# 5 Martial Arts at Once



## Angelsebz (Sep 17, 2019)

Hey guys,

So I've been doing Muay Thai and BJJ for a month now. I've done some research by looking around and came to the conclusion that to be a good fighter you need to be well rounded. A YouTube channel called FightTips has a video saying to be a good MMA fighter you should do 5 Martial arts. So right now I do Muay Thai and BJJ twice a week, then Combat Sambo, Wrestling and Boxing once a week. Since I do five I won't be able to train all of them at a high frequency so my question is, would it be possible to get good at these martial arts individually only training them once or twice a week?

Thanks


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## W.Bridges (Sep 17, 2019)

Not saying you could not if training once a week but it would take longer then it would two or three times a week.


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## jobo (Sep 17, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> So I've been doing Muay Thai and BJJ for a month now. I've done some research by looking around and came to the conclusion that to be a good fighter you need to be well rounded. A YouTube channel called FightTips has a video saying to be a good MMA fighter you should do 5 Martial arts. So right now I do Muay Thai and BJJ twice a week, then Combat Sambo, Wrestling and Boxing once a week. Since I do five I won't be able to train all of them at a high frequency so my question is, would it be possible to get good at these martial arts individually only training them once or twice a week?
> 
> Thanks


I 5hink you may have flawed logic, if you want to do mma dont do " five arts " , do mma five times a week, that way they all compliment each other, or you will have five stances to consider, by the time you've made your mind up, you've lost

or pick one, get at least proficient in it, then add another one, MT and BJj seems to have most things covered.

nb dont believe every one on you tube


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## Deleted member 39746 (Sep 17, 2019)

jobo said:


> do mma five times a week, that way they all compliment each other, or you will have five stances to consider, by the time you've made your mind up, you've lost



Nah i think there is some legitimacy in doing the spefic arts outside MMA.       Not all at once, given MMA is more combing all of them into the sport so they aren't necessarily going to be a specialist in kickboxing, boxing, BJJ etc.      so a MMA teacher is more about combing it for the sport of MMA and a spec in that.  

I mean if you have like 300 IQ, then you could probbly pull off doing a lot at the same time.  


I would say, do those two and try to find MMA as the third to merge it together.  and if your set on it, do the others sequentially to importance/interest from that point on.


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## Headhunter (Sep 17, 2019)

Not a good idea. You won't be training anything regularly enough to get good consistent practice and you won't have time to practice by yourself. Which is just as important as classes and there's a high risk of injury training that much straight away


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## frank raud (Sep 17, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> So I've been doing Muay Thai and BJJ for a month now. I've done some research by looking around and came to the conclusion that to be a good fighter you need to be well rounded. A YouTube channel called FightTips has a video saying to be a good MMA fighter you should do 5 Martial arts. So right now I do Muay Thai and BJJ twice a week, then Combat Sambo, Wrestling and Boxing once a week. Since I do five I won't be able to train all of them at a high frequency so my question is, would it be possible to get good at these martial arts individually only training them once or twice a week?
> 
> Thanks


 You need to be well rounded in a variety of arts if you intend to fight in MMA style competitions.  If not, a striking and grappling combination such as you are doing will be more than sufficient. If I understand you correctly, you want to do 5 separate arts at the same time, noting that you train them all with sufficient time to progress at a reasonable pace, so that you can then combine all these arts to be a hybrid art, MMA? Why not do MMA from the beginning, if your intention is to fight MMA? It is not 1993, you don't not have to start from scratch and experiment to find out what is the best combination of arts to work in MMA competition, you can train MMA. As you want to learn 5 different arts, that 5 different stances, each one developed for that particular art, and none of them suited for MMA. The boxer's stance is susceptible to kicks, the wrestler's to punches. Why spend years slowly learning things you will need to change for MMA?


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## Gerry Seymour (Sep 17, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> So I've been doing Muay Thai and BJJ for a month now. I've done some research by looking around and came to the conclusion that to be a good fighter you need to be well rounded. A YouTube channel called FightTips has a video saying to be a good MMA fighter you should do 5 Martial arts. So right now I do Muay Thai and BJJ twice a week, then Combat Sambo, Wrestling and Boxing once a week. Since I do five I won't be able to train all of them at a high frequency so my question is, would it be possible to get good at these martial arts individually only training them once or twice a week?
> 
> Thanks


Was there a reason given for the specific number "5"? It seems arbitrary. There may be 5 major areas that need studying, I suppose, but different arts have vastly different areas of coverage, so just randomly adding 5 together seems meaningless.


