I've very recently been taking some Krav Maga classes lately. I haven't taken any martial arts stuff since I was a kid. The classes I've been taking I've been very satisfied with so far but they seem pretty pricey. What does this stuff cost?
The Price of Martial Arts
- Thread starter Ktulu
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Ok I guess, for comparison, I should post what I'm paying. Krav Maga $59 up front and $79 a month if you sign for a year. At my current level they hold 3 classes a week. I can go to any or all of them. When I graduate to the higher level I can attend a full contact fight class for another $30.
El Tejon
Member
In Praying Mantis I pay $40 a month, plus fees for seminars in mantis boxing and qin na (travel involved, usually just driving to Peoria or Memphis or Chicago, but sometimes fly to Boston or NYC).
Wing Chun, kind of funky, we pay per form. I paid $500 to start and SLT, $500 for Chum Kiu and 1/2 the mook, $250 for the Bil Jee and other 1/2 of mook, $250 for the staff, $250 for the swords, and $250 for both the tripodial and the plum flower steps.
Judo is $20 per month. I start escrima soon and that's per month as well.
I never go for the contracts. YMMV.
Wing Chun, kind of funky, we pay per form. I paid $500 to start and SLT, $500 for Chum Kiu and 1/2 the mook, $250 for the Bil Jee and other 1/2 of mook, $250 for the staff, $250 for the swords, and $250 for both the tripodial and the plum flower steps.
Judo is $20 per month. I start escrima soon and that's per month as well.
I never go for the contracts. YMMV.
Wilhelm
Member
I pay $320 a month. Though I dont pay monthly if that makes any sense.
I'm about to start taking Aikido, priced at $80/mo when you sign up for a year. It's $100/mo otherwise. The 'required' beginner classes are only two times a week, but you can go to all four per week if you want the extra practice at no additional charge. Also, the experts hang around the dojo a lot, and you often see them helping out beginners when there is no class going on. Also, you get free weapons training for the same price -- mostly kendo (sword), but also some knife, gun, and jo (3-4 ft. staff) training. Quite a bargain, I thought.
If the class size is over 6 guys, it's just
ballet-dancing. It takes a great master to really teach more than 4 guys at a time, too. Anybody worth anything these days gets $60 an hour, so figure $10-$15 an hour. If there's women and kids mixed into the class, or anyone below your skill level, forget it.
ballet-dancing. It takes a great master to really teach more than 4 guys at a time, too. Anybody worth anything these days gets $60 an hour, so figure $10-$15 an hour. If there's women and kids mixed into the class, or anyone below your skill level, forget it.
Which Olympian?
Dev Null:
""Unlimited karate classes and use of full gym facilities, $55/mo for 1 yr contract. Great teachers, too, including 10-time National Champion and former member of US Olympic team.""
Which Olympian, which sport?
MaceWindu
Dev Null:
""Unlimited karate classes and use of full gym facilities, $55/mo for 1 yr contract. Great teachers, too, including 10-time National Champion and former member of US Olympic team.""
Which Olympian, which sport?
MaceWindu
Paul Gomez
Member In Memoriam
D7tho Said: "If there's women and kids mixed into the class, or anyone below your skill level, forget it."
'Cause, lawd knows no woman could ever be better than a by-god MAN at anything.
'Cause, lawd knows no woman could ever be better than a by-god MAN at anything.
El Tejon
Member
Paul, not us, the He Man Woman Haters' Club of THR!
Phantom Warrior
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Tae kwon do
I train in tae kwon do up here in northern Minnesota. World Tae Kwon Do Federation affiliated, Chang Moo Kwan tae kwon do, if anyone knows the difference. Price is $40/month, but I'm lucky enough to be at the headquarters gym so I get to train under two 6th dan black belts (husband/wife team).
Whatever you end up paying, make sure you get your money's worth. My instructor recounted a story about a school a friend of his looked into once (she was trying to find a place to continue training) in the Cities. She went in and saw the instructor slouched on the floor smoking, while his students did forms and he gave advice. No teaching by example, no demonstration, no one-on-one attention, nothing. And they were PAYING for this. If you end up in a bigger school it will be tougher to get personal attention. But the instructor should at least be trying. If you can find a well-established school there will usually be plenty of other high-ranking students to help teach the beginner classes.
On D7tho's comment, it is good if the school has seperate adult and junior classes. Kids are harder to keep focused and generally learn more slowly and on a different level than adults, speaking as someone who has worked with kids in a martial arts setting. You'll probably be happier with seperate classes if they are available.
I train in tae kwon do up here in northern Minnesota. World Tae Kwon Do Federation affiliated, Chang Moo Kwan tae kwon do, if anyone knows the difference. Price is $40/month, but I'm lucky enough to be at the headquarters gym so I get to train under two 6th dan black belts (husband/wife team).
Whatever you end up paying, make sure you get your money's worth. My instructor recounted a story about a school a friend of his looked into once (she was trying to find a place to continue training) in the Cities. She went in and saw the instructor slouched on the floor smoking, while his students did forms and he gave advice. No teaching by example, no demonstration, no one-on-one attention, nothing. And they were PAYING for this. If you end up in a bigger school it will be tougher to get personal attention. But the instructor should at least be trying. If you can find a well-established school there will usually be plenty of other high-ranking students to help teach the beginner classes.
On D7tho's comment, it is good if the school has seperate adult and junior classes. Kids are harder to keep focused and generally learn more slowly and on a different level than adults, speaking as someone who has worked with kids in a martial arts setting. You'll probably be happier with seperate classes if they are available.
RevDisk
Member
.
