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I want to become a well-rounded martial artist.

I used to train Muay Thai when I was a kid. But 3 years ago I quit and focused on BJJ & grappling. I would really love to combine BJJ with Muay Thai but I fear a negative effect on my grappling skills.

I asked some friends (not really experts) if it's good to add Muay Thai and they replied by saying it'll affect my BJJ in a negative sense. Is this true?

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    Your friends statements lack a reason as to why Muay Thai would affect BJJ. Without said reasons, we cannot state whether they are correct or not. I suggest either adding those reasons or remove that part of the question. I even lean towards the latter as it is not necessary for the question to be a good one.
    – Sardathrion - against SE abuse
    Jul 16, 2015 at 6:36
  • There are positives and negatives to every interaction in life. Do you have a metric for how to compare them? For example, if Muay Thai were to negatively affect your grappling skills (perhaps because you have less time to practice them) or even just change those skills slightly, but decrease the odds of needing those skills because you have other skills available, is that a good or a bad thing? Without knowing your individual life goals, it could be difficult to give any definitive answer.
    – Cort Ammon
    Jul 16, 2015 at 11:59
  • Do you fear a negative effect independently of your friends, or just because of them?
    – mattm ♦
    Jul 16, 2015 at 16:02

2 Answers 2

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No.

The only asset is if you have to train less BJJ to training Muay Thai. If you will train MT and will have the same hours of training of BJJ this is not an issue.

As a martial art, you need spend time training.

The longer you practice the luckiest you are. Rickson Gracie

Updated

Sometimes I training Judo, for who knows Judo has a different approach to some rules. Maybe because I'm a Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu I can avoid what is considered illegal on Judo when I'm training it.

In another hand, when I do NoGi ( what I'm not training that offen) a few times I try to hold on the GI.

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To add on to @AFetter 's answer, the reason that they probably won't effect each other is because they are so different. BJJ is a grappling art, and MT is a striking art. Since there are no similarities whatsoever, they shouldn't cross over. It's like learning bagpipe and then piano and worrying that they will overlap(which they won't). There is nothing to worry about.

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  • I do not fully agree with it. For sure if you are more professional or more skilled you can control better your skills.
    – AFetter
    Jan 20, 2020 at 10:05
  • Also doubtful about that... I'm a longtime student of ITF TKD (some exposure to Hapkido) who is seldom in "the zone" while sparring (great concentration, techniques and combinations arising spontaneously). If I were to train in two disparate arts like that I can imagine myself, for example, focussing on what the next strike should be and not anticipating a takedown from the other guy.
    – Amorphous Blob
    Jan 21, 2020 at 16:29
  • @AmorphousBlob First of all, I said PROBABLY, secondly, worrying about someone taking you down when you know they won't isn't a major problem, if even a problem at all. I meant that it wouldn't ruin either of those skills to try the other one; reflexes from one of them crossing into the other doesn't really count. Thanks for your feedback though!
    – LemmyX
    Jan 23, 2020 at 23:09

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