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## Gerry Seymour (Sep 17, 2019)

Rat said:


> Nah i think there is some legitimacy in doing the spefic arts outside MMA.       Not all at once, given MMA is more combing all of them into the sport so they aren't necessarily going to be a specialist in kickboxing, boxing, BJJ etc.      so a MMA teacher is more about combing it for the sport of MMA and a spec in that.
> 
> I mean if you have like 300 IQ, then you could probbly pull off doing a lot at the same time.
> 
> ...


I see no real advantage in studying separate arts, when a single MMA gym can offer the components of each that are best suited to MMA. If you want to fight MMA, go train someplace that teaches for that purpose.


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## Xue Sheng (Sep 17, 2019)

um, why not just train at an MMA gym.

Most MMA folks I have known train at one and if they have other arts in thier background they tend to be some sort of kick boxing and BJJ. The rest of the stuff they seem to get into later, pretty much anything they believe that will help them win

5 arts at once you end up a jack of all trades but master of none.


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## Angelsebz (Sep 17, 2019)

So it's better to do 2 martials arts and do MMA as a third one. What do you guys think would be better, Boxing and Wrestling or BJJ and Muay Thai? Btw thanks for the quick replies.


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## Tony Dismukes (Sep 17, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> So I've been doing Muay Thai and BJJ for a month now. I've done some research by looking around and came to the conclusion that to be a good fighter you need to be well rounded. A YouTube channel called FightTips has a video saying to be a good MMA fighter you should do 5 Martial arts. So right now I do Muay Thai and BJJ twice a week, then Combat Sambo, Wrestling and Boxing once a week. Since I do five I won't be able to train all of them at a high frequency so my question is, would it be possible to get good at these martial arts individually only training them once or twice a week?
> 
> Thanks



Sambo, BJJ, and wrestling will all help each other. In my opinion, Sambo, Judo, BJJ, and wrestling are all just different facets of the same art, which is close-in grappling (as opposed to the arms-length grappling which arts like Aikido focus on). They have different competition rules, but the underlying principles and skills are mostly the same.

Likewise, I learned Muay Thai and boxing together. There are contextual differences based on the rules, but they can synergize well.

Do you actually have a school which offers all 5 of these arts? If so, you’re pretty lucky. In addition to the convenience of having all that instruction in one place, the teachers would likely understand how aspects of each art overlaps with or differs from the other arts. If you’re having to travel to different schools, I might not bother. Teachers at a school with only one art may not be as helpful in your integration of the systems. 

In any case, if you’re wanting to compete in MMA, you should be training some place that has dedicated MMA instruction. Experienced coaches can show you the specific elements that are pulled from each art which are relevant for MMA and show you how those elements work together in that context.

Also, while Muay Thai, BJJ, wrestling, Sambo, and boxing are all excellent foundations for MMA, it is absolutely not true that you need to train in all 5 of those to be successful in MMA. What you need for MMA (skill-wise) is competency in striking, clinching, takedowns & takedown defense, and submissions. You can gain those competencies through a variety of arts, including pure MMA classes. (Although I recommend studying at least one or two of the more specialized arts, such as BJJ or boxing, in order to gain a more in-depth understanding of those aspects.)


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## Gerry Seymour (Sep 17, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> So it's better to do 2 martials arts and do MMA as a third one. What do you guys think would be better, Boxing and Wrestling or BJJ and Muay Thai? Btw thanks for the quick replies.


MMA (as a group of styles, which I think it is sort of becoming) covers all you need. If you train at an MMA gym, they'll typically have stand-up striking (boxing and Muay Thai are the most common), standing grappling/takedown defense (I see a mix of sources for this - Judo, catch wrestling, and Sambo I think are all common), and ground grappling (BJJ, wrestling, etc.). Sometimes these are taught as the core arts, and sometimes they are just taught as categories. Either way, you're likely to find everything you need for MMA within a good MMA gym.

As @drop bear would say, "Train MMA."


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## mrt2 (Sep 17, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> So I've been doing Muay Thai and BJJ for a month now. I've done some research by looking around and came to the conclusion that to be a good fighter you need to be well rounded. A YouTube channel called FightTips has a video saying to be a good MMA fighter you should do 5 Martial arts. So right now I do Muay Thai and BJJ twice a week, then Combat Sambo, Wrestling and Boxing once a week. Since I do five I won't be able to train all of them at a high frequency so my question is, would it be possible to get good at these martial arts individually only training them once or twice a week?
> 
> Thanks


A bit late to this party, but as I see things, this is an example of a little knowledge being dangerous.  