Cost varies depending on where you are located. Look around and price shop. Realize, you get what you pay for.
Heh. I know of a female Krav maga instructor that might disagree. She taught me a lot, and I am forever grateful for some of the lessons she imparted. They've come in handy.
As for people below your skill level, both of you need practice. You'd be surprised how much one can learn by helping a less skilled person improve his/her techniques.
Kids, I can understand that. Often it is better to have specialized classes for minors.
Cost varies depending on where you are located. Look around and price shop. Realize, you get what you pay for.
Heh. I know of a female Krav maga instructor that might disagree. She taught me a lot, and I am forever grateful for some of the lessons she imparted. They've come in handy.
As for people below your skill level, both of you need practice. You'd be surprised how much one can learn by helping a less skilled person improve his/her techniques.
Kids, I can understand that. Often it is better to have specialized classes for minors.
Aikibiker
Member
I train at a college Aikido club. The instructor lives about forty miles north of the town and drives down three to four days a week to give lessons. He doesn't charge a dime. We students pay the club $50 a semester. That money goes into a pool to pay the school for the room we use, cleaning fees for the mats, insurance, equipment and supplies, and a dinner for all the members every semester. We also try to give Sensei some money for his gas, but there is no way what little we give to him covers it. He is just a nice older gentleman that really loves to teach Aikido and has been training in the art for about 50 years now.
I think we have the best deal going.
I think we have the best deal going.
please observe that D7tho stated that if "woman AND kids" were present at the gym to be warry. Now i guess some people just want to get pissed off and read that as him saying "women OR kids". But, they are definatly two different things. And i will in fact agree that mothers with their children are not something that one should expect to see at a "serious" martial arts training facility. And the ratio of instructors to students should be around 1 instructor for every 4-6 students.
Does this mean that women can't be just as good at martial arts as anyone else? Nope. It's a way of determining a quality gym from a crappy gym. And frankly anything that helps a person do that is a good thing. There is NOTHING that prevents some moron gunshop commando from calling himself a "ninja master" and opening a gym. Anything that helps one stear clear from the losers is a GOOD thing.
Does this mean that women can't be just as good at martial arts as anyone else? Nope. It's a way of determining a quality gym from a crappy gym. And frankly anything that helps a person do that is a good thing. There is NOTHING that prevents some moron gunshop commando from calling himself a "ninja master" and opening a gym. Anything that helps one stear clear from the losers is a GOOD thing.
For those of you who's political correctness alarm just went off, let me try and explain my take on that statement. An adult male cannot train to fight another man by sparring with women or kids. You have to hold back too much on power (with kids you have to hold back on your speed too). While this can be useful to a degree, if you are training to protect yourself you need to be sparring with adult males. I have left the dojo with bloody noses & mouth from training several times, and I have seen black eyes o'plenty. You train how you would fight if you want to be effective.
This is not to say you cannot take kata oriented martial arts with women and children, some of the best kata forms I have seen have been middle age women performing them. It is a lot of fun helping a child develop his style, and you can learn a lot about pysiological mechanics by comparing movements of the three groups (man, women, child).
I have been doing Martial Arts for 20 years. I have never, ever met one single woman that could come close to sparring with me realistically. Not one. White belt to black belt. All that is on my mind is how not to hurt them.
There may be some tough girls out there. But they are very rare. Girls DO hurt the intensity and mood of the class. You just can't train full speed because 99.9999999% of them can't handle it.
There may be some tough girls out there. But they are very rare. Girls DO hurt the intensity and mood of the class. You just can't train full speed because 99.9999999% of them can't handle it.
RevDisk
Member
If you spar with any new student, do you take care not to hurt them? I should hope so. If I severely beat the stuffings out of a new student or merely one of a much lower skill level... my instructors/mentors would be calling me out to the mat for some "Wall to Wall counselling".
If I did any martial art(s) for 20 years, I would think I was experienced enough to adjust my intended level of damage. The few times I've had to apply my training in the real world, I had to take care how much damage I did. (This is called 'professionalism'.) I responded with the force required for the situation. Accidently crushing someone's throat when I had to headlock someone would be a bit hard to explain to my bosses. I could have maliciously dislocated a few people's arms, or permanently cripple a leg. Probably could have gotten away with it too, but I didn't want to hurt anyone more than I had to.
Not sure which style you practice, but a hypothetical white belt male student shouldn't be able to regularly defeat a hypothetical black belt female. If so, why is the white belt still a white belt and the black belt still a black belt? It's all about the skill level.
Perhaps I am merely blessed by having practiced with and faught alongside abnormally aggressive women...
Revdisk, I am an average ability Shotokan Black belt (Shodan). I am a better than average Brazilian Jiu Jitsu blue belt.
I have sparred with plenty of Shotokan Black belt women and they just do not have the physical or mental intensity of a man. It is like babysitting to spar with them.
Same thing for Jiu Jitsu and Judo. I have never sparred with a girl in Jiu Jitsu. However, I have sparred with plenty of girl Judo black belts of various weights. It was like sparring with my 11 year old. I could tap them at will like taking candy from a baby.
Girls can improve their self defense skills. But, most are no match for a man. Learn to shoot would be good advice.
I have sparred with plenty of Shotokan Black belt women and they just do not have the physical or mental intensity of a man. It is like babysitting to spar with them.
Same thing for Jiu Jitsu and Judo. I have never sparred with a girl in Jiu Jitsu. However, I have sparred with plenty of girl Judo black belts of various weights. It was like sparring with my 11 year old. I could tap them at will like taking candy from a baby.
Girls can improve their self defense skills. But, most are no match for a man. Learn to shoot would be good advice.
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