How Many Styles At Once?

[guitarguy]

It depends how much time you have to train and what the arts are. I like the idea of grounding yourself in an art and then taking up another one as a supplement to fill in any gaps. For example Being proficient at a striking art and taking up a grappling art to supplement it. Also you have to think how are the arts going to work together, theres no point picking arts if they don't complement each other.

I see some people who are intermediate at a large amount of striking arts for example they might do boxing, kick boxing, tkwando and Mauy Tai. My line of thinking is ok why not stick with one lets say Kick Boxing and instead of adding another striking art supplement it with judo. I think ideally speaking two is perfect and it's better to be really good at one and decent at the other which aids as a supplement then to be intermediate at best in about 5.

[Liver Punch]

I think that three is the standard. You need an art that allows you to defend yourself on your feet, and art that allows you to control where a fight takes place, and a fight that allows you to fight on the ground. Without something from those three categories, I think you're missing a big part of your ability to be combatively useful.

[Lee M]

I would say you can get pretty good at something training a couple of times a week for 18-24 months - then you can move onto something else - but you'll need to train your previous stuff at least 1-2 per week to maintain your level.