Tried out a Taekwondo place and got prices last week.....

[speed dawg]

$150/month for one person
$250/month for two persons
$350/month for families

I would be doing either the $250 or $350 option, with one of my kids. Is this a good deal? It's $200 down for a 3-year plan, which is approximate to become a black belt (ETA: this is for unlimited classes, as many as I want, 6 days a week - they recommend at least 2 per week).

I am also looking into Krav Maga and karate/Brazilian Jiu Jitsu places. Also found a gym which offers karate classes.

 

[thunder_god]

$150/month for one person
$250/month for two persons
$350/month for families

I would be doing either the $250 or $350 option, with one of my kids. Is this a good deal? It's $200 down for a 3-year plan, which is approximate to become a black belt.

I am also looking into Krav Maga and karate/Brazilian Jiu Jitsu places. Also found a gym which offers karate classes.

Your getting ripped off dude!

 

[speed dawg]

Thanks. Could you tell me what type of prices I should be aiming towards?

 

[AttackFormation]

WOW. 150 dollars/month for one person? that's 40% of a year's worth of gym membership. For 566 dollars/YEAR I could get access to different martial arts, group training and gym. But that's in another country. Don't pay anywhere near those prices. I wouldn't pay more for a year's worth of martial arts than I do for the gym, which is 350 dollars/year, and I would look up the teachers' credentials and compare those to cheaper/combined options to know what I was paying for.

 

[Bible_Belt]

MMA and BJJ where I live are about $75 to $100 a month. Those prices may be a little cheaper than the national average.

Most Krav maga instructors are scam artists, maybe most martial arts instructors in general are, though, to be fair. The problem with KM is that there are no competitions. So anyone can say they are a master, and there's no way to tell if they are lying. At least with something like BJJ, there are a lot of tournaments and competitions. NAGA runs a lot of the grappling tournaments: http://nagafighter.com/index.php?module=homepage

If a school is good, at least some of their students will be winning competitions. If it's an mma gym, they will have at least a few pro fighters, and guys with legitimate fight experience, same with boxing or kickboxing.

TQD is great for kids. It has a poor reputation for usefulness, though. A black belt doesn't mean a whole lot by itself. There are, however, multiple degrees of black belts. Once you start to get to the third degree and beyond, those guys are more legitimate fighters, especially in a no-rules street fight where crotch kicking would be a useful move.

Belts are only worth as much as the instructor who gave them to you. They are typically used as a way to keep students from quitting. That's why there are so many kid's belts. Kids have shorter attention spans and need more frequent recognition.

BJJ only has five belts. It should take about two years of hard work to go from white to blue. However, there are some schools that give out blue belts after a 4-day seminar.

 

[speed dawg]

TQD is great for kids.

My kids are going to be a big part of it, no matter what I do. Thanks Attack Formation and Bible Belt for the advice.....I'm a complete rookie when it comes to this stuff. I plan to try out a few more places, but honestly I kind of like the taekwondo. I like the workout and flexibility I get from it, and I'm not into it hardcore, ie I don't want to get beat up. Not looking for the MMA type stuff.

 

[dasein]

Have you thought about joining a regular gym for workouts with them and then getting a small mat at home and self-teaching them wrestling? I was varsity and decent, but no champ. Even so, wrestling was a huge positive impact on my life. It is far more of a character builder than the "big" sports, and nothing will build a better, healthier body IMO. During the season, they will get lots of feedback/reward in the (absolutely free) matches and practice, which gives you a breather and a chance to spectate more during the season. Have never done MA, but from what I've seen in life, wrestlers have no trouble with self-defense ever, I never have. Once they are on the ground, it's all she wrote.

 

[Bible_Belt]

My kids are going to be a big part of it, no matter what I do.

I think what you're doing with them is great. The one thing I would try to look for in instructors who teach both women and children is that they don't sell a false sense of self-confidence that could be dangerous in a real-life fight. My instructor had a kids program, and I worked with them a little. The most important thing we can teach to a little kid or a woman is this: against a grown man, you don't stand a chance. Kick them in the nuts and run away screaming for help. That's being a responsible martial arts trainer.

There are kids programs in wrestling that are very helpful in future athletic development, and even some kid's bjj. My bjj class had a 9 y/o girl in it. She rolled with cage fighters and never got hurt.

 

[thunder_god]

Thanks. Could you tell me what type of prices I should be aiming towards?

Well when I studied tkd back in the day, I was paying about $100 a month and that was considered on the high end. Another gym that I studied at charged $800 for a full year. I would say the average price is probably somewhere around $80-100 a month depending on where you live. I would also be very cautious of any gym that tells you that you get a black belt after a certain number of years. Tkd has a bad rep for giving out belts which is why they are called mcdojos. Also watch out for the belt testing fees, those can quickly add up if they make you test every 2-3 months on top of monthly fees. What are you looking for exactly with tkd? Just some exercise, and some fun kicking targets and learning some cool looking kicks? or real self-defence and learning how to fight? Tkd is great for the former, but not so much with the lather. For a kid though, I would recommend you start your kids off in a traditional martial art like tkd, karate, kung fu so that they can develop solid fundamentals, afterwards you can quickly transition into boxing, muay thai.

