Do you think cross training is good for muscle memory?

[Tuorlo]

I know many people do cross training but your brain can get confused, what do you think?

[Bar Humbug]

I know many people do cross training but your brain can get confused, what do you think?

Depends, are we talking horizontal cross training or vertical cross training?

Cause vertical cross training (i.e. Striking + Grappling), is pretty hard to confuse, and a lot of benefits come from cross training both in skill sets, fitness and all round 'game' improvement

Horizontal cross training (e.g. various styles of grappling i.e. Judo + BJJ) can have problems, cause you have sport specific rulesets/drills and skills that dictate your application. For example, being a good Judoka does not automatically mean you will be good in the standup grappling portion of BJJ, and being good at BJJ doesn't mean you will have killer Newaza in Judo due to the sport specific rules and skill-sets developed in accordance to them.

In short, don't be stupid and pay attention in class, don't think your better than what your being taught, cause you're almost definitely worse than you think

[jwinch2]

There is no such thing as muscle memory, so that is not an issue. As for the rest, the above comment is a good one. The level of similarity can cause an issue from time to time, but it also makes things easier to learn due to transfer effect. In addition, skill acquisition is a different animal than rule set, though the second can certainly influence decision making in the former.

[gregaquaman]

Depends if you think martial arts is more complicated than every other activity that we somehow manage to multitask.

I think no but i ride a motorcycle and drive a car. So i am probably some sort of savant.

[goodlun]

Not really, despite the sort of wacky stuff people talk about with martial arts you don't just sort of do stuff without thinking.
I mean it sort of happens in that grey area of thinking and not thinking but lets say you do SAMBO and Judo (A lot of SAMBO places do both).
Your not going to pounce on a leg attack while playing judo rules because you have drilled them over and over again.
Same way if you are a boxer that takes up BJJ your not going to just start throwing out punches when you see an opening without thinking about it.
It is much like driving you drive on auto pilot yes, but there is still a lot of active though that goes on.

[slamdunc]

There is no such thing as muscle memory, so that is not an issue.

While this statement is technically accurate (muscles cannot remember anything), the term 'muscle memory' is still a commonly used reference to motor learning. When you repeat a movement over and over, eventually, it can be performed without a conscious effort due to a cooperation between your motor and memory systems. In my experience as a firearms instructor, this theory applies to gross motor skills and not so much fine motor skills. The thought process behind teaching the gross motor skills, for example racking the slide instead of using the slide-release, is to simplify things to factor in added stress.

I think no but i ride a motorcycle and drive a car. So i am probably some sort of savant.

Riding a motorcycle, driving a car, typing and martial arts are all, to some degree, examples of muscle memory.

[Guird]

I've had problems crosstraining Kickboxing and Shotokan in the past, but never had major problems doing both boxing and kickboxing, while both are examples of horizontal crosstraining. It depends on how well the habits from one art cross over into another. Sure the boxing stance is a little more side-on than kickboxing, but overall the skillsets transfer pretty well between them, but in shotokan I was expected to maintain a traditional guard, and was not supposed to block kicks with my shins, due to which there was a lot of interference. I did once or twice start to throw a kick during boxing sparring but it was no big deal.

With vertical crosstaining there will pretty much never be problems I think, and with horizontal crosstraining it really depends.

[jwinch2]

While this statement is technically accurate (muscles cannot remember anything), the term 'muscle memory' is still a commonly used reference to motor learning. When you repeat a movement over and over, eventually, it can be performed without a conscious effort due to a cooperation between your motor and memory systems. In my experience as a firearms instructor, this theory applies to gross motor skills and not so much fine motor skills. The thought process behind teaching the gross motor skills, for example racking the slide instead of using the slide-release, is to simplify things to factor in added stress.
Riding a motorcycle, driving a car, typing and martial arts are all, to some degree, examples of muscle memory.

None of them are examples of muscle memory. They are examples of performing actions at a subconscious level, as you correctly noted. And, it applies to fine motor skills as well. I'm willing to bet you can write your name, tie your shoes, and use a knife and fork without much in the way of conscious thought, perhaps while doing other tasks like carrying on a conversation, etc. As for the rest, words have meaning, and we should use the correct ones. The term "muscle memory" is never used in motor learning, except when followed by laughter.

[goodlun]

The term "muscle memory" is never used in motor learning, except when followed by laughter.

Yes but it is used in the common vernacular, its meaning is very well understood as such.
This is a martial arts based web site, the term "muscle memory" is used in martial arts.
So fuck off with your academic view on the word.
Was a though expressed and communicated properly to the group? Yes, yes it was we all know what the fuck is meant by muscle memory.
So you can fuck off with your more narrowed definitions based on your line of work or study.

[ChenPengFi]

Yes but it is used in the common vernacular, its meaning is very well understood as such.
This is a martial arts based web site, the term "muscle memory" is used in martial arts.
So fuck off with your academic view on the word.
Was a though expressed and communicated properly to the group? Yes, yes it was we all know what the fuck is meant by muscle memory.
So you can fuck off with your more narrowed definitions based on your line of work or study.

...and to be fair to the OP, it says

...but your brain can get confused...

[BackFistMonkey]

I once got scared on a roller coaster @ Holiday World in Santa Claus Indiana supposedly the worlds longest wooden roller coaster or something. I shelled up then jabbed. Nothing there just a sudden drop. I got scared, covered and tried to hit nothing.

I am an idiot tho.

[ChenPengFi]

I once got scared on a roller coaster @ Holiday World in Santa Claus Indiana supposedly the worlds longest wooden roller coaster or something. I shelled up then jabbed. Nothing there, Just a sudden drop. I got scared, covered and tried to it hit nothing.

I am an idiot tho.

[Permalost]

I once got scared on a roller coaster @ Holiday World in Santa Claus Indiana supposedly the worlds longest wooden roller coaster or something. I shelled up then jabbed. Nothing there, Just a sudden drop. I got scared, covered and tried to it hit nothing.

I am an idiot tho.

I once got into a schoolyard fight where my brain got confused between yelling "fuck you!" and "asshole!", morphing into a frustrating hybrid of easily mocked nonsense. I guess I should have stuck to one discipline.

[Raycetpfl]

...and to be fair to the OP, it says

My brain does in fact get confused when I am doing martial arts........ it gets all not worky...... after I am tired or have been hit a lot.

[DCS]

Yes but it is used in the common vernacular, its meaning is very well understood as such.
This is a martial arts based web site, the term "muscle memory" is used in martial arts.

A martial arts web site focused in fighting BS, IIRC.