switching styles

[Aefibird]

Has anyone ever made the transition between different styles of karate? If so, was it an easy move or did you find it difficult to adapt?

I'm just talking about karate styles here, not MA styles in general.

[andym]

I did Wado Ryu about 10 years ago, just before I joined the army in 1995, so I started in 1993 and trained for 2 years and had to give it up. I left said Armeh, in 2001 and started karate again in 2003, Shotokan this time. I still remember a lot of what I did as a Wado practitioner and find it's helped me with the progression I've made in Shotokan.

[Mr. Precision]

aefibird said:

Has anyone ever made the transition between different styles of karate? If so, was it an easy move or did you find it difficult to adapt?

I'm finding it enjoyable and I think it's helping rather than hindering. I'm going to shotokan and shito-ryu in parallel. This style rubbish is all bollocks, it's the same stuff.

[random]

I have trained in Shotokan, a little of Wado but a few years worth of shito-ryu, generally they are all the same, some differences that are a bit of a mind flip, some terminology that sounds different but isn’t. For me the main difference was what fitted my physical and psychological make up.

I have always enjoyed the physicality of Shito and shoto a bit more of the get stuck in and get it over with approach, although that is more of a reflection of the clubs than styles and associations.

The main thing I found when training in different styles was an open mind and not (or at least trying not to have too many preconceptions.

[tomahawk]

I first started with Shotokan 23 years ago
and after practicing 4 years and getting ShoDan,
I joined the Marine corps.
Fast forward a lot of years and I took up
Tae Kwon Do. Now a 1st Dan in Tae Kwon Do.
I train in both on alternating nights.
Some of the techniques are executed differently
but over all they are so similiar I have no problems.
I have to admit that I like Shotokan much better.

Tomahawk.

[jack]

A lot of people slag off TKD but I think like any style it depends on the club. I used to train now and again with a friend of mine in Oxford and their club was very good as was the standard of the TKDeka. I couldn't see a great deal of difference with shotokan but I must admit when I trained there there we didn't do kata/forms just practice of basic techniques and hard sparring. Personally I wouldn't change to anything that wasn't Japanese, I'd hate to learn a new language and have to learn new kata.

[Mr. Precision]

jack said:

I'd hate to learn a new language and have to learn new kata.

For me that's the attraction. Plus taking a different approach can open your eyes to different aspects of what you already know.

[random]

I would love to be able to do another style but I find it hard to go to my own club without squeezing something else in.

It is good to get the old grey matter thinking about other ways of doing familiar punches and kicks.

[Aefibird]

jack said:

Personally I wouldn't change to anything that wasn't Japanese, I'd hate to learn a new language

Well, that was one of the hardest things for me about taking up other styles.

When I did Aikido it was OK - all Japanese, no more confusing terminology to learn.

However, since I now train in Chinese MA and have done/do a little TKD, I have to get my head around Cantonese and Korean, as well as the Japanese terminology I already know.

There's one good point to it all, though - it impresses the little kids I work with that I can count to 10 in so many languages!!
Along with my 'skills' in Japanese, Korean and Cantonese I can also impress my class by counting to 10 (and even beyond!) in Welsh, Spanish, French, German, Russian, Swahili and Urdu, so my pupils are well impressed with me.

lol, you never think of "impressing 7 year olds" as a major advantage to learning martial arts and the terminology that goes with it!!

[Aefibird]

Edit:

Grr, double post!