Can i do multiple martial arts at the same time???? Please help

[Kung Fu Wang]

Any suggestions on what is a good style to add to karate???

Wrestling, Chinese wrestling, Judo.

The day that you train Karate as the way you train the grappling art, the day that you may understand the term "train as you fight".

 

[Buka]

What's the difference in knowledge between 5th, 9th, and 10th degree again?

Asking for a friend.

Most of my friends live on the East coast, so I know they were done with work for the day. I called a 10th Degree and a 5th Degree a couple minutes ago (different Arts) and asked that question. (I don't know anyone who is currently a 9th)

They laughed, told me to go fluff myself and then we jabbered about other things, mostly their kids.

Sorry, but, hey, I gave it a shot.

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

What's the difference in knowledge between 5th, 9th, and 10th degree again?

Asking for a friend.

I believe the difference is the contribution to MA. For example,

- publish MA book.
- offer MA workshop.
- train MA team.
- sponsor MA tournament.
- invent new MA technique.
- ...

 

[Oily Dragon]

I believe the difference is the contribution to MA. For example,

- publish MA book.
- offer MA workshop.
- train MA team.
- sponsor MA tournament.
- invent new MA technique.
- ...

If that's true, then those guys with 20 black belts must be pretty special.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Hello there, i know this question is asked a lot, but i feel like i have a more specific version... kind of....

Basically, i have been doing karate for a while now, only a year or so, and im just over half way to black belt. I love kicking as well, so thought taekwondo might be a good option. Although, because some moves in karate and taekwondo are similar but not quite the same, would this interfere with my karate training? For example, the roundhouse kick or front kick are slightly different in these two styles i believe, so it may be a problem...


Any feedback is much appreciated as this is so frustrating to deal with...

Thanks a lot everyone

You can learn many arts poorly or one art well. Decide.

 

[Steve]

You can learn many arts poorly or one art well. Decide.

And that, my friends, is a beautiful example of a false dilemma fallacy in the wild. Sometimes referred to as parent logic. “You get to choose the vegetable tonight! Yay. Do you want broccoli or spinach?”

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Well to anyone that sees this… thank you very much for all your replies I found them very helpful… I have decided not to start TKD, but am still on the look out for a possible 2nd art for when I get to a decent belt in karate (I will carry on karate as well as the other art)…. Any suggestions on what is a good style to add to karate???

Assuming your karate school is like most and focuses primarily on striking; if you were to add an art I'd recommend a grappling style (BJJ or judo).

I'd also recommend trying out climbing if theirs a climbing gym near you-that builds muscle almost perfectly for MA.

 

[Holmejr]

It does depend on the individual. If you happen to be that individualI, then I would say, by all means, but would advise studying something dissimilar to what you are doing now. Something that might compliment or fill the holes so to speak. Eskrido/Escrima, boxing, Thai Boxing, JKD would all make for a well rounded and proficient fighter. Sparing in a traditional style becomes a problem when you study other arts simultaneously. I found it difficult to spar in TKD/Hapkido as I would rely on my FMA when pushed. This would really piss off my TKD instructor. He would say “holmes, knock that Kung fu crap off!” Lol…

 

[drop bear]

You can learn many arts poorly or one art well. Decide.

You can also learn one martial arts poorly and many martial arts well.

 

[MouldyFish]

Don't actually change your height any more than jumping up in the air.
They do make your legs and butt look good though.

I should be fine I think, I’m 6ft 2

 

[MouldyFish]

And that, my friends, is a beautiful example of a false dilemma fallacy in the wild. Sometimes referred to as parent logic. “You get to choose the vegetable tonight! Yay. Do you want broccoli or spinach?”

true

 

[Bill Mattocks]

And that, my friends, is a beautiful example of a false dilemma fallacy in the wild. Sometimes referred to as parent logic. “You get to choose the vegetable tonight! Yay. Do you want broccoli or spinach?”

Nonsense.

A person has only a set amount of time on this earth. They can give time to learning one thing well, or divide that time between multiple things, learning each less well. They are free to choose how they wish to divide their time.

Hence the old but accurate saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none."

I'm not telling anyone how to decide or what to learn. I am saying what the results are going to be.

 

[Steve]

Nonsense.

A person has only a set amount of time on this earth. They can give time to learning one thing well, or divide that time between multiple things, learning each less well. They are free to choose how they wish to divide their time.

Hence the old but accurate saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none."

I'm not telling anyone how to decide or what to learn. I am saying what the results are going to be.

What a sad, self limiting way to think about the world and your capability. I think the person who has capacity to master only one thing is the exception and not the rule. Most folks master many things.

I mean, nothing at all wrong with specializing, but are you seriously suggesting there is nothing in between doing it poorly or doing it well? If so, that is really sad.

 

[Dirty Dog]

What a sad, self limiting way to think about the world and your capability. I think the person who has capacity to master only one thing is the exception and not the rule. Most folks master many things.

I mean, nothing at all wrong with specializing, but are you seriously suggesting there is nothing in between doing it poorly or doing it well? If so, that is really sad.

I think there are lots of variables. The most obvious is age. If you're starting when you're 10, you have time to learn a lot more than if you're 60.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

What a sad, self limiting way to think about the world and your capability. I think the person who has capacity to master only one thing is the exception and not the rule. Most folks master many things.

