Every time I have reached out to this community with a question, I have always received great support from everyone.....so I am here to ask for it one more time:
To give you some background, I studied Tang Soo Do for 2 1/2 years and quit a couple of weeks ago because:
The training became stale and boring
I was doing forms just to do forms....the actual practicality was never explained to me.
The school's student base dropped from roughly 80 to 20.
I am 38 years old and I was in class with all 13-15 year old kids.
The only adult classes available were Mon, Thu and Sat afternoon.
These are just some of the reasons. For the full story, please see the 100 page thread in the General Martial Arts forums, created by yours truly, titled "How Do I Quit?"
Anyway, I wanted to start studying MMA. So I did the same thing I did when I chose my Tang Soo Do school. I went around from school to school for weeks on end, watching classes and participating in classes. Now, I have nailed my decision down to two schools. They both have their pros and cons, but, if I may, I would like to ask other adults, with families and full time jobs, their opinion on these two schools and which one they would choose.....yes I know, in the end, it is my choice, but I need some advice here.
Ready?
School #1:
Has BJJ and MMA classes:
Monday from 7:30 - 9:30
Tuesday from 6:30 - 8:30
Thursday from 7:00 - 9:00
Saturday from 11:30 - 1:00
They also offer "fitness" classes: (which I do not know much about)
Monday from 6:45 - 7:30
Thursday from 6:15 - 7:00
Saturday from 10:00 - 10:30 (this one would never work for me if you notice the one hour layover from the BJJ/MMA class on this day)
The monthly fee is $120 and there are no contracts.
The school requires that you purchase all equipment thru them. So on top of the $120 for the first month's tuition, I also have to deal out $145 for the MMA gloves, boxing gloves, shin pads and head gear. I would then have to, at some point, dish out another $65 for a BJJ gi, but he said that there are two nights a week where they do not wear gis, so I could take my time with purchasing that.
They have a full fledged fighter that has fought in professional fights teaching the MMA and BJJ classes on Monday and Thursday. The downside is that he is only 24 years old and it seemed hard in my one trial class to relate to him. But he was very nice! They worked me pretty hard and taught me some knees and taught me how to hit a bag. I have never hit a bag up until this point and feel like a T-Rex.....my legs are incredibly strong with my kicks, but I don't know what to do with my hands. Not to mention, I wouldn't know what to do if I ever got taken to the ground. Don't get me wrong, I have a very muscular chest, shoulders and arms due to always doing pushups, but I just don't know what to do with them.
Anyway, I liked this school. There were about an average of 8 students there each time I went and they were all nice and a couple were in my age range. The school did work me hard in the beginning with lots of push ups and sit ups and jumping rope, but it only lasted about 10 minutes into the class. The head guy that owns the place is very down to earth and has a 5th degree black belt in Kempo and a black belt in BJJ. He is older than me, but I enjoy speaking with him and he understand where I am coming from when I stated I wanted to change arts.
School #2:
Has Cardio Fitness and MMA classes:
Monday from 6:00 - 8:00
Tuesday from 6:00 - 8:00
Has Cardio Fitness and BJJ classes:
Wednesday from 6:00 - 8:00
Thursday from 6:00 - 8:00
All classes can continue for sparring or one on one training from 8:00 - 9:00.
Saturday is "open mat". I am not sure what that means and I am trying to get clarification that if I miss a class somewhere during the week, if I can make up anything.
The monthly fee is $100 and there are no contracts.
The school could care less where I get my equipment. They stated that all I need to start are boxing gloves because I will not be sparring until I get some classes in and learn how to fight, and until then, I can also borrow the nasty *** school owned gear. They never use MMA gloves, they always use 16oz boxing gloves. They also have a huge "check your ego at the door" policy!
