Taking more than one style

[DrunkenMunky]

Just wondering what everyone thinks of taking more than one style of kung fu. Do you think this is a good or bad idea? My school teaches Hun gar and Wing Chun, is this a bad combination? Should I only learn one style?

[Hai_To]

I've toyed with the idea myself, but I don't know whether its a good idea or not. I'm curious to see what the general consensus is.

[Dark Knight]

I have taken a couple styles over the years. I would reccomend having a solid base in one before going into another. I was well into black before I looked at others, thi way your not trying to work through different fighting priciples at once.

If they are both being taught at your school your instructor is prob useing similar principles for the two of them. I know a couple places that teach two or more styles but the instructor does a good job at teaching them together. i wouldn worry about them if the same instructor is teaching both.

But if you are looking to learn two styes at two different schools, take time in one first.

[No_Know]

Theoretically, traditionally one masters or quits a style before going to another stlye. This had been the only orthodox successful way to combine styles or systems or system(s) and style(s). Some such.

[JusticeZero]

The thing is, when you learn a martial art you aren't just learning a bunch of tricks, you are wiring principles of movement into your muscle memory. If you take multiple arts, you end up with bits of static where your wires get crossed, your number of body positions to move through builds too fast, and you can seriously hamper your advancement.

[Merryprankster]

You can successfully do more than one style.

However, they have to be different. REALLY different. So different that you can't accidentally fall into one while doing the other.

For instance, you can box and wrestle or probably do something like WC and BJJ but I think trying to learn to box and doing WC at the same time would be pointless.

[taba]

er, what does your school think?

[friday]

i'll leave the main thread topic alone for now ....
but thought i might mention something.
A guy in the USA is a police instructor for martial arts. he also competed in 10 consecutive yearly tournaments in a martial arts competition for police and won. i am not familiar with the rules but his training background included having done boxing and wing chun.

[stoli]

Back to the subject of multiple styles. If you want to learn a traditional art form then my advice would be stick to one style and learn it well, real well, before you move on. In my experience no one style has everything so what you want out of your training will influence what you train in. If you want to be a well rounded martial artist then you WILL need to train in numerous styles. Whether the styles you do are similar or not is irrelevant. As for the boxing and Wing Chun thing I've only one thing to say. If you've taken the effort to learn to box don't bother learning Wing Chun. Sorry to rain on your parade people but nine times out of ten a good boxer will wipe the floor with a martial artist.

[guohuen]

I've found that practicing a style and using a style are two different things. You can ingrain a style into reflex just like a sport, craft, or any art and yet use a different one for combat. If you are refering to MMA I would have to say that you need to pick and choose your techniques and put them together in sets.

[stoli]

Two problems here, one is that if you "ingrain a style into reflex" then you won't use a different one in, shall we say, the heat of the moment (reality), you will use your reflex reaction. Secondly I guess I am talking about MMA as that is the best way to describe a majority of styles now and the essence of training in what you want to call MMA is that you don't "train techniques in sets". It's not that I disagree with your statement completely but if you were correct I would agree with you.

[guohuen]

Hi Stoli. (great name!) I use short sets with specific combat applications. Currently I train five animal and lohan techniques with a sense of enemy for combat. I used to do a MMA of Shotokan, Jiu Jutsu and Judo that I put together myself. I think my point is that I had to learn each system, but when I put together the techniques I was going to actually fight with I stayed focused on these. Sort of like I play the bass and the guitar. I play them very differently. I try not to make them the same instrument. One of the things I have learned about being in a state of preparedness for combat after 35 yrs. in the MA is that you need to have a core of techniques that you can use anytime without thought. I've also noticed that the reason martial artist frequently lose to seasoned streetfighters is that they break form and resort to something else. The way to survive is to have faith in your plan and follow through with it with determination.

[fa_jing]

My sifu has extensive backgrounds in boxing and Wing Chun, as well as JKD. Now, I don't think he studied these simultaneously, but one will help you with the other. He has a pretty darn good MMA record in the ring, too.
I imagine that learning to box, at least for a couple years, would help you with any kung fu style. It also encourages you to apply your Kung Fu principles in the ring, as well as boxing principles to your streetfighting. As long as you concentrate on developing your own personal style at all times, then you'll not get confused when it comes down to applying a technique. However, if your are in the copy your instructor mode, you will get confused between the two or more styles when it comes time to apply.

Still, when you are a beginner, if you want to study multiple styles it is better to pick them as very different from one another as MP said. Also, consider that certain styles are often studied together such as Bagua and Xing-Yi.

-FJ

[[Censored]]

...occurs when you know more about X then your Y teacher, and your Y teacher attempts to "correct" your X. What do you do?

[Merryprankster]

Censored,

That's why you pick two arts that are so far away from each other that you can't possibly "mix them up."

I have a solid base in wrestling. I am learning BJJ. Nothing I do in BJJ will ever screw up my boxing and vice versa. My boxing coach can't "correct," my BJJ game, and my BJJ trainer won't try to "fix," my boxing (but he knows a LOT about MMA comp, and he can adjust my boxing freely to fit the venue--bobbing and weaving, for instance is an invitation to get kneed in the head if you don't do it right, but that doesn't change the basic structure of my stance or of my punching.)

On the other hand, we have some TKD guys who are in my boxing gym, and they have a hard time maintaining stance...tend to bounce around a bit, shift weight to the wrong place, etc. Heck, I do it too, to a lesser degree from my limited muay thai experience.

So, if you pick 'em so far apart, you needn't worry about it so much.

I agree that boxing is great! All I was trying to say in my post was that studying boxing AND another primarily striking style with different stances and footwork and what not, is going to make it hard to learn both. If you want to do THAT, then get a solid base in one, so you can "see the analogies," between them when you try to practice the other.