Training in Multiple Styles

For many years i have trained in multiple Martial Arts and seen the benefit of learning new skill sets. Personally in the past i have waited until i had gained a foundation in any particular Martial Art before starting to learn another. This was mainly due to the fact of time constraints with teaching and working and the travelling to interstate and overseas for training. As for my students today they have access to multiple martial arts under the one roof. This allows for efficiency in training as they don’t need to travel to other schools to gain knowledge in different martial arts as i did.


Besides the obvious fact that you will gain different skills by training in different styles of Martial Arts you will also learn to be a white belt again. This is great for keeping you fresh and excited about training long term in the martial arts. I have also seen the benefits of constantly being a white belt in my ability to understand the frustration and anxiety of new students. Instructors can forget how difficult it is to learn new skills as they may not go out of their comfort zone regularly as a white belt has to.

When choosing to do multiple styles you should consider how much time to dedicate to each one. I believe a minimum of 3 – 5 hours per week of instruction and training per style is required to gain significant skills in any martial art. If you plan to train in more than one style than you need to allocate more time to training as to not water down your skill sets. I have many students training in 2 or more styles regularly and many have achieved their Black Sash in Wing Chun while achieving their Blue Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Many students train up to and over 20 hours per week and will do more than 2 styles and are very skilled in each one. Many martial arts have a crossover of skill sets that will benefit each style.

If you plan to be a world champion in any martial art then most of your training should be dedicated to your chosen style. Many of my other chosen martial arts other than Wing Chun came from being interested in learning something different to keep my mind from getting stagnant. This then developed into the ability to learn and now teach multiple styles of martial arts.

If you plan to learn more than one style there are two main options. The first is to find the best Instructors available in your 2 chosen styles and work out a plan to dedicate enough training hours to each one. You will have to factor in the travel time and costs involved in training at 2 separate schools. This should give you a great skill base in each chosen style but may cause confusion when it comes transitioning between the two styles as each Instructor has his own view on what works best. The second option is to find a school that teaches both the styles you wish to learn. Check that they offer enough classes per week on each style and that the Instructors qualifications meet your expectations. This will be the more efficient way as you only need to train in one location and the training fees should be less. The Instructor should also show how to transition from one style to the other.

Many top level Martial artists are now training in multiple martial arts successfully all over the world. They have a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu coach, Muay Thai Coach, Boxing Coach and Wrestling coach.

It is extremely popular, it’s called M.M.A