 

[speed dawg]

Tkd has a bad rep for giving out belts which is why they are called mcdojos. Also watch out for the belt testing fees, those can quickly add up if they make you test every 2-3 months on top of monthly fees.

Yep, they told me there was prices for sparring equipment and a $40 belt testing fee. That's the first thing I thought, "Wow, that will add up like lightning".

What are you looking for exactly with tkd? Just some exercise, and some fun kicking targets and learning some cool looking kicks? or real self-defence and learning how to fight? Tkd is great for the former, but not so much with the lather. For a kid though, I would recommend you start your kids off in a traditional martial art like tkd, karate, kung fu so that they can develop solid fundamentals, afterwards you can quickly transition into boxing, muay thai.

The bolded, plus some self-confidence when it comes to fighting. I can hold my own now, but I would like a little structure and just some basic self-defense moves so I don't get myself killed if I'm in a sketchy situation. But I have a gun, so that's not paramount. I just think it's a cool thing to give to my kids, longer lasting and better benefits than making them play team sports or gymnastics or whatever (assuming they aren't awesome athletes).

I don't really have any desire to get into competitions, unless I find myself so good at it that it makes sense to do so.

 

[Who Dares Win]

Yep, they told me there was prices for sparring equipment and a $40 belt testing fee. That's the first thing I thought, "Wow, that will add up like lightning".


The bolded, plus some self-confidence when it comes to fighting. I can hold my own now, but I would like a little structure and just some basic self-defense moves so I don't get myself killed if I'm in a sketchy situation. But I have a gun, so that's not paramount. I just think it's a cool thing to give to my kids, longer lasting and better benefits than making them play team sports or gymnastics or whatever (assuming they aren't awesome athletes).

I don't really have any desire to get into competitions, unless I find myself so good at it that it makes sense to do so.

For your purposes I would suggest you brazilian jiu jitsu or submission wrestling, more effective, relatively safe and keeps your mind sharp.

 

[VikingKing]

MMA and BJJ where I live are about $75 to $100 a month. Those prices may be a little cheaper than the national average.

Most Krav maga instructors are scam artists, maybe most martial arts instructors in general are, though, to be fair. The problem with KM is that there are no competitions. So anyone can say they are a master, and there's no way to tell if they are lying. At least with something like BJJ, there are a lot of tournaments and competitions. NAGA runs a lot of the grappling tournaments: http://nagafighter.com/index.php?module=homepage

If a school is good, at least some of their students will be winning competitions. If it's an mma gym, they will have at least a few pro fighters, and guys with legitimate fight experience, same with boxing or kickboxing.

TQD is great for kids. It has a poor reputation for usefulness, though. A black belt doesn't mean a whole lot by itself. There are, however, multiple degrees of black belts. Once you start to get to the third degree and beyond, those guys are more legitimate fighters, especially in a no-rules street fight where crotch kicking would be a useful move.

Belts are only worth as much as the instructor who gave them to you. They are typically used as a way to keep students from quitting. That's why there are so many kid's belts. Kids have shorter attention spans and need more frequent recognition.

BJJ only has five belts. It should take about two years of hard work to go from white to blue. However, there are some schools that give out blue belts after a 4-day seminar.

Mma is best. Useful.

 

[speed dawg]

Bottom line, any sport or martial art where you train to condition the body, kick, and punch may be useful but I think a good krav maga school or boxing would better for realistic self defense. On the other hand, if all you want is fitness and some father-son bonding, taekwondo would be a good choice. Just find a school that costs less. You can get a YMCA membership that costs like $70 a month and includes jiujitsu and taekwondo training in the price. Also, training in taekwondo like 6 times per week - especially as a novice - isn't really a good idea. You'll burn out and lose interest.

I hear you. I am actually going to hold off for another year, and let him get a year older. I also checked out the Y by my house and yes, they have karate classes for much cheaper. There is also a BJJ place that tops out at $100/month per person (child is another $70). I have a few more karate/tkd places I'm going to price over the next few months. The Krav Maga place nearby seems sketchy, but I'm sure I'll call them too and see what's up.

In the meantime, I'm just going to try to get back in overall shape (back injury has limited me for a number of years, but I've decided to rise above that sh*t). My guns will suffice for the time being as far as self defense.

Thanks to all for the advice.

 

[Rubirosa]

Yeah dude, that family rate ($350 per month) is the highest I've ever seen....place kinda sounds like a McDojo...

Have you checked into a traditional boxing gym? Back in the day, you couldn't find them ....they weren't even in the Yellow pages...Now they're all over the net.....some of them have great kids programs....

I've said it on this forum before...the best martial arts are the ones where you actually fight....

Good luck in your search

 

[Bible_Belt]

This is a suggestion that never comes up in martial arts discussions, but especially since you have kids, gymnastics and tumbling are a great foundation of skills to learn before beginning martial arts. I knew an mma fighter with a gymnastics background; he would do a standing back flip after he won a fight. The warmup for my bjj class included a lot of tumbling.

The last kid I fought almost broke my arm. He was certainly trying to. It was too fast to even tap out. If I had tried to tap, he would have snapped it before the ref could save me. But he didn't have his feet in the right place and left some space in front of me. I did a forward roll through that space, got away and stood up. That's the same somersault they teach to little kids at tumbling classes. It sounds like the most pvssy martial arts move there is, but it certainly saved me.