Private lessons or personal trainer?

[JazzKicker]

Most karate/TKD etc. training seems to be done in group classes, especially for kids. Then there's black belt classes, or informal groups or training partners.

How many of you, though, if you had the time and money, would want to do private lessons? Would you want to train with someone "famous", like Dan Inosanto? Or just get personal attention from you instructor?

I can imagine where someone who is wealthy, or a celebrity (or both!), or just a busy executive, might want to do that.

[OneKickWonder]

I'd love to have private lessons. By that I don't necessarily mean one to one. Possibly small private group of me and most trusted training friends.

And as for 'famous' teachers, I don't think so. I know a handful of martial artists that I consider exceptional. They are not famous in any way. Just ordinary regular folks that happen to be good people and outstanding martial artists. Those are the folks I'd be happy to pay for private tuition.

But what format would that take? If it were entirely up to me, I wouldn't attend regular classes long term with private instructors. Instead I'd want maybe a few sessions with one, then a few sessions with another and so on, because each of these exceptional martial artists that I know has different things to offer. I have a friend who competed in what might have been called MMA except no grappling. He is the best I know at striking. Then there's a guy I know that is an ex soldier who mixed aikido with combatives. He is the man for practical, realistic, dirty street survival. Then there's a guy who loves aikido but added in tai chi and some judo and a few other bits. He is the most fluid at moving of anyone ever. He'll ask you to genuinely try to punch him for real at full speed, you'll miss because he's moved off centre without any apparent effort, then he'll calmly explain all the dynamics from his new position to your side. So between the three, one can teach excellent striking skills, one can teach real stuff and one knows how to move without effort. I think if you put the three together I think that's a pretty comprehensive coverage. Especially if added to a foundation of regular generic training.

[sensei8]

Over my 5 decades in the MA, I've done group and private. The dynamics were about the same, but I suppose that that's to the credit of our Soke and Dai-Soke; exceptional MAists and instructors across the board.

The majority was done in a group setting; that was my mom's financial decision, from 7 years old to 13 years old, and I don't regret it whatsoever. The private lessons were when I was a JBB, ages 13-18 years old, and from Godan and up; however, they were private in that as a JBB, there was a solid band of roughly 7-13 of us. By my choice, I opted back into the group setting from ages 18 years old to 27 years old. Then, there's Godan and up, in which I was elected into the SKKA's Board of Regents, whereas there was 12 board members; private lessons were one of the perks of being an elected member of the SKKA. Albeit, those of us who were part of the Hierarchy were very much spoiled by Soke and Dai-Soke.

The usual group setting was 25-40, in which, one might think that they'd be lost in a crowd, but they weren't whatsoever. Again, the type of the instructor(s) makes a very big difference.

[tallgeese]

Privates are a pretty common thing in the BJJ world. I think they can be extremely useful for focusing on a specific problem on is having, a position or technique that is giving someone issues, etc. The individual focus based on your game and physical attributes is a useful thing.

As for with famous practitioners, that's entirely up to you. Part of this is the experience of it. You'll learn, of course, but it's probably not going to be a seamless to integrates as material coming from someone familiar with how you work. That said, the experience is usually pretty cool.

[Bulltahr]

Been looking into Benny "the jet" Urquidez a bit lately, I see that John Cuzack trained under him and was wondering if it was one on one or a normal "group" class. I would love some one on one lessons, not necessarily with someone famous, just with someone really good, mostly for kumite TBH.....

[Wastelander]

We do private lessons pretty frequently at our dojo--people often do them to prep for tests, or to get caught up after being out for a while, but sometimes just to work on specific things they want help with. We also have some people who can't attend regular classes, for various reasons, who do private lessons, instead.

Personally, I haven't done that many formal private lessons, but I've spent a pretty good amount of time informally training with my Sensei, and others. Now that my Sensei has passed away, I really wish I had done more private lessons/training with him. I don't know how "famous" they are, but I definitely have a list of people I would consider "high profile" that I would love to get private lessons with.

For Okinawan martial arts:

Nakazato Minoru, head of the Shorinkan

Higa Kiyohiko, head of the Bugeikan

Bill Hayes, head of the Shobayashi-Kan

Shimabukuro Zenpo, head of the Seibukan

Shinzato Katsuhiko, head of Kishaba Juku

Taira Masaji, head of the Okinawa Goju-Ryu Kenkyu Kai

Hokama Tetsuhiro, head of the Okinawa Goju-Ryu Kenshi Kai

Shinjo Kiyohide, head of the Uechi-Ryu Karate-Do Kenyukai

For other martial arts:

Chen Xiao Wang, Chen Tai Chi

Yang Jwing-Ming, Yang Tai Chi

Maul Mornie, Silat

Doug Marcaida, Kali

Buakaw Banchamek, Muay Thai

Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn, Muay Thai

Hakuho Sho, Sumo

Osunaarashi Kintaro, Sumo

Jimmy Pedro, Judo

Kashiwazaki Katsuhiko, Judo

John Danaher, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Mike Winkeljohn, Kenpo/Mixed Martial Arts

Lyoto Machida, Shotokan/Mixed Martial Arts

Georges St. Pierre, Kyokushin/Mixed Martial Arts

[bushido_man96]

I've always liked the group setting for classes, and have never really had many private training sessions. Sometimes I'd get together with my instructor and trained together, but wouldn't call them private sessions, really.

[MatsuShinshii]

I think there is an argument for both.

I have had my fair share of private "classes" and they have their place but IMHO do not replace group class.

Famous teachers for private lessons; well I've had the privilege to train under what we would consider the hierarchy of our organization, but not sure that makes them "famous". Having said that I would have loved to study directly under Hohan Soken O'Shinshii. Even if it were to sit and talk to him about the art. That would be my dream class.

As far as famous goes, I have trained under what some would consider famous and to be honest I found it to be no more advanced than training under any of our Kodansha. I won't mention names but I think the "famous" part goes to their heads and at least in my case, I found the classes to be less than what I expected. So I guess my answer is no, I would not seek to have private classes with anyone "famous".

[XtremeTrainer]

How many of you, though, if you had the time and money, would want to do private lessons? Would you want to train with someone "famous", like Dan Inosanto? Or just get personal attention from you instructor?

I've done private lessons from time to time and it would be awesome to train one on one with a world renowned martial artist such as Dan Inosanto. The most famous martial artist I trained under was Joe Lewis although it was not one on one. Anyway, while I think private lessons are good I think overall the best way to learn martial arts is not with private lessons but with small classes. Small classes I think are best because, with the classes being small the instructor can give good attention to each and every student and a student also has peers to work with. With small classes you have training partners around your same skill level so that's why I think they're better than private lessons. So I think the best way to learn is in small classes followed by private lessons followed by large classes.

[advfhorn]

I have paid for private lessons for my son to "catch up" when he is having a harder time grasping a concept than other kids his age. Also for confidence before a tournament.

IRT myself ... I am considering it before my testing grade that requires 2 and 3 on 1 while sparring ... I am terrible at sparring.

As far as from a pro ... maybe if I felt I was nearing the level that my own Sensei was not able to teach me more.