Now, their cardio program was the most insane thing I have ever seen! For an entire hour (6-7) the instructor beats the hell out of these guys. They actually have buckets for people to throw up in and they keep track on a white board every time you throw up to bust your balls later. I saw two people throw up tonight when I went to their class. One of them threw up twice. That is how insane this is. The instructor says that the cardio class is absolutely essential to the MMA and BJJ classes! Stamina is what it is all about, and I could see the students getting tired when they hit targets or sparred, so I believe he is right. This school dedicates an entire hour everyday from 6-7 o'clock on just cardio and then moves on to whatever that day's agenda is (Mon and Tue MMA, Wed and Thu BJJ)
I automatically clicked with the instructor....he himself has a black belt in Tang Soo Do! He is my age, and the way he taught the boxing that I saw, was very technical and he broke down every move for the class. With both of us having Tang Soo Do in our backgrounds, we could relate to each other because we both realized that it wasn't for us around the same time of our training.
There were only four students in the class though. I am told there are usually a couple more though. They were mostly 15-17 year old kids though, but there is one adult that is 38, like me, coming back in November and apparently is a great guy!
Now that you have that background, here is the wild card.
I work from 7:30-4 on Mon, Wed, and Fri and 8:30-5 on Tue and Thu. With school #2, I do not see how I am going to get home, make dinner for me and my family and eat before class. And trust me, you don't want to eat anywhere near the time this class starts.......it is THAT hardcore! I could, however, make dinner the night before and then warm it up, but they state that is really bad to eat that late, so I would just be defeating the purpose of the whole workout by eating late and letting all of that food just sit in my stomach.
Needless to say, School #2 would really cramp my family life and have me running around like crazy during the week and their "open mat" day on Saturday is still a mystery to me. I really like the school though, so I am torn....badly. I go in earlier, but get out earlier.
School #1 has a pretty good schedule for me, however, it seems to be less focused on the cardio side of things, which, from what I have seen in MMA so far, is extremely important.
Of course, it would be great to save $20 a month with school #2 and buy my own gear at my own leisure, but the price that I would pay would be time.
With school #1, I have to dish out more money up front for the equipment and per month, but the schedule is more suitable where I won't have to change my personal schedule much. And if I do miss a class, I can always make it up on Saturday because I am always off and always awake.
Can anyone give me some advice on what they would do? Thank you!
To give you some background, I studied Tang Soo Do for 2 1/2 years and quit a couple of weeks ago because:
The training became stale and boring
I was doing forms just to do forms....the actual practicality was never explained to me.
The school's student base dropped from roughly 80 to 20.
I am 38 years old and I was in class with all 13-15 year old kids.
The only adult classes available were Mon, Thu and Sat afternoon.
These are just some of the reasons. For the full story, please see the 100 page thread in the General Martial Arts forums, created by yours truly, titled "How Do I Quit?"
Anyway, I wanted to start studying MMA. So I did the same thing I did when I chose my Tang Soo Do school. I went around from school to school for weeks on end, watching classes and participating in classes. Now, I have nailed my decision down to two schools. They both have their pros and cons, but, if I may, I would like to ask other adults, with families and full time jobs, their opinion on these two schools and which one they would choose.....yes I know, in the end, it is my choice, but I need some advice here.
Ready?
School #1:
Has BJJ and MMA classes:
Monday from 7:30 - 9:30
Tuesday from 6:30 - 8:30
Thursday from 7:00 - 9:00
Saturday from 11:30 - 1:00
They also offer "fitness" classes: (which I do not know much about)
Monday from 6:45 - 7:30
Thursday from 6:15 - 7:00
Saturday from 10:00 - 10:30 (this one would never work for me if you notice the one hour layover from the BJJ/MMA class on this day)
The monthly fee is $120 and there are no contracts.
The school requires that you purchase all equipment thru them. So on top of the $120 for the first month's tuition, I also have to deal out $145 for the MMA gloves, boxing gloves, shin pads and head gear. I would then have to, at some point, dish out another $65 for a BJJ gi, but he said that there are two nights a week where they do not wear gis, so I could take my time with purchasing that.
