Warning Against Rank, Credentials and Mixing Martial Arts
Many instructors point to the rank, titles or broad teaching responsibilities they have accrued during their training to indicate their skill level. These simple tools, while possibly helpful, can sometimes be like anything else in this world, can ultimately be misleading. Some teachers are promoted because they are not genuinely advanced practitioners and become attached to titles, ranks and other paraphernalia of success. Who awarded the rank, title or teaching assignments and what was their level of skill? A weak teacher with little understanding may attract, retain and promote other weak subordinates. On the other hand, some teachers with little status and fanfare can be very powerful. Perhaps they were mistreated by their organization, or had little attraction to status. Finding a sincere practitioner who is genuinely interested in his/her art, and not looking to collect the trappings of success is ultimately best.
As for mixing arts, only in the rarest of events has a martial arts master achieved a sufficient level to invent his/her own art which will pass the test of time. Many try mixing them anyway. The problem is that their understanding is often well below the level of the people who invented the underlying arts, and can be a convoluted patchwork of different ideas that don't fit properly together. That said, there are some circumstances where combinations are okay, but for our purposes, we should remain skeptical, especially of combinations by garden variety martial artists in the local area. Generally, cross training yourself in different martial arts taught in their purest forms may provide some of the benefits one seeks without getting involved with someone who superficially understand a martial art or two and then tries their hand at being the next Bruce Lee.