I've been playing a lot more tuba lately, and am constantly reminded of how playing a less familiar instrument can teach you a lot. Like how much you suck on certain fundamentals, for example. Very humbling.
The good news is, doubling forces you to think in certain ways and correct certain habits which (for me, at least) end up having a positive effect on your primary instrument. Kind of like how teaching a student will often give you new ideas of how to approach your own practice, doubling on another brass instrument gives you perspectives on fundamentals that you might never get by just playing one instrument. The basic concepts are the same, after all... blow air, lips buzz, sound comes out the bell, and people run away screaming (perhaps that last one's unique to me). But playing tuba is like going through middle school band all over again, where it was a challenge to play through simple scales consistently. Of course I know all the notes now, but getting my brain to connect that knowledge to valve combinations (especially Eb combinations, as opposed to the Bb ones I learned years ago) and developing not just passable, but good valve technique, and then most importantly, making the results actually sound like music, is a whole new challenge.
I really do like the effect it's having on my trombone playing though. I think it's less of a physical effect than a mental one. Sure, I'm probably using my air better, and maybe I have more embouchure strength... but the real difference seems to be coming in the way I approach the horn. All musicians know it's a good to slow things down and focus on the details in their playing, but as you advance (in anything, really), it's easy to neglect doing that as much as you should. I think tuba is forcing me to concentrate on all the little stuff, and that mental focus is carrying over when I pick up the trombone.
Frustrating at times, but at least not without some reward.
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