To start judo / BJJ or not?

[Samn01]

I really enjoyed it. Learnt loads and I am already looking forward to my next lesson. Thanks again all.

[mal103]

I am going to go against the grain here and say I think you should stick out karate until go get your Shodan. Focus all your energy into that, and then think about taking up Judo.

Only read this far - good advice.

Get to Shodan, get another years experience at least before x training.

More importantly, your advanced Karate training and Kata bunkai will teach you plenty of grappling, throws, arm locks etc. If your club doesn't explore this side of things then find a club that uses the FULL range of Karate techniques as it's all in Karate - you just have to see it.

Watch 30 Black belts see a BJJ demo and match the techniques to our Kata for example...

[CredoTe]

With judo and BJJ being so different from karate, and you already being a Nikyu, I don't think you would have any trouble with it from a learning perspective. I am a huge advocate of cross-training, and I am sure you would benefit from it!

That said, it sounds like you have a pretty full schedule as it is, and even if you can find the time to do it all, I don't think you should. Overtraining is unhealthy, and can be dangerous. You would need to drop a couple of your other activities, especially if you are planning to increase your attendance at your dojo.

And from:

I am going to go against the grain here and say I think you should stick out karate until go get your Shodan. Focus all your energy into that, and then think about taking up Judo.

If you combine what Wastelander and yamesu are advising, you get my 2 cents. I agree with Wastelander that the differences in the arts are enough that you wouldn't have any trouble confusing them and that they will compliment each other greatly. Also, I agree that over training is troublesome on your health and lifestyle. However, as mentioned, some people can handle more than others; you just have to figure out what your limit is.

I also agree with yamesu; IMHO, focus your MA training on obtaining your Shodan, then branch out. Getting your Shodan first would give you enough understanding of your Karate to devote time to judo/bjj. If you divert training time from Karate before you have adequate understanding, your Karate skills could suffer. Also, adequate understanding in Karate would give you "a beginner's mind" with any judo/bjj training, meaning that any new concepts learned in judo/bjj, you would have enough understanding to adapt them to your Karate / fighting style.

Just my 2 cents...

[ps1]

I am going to go against the grain here and say I think you should stick out karate until go get your Shodan. Focus all your energy into that, and then think about taking up Judo.

Only read this far - good advice.

Get to Shodan, get another years experience at least before x training.

More importantly, your advanced Karate training and Kata bunkai will teach you plenty of grappling, throws, arm locks etc. If your club doesn't explore this side of things then find a club that uses the FULL range of Karate techniques as it's all in Karate - you just have to see it.

Watch 30 Black belts see a BJJ demo and match the techniques to our Kata for example...

I disagree. I trained Chuan Fa to 3rd degree, Shotokan to 2nd degree, and Aiki JuJitsu to 1st degree. So, as someone who been there and done that, I can say I feel I wasted a lot of time. I'm not suggesting that training other arts is a waste, just that there's no way you will confuse the two arts and they compliment each other very well. The sooner you begin doing that for yourself, the sooner you will become skilled.

Regarding matching kata to a bjj demo...that doesn't work. Certainly, there is grappling in Karate. However, kata doesn't teach you the subtleties of grappling any more than punching a bag teaches you the subtleties of karate. Both need to be trained against a resisting opponent to become skilled. Most (nearly all) karateka spend 75 to 99% of their time training striking. That means your grappling, regardless of how much exists in the art, is going to be inferior.

For the same reason, we often see bjj black belts walk into mma and get their butts kicked. They don't train enough striking and assume their bjj will be enough.

So it goes both ways. The sooner you cross train, the more deeply you can fully understand human movement and your own limitations.