They have a full fledged fighter that has fought in professional fights teaching the MMA and BJJ classes on Monday and Thursday. The downside is that he is only 24 years old and it seemed hard in my one trial class to relate to him. But he was very nice! They worked me pretty hard and taught me some knees and taught me how to hit a bag. I have never hit a bag up until this point and feel like a T-Rex.....my legs are incredibly strong with my kicks, but I don't know what to do with my hands. Not to mention, I wouldn't know what to do if I ever got taken to the ground. Don't get me wrong, I have a very muscular chest, shoulders and arms due to always doing pushups, but I just don't know what to do with them.
Anyway, I liked this school. There were about an average of 8 students there each time I went and they were all nice and a couple were in my age range. The school did work me hard in the beginning with lots of push ups and sit ups and jumping rope, but it only lasted about 10 minutes into the class. The head guy that owns the place is very down to earth and has a 5th degree black belt in Kempo and a black belt in BJJ. He is older than me, but I enjoy speaking with him and he understand where I am coming from when I stated I wanted to change arts.
School #2:
Has Cardio Fitness and MMA classes:
Monday from 6:00 - 8:00
Tuesday from 6:00 - 8:00
Has Cardio Fitness and BJJ classes:
Wednesday from 6:00 - 8:00
Thursday from 6:00 - 8:00
All classes can continue for sparring or one on one training from 8:00 - 9:00.
Saturday is "open mat". I am not sure what that means and I am trying to get clarification that if I miss a class somewhere during the week, if I can make up anything.
The monthly fee is $100 and there are no contracts.
The school could care less where I get my equipment. They stated that all I need to start are boxing gloves because I will not be sparring until I get some classes in and learn how to fight, and until then, I can also borrow the nasty *** school owned gear. They never use MMA gloves, they always use 16oz boxing gloves. They also have a huge "check your ego at the door" policy!
Now, their cardio program was the most insane thing I have ever seen! For an entire hour (6-7) the instructor beats the hell out of these guys. They actually have buckets for people to throw up in and they keep track on a white board every time you throw up to bust your balls later. I saw two people throw up tonight when I went to their class. One of them threw up twice. That is how insane this is. The instructor says that the cardio class is absolutely essential to the MMA and BJJ classes! Stamina is what it is all about, and I could see the students getting tired when they hit targets or sparred, so I believe he is right. This school dedicates an entire hour everyday from 6-7 o'clock on just cardio and then moves on to whatever that day's agenda is (Mon and Tue MMA, Wed and Thu BJJ)
I automatically clicked with the instructor....he himself has a black belt in Tang Soo Do! He is my age, and the way he taught the boxing that I saw, was very technical and he broke down every move for the class. With both of us having Tang Soo Do in our backgrounds, we could relate to each other because we both realized that it wasn't for us around the same time of our training.
There were only four students in the class though. I am told there are usually a couple more though. They were mostly 15-17 year old kids though, but there is one adult that is 38, like me, coming back in November and apparently is a great guy!
Now that you have that background, here is the wild card.
I work from 7:30-4 on Mon, Wed, and Fri and 8:30-5 on Tue and Thu. With school #2, I do not see how I am going to get home, make dinner for me and my family and eat before class. And trust me, you don't want to eat anywhere near the time this class starts.......it is THAT hardcore! I could, however, make dinner the night before and then warm it up, but they state that is really bad to eat that late, so I would just be defeating the purpose of the whole workout by eating late and letting all of that food just sit in my stomach.
Needless to say, School #2 would really cramp my family life and have me running around like crazy during the week and their "open mat" day on Saturday is still a mystery to me. I really like the school though, so I am torn....badly. I go in earlier, but get out earlier.
School #1 has a pretty good schedule for me, however, it seems to be less focused on the cardio side of things, which, from what I have seen in MMA so far, is extremely important.
Of course, it would be great to save $20 a month with school #2 and buy my own gear at my own leisure, but the price that I would pay would be time.
With school #1, I have to dish out more money up front for the equipment and per month, but the schedule is more suitable where I won't have to change my personal schedule much. And if I do miss a class, I can always make it up on Saturday because I am always off and always awake.
Can anyone give me some advice on what they would do? Thank you!
My crossfit gym has a puke bucket, but that isn't something they are advocating....
