Shaolin Kempo - Villaris - Beginer needs help!

[Tone]

This week will be my first class(free) at a local martial arts school. Being well rounded is what really attracts me to this style. But from reading on here it sounds kind of expensive. He told me basically they offer 4 class a week of which i could attend all but one cause of work for 80$ a month. Then he offers private lessons for like 40/half hour which I would definetly be interested in as im getting into this kinda late at the age of 20. I could get 4 private lessons and the normal ones for 200 a month.

The school is in Williamstown, MA. If anyone has any first hand experience with this chain or this school in particular.

So any tips or advice would be nice, suggestions, anyone else who started around my age i think its going to be kind of weird im assuming the age of most of the students will be alot younger then me.

[CapitalKarate]

I too am going to be looking into Shao-lin Kempo, the instructor in my area sounded rather professional, unfortunately I think he said it cost like $100 for 2 lessons and 1 private a week.

[Slydermv]

I pay about 100$ Canadian a month for classes... so that 80 figure sounds ok... our schedual is pretty open and you can go to up to 6 classes a week... (I usually do about 3 or 4)

I don't do any private lessons though, so I can't comment on those costs..

[KnifeHand]

Class 6 days a week for $50/month. Private lessons are $15/hour. Sounds like I've got a sweet deal going on! I study Kempo and Jujitsu, as well as some Kobudo.

[tufrthanu]

80 dollars a month for 4 classes a week in MA is ok. Its probably on the low end for that area...especially if you happen to be near any of the big cities. The private lessons seem a bit expensive...personally I don't think you need them unless you find yourself falling behind on a regular basis. If so you really shouldnt need more than one private class per month to keep up.

[martialman101]

lol your doing it at USSD arent you, if not o well, any way sounds simular. Shoulin kempo isnt exactly an art, more like self defence. Its just tactics and strategies on how to defeat an opponent when faced with one. Whatch ur spending, that was my primary art for years, and i gotta admit it was a good foundation for the arts to come, but i was lucky and signed up with a good school. USSD is crap, dont go near it with a ten foot pole. They are quite bad most of the time, though it all depends on which dojo you go to, some arent bad, but none good. I suggest you stay away from dojo chains, like every thing else like that a franchise is all about money. From my experience chains care more about making money than teaching. I suggest you do research and find a well respected teacher for the art, thats your best option. But thats just myopinion!

[Tone]

Thanks for the input, if a long term goal of mine was to be able to fight in different tournaments and be able to do some of those crazy jumps/flip kicks i see what would you guys reccomend?

[tufrthanu]

I agree with martial man I personally know two former head instructors in the USSD system and both of them admitted that they were mcdojo's. If you want to do open tourney sparring and flips/tricks...try looking into an XMA oriented karate or taekwondo school. Unfortunately alot of these also tend to be mcdojos as well.

[Tone]

What does XMA mean?

[Mu Ryuk]

Yeah...

You can get your black belt in Shaolin Kempo Karate by ordering videos, taping yourself doing the requirements, and sending them back. That's really all I have to say.

Tone - XMA means "Xtreme Martial Arts", or gymnastics with a few kicks and punches thrown in.