Steve
Mostly Harmless
I actually wasn't making an argument one way or another on that point. I was just relating my own personal experience in my martial arts training.
Sounds good. But you're responding to my posts. My concern here is that you (and others) are making tangential points that aren't really addressing the OP's question, in response to my posts, in a way that makes it seem like you disagree with me. If you agree with me, great. Otherwise, I am mostly concerned that you are misunderstanding my point, because you respond to my posts with things that are irrelevant to my point.
So, once again, just to be clear and consistent. I mostly agree with you. AND, I don't think your points address the question of whether it's ACTUALLY harder to learn two styles at once than just one at a time. There is conventional wisdom, but my belief is that it's based on unsubstantiated biases. In fact, where there is data, it seems to indicate that when you learn things doesn't really matter one way or the other.
You raise an interesting point, which is that learning martial arts is, for most people, a hobby. Unless you are in a professionally violent job, chances are no one is making you train in martial arts. So, things like motivation definitely come into play. Folks don't generally choose to learn things they aren't motivated to learn, when it's their choice. I know that may seem like an obvious point, but it's relevant because if someone (like the OP) wants to learn two styles at once, we can presume he's motivated to do so.First I had to learn basic body awareness and control. Then I had to learn how to understand the underlying concepts of a martial art. Then I had to learn to see how other martial arts did things differently and let go of the notion that the first way I learned was necessarily the "correct" way. Then I had to get a bunch of experience with different systems and get practice moving my body in different ways and seeing how different arts operate.
I actually have students with no prior martial arts experience come in who do just fine studying 2-3 arts at once from the get go. Generally they have a certain degree of natural talent or athletic experience so they know how to use their bodies, time and motivation to put in the hours of hard work each week, and an open mind to absorb what each teacher is showing them. It took me longer to get to the point where I could do that, but I was starting out at the bottom of the bell curve for natural talent.
Talent and natural ability are factors that will certainly affect how long it might take to learn styles, but that's relative to the person. Same with other factors... time, money, resources, access to qualified instruction. We agree that these are all factors to consider, that will affect how long it takes.
But ultimately, the question is whether it is more efficient to learn 2 things simultaneously or consecutively. The question is, would it take person A (who has some degree of ability and talent) longer to learn Style 1 and then Style 2 than to learn Style 1 and 2 at the same time? Jury's out, but if it's like learning languages, data suggests it doesn't matter one way or the other.