Training in more than One Style At Once

[TigerClaw]

I train in Kenpo and in Submission Wrestling and I think it works great together, in particular these arts provide me with exactly what I love about Martial Arts as a whole... Also it helps to keep me well rounded as a fighter and keeps me focused more on fighting and less on the "sport" aspect of any individual art.

Interesting. I was wondering if your grappling has combative aspects to it. I mean like groin attacks, clawing to the face and eyes and throat attacks , nerve attacks, finger breaking attacking the spine, joints, fish hooks etc etc.? i ask this because you mentioned that you want to be more focused on "fighting", rather than "sport". i agree with you that is the path to pursue in martial arts, self defense and real combat fighting. The sport part has never really interested me personally.

[cqdtonline]

Hi TC,

Yes, I agree that the law would in many circumstances view a groin kick or even eye gouge as a reasonable self-defense tactic, especially if you are trying to fight off a large, aggressive assailant and you did not initiate the violence. The point I was trying to make, which I think we can agree on, was that (i) you can never be sure what cops, prosecutors, judges or jurors will determine after the fact to be "reasonable" in a particular self-defense situation and (ii) in view of that uncertainty, we should each try to make sure we have available the widest possible range of defensive options.

I agree with this in general, and will add that when training in a reality-based system they should cover legalities with you. Legalities such as using de-escalation as a first exit attempt and then what you should be able to do from there (depending on the particular scenario of course) that will be both street dependable and court defendable.

Keeping mind that if (God forbid) it comes down to life-or-death, knowing vital stikes is important. I would rather defend myself in court than...risk death.

[sapatiero]

I would rather defend myself in court than...risk death.

An old instructor of mine had a great quote for this... He said "I would rather by tried by 12 than carried by 6" ie. he'd rather go to court for defending himself than be killed by an attacker and his friends end up carrying his coffin. Definitions of reasonable force aside, it's a great quote IMO

PS. TC... Please tell me you're a troll, and not one of those delusional classical guys who I see every day. Nerve attacks - in a real situation? LOL

[cakegirl]

I've trained in more than one martial art at a time - I did shotokan karate and BJJ for years (with MMA classes at the BJJ school). During that time I also did a bit of capoeira, judo and boxing here and there. I never accidentally choked someone at karate, and I never accidentally punched someone at BJJ. I don't think it's that hard to remember what art you're doing.

(To the person who compared it to learning two languages simultaneously, I've done that too, and I never accidentally spoke one when I meant to speak the other - only encountered problems when I moved back to a country that spoke my native language and I tried to learn a fourth language there, while not keeping up my practice with 2 and 3, the ones I learned simultaneously.)