How long are the classes you teach?

[bushido_man96]

I was wondering how long everyones classes were. Mine are one hour each. I have seen 1 hour, and up to 2 hours listed. Also, how much time do you devote each class to certain segments?

We start with about 15 to 20 minutes of basics.

Then we do forms, but we do forms by rank. Low rank goes up first, and does the form twice; first by instructor count, then their own count, with a critique after each performance. I don't like this scenario, as it makes for a lot of down time. This can take between 15 and 20 minutes.

Then we do one-steps. This goes between 10-15 minutes.

We finish with sparring, if there is time. About 10 minutes.

If you all could give me some feedback on how your classes look, I would be very appreciative. Thanks a bunch!

[DeeBoy]

I teach a 1 and a half hour class.

my class structure depends on the ranks in class, but will usually start of with a light non contact sparring session to warm up. then we will work thru all of the marterial up to their current rank, with corrections and adjustments along the way. once at their current rank i work their newest material thouroghly (sp). on other nights i will work on what i feel is lacking in their martial arts..

[bushido_man96]

I teach a 1 and a half hour class.

my class structure depends on the ranks in class, but will usually start of with a light non contact sparring session to warm up. then we will work thru all of the marterial up to their current rank, with corrections and adjustments along the way. once at their current rank i work their newest material thouroghly (sp). on other nights i will work on what i feel is lacking in their martial arts..

Thank you. And by the way, welcome to the forums! I noticed that this was your first post. Hopefully the first of many!

[parkerlineage]

My tentative plan for the MA club I'm leading in a few weeks/months is:

20-30 minutes of warm up

10-15 minutes of kata

10-15 minutes of weapons

15-20 minutes of techniques

30 minutes of sparring

5-10 minutes of cooldown stretching

So that comes out to...one and a half to two hours.

[scottnshelly]

...

Then we do forms, but we do forms by rank. Low rank goes up first, and does the form twice; first by instructor count, then their own count, with a critique after each performance. I don't like this scenario, as it makes for a lot of down time. This can take between 15 and 20 minutes.

If you dojang is large with a wide variety of different colored belts, this might work: All students stand in line, and do the first form. Then those that know the second form do that, those that do not repeat the first form. Then those that know the third form do that, those that do not start over from the first form.

The white belts will end up repeating the first form about 10 times (which is good for them) while the upper belts get an opportunity to go through all of their forms. This also provides a small amount of distraction to the students while they perform, which will help their concentration at the same time. Another benefit to this is it gives the underbelts some exposure to the advanced forms so they’ll have an idea of what it looks like when they get there.

[kenpo4life]

About 75 minutes for my kickboxing classes for conditioning. 90 minutes for all the others.

[Zorbasan]

my TKD was 1 hour, which is fine, but my problem was that 1/2 of that was used by warm up, which only left 30 mins for actual TKD.

My shotokan class was 2 hours, but has since been dropped to 1.5 hours, which i think is the best for a class as it doesnt drag but there is plenty of time to cover what needs to be covered.

[Jiffy]

We used to have 2 hour classes, but we recently went to 1.5 hour classes. This is much better. People concentrate a lot better and it means we can fit two classes into the night.

We start with about 10-15 mins warmup, then it varies from there...

[AngelaG]

Juniors classes are an hour, adults/teens are 1 hour and 45 minutes, and the open sessions are 2 hours.

1 hour classes are enough for the juniors as after that their attention really starts to wander (and you know that you are just being used as a babysitting service), but for the adults and ttens it's too short as by the time you have done warm up there is little time for any real training.

By the way, our warm up lasts for 17 minutes, which is the optimum time apparently.

[bushido_man96]

...

Then we do forms, but we do forms by rank. Low rank goes up first, and does the form twice; first by instructor count, then their own count, with a critique after each performance. I don't like this scenario, as it makes for a lot of down time. This can take between 15 and 20 minutes.

If you dojang is large with a wide variety of different colored belts, this might work: All students stand in line, and do the first form. Then those that know the second form do that, those that do not repeat the first form. Then those that know the third form do that, those that do not start over from the first form.

The white belts will end up repeating the first form about 10 times (which is good for them) while the upper belts get an opportunity to go through all of their forms. This also provides a small amount of distraction to the students while they perform, which will help their concentration at the same time. Another benefit to this is it gives the underbelts some exposure to the advanced forms so they’ll have an idea of what it looks like when they get there.

We have done forms like this in the past, especially in the forms class, but not necessarily in the regular class. I have decided that I am going to start doing forms with the low ranks in these situations, just to get myself more work, and better prepare myself for testing in April.