Our course on winning any street fight is out! Learn how to win street fights using one Muay Thai technique! Check it out here!
My first martial art was Wushu Kung-Fu and my second was a Korean style called Jidokwan. I had originally planned to learn several arts separately and then mix them, but as I got better at Muay Thai I realized something interesting. Muay Thai is unique because it’s both a combat sport and a martial art. Yes there is tradition and history steeped in the movements, but because competition is the most important element the movements are shaped by practicality. In the end, all combat sports are refined with the basic principle of innovating something new, keeping what works, throwing away what doesn’t and repeating this process over and over again. I found that modern Muay Thai has already adopted and borrowed things from other styles such as more head movement and varied kick catching techniques. Still, martial arts is a personal journey and some people still feel like mixing Muay Thai with arts that have a different approach like the spinning techniques of Korean kicking arts or the slick defensive head movement of Western Boxing. I highly suggest against training these arts concurrently though. To mix styles you must first become proficient in one then proficient in the other completely separately. Once you have learned enough to have a true understanding of each you can see where things need to be modified and adapted to get them to work together. Trying to cross-train two striking arts at once will only hinder your ability to truly absorb everything either one has to offer and put you in a “Jack of all trades; master of none” situation.