Is it something that you think makes you a better rounded fighter? Do you think people should take a stand up and ground style like Muay Thai with BJJ, or Kickboxing with Sambo? Or do you think you should find one style you like and specialize in that?
What about mixing two striking arts, like Muay Thai and Taekwondo? What do you think?
jwbulldogs
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Cross training in not necessary. However, that is a choice that the individual makes for themselves.
The problem is that people ignorantly view styles as a striking style or grappling style. When the facts are that if you have a good teacher that is teaching their art it has both striking as well as grappling. Since you mentioned TKD I'll use it for an example. When taught correctly not just as a sport you will learn to strike, choke, joint locks, pins, throws, pressure points, vital strikes, etc. Therefore it is not a striking style. But if you in in a school that focuses mostly on a sports version of the art you are likely not to be taught certain aspects of the art. It then becomes what Sensei Scandal refers to as a partial art. This is because it is only teach a portion of the art and not the complete system.
The reality is that if you are learning a true traditional or classical martial art you will learn all different aspects of f\self defense. Then there is no need to go to a different style to learn how to fight on the ground as you will learn that in time in your school, You won't need to change to a different school to learn joint locks as you will learn them in you school, etc.
Many are misled to believe that arts like judo does not include striking or that it is not for self defense. The reality that it does include striking but often many schools aren't teaching the striking or that the students don't stay in the school long enough to learn the striking techniques and strategies that are taught in judo. Judo also teaches weapons defense but many school haven't kept it in their curriculum. Some thing are taught only at a Dan level. Some school may begin introducing these things to their students sooner.
I've studied judo in different schools. In one school we learn self defense. We were taught weapon defense, multiple attacker defenses, striking, etc. The other school it was purely Olympic Judo. There was no striking or self defense. No one took a swing at me and that forced me to take that strike and throw and choke the guy out.
Had my only experience been that 2nd school I would have believed the judo was only a sport. I would have thought that judo was grappling only. But it is a close quarter combat art.
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I am against it for the most part especially if we are talking about a person that has limited time to train and practice and is new to martial and/or fighting arts. Most individuals don't have enough time and energy to devote to learning and training in one art-much less two. Then there is the question of if they are closely aligned or similar and will confuse a new student. I am never in favor of someone doing that which might create confusion for the student learning and developing a good foundation in an art and sometimes two arts at the same time will do that; especially for novice type students. Once a student has studied something for 3-5 years and developed a really good foundation and understanding of things in that art and they have the additional time to take up another then I am much more open to the idea. There are some students I still don't recommend doing it even if they want to and I would always tell students and fighters that they had to talk to me first before doing so. The reason for this was also based on the student and how well they were doing and if they struggled with learning and developing things. Students that struggled a lot or had a lot of problems with learning things and meeting my expectations and standards I would never support taking up something else. That would usually be a drain on their time, effort, and energy with me and hurt them and their progress and jeopardize them being ready for testing and that was something I always considered and was up front about with them. It does have it positive aspects to it as well though so I do support it but I say that with some of the things in mind like what I mention. Occasionally I would get some push-back about it from a student. Usually once I sat down and talked to them about it as it related to them and their situation they would accede to my wishes and opinion about this.
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Cross training in my oppinion is the only way to truly be well rounded and proficient since most arts don't do such a great job teaching both striking and ground work.
Really mixing any striking art with a ground art will make you deadly enough to put most people down.
Whether its Muay Thai and jiu jitsu, or kickboxing and sambo.
as for mixing striking arts I personally find that my old karate experience made me a better fighter once formal MMA training made me break bad habits.
I throw my power kicks to the body and legs with the goal of breaking an arm if they block. They are very powerful, but Because i step into them I telegraph way too much. So I would never land one of these on the head. So I use a more traditional karate round kick to the head focusing on speed, and snap since it doesn't take much for a KO on a chin shot. So taking the best from each striking arts has its merits as well.
Anonymous
I think cross training is not wise if you are a beginner to martial arts and should only be done if you have done martial arts for about 5 to 10yrs. Bc, mixing several arts can cause confusion and a blend of the art.
I know I do it. I call it dabbling. I like Muay Thai, BJJ, Krav Maga, and Judo. For me it's no problem and I transition easily into those arts.
However some martial arts are so different from eachother it would be hard to adjust and other things.
Depends I suppose.
Sev
What is your goal? I ask because many martial art styles achieve a goal through different means. In other words, the way you throw a roundhouse in Muay Thai is sometimes very different from Taekwondo. What do you want to get out of Muay Thai that you can't get at a good Taekwondo Dojang?