You are just one month into your BJJ and Muy Thai training.  That is just the beginning.  Become proficient at these arts.  Give yourself 1 to 2 years  and see where you are.  Then if you need to change up your training and add another martial art to your repertoire, at least you have a good base of striking and grappling.


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## mrt2 (Sep 17, 2019)

gpseymour said:


> MMA (as a group of styles, which I think it is sort of becoming) covers all you need. If you train at an MMA gym, they'll typically have stand-up striking (boxing and Muay Thai are the most common), standing grappling/takedown defense (I see a mix of sources for this - Judo, catch wrestling, and Sambo I think are all common), and ground grappling (BJJ, wrestling, etc.). Sometimes these are taught as the core arts, and sometimes they are just taught as categories. Either way, you're likely to find everything you need for MMA within a good MMA gym.
> 
> As @drop bear would say, "Train MMA."


If OP is doing well at his bjj and muy thai training, wouldn't it make sense to become proficient at these arts before dropping everything and going to a third gym?


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## Martial D (Sep 17, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> So I've been doing Muay Thai and BJJ for a month now. I've done some research by looking around and came to the conclusion that to be a good fighter you need to be well rounded. A YouTube channel called FightTips has a video saying to be a good MMA fighter you should do 5 Martial arts. So right now I do Muay Thai and BJJ twice a week, then Combat Sambo, Wrestling and Boxing once a week. Since I do five I won't be able to train all of them at a high frequency so my question is, would it be possible to get good at these martial arts individually only training them once or twice a week?
> 
> Thanks


This seems weird to me. You shouldn't be collecting arts, you should be collecting attributes for YOUR art.getcha punches,kicks,knees, and elbows. Getcha grappling, clinch game, ground skills. Getcha timing, range, and mobility. Learn to read opponents, learn to read your surroundings. It doesn't matter where you source these things from.


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## mrt2 (Sep 17, 2019)

Martial D said:


> This seems weird to me. You shouldn't be collecting arts, you should be collecting attributes for YOUR art.getcha punches,kicks,knees, and elbows. Getcha grappling, clinch game, ground skills. Getcha timing, range, and mobility. Learn to read opponents, learn to read your surroundings. It doesn't matter where you source these things from.


True, and besides, it is hard enough to become proficient at one martial art.  Two puts more demands on your time.  More than two martial arts at one time is just not realistic for most people who are not being paid to train.


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## Martial D (Sep 17, 2019)

mrt2 said:


> True, and besides, it is hard enough to become proficient at one martial art.  Two puts more demands on your time.  More than two martial arts at one time is just not realistic for most people who are not being paid to train.


Which begs the question, why not just source it all from one place? 

If I want to learn karate, I'm not going to seek out all the styles it drew from and spend years doing those. What I would do however is seek out a good karate master.

Likewise, if I want to learn all ranges MMA style fighting, why not just learn it? Why learn all the source arts piecemeal and reinvent the wheel?


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## mrt2 (Sep 17, 2019)

Martial D said:


> Which begs the question, why not just source it all from one place?
> 
> If I want to learn karate, I'm not going to seek out all the styles it drew from and spend years doing those. What I would do however is seek out a good karate master.
> 
> Likewise, if I want to learn all ranges MMA style fighting, why not just learn it? Why learn all the source arts piecemeal and reinvent the wheel?


Actually, if you read OP's original post, he never said he wanted to do MMA.  He said he read something about how to be a good fighter.  My point is, I am sure that if he continues with his current training, that he can become a good fighter.


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## Martial D (Sep 17, 2019)

mrt2 said:


> Actually, if you read OP's original post, he never said he wanted to do MMA.  He said he read something about how to be a good fighter.  My point is, I am sure that if he continues with his current training, that he can become a good fighter.


Same thing.


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## Tony Dismukes (Sep 17, 2019)

mrt2 said:


> If OP is doing well at his bjj and muy thai training, wouldn't it make sense to become proficient at these arts before dropping everything and going to a third gym?


It's not uncommon for gyms that have both BJJ and Muay Thai to also have MMA. If they also have wrestling, boxing, and Sambo, then the odds of it being an MMA gym are even higher.


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## Gerry Seymour (Sep 17, 2019)

mrt2 said:


> If OP is doing well at his bjj and muy thai training, wouldn't it make sense to become proficient at these arts before dropping everything and going to a third gym?


