On the topic of learning multiple styles...
Guys, try to avoid recommending multiple styles to someone looking to learn martial arts for the first time. I see people asking for recommendations on what to start with for self defense and getting recommended 6-7 different styles to cover different areas of combat.
First and foremost, they need to find out what’s available to them. They should visit those places and choose one that they like, identify with, and feel comfortable at.
Realistically, today, we can live out our entire lives and never see a single fight. There is zero need to recommend a bunch of styles for a bunch of different areas of combat. Find one you like, stick with it, learn it well, understand it and how it interacts with others on its own, which can take years! beware of instant gratification and feelings of “I know it, so I’m good”. THEN seek to acquaintance yourself with others of interest so that you can learn to understand how they do things and how yours can adapt and interact with that, thus bringing a better understanding all around on other styles, but especially on yours.
By learning basics of a bunch of styles, you'll still be at basic level as a martial artist and as a fighter, and in turn, still ineffective. Don't do that. You wouldn't trust someone to build you a house if you found out they only have basic knowledge on all types of construction know-how needed for it, right? Especially if you found out they only have a few months worth of learning for each, and they learned it all through YouTube, which in turn most likely means they haven’t actually practiced as much as they say they have, which seems to be a thing happening more and more.
In the same way, you shouldn't trust the effectiveness of self defense on simply knowing the basics of different combat areas.
Which leads me to this note: Knowing ISN’T the same as understanding and practice, and it certainly isn’t the same as the application of that understanding and practice. You could memorize 1000 techniques for each combat area and still be incredibly ineffective due to lack of real understanding of the application and practice of techniques in a real sense. You can look at how to put up a door and say "I know how to do that now", but then go put one in, and it comes out crooked, scratches the floor and doesn't fully close. It works the same with this whole learning 4-5 different styles without giving yourself time to understand any single one in its real sense of application.
That is not to say that one can't learn more than 1 style at the same time, if time and money permits them. But its not the same to train 2 systems alternating classes a few times a week, for 10 years, than to do a few months of a single one and decided that now you're missing this and that, so you move on to another one when you still don't get how that first one even actually works in the real sense.
This is why when someone wants to be an all-rounder from the get go, it's better to recommend that they just seek out an MMA gym, a modern martial art that has a focus on some of the most effective aspects of the main 3 combat areas, for sport... and I specify for sport, because a lot of people say they want to learn self defense, but when you explain self defense to them and teach them a few things about awareness, de-escalation and overall avoiding a situation, the question is always the same: "But what do I do if...?" and it's always about fighting. In the end, a lot of them just want to learn how to fight, not how to defend themselves in the real sense.
So please, if you’ve done it, be more considerate of your recommendations. Some people might not have something specific available to them... and not just that, but it might scare them off from actually joining a place from the sheer amount of stuff that’s out there, as well the amount it would cost to cover all of it by doing it all separartely (on the other hand of that, be careful with people looking for very specific things that might not be available at all, and try to steer them into what is actually available and easy to get to). It would have some people thinking it’s impossible and then never even join one at all becauase what’s the point if it’s only one thing and they would be “missing” 8 others, and it would certainly push more and more people, especially teenagers and children, to learn from scratch watching videos, which isn’t a good thing either if you don’t already have real experience and a good understanding of martial arts... I’ve met a few that think they are masters because they’ve been watching videos for a while, but I digress, that’s another topic entirely.
Anyway... some notes to clarify:
Areas of combat - standing, take-downs, grappling, weapons, etc.
By learning basics of a bunch of styles, you'll still be at basic level - if you learn basic punching at karate and basic kicking from Muay Thai, you’re still just a basic level student who may not even realize you could’ve gotten both things from any of the two styles with a little more practice in just one of them. This is an obvious example, of course, but a lot of people don’t realize that styles like Karate have all aspects of combat (save for Sports Karate specifically done for sport), and have very symilar attacks to styles that do punching, kicking, grappling, throws, joint locks, etc.
Knowing ISN’T the same as understanding and practice - Now-a-days, you can literally find anything on the internet. This has caused instant gratification and impatience to skyrocket among people. Many will fool themselves into thinking they understand how something works at its core, simply because they see a 3 to 10 minute video on it. It is not the same to know something, as it is to experience it, do it, learn it step by step while practicing it and seeing the details that those videos don’t show you, and most importantly, having someone teaching you, supporting you, and guiding you along the way, as well as having people to learn and practice with. Referring back to one of the examples above, you wouldn’t let someone build you a house if they tell you they know how because they looked at a video. You’d want someone not only trained properly, but who also continues to learn and update their knowledge. Also someone who is honest about what they do. That one is very important.
In the real sense - the real, under pressure application of a skill... and that includes awareness and de-escalation tactics as much as combat.
