I hold many styles of martial arts in high regard. Shobayashi-Ryu just happens to be what I started with over 20 years ago and from my research it still happens to be my favorite.
I think that the common practice of spending a few years in a style and then moving onto the next is not a productive way to train. People who do this sometimes even train until black belt and then move on. When someone tells me that they have black belts in half a dozen styles, I know that it's more than likely that they probably don't know any of those styles on a very deep level.
I have studied the ideas and techniques of other styles over my years of training, but I have always been a Shobayashi guy. In fact, a lot of what I have learned by researching various styles has helped me gain more knowledge about Shobayashi.
Here's a short and very incomplete list of martial arts styles for those of you who want to do a little research but aren't sure where to start:
- Brazilian jiu-jitsu
- Wing Chun
- Jeet Kune Do
- White Crane Boxing
- Muay Thai
- Krav Maga
- Savate
- Taekwondo
- Aikido
- Capoeira
- Boxing
- Greco Roman Wrestling