It could. And it's probably what I would do. But if the OP is concerned they aren't getting a rounded MMA toolset, then the best way to ensure that is to go to an MMA gym. Of course, if they're training MT and BJJ at the same place (not sure if that's the case or not), then that place possibly already has an MMA focus - hard to envision those two in the same house without an MMA awareness, at least.


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## Danny T (Sep 17, 2019)

Tony Dismukes said:


> Sambo, BJJ, and wrestling will all help each other. In my opinion, Sambo, Judo, BJJ, and wrestling are all just different facets of the same art, which is close-in grappling (as opposed to the arms-length grappling which arts like Aikido focus on). They have different competition rules, but the underlying principles and skills are mostly the same.
> 
> Likewise, I learned Muay Thai and boxing together. There are contextual differences based on the rules, but they can synergize well.
> 
> ...


^^^^ This!


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## pdg (Sep 18, 2019)

mrt2 said:


> Actually, if you read OP's original post, he never said he wanted to do MMA. He said he read something about how to be a good fighter.



Actually........



Angelsebz said:


> to be a good *MMA* fighter you should do 5 Martial arts.



Bold added by me


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## Angelsebz (Sep 18, 2019)

Thanks for the helpful replies. So I'll clarify some things, my gym does all those 5 arts and MMA. But the MMA classes are mixed levels so I thought it'd be better for me to do these 5 Martial arts for around 6 months before going into MMA. I'm doing all five because Muay Thai teaches how to kick, boxing helps with timing and I noticed in MT my timing is quite bad, Wrestling helps with standup grappling, and BJJ with submissions whilst Sambo kind of puts them all together in a way to prepare for MMA. This was my process of thought.


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## Monkey Turned Wolf (Sep 18, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> Thanks for the helpful replies. So I'll clarify some things, my gym does all those 5 arts and MMA. But the MMA classes are mixed levels so I thought it'd be better for me to do these 5 Martial arts for around 6 months before going into MMA. I'm doing all five because Muay Thai teaches how to kick, boxing helps with timing and I noticed in MT my timing is quite bad, Wrestling helps with standup grappling, and BJJ with submissions whilst Sambo kind of puts them all together in a way to prepare for MMA. This was my process of thought.


If they teach all of them, and you have a choice of what to go to, go to whatever classes you can. Trust that the school knows how to teach them for MMA (since they teach MMA), and more practice is never a bad thing. But I would put the highest priority on the MMA class and treat the rest as supplemental to your MMA, if MMA style fighting is your ultimate goal.


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## Angelsebz (Sep 22, 2019)

I'm doing so many because I wanna get good at different arts. I do BJJ 4 times a week, boxing and Muay Thai 2 times a week, Sambo and wrestling once. I know it seems overkill but I feel like they complement each other in some ways. Idk if I'm looking to be a MMA fighter yet so I wanna get a good feel in different styles.


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## donald1 (Oct 4, 2019)

There are benefits to training different styles except trying to be good in different styles is difficult and confusing. Example. I practice goju ryu, but I also practice kung fu(xing yi, bagua, and tai chi). In goju ryu everyone bows before entering the floor and getting off. I see some of the kung fu students just casually walking on the floor or off the floor. (It's no big deal now but in the back of my mind I would think you forgot to bow!). That and the terms are different. Going from Japanese terms to Chinese can be confusing and borderline frustrating. Especially when your like me and have a hard time just remembering them. Don't even get me started on pronunciation.  Even if you train in multiple schools its good to have one style to be the main pillar of your training.  The other styles can be used to strengthen your main style.


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## Gerry Seymour (Oct 5, 2019)

donald1 said:


> There are benefits to training different styles except trying to be good in different styles is difficult and confusing. Example. I practice goju ryu, but I also practice kung fu(xing yi, bagua, and tai chi). In goju ryu everyone bows before entering the floor and getting off. I see some of the kung fu students just casually walking on the floor or off the floor. (It's no big deal now but in the back of my mind I would think you forgot to bow!). That and the terms are different. Going from Japanese terms to Chinese can be confusing and borderline frustrating. Especially when your like me and have a hard time just remembering them. Don't even get me started on pronunciation.  Even if you train in multiple schools its good to have one style to be the main pillar of your training.  The other styles can be used to strengthen your main style.


The bowing/etiquette thing can get very confusing. When I visit other schools, I try my best to keep up, but most Japanese arts are more formal/traditional than NGA, and I'm less formal than most in NGA. Even at the Shorin-ryu dojo where I teach, my etiquette is different from theirs, and I've already altered mine a bit to match some of theirs, out of respect for the primary style in the school.


