decision wing chun or karate

brennan the rabbit · White Belt

i have been practicing wing chun for over 3 years but before i trained goju ryu karate i went back to my karate school and forgot how much i missed training there so i wanted to train karate too i told both of my teachers my plans my sensai is ok with it as long as i have time for both commients, which i do but my sifu is against it telling me i got to decide which one is more important and crosstraining is bad he said i would be good but not great but the whole time i was in wing chun i trained my karate still im sort of leaning towards going back to karate school
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br

JR 137 · Black Belt

It's your training, not your sifu's, sensei's, nor anyone else's. You have to do what makes YOU happy. You're a paying customer, not a subordinate. That being said, I'll play devil's advocate for a bit...

If you split your time between two different systems, you most likely won't get as good at either of them as you would if you spent the total time training in one of them. Cross-training is a great thing, but there's a time and place, just like everything else. If you've been at one for quite some time and have a solid understanding of a bit more than the basics, cross-training is great. It could fill gaps in your primary art, give you a different perspective on things in your own art, break up the monotony, and so on. But if you don't have a solid base in either art yet, it could easily stall your progress.

Let's say you have 4 days a week you can dedicate to playing sports. You really want to get good at something, and you don't have much experience with anything. You choose to do basketball two of those days and baseball the other two days. It's going to take a while to get really good at either of them, and you'll probably be average at them. If you instead chose to do basketball all four days, you'd get a lot better. Hopefully this is what your sifu is trying to say rather than coming off as a guy who's insecure about keeping students.

I'm all for cross-training. But after the solid foundation has been laid. I'd rather get really good at one thing before I start looking into adding different things.

I don't know where you're at (skill-wise) with either system. If you feel you're at a good point in your training and at the point where you're refining rather than learning a lot of new stuff, cross-train.

That's just me. Again, it's your training. Do what makes you happy. You're the only one you really have to answer to.

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

I'll offer a small counter argument. If you only do WC class two days a week, because that is all that's offered, and have 4 days in a week to train, filling those other days with another style would be better than not training at all.
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JR 137 · Black Belt

sensei8 · KF Sensei

A lifetime of 2 times a week adds up to something wonderful!!

It's the quality, and not the quantity that MA, imho, need to grasp. Not everyone can go to the dojo 7 days a week/365 days a year; some are lucky to show up 1-2 times a week. After all, life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of MA training.

Nonetheless, if those few days are filled with quality training/practice and the like, then, to me, it's not a waste of a MA life and/or a MA journey. Some might say..."Ah, man, if I don't go to the dojo 4-7 days a week, it'll take me forever to earn a black belt"

That's true, but what's much more important than rank, is that rank is meaningless compared to the knowledge/experience one can acquire. If I go to the dojo once a week for forever, my knowledge and experience will be there, but to what degree?!?!

The degree of knowing that you chased knowledge/experience over rank!! I can soundly sleep knowing that piece of mind is mine because I choose to do that!!

WC or Karate? Both have their good and bad points, and in that, one isn't better than the other. However, that choice and that decision will be up to you. If you can do both, and that's what you want to do, then by all means, do them both. I must say, that that is difficult!! What will happen is one will be loved more than the other, and this ruins the training for both of them.

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**Proof is on the floor!!!

italian_guy · Black Belt

I agree with those saying that is only a matter of schedules. If you have the time to do both go ahead! I've have cross-trained even when I didn't have a solid foundation on an art and I still had some benefit. If you are forced by circumnstances to chose one of the two ... well I think you made the choice already.

Alan Armstrong · Black Belt

Hi brennan the rabbit:

Learning Wing Chun from two different schools can be very different.

Just as different as a Wing Chun school will be with a karate school.

I am sure you would know this, from having 3 years of Wing Chun training.

Enjoying training in Wing Chun and Karate, seems that the training aspects seem more appealing than the styles.

You are more important than the style, never forget that!

Practicing both Wing Chun and Karate, back to back isn't a sin, you might become, somewhat contaminated as some none cross training stylists, might view it this way.

We are in the age of open mindedness, expanding our conciseness through communication with the world of differences.

Those that are not open to world, will become stale and inbred martial artists.

Having a base style and building or adding to it with other styles is fine.

Martial art fusions of styles are also fine.

Choosing four different styles that cover: stand up fighting, ground fighting, weapons and self-defense is also a way to expand a martial artists awareness.

It all really boils down to, what works best for you and without experiencing a few styles, you will never know.

pinklady6000 · Yellow Belt

singularity6 · Pre-Black Belt

I'd love to cross train in different martial arts. The school I'm in already does TKD and Hapkido simultaneously. There are some Uechiryu Karate, Kobudo and Iaido schools locally, but I simply don't have the time or money at the moment.
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P.A.L · Black Belt

if your Goju is Japanese version then i would take only one of them. if your Goju is Okinawan version then i take both and i would use my learning from Wing chun in my Goju. i practice Okinawan Shorin ryu and Goju ryu and when i have doubts about a technique i always try to find the root of that technique in Crane or Tiger.

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