Quote:
Originally Posted by westside24
My favorite of Ps was 5-4
I like mavs compilation... I wanna learn to fight like that. too bad such a thing is expensive
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Well, depending where you go. If you wanted to learn straight kickboxing, I'm certain you could find a place for a reasonable price; no more than you would pay for a gym monthly. The trick is finding a place that is legit and instructed by people who know what they are doing, and preferably, have competed themselves.
My MMA school (pghfightclub.com) is $100 a month plus the initial cost of gear (mouth piece, MMA gloves, cup, knee pads, shin pads), which is not cheap, but not unreasonable. It's also 30 minutes away from me. Why did I choose this place over the kickboxing school that is literally 2 blocks from my house ($75/month) or the boxing/kickboxing classes at my
local gym ($35/month)? Quality. Without
high quality instruction you may as well being learning from a video.
My criteria? Some others may not agree with, as there's been discussions on the board before on how well someone can teach without having the athletic ability themselves, but here goes:
- If you plan to compete, ensure your instructors have competed. Aside from general instruction and learning, there is a science to weeks prior to a fight that only experience will be able to handle.
- The instructors must look and perform the part. I'm training MMA, at my level, I want to know that my instructor can kick my ass (which is definitely the case).
- Must have legit contact. Fighting is all about toughness. Moreso in MMA as there's no standing 8 count or 10 seconds to get off your back. As Mike Tyson said, everyone has a game plan til they get hit in the face. A lot of places will do little to no full contact to cater to a larger audience of casual martial artists. Avoid this.
- Ensure that there is a focus on conditioning. Spotting a number of overweight trainees (or instructors, back to point 2) can be a sign that conditioning isn's an adequate focus. Yeah, you can handle a lot of the conditioning stuff yourself, but likely no in the sports-specific manner you could in the gym.
- No forced "rankings" or "belt" tests. Good instructors test you when you are ready. The tell-tale sign of a McDojo is the "We test for a new belt every 4 weeks" type crap or seeing 8 year old black belts.
I'm sure I have more, those are just the big ones that come to mind that I used before landing at my current gym.
I know its easy for me to say since I'm not sifting through couch cushions to pay my bills or anything, but price should be your last concern when finding a place to train.
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