2 martialk arts is not wise

[mean fighter]

Does anyone truly believe that it is wise to participate in more than one martial art at once? I personally believe that if your interested in two martial arts then learn and master one first before jumping two the other tell me what you guys think.

[MizuRyu]

I'm taking Tang Soo Do and Wing Chun at the same time and find no problem at all with the cross training. I think it might be attributed to the differences in the styles, and the frequency in which I train, I only have WC 2 hours a week, but I have TSD 8 hours a week. That, and Wing Chun is a very straight forward martial art, extremely hard to confuse with TSD.

[mean fighter]

I guess youre right, maybe its just me but when I went to a karate (or supposevley karate ) dojo it taught so many styles that during class he would stop teaching karate and teach kung fu, I felt that I was just learning bits and peaces of martial arts then just one I personally believe that the more martila arts a person studies the or tougher that person think they are.

[karatekid1975]

I do TKD and Jujitsu. The two are so different (for the most part) that they are hard to confuse. My Jujitsu instructor is even helping me prepare for my upcoming TKD test. How cool is that I show him what we have to do, and he "tweeks" it a bit to make it work for me without changing it too much (just with a little jujitsu "twist" so to speak hehehehehe).

[White Warlock]

Learning more than one style simultaneously is definitely not an issue, as far as i'm concerned. Now, if you were to 'merge' those styles, pick and choose, toss out the parts you haven't been able to figure out yet or master, and create your own hybrid... i think that would be counterproductive. You really do need to develop sufficient mastery of one or more arts before tossing out what could very well be core-critical concepts/techniques.

[mean fighter]

I have to dissagree when you say cross training martial arts helps you make youre own hybrid fighting style. You need to remember your bases what really inspires your movements and philosephy, It just bothers me when people stdy a martila art that comes from two totally different styles then stick there names to it thinking its the best out there.

Peaple who go to a karate dojo that offers six other styles and people who get there black belt after only a year with barely any hard work and sweat greatly angers me, Not as much the student really its just the teacher.

[Ottman]

I guess youre right, maybe its just me but when I went to a karate (or supposevley karate ) dojo it taught so many styles that during class he would stop teaching karate and teach kung fu, I felt that I was just learning bits and peaces of martial arts then just one I personally believe that the more martila arts a person studies the or tougher that person think they are.

Yeah this type of teaching seems very counterproductive. It's one thing to crosstrain; for instance taking one class of a certian style and another class in a different style, but if you teach different styles in the same hour class (or however long your class is) I would predict a certain amount of confusion in the students, especially if you're expected to be able to destinguish between the two different styles. As Warlock said, you really need a certain amount of mastery in one or more individual arts before you try and combine different styles into a hybrid. This doesn't mean that you can't cross train and be mastering two different styles at once, but to try and combine them initially, right from the start is a lot for a beginner student to take on. He/she needs to get a base in the fundamentals of each art before trying to meld the two together.

Studying multiple styles with the intent to combine them into a hybrid style, such as in the Jeet Koon Do philosphy, is an advanced form of training, and really shouldn't begin until the student has a black belt in at least one art already (IMHO).

[tkd-student]

O.K. what if you try a particular style and your oponent is good at countering that style? wouldn't it be helpful to try another style altogether?

Say an oponent stays too close for me to use kicks learned from TKD,

then I could use a Judo throw or an Aikido take down.

I agree not to create a hybrid. But I think it's helpful to have as many options available.

[Ottman]

It isn't about creating or not creating a hybrid. Everyone has their own style of fighting regardless of the style(s) they train in. You're right, tkd-student, that we should keep as many options available to us as possible, but if you don't have a solid base in the fundamentals of the movements of martial arts, you can't go about refining your own style and making it work for you to the best of your ability. For instance, a beginner student who is trying to master the basics of TKD, needs to focus on TKD and how he/she can best perform it, before incorporating other styles into his TKD training. If the said TKD student decides to take Aikido while he is still working towards a black belt in TKD, that's fine, but trying to combine the two into one training session before you have a mastery of each individual art, is a very difficult thing, and can result in missing some of the essential basics of either art, and thus performing that art improperly which can lead to injury, or overconfidence in a fight. Accumulating as much knowledge as you can is useless unless you understand how to apply the knowledge. Master the basics of each art first, and then go about figuring out when to use different styles in different situations. I think you'll also find, that once you have a mastery of one art, it becomes much easier to pick up the basics of another art.

[White Warlock]

I have to dissagree when you say cross training martial arts helps you make youre own hybrid fighting style.

I believe you misread what i wrote. I stated doing so was counterproductive.

So, essentially, we agree. Moving on.