to be a professional MMA fighter.:icon_chee

 

[GracieMMABarra]

whores... all of u

ding ding

 

[The Sickness]

I used to do it...its my money

 

[fighterforlife]

Thanks guys for all the responses.

 

[GZUS]

In Brasil it is all about loyalty

in America it is more about money

the brazilians i have known don't like if you train somewhere for grappling, but they accept if you train somewhere else striking.

In my opinion going two places at the same time is shady. but if you want to move on to another place or outgrow a academy i think that it is okay to move on. In fact i encourage it, i have twice and i have no regrets.

 

[bjjbryce]

In Brasil it is all about loyalty
...
in America it is more about money
...
In my opinion going two places at the same time is shady.

IN america it's about money . . . well yes but who made it so? Many of these great instructors charge huge amounts for training, huger amounts for privates. The dollar is worth about twice as much as the Real, and yet you can expect to pay 3, 4, or sometimes 5 times as much money in america for the same, if not a lesser amount, for training (I hear De La Riva charges around $40/month unlimited), where as many great american academies charge upwards of $150.

In brazil it is all about loyalty . . . yes they are very family oriented at their schools, and that's a beautiful thing. However, noone can deny that many (not all) but many brazilian instructors who have come to america have made their schools very much like businesses.

There is nothing wrong w/ that. Many of my jiu jitsu heros, like Saulo, have a very corporate way of carrying out their bjj instruction. Saulo is a great jiu jiteiro and a passionate instructor, but also a savvy businessman. In order make your BJJ clube an affiliate of his association, you have to essentially buy a franchise license and pay him royalties. Again, I don't think this is wrong. It's smart business and that's fine.

I have no problem w/ them trying to make a great living, and I'm willing to pay for their jiujitsu instruction. But if you treat me as much like a customer as like a student, by charging lots of money and locking me into a contract, then I feel that if I have the money, I'm entitled to enter a similar contract w/ someone else if I choose. If instead of saying, "stay w/ my school because I like you and want you here," you say "stay w/ my school because if you don't, i'll sue your ass . . . " well frankly I don't feel obligated to train exclusively at your club any more.

However, philosophical rantings aside, you can also just ask your instructor how he feels about this. I have a good friend who' had certain instructors secretly resent him for a long time and even tell him they were holding out on him in instruction, just because he had been training else where. It's good to clear the air in advance.

(sorry for the overlong post)

 

[EndoG]

If you or fighterforlife's son compete I would recommend establishing ahead of time whose team you'll go on the roster with when competing. That should make open one of the most awkward parts of going to two schools and force whomever you're not going to officially team up with to deal with it ahead of time. (Not that it has to be one team vs. the other, but whatever you're going to do try and figure it out ahead of time.) That would be my advice.

It goes without saying, but you needs to be quintuply good when it comes to trash talk/gossip: i.e. don't do it, not even a little, not even in a way that you think is harmless or well intentioned if you're talking about someone from the other school. Even if there's just some jerk at school x, I would avoid talking about it at school y. You may think you're talking about an individual, but the more remote a person is to someone the more quickly they become generalized and all sorts of silliness can then ensue.



As far as "loyalty" goes in the sense it seems to be used here... meh, I'm a scientist and what a lot of people are referring to as "loyalty" we would be more apt to call "dogmatism" or "demagoguery". It's not an issue of money I think so much as it is an issue of whether (imagine training were free) it's right or wrong--and I don't believe it is wrong to want to gain multiple perspectives on the putatively same art. I think that should be encouraged.

There are cases where it's tough (especially when you want to represent everyone who helped you get where you are but the competitive systems aren't set up for it -- though you can always try), but I tend to be more interested in the art/science itself and what I can make of it. I want to recognize everyone who helped me, but sacrificing the art for the feelings of an artist is at best a costly tradeoff. (I won't say it's never the right one, but... right action involves more than just good intention you might say.)

 

[GroundWorkz]

...eh this gets complicated with tournaments. But if your just a hobbyist no worries. But if you or son are actively competing .....yeesh. What crew do you hang with? your guess / answer is up to you.

Hobbyist = no problems, who cares!
Actively compete = Try to pick a primary (i.e go 4 times a week) and the 2nd gym go say .. once a week lol.

 

[BaconTastesGood]

I train at THREE places, so there Two BJJ places and one aikido place. Obviously there's no conflict between aikido training and BJJ training, but going from one BJJ to another was tough.

The first BJJ instructor was ultra cool, he understood why I wanted to train some more -- he only had three classes a week I could make. The other school I was up front with about the fact that I was training elsewhere, and they were somewhat leery but in the end money is money. At the second BJJ school I can train five times a week, so between the two I can train 8x a week (2 gi, 6 no gi) and then twice a week doing aikido.

Yeah, that's a shit ton of training, and I do pay 3x for it, but life's short and I want to learn and roll, and I'd rather spend my money on this than beer.