Questions from potential beginner

[DogDay]

Greetings,

I'm interested in taking a martial arts course. I am 37 years old, male, 6' 1", 188lbs, never trained before and I'm not really a physically active person.

I'm about to return to college and would like to complement that with something that will help me learn better concentration, teach me discipline and give me a physical workout.

I live in Collierville, TN (just outside Memphis). I've only found Karate and Taekwondo schools in the immediate area. The prices seem to all run around $100/month.

The Karate schools seem to allow you to show up for approximately an hour a day, any regular school day of the week as part of your membership.

The Taekwondo school is a little more restrictive though. The master there is Jung Ho Ko. Several time World Champion and 30x Korean champion from what his flyer states. But they only allow you to attend class twice a week for 45 minutes a class. That sounds like a bad deal to me, is it?

I also don't want to attend a school that gives out belts for free or little effort, I want to work hard for them.

Can anyone recommend a school in the area and maybe tell me what I should expect to pay for a year contract.

Any suggestions on a style for a beginning 37 year old would be appreciated too.

thanks for your time.

edit: Corrected Masters name.

Edited July 22, 2005 by DogDay

[elbows_and_knees]

what's up. I actually work in collierville and live in memphis. If you are familiar with the mid-town area, check out memphis martial arts center on highland and poplar. our website is https://www.memphisbjj.com the school is a kenpo school, but we operate out of his basement.

It's like a building shared by several martial arts instructors, all of whom seem to be really good. MMAC offers kenpo and kali. There is a nacao capoeira group there that teaches capoeira, an aikido group, and then there is our group. memphis BJJ and Judo offers bjj, judo, submission wrestling and thai boxing.

I am one of the thai coaches - if you want to swing by anytime, feel free. If that's too far for you to travel, let me know - there are other decent schools in the area as well.

[Enviroman]

To me, $100/month is steep for any style (unless you live in an excessively wealthy area), especially for only twice a week. I'd recommend sitting in on a class or two, get a feel for the school, and see if it's something you might want to try. The more $100 means to you (as in how wealthy, or not, you are) should determine how likely you are to choose the school you deem enjoyable.

[elbows_and_knees]

depends. With bjj, any black belt will easily charge that much. We also have a guy here who is phenomenal with judo and tkd - he coached a female olympian back in the 80's he charges that much as well. For the stuff the DD is talking about, yeah, $100 is steep.

Also, it depends on availability. If I can train several hours daily, it's not that bad of a price. Or, if I am training in multiple styles. That said, we aren't quite that steep.

[DogDay]

Thanks for the replys. I'm going to visit the Taekwondo University here in Collierville tomorrow. I think their pricing is about the same.

I checked out the bjj website and the judo looks a little too much like a wrestling sport, I may be mistaken though. Great website too btw.

And yes I am looking to stick to Collierville for the classes. I do work in downtown Memphis though.

thanks again!

[White Warlock]

Just to note, 45 minutes twice a week, at anything but free is pretty much a waste of time. 15 minutes to warm up, 15 minutes to work out, 15 minutes to cool down, and 72 hours to forget.

Also, i never heard of him, nor is he listed on any competition reports as being a champion anywhere (unless you got his name completely wrong).

Anyway, a true champion would know that 45 minutes twice a week won't teach you 'anything,' so i'm not trusting of this.

As to the other... is that one hour a day, five days a week? Is it alone, or with scheduled classes? Are the classes segregated into skill levels? Also, what 'type' of karate? Problem here is that the term 'karate' is often used for schools teaching something 'other' than karate, so it's actually a good idea to get specific. Especially, don't be afraid to ask the tough questions, because the charlatans and those not being entirely honest will act insulted while 'most' of those being honest will be open and enthusiastic to talk to you. A real important thing is to pay attention to the instructor(s), whether they are passionate about their art. Because if they're not, neither will you be. Also, the students. Whether they are disciplined (not goofing off), courteous as a whole, and enthusiastic as well (sometimes that's hard to tell on just one or two visits watching a class). Also see how many seem to be overconfident. It could be an indication that the courses don't provide enough to learn.

I would say, don't sign huge contracts and find a school that makes you feel 'at home.'

Reader's Digest version.

[DogDay]

Thanks WW for the reply. I corrected the name above, Master Jung Ho Ko. His school is Ko's Taekwondo College. His flyer states "33 years experience, 30x's Korean National Champion, 2x World Champion, Member of U.S. Taekwondo Union, WTF Federation".

Anyways, I went to another taekwondo in town tonight. They too want about $100/month for 2 hrs/week, three times is $150/month, unlimited is $200/month.

This seems like a very expensive undertaking. I'm going to look at Karate schools next. There are two in town I believe.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Personally, I'd say toss the yellow pages out the window and quit looking at the big commercial dojo's. Myself, I prefer the small, basement/backyard/garage type places. You get just as good, if not better, instruction, and the instructor isn't usually into making money out of his teachings.

[DogDay]

Personally, I'd say toss the yellow pages out the window and quit looking at the big commercial dojo's. Myself, I prefer the small, basement/backyard/garage type places. You get just as good, if not better, instruction, and the instructor isn't usually into making money out of his teachings.

Where would those be? I'm really just using google [local] to find places in the metro area.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

The places I'm talking about don't have websites and aren't in the yellow pages. Check out bulletin boards at grocery stores and ask around. There are no doubt hundreds of such places in more metropolitan areas...finding them is the trick. Only a small percentage of martial arts classes are commercial establishments, the rest are guys like me that are doing it because they love it and don't care if they make any money at it.