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## Kung Fu Wang (Oct 5, 2019)

Angelsebz said:


> I'm doing so many because I wanna get good at different arts.


If you try to be good on everything, you will end with nothing.

You need to develop your basic and foundation first. That will take many years. For example, if you just train "1 step 3 punches" (and nothing else) for 3 years, you will never regret for those 3 years that you have spent.

After you have built a good concrete foundation, you can then build your house on top of it. When I was 7, I tried to smash a small rock among my 3 fingers tip. Today, I'm still working on it. MA training is a life long path. Just take your time slowly to reach to your goal.


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## Gerry Seymour (Oct 5, 2019)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> If you try to be good on everything, you will end with nothing.
> 
> You need to develop your basic and foundation first. That will take many years. For example, if you just train "1 step 3 punches" (and nothing else) for 3 years, you will never regret for those 3 years that you have spent.
> 
> After you have built a good concrete foundation, you can then build your house on top of it. When I was 7, I tried to smash a small rock among my 3 fingers tip. Today, I'm still working on it. MA training is a life long path. Just take your time slowly to reach to your goal.


You might want to clarify that statement a bit, John. As I understand your point from past discussions, you're not actually saying to only train those "1 step 3 punches" for that long - it would leave you too limited. I think you're suggesting you'd train those and the various set-ups, counters, and recoveries related to them. The "1 step 3 punches" becomes the center point.

Do I understand you correctly?


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## Kung Fu Wang (Oct 5, 2019)

gpseymour said:


> You might want to clarify that statement a bit, John. As I understand your point from past discussions, you're not actually saying to only train those "1 step 3 punches" for that long - it would leave you too limited. I think you're suggesting you'd train those and the various set-ups, counters, and recoveries related to them. The "1 step 3 punches" becomes the center point.
> 
> Do I understand you correctly?


When you start to train "1 step 3 punches", you will also train the following:

-  Assume there are 7 different punches (jab, cross, uppercut, hook, back fist, hammer fist, side punch). There will be 7 x 7 x 7. There will be 343 different combos (of course some combos may not make sense). During this training, you will find out that lower hook, middle hook, high hook can be a good combo even this combo may not exist in the forms that you have learned.
- When you throw your 1st punch, your opponent may block up, down, inside out, outside in, … If your 2nd punch will depend on your opponent's 1s block, you will need to deal with so many different blocks.
- When you punch, your opponent may stand still, move to the side, move back, … You will need to train different kind of foot works.
- For each punches, you will need to train on heavy bag, striking target, punching ball, ...
- ...

This may take you another 20 years to master it all.


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## pdg (Oct 5, 2019)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> When you start to train "1 step 3 punches", you will also train the following:
> 
> -  Assume there are 7 different punches (jab, cross, uppercut, hook, back fist, hammer fist, side punch). There will be 7 x 7 x 7. There will be 343 different combos (of course some combos may not make sense).
> - When you throw your 1st punch, your opponent may block up, down, inside out, outside in, … If your 2nd punch will depend on your opponent's 1s block, you will need to deal with so many different blocks.
> ...



So in those 20 years you don't learn how to deal with an incoming punch?


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## Kung Fu Wang (Oct 5, 2019)

pdg said:


> So in those 20 years you don't learn how to deal with an incoming punch?


Some MA systems teach offense first. After students are god in offense, they then start to learn defense afterward.

A wrestler will learn "How to apply single leg" first, and not "How to counter single leg" first.

After you are good in punching, you will know your

- straight punch can counter your opponent's circular punch.
- circular punch can counter your opponent's straight punch.​


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## pdg (Oct 5, 2019)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> Some MA systems teach offense first. After students are god in offense, they then start to learn defense afterward.
> 
> A wrestler will learn "How to apply single leg" first, and not "How to counter single leg" first.
> 
> ...



But 20 years?

At that sort of rate, it's impossible to live long enough to work on hands and feet in offence and defence.


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## KenpoMaster805 (Feb 21, 2020)

Bro take martial arts 1 at a time


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## Kung Fu Wang (Feb 21, 2020)

KenpoMaster805 said:


> Bro take martial arts 1 at a time


I just read one of Adam Hsu's books "千里不留行 CMA tour in China". His training path is:

long fist (foundation) -> preying mantis (application and speed generation) -> Baji (power generation)


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