Crosstraining

**judoka_uk** · Posted On: 12/30/2011 7:17pm

I agree that you should pick one style and form a solid base in it.

As far as I'm aware the strongest martial art in Egypt is Judo.

I would do Judo for a while and then add in another style if you want to round out your skills.

If you want to round out your standup I would recommend Muay Thai, I found this to be a good fit for Judo.

If you want to round out your grappling I would recommend BJJ.

**Mister** · Posted On: 12/31/2011 11:23am

The ruleset is freestyle wrestling.

I like grappling but I tried a MT class at the local gym and it was good.

I tried BJJ it was good too but very expensive and the schedule doesn't fit me.

The only thing I didn't try was the freestyle wrestling because I found out about it recently.

Seems that everybody is recommending the same thing, to wait a little until I'm somewhat good at Judo and to do MT if I don't want to wait.

I've been doing Aikido for two years though, how long does it take to form a solid base?

**Ignorami** · Posted On: 12/31/2011 11:50am

Originally Posted by Mister

I've been doing Aikido for two years though, how long does it take to form a solid base?

5-10 if your lucky to be in a decent club, and you train hard.

**Mister** · Posted On: 12/31/2011 12:45pm

Originally Posted by Ignorami

5-10 if your lucky to be in a decent club, and you train hard.

****...

I guess I'll have to postpone the Muai Thai...for 10 years.

**Yoj** · Posted On: 12/31/2011 12:51pm

Just do Muay Thai, if you have the time, and you are young, it will be fine, later on in life other things will take up your time, and you may regret not doing it, its very hard to confuse arts that mostly live in different ranges, anyway.

**Ignorami** · Posted On: 12/31/2011 1:07pm

Muay Thai isn't going to confuse your Aikido. Or your Judo. The only harm it'll do them is if you have to cut one to make time

If you have time to do it, do Muay Thai. It's awesome, hard and fun.

**Mister** · Posted On: 1/03/2012 7:22pm

Thanks for the advice.

I also found recently Sanda and Kickboxing (what the difference between that and Muai Thai is, is beyond me) and Shotokan Karate mostly kata and point sparring with light contact.

Any opinions on those?

**judoist** · Posted On: 1/04/2012 6:38am

Sanda/Sanshou is generally OK, and even our own "Sambo" Steve Koepfer who teaches Russian SamBO in New York has done it. If I recall correctly, he was a finalist at the world SanShou cup somewhere around '97 or '98.

As I said, for now, avoid freestyle wrestling.

Muay Thai (Thai boxing): uses punches, kicks, elbows, knees (especially from the double clollar tie clinch) Awesome if it's a competative gym.

Kickboxing: Has diferrent rulesets, generally only allows punches and kicks (some styles/rulesets only allow kicks above the belt), but I've heard of Freestyle Kickboxing, which allows low kicks and knee strikes. Pretty good to awesome, depending on the level of sparring, coaches' experience level and quality of sparring partners.

Sanda/SanShou: Kickboxing with throws and takedowns. Also pretty good to awesome, depending on the same factors as Kickboxing.

Shotokan: From what you describe, I would avoid it, unless you come across a rare school that has proper sparring.

Also, nice username.

**erezb** · Posted On: 1/04/2012 7:08am

I have to say wrestling.. its great to combine Judo with MT off course but i think its better at first to become very good in some aspect like grappling for example. I think wrestling will help your judo allot, you will have an adj on your opponents and you will learn new things that will help you become an awesome grappler.

**PointyShinyBurn** · Posted On: 1/04/2012 7:32am

Freestyle and Judo are close enough that cross-training them is beneficial to both, in my opinion. At higher competitive levels you might want to focus on the target sport, but for the fairly noobish their approaches are complimentary.