More than 1 style!?!

[tayl0124]

I believe that it is good to train yourself in more than one style, as someone else posted, you would tend to be more well rounded. Also you may gain a better understanding on why something you do in one style works better for you than what they do in another style. Look back at the true martial arts masters, the ones who created entire systems. Most of those systems came from a hybrid of other systems. It is it good enough for them, it is good enough for me. I do believe that you have to have a good solid foundation (black belt at least) in one before you can attempt to train in another, unless they are very different from each other. I currently study Isshinryu, but also study ryukyu kobudo at the same time. The weapon kata's in Isshinryu are very simular to those in ryukyu kobudo, however the organization that I am learning under was started by the same person that tought the Isshinryu master many of his weapon katas.

[brentyj]

I wanted to start Ninjutsu when I was 14 and excitedly asked my Sensei about it. He recommended I wait until black belt before branching off and trying other styles.

His reasoning was that learning different styles early on can hinder your development in you base art. Resulting in a style that is less effective than the other styles are in isolation.

I took his advice and waited until I received my black belt, but still ran into issues with some martial arts.

I did Muay Thai for a couple of months but found the stance and kicking style messed with what I knew from my years of Goju training. I sure it may be different for other people, but I decided to stop training in Muay Thai as I found it counter productive.

I did however keep on training in boxing as I love the boxing punches (over karate punches) and footwork and find they mix well with my karate kicks. Not to mention head movement, ducking and weaving also complements my blocking.

I started training in BJJ when I realised that on the ground I am just as vulnerable as anyone else. 15 years of karate training were rendered nearly useless with a successful spear tackle.

I was recently toying with the idea of starting Wing Chun, but decided that ultimately it was too similar to what I already know.