Many martial artists claim to hold rank in multiple martial arts. Some claim multiple black belt ranks, and some even claim multiple master ranks. How can this be?

First, it depends on what you consider martial arts to be, sports or “ways” of life. If you consider them sports in which you learn to play and participate, and that ranks just signify your status within the sport, then, just as you may be a baseball player, a football player, and also a basketball player, you may be a rank holder in multiple martial arts. However, if you consider a martial art to be a “way” of life, then you cannot legitimately claim high ranks in multiple arts. Once you pledge allegiance to a martial art and accept its teaching, principles, and beliefs, and it becomes your way of life, then you cannot also claim allegiance to another martial art.

For example, if you truly believe in the concepts of Aikido and accept them as your way of doing things, such as using circular motion and yielding to and using an attacking force against itself, then how can you also legitimacy claim to truly believe in a linear art that meets force with force, such as Shotokan or Taekwondo, also accept it as your way of doing things. You cannot serve two masters. You can be the CEO of Ford or of Honda, but you cannot be both. You must pledge your allegiance to one or the other. You may once have been the CEO of Ford, but when you become the CEO of Honda, you will be expected to denounce your allegiance to Ford and accept Honda as your new master.

There are many who do not share this view. They say that they can loyal to two masters. If you owned a business, would want an employee working for you who also works for a competitor? With whom does the employee’s loyalty lie?

You will run into problems when you train in more than one martial art. The multiple martial arts will clash in your thinking and in your actions, causing indecision. For example, if you train using a karate style side snap kick part of the time and then also train using a Taekwondo side thrust kick, when you spar or have to defend yourself, your brain and body will hesitate for a second before acting to decide on which type of kick to use. This hesitation may be the difference between your living or dying. Also, many martial arts, and their instructors, demand conformity to the art. I once used a karate style side snap kick while sparring in front of a Korean Taekwondo master. After he finished with me, I decided not to use karate style kicks again.

The organization to which I belong allows hand contact to the head while sparring in class. However, in competition, they forbid hand contact to the head. Therefore, for months you train using hand contact to the head, and then, for a few minutes a few times a year, you must spar under stressful conditions and not use any hand contact to the head. Because of this clash of rules, in competitions, there are many times when students foul out because they use hand contact to the head. In addition, there is also that second of hesitation when the brain and body want to react with a hand attack to head but must decide not to, which slows reaction time.

If you play baseball a lot and play softball once in awhile, under the stress of a softball completion, it is easy to confuse the rules with those of baseball and make a crucial error. However, when you play baseball and then play football, there is never a problem with the rules since the two sports are entirely different. When it comes to studying multiple arts, it is best to either just study one mixed martial art that incorporates all types of techniques and philosophies into its training, or chose a second martial art that is totally different from the first, such as studying karate and then taking up Escrima. Escrima does not use punches and kicks (in its purist form) in their training and karate does not use striking with sticks (in its purist form). Therefore, the two arts are sufficiently different that, when under the stress of a self-defense situation, one would be confused as to which art skills to use.

Some disagree with my views on holding ranks in multiple arts; they claim that training in two or more martial arts is not a problem for them. I say they are wrong. For example, say you train in a hard style martial art that emphasizes blocking attacks and then attacking using punches and kicks, and you train equally hard in a soft style martial art that emphasizes avoiding attacks and then attacking with wrist locks and throws. A surprise attack on the street requires you to react instantly and instinctively. When you have trained equally in two opposing arts, how will you react to a surprise attack? Will you instinctively block? Will you instinctively avoid? Or, will you hesitate since you have no instinctive reaction?

People can say anything. They can say how they think they would react, but the body does not instinctively react in ways your think it will react, it instinctively reacts in the way it has been trained to react. When training causes confusion as to which way it should react, the brain will hesitate, or pick a way depending on which side of the brain is dominant. Here is an example of how the brain works.

Look at the following chart and try to make yourself say the color of each word aloud, not the word itself.

The right side of your brain tries to make you say the color while the left side of your brain tries to make you say the word.
Usually the left side wins and you say the word, no matter how hard you try not to say it.

This same type of mental conflict occurs when you have trained in two opposing ways to fight and you must instinctively react to an attack. In a surprise attack, when your reaction may determine whether you live or die, you must have one instinctive reaction. If you have more than one type of reaction to choose from, will may hesitate and die.

Many martial arts have the premise that, to understand the true meaning of a hyung/kata/form, one must perform it hundreds, if not thousands, of times. If we assume a master of a martial art understands the meaning of all the forms he or she performs, then it can also be assumed that the master has performed each form hundreds or thousands of times. If a person claims to be a master in multiple arts, where did the person find the time for all this training.

Be careful when choosing to train another martial art so that one does not detract from the other. Trying many different things always seems to be a good idea at the time, but when you find something you enjoy, it is best to stay with it, and perfect it. It is better to be an expert at doing one thing than to be able to do many things. That is why doctors and lawyer specialize into so many different disciplines. If you do decide to try another martial art, it is best to drop the first one and concentrate on the second one and, at some point, make a commitment to one art and stay with it.