I mean, nothing at all wrong with specializing, but are you seriously suggesting there is nothing in between doing it poorly or doing it well? If so, that is really sad.

Then it's sad. Bye again.

 

[Steve]

Then it's sad. Bye again.

You’re getting defensive. You say unreasonable, illogical things and seem surprised when reasonable people point that out.

Weren’t you the guy talking about mastering gardening and your karate just a few weeks ago? Are you an exception to your own rule?

 

[Steve]

I think there are lots of variables. The most obvious is age. If you're starting when you're 10, you have time to learn a lot more than if you're 60.

That’s true. Though at 60 you might have access to a lot more money than at 10, and also have the accumulated skills and experience of an entire adulthood upon which to build.

 

[Steve]

You can learn many arts poorly or one art well. Decide.

Just putting this back here front and center. This is not a reasonable statement. Come on guys. We all know it. It’s trite pseudo wisdom.

 

[Tony Dismukes]

You can learn many arts poorly or one art well. Decide.

Nonsense.

A person has only a set amount of time on this earth. They can give time to learning one thing well, or divide that time between multiple things, learning each less well. They are free to choose how they wish to divide their time.

Hence the old but accurate saying, "Jack of all trades, master of none."

I'm not telling anyone how to decide or what to learn. I am saying what the results are going to be.

You've got two claims here, kind of packed into one.

1. Since we have limited number of hours in our lives, time spent devoted to one thing is time spent not learning other things. Thus there is a zero-sum game in how we allocate our time and choose what to become good at. This is a reasonable view with a lot of truth to it, but also certain limitations which I will address in a minute.
2. Because of the above, we can only ever learn one thing "well". You don't define what qualifies as learning something "well", but by any normal usage of the word, this is nonsense.

I'll lead off with some examples of people learning more than one thing well ...

Georges St. Pierre is better at Karate than the overwhelming majority of Karate practitioners worldwide. He's also better at Jiu-Jitsu than the overwhelming majority of Jiu-Jitsu practitioners worldwide. I'd say he can also box and wrestle at a pretty darn high level.

Brian May has a Ph.D. in astrophysics and is one of the worlds greatest rock guitarists.

Paul Thorn was a decent professional boxer before becoming a top-notch singer/songwriter.

On a much, much, much. much less elevated plane, I'll take myself as an example. I'll offer my 2nd-degree black belt in BJJ as evidence that I've learned that art reasonably well. I've learned computer programming well enough that I've been able to make a living at it for the last 21 years. And despite starting out in the bottom 1% of the population for general social and people skills (seriously, I probably would have been diagnosed with Aspergers if that had been commonly known when I was growing up), I've learned to be socially competent and to be a really good husband. I've also managed to learn a fair number of other things (martial and non-martial) along the way, but perhaps none of them would be up to whatever standard you consider learning something "well." I won't argue with that. I have a few secondary arts that I can fight competently with, but I don't have them at a professional level. However I have trained with a number of people who have solid professional level skills in multiple martial arts.

Moving on to your more defensible point ...

Time is a limited resource. Therefore it's appealing to think that if we could just quit our jobs, abandon our families, and spend 14 hours per day doing one thing we want to get good at (playing violin, practicing karate, juggling, programming computers, whatever) then we could become amazing at that one thing. This is sort of true, but there are caveats.

Firstly, the vast majority of us are not so obsessed with any single subject that we can maintain this sort of routine for very long without burning out. You might love the violin, but after practicing it for 78 hours per week every week you'll likely get to the point where you never want to see it again (assuming you haven't already given yourself an overuse injury). There are exceptions to this rule - people who are so fixated on one subject that they become world-class virtuosos at an early age. But even most of them need to take some time off to read a book or go on a date or take up a second hobby to maintain their sanity. The ones who don't (Paul Erdős comes to mind) end up being some pretty eccentric individuals.

Secondly, there comes a point of diminishing returns. In your first few hundred hours of studying a subject you can make rapid gains in your knowledge and ability. Once you've put in 10,000+ hours of high-quality study in a field, additional growth comes in much smaller increments. You may end up with the choice of spending your next 500 hours making a 2% improvement in your original field or in gaining some functional competence in a new field.

Thirdly, even if you only want to pursue master of a single art, sometimes studying a different system can give you useful insights into your primary art. It can be helpful to see things from the outside. It gives you a chance to reconsider assumptions that you didn't even realize you were making.

Fourthly, it's worth stopping to think about what exactly it is that you are trying to get good at. Going back to my own training - one of my secondary arts I practice is Sumo. I won't pretend for a moment that I am good at Sumo. (Although I have a lot of fun with it anyway.) It doesn't make my BJJ significantly better. However it does help me become a better martial artist. There are certain mental and physical attributes that I consider to be relative weakness of mine from a martial standpoint. Sumo forces me to develop those attributes to a higher level.

Just some things to think about.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Assuming your karate school is like most and focuses primarily on striking; if you were to add an art I'd recommend a grappling style (BJJ or judo).

I'd also recommend trying out climbing if theirs a climbing gym near you-that builds muscle almost perfectly for MA.

I hadn’t thought about that. I was pretty heavily into climbing in my teens and early 20’s. That probably did build a good foundation for my MA.