I have read that historically, a good martial artist would learn only one or two styles. How can someone be good if they say they learn several styles of martial art?
For the most part, it is true that many martial artists only studied one or two styles towards mastery and that the standard of skill was higher. There are several reasons for this. First, accessibility to the information was limited. You couldn’t just go through the yellow pages or go ‘window shopping’ from school to school. Second, it was not easy to join a kung fu family; you had to first prove your worth. This also took time. Third, once the learning began, it was slow. Masters were often protective about their knowledge, but they also believed, based on their understanding of human physiology, that proper martial arts development had to follow certain stages. One crucial stage was the very lengthy period of intense training of the horse stance. Until this skill was attained, no other techniques were taught. This period could take up to three years. However, most well known top masters with open minds studied more than one style. There are many examples of such masters in history.
