What's the furthest you're willing to drive to attend a MA school?

[Hanzou]

I once attended a Judo dojo that was an hour from my home. That was probably the furthest. I've been fortunate to have lived in large cities my entire life, so martial arts schools were never hard to find. However, I do understand that some people living in rural areas may not be so fortunate.

With that said, what's the furthest you've traveled to attend a MA school?

 

[jobo]

I once attended a Judo dojo that was an hour from my home. That was probably the furthest. I've been fortunate to have lived in large cities my entire life, so martial arts schools were never hard to find. However, I do understand that some people living in rural areas may not be so fortunate.

With that said, what's the furthest you've traveled to attend a MA school?

i walk 6 miles to get to my class ( and 6 back), its only 4 miles as the crow flies, but i take the scenic route

nb why did you ask the question in distance and then answer in time ?

its takes getting on for 2 hours each way, less if its raining

 

[Hanzou]

i walk 6 miles to get to my class ( and 6 back), its only 4 miles as the crow flies, but i take the scenic route

nb why did you ask the question in distance and then answer in time ?

its takes getting on for 2 hours each way, less if its raining

Fair point. The Judo dojo was about 50 miles from my home, so it took about an hour depending on traffic.

 

[jobo]

Fair point. The Judo dojo was about 50 miles from my home, so it took about an hour depending on traffic.

i walk as its good exercise, i wouldn't take a car into town at that time, that would take an hour and cost more than the lesson to park, i could get the bus, thats a faster journey, but theres a walk at either end and a wait for a bus to turn up

so its always going to take an hour, thats a very very wasted hour, so i add an hour and get good value out of both of them and it doubles as a dog walk, so its already saved me an hour or so on the day,, time management is the key

 

[Tony Dismukes]

The closer the school is, the more consistently I'm likely to attend.

I've flown across the country on my vacation time for a special week-long gym visit.

I've driven up to 8-10 hours for weekend seminars.

I've had a couple of schools that I drove 1.5-2 hours each way to attend once a week for supplemental training, but that petered out after a year or two.

At one time I was walking 45 minutes each way to class, 3 times per week.

Right now my current gym is only a 15 minute drive away. Before the pandemic I was making it there 4-5 times per week on a pretty consistent basis.

 

[Danny T]

Back in the early 90s I drove approx. 130 miles once a week for 13 months to attend a Pekiti-Tirsia Kali class. Was the only kali instructor around at that time.
2001-2003 drove approx 240 miles once a month to train catch wrestling.

 

[Graywalker]

As a teenager, I walked about 5 miles 3-5 times a week to my school.

As for the furthest distance...I would sometimes gauge it by the cost of gas, compared to the monthly cost of the school. If it doubled my cost, I would usually try to find another person willing to share the cost of gas.

 

[Buka]

It depended on what used sheet box I was driving at the time. At one point the building our dojo was in was purchased and we were booted out. Fortunately, we were friends with a lot of dojo owners. Used to travel and hour to one place, and hour twenty for another and forty minutes for a third. We did that for a couple of years. And they never charged us one cent.

Most of the time we'd eat in the car on the way back after classes. That's when it was beneficial driving a sheet box.

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

The farthest drive was about half an hour. But at one point didn't have a car so I'd walk about an hour each way to get to a school (if I walked). Once I got smart and left my bag/clothes there instead of changing and then leaving with my bag, I'd jog there and it was much quicker.

 

[Punchy]

The farthest I've gone for training : 5 hour flight.
The farthest I've driven : 12 hours....uphill both ways

 

[JowGaWolf]

I once attended a Judo dojo that was an hour from my home. That was probably the furthest. I've been fortunate to have lived in large cities my entire life, so martial arts schools were never hard to find. However, I do understand that some people living in rural areas may not be so fortunate.

With that said, what's the furthest you've traveled to attend a MA school?

I think an hour drive was the most. Not sure what the distance was, but as far as time goes, if I have to sit in a car more than an hour to get where I need to go, then I'm less likely to do that with any consistency. This is an hour with traffic.

 

[Dirty Dog]

Drive? DRIVE??? If you're not walking, barefoot, uphill both ways and swimming across at least one alligator infested river to get to class, you're soft. Weak. You'll never be an Alpha Male. Or get the girl.

I don't think I've ever regularly attended a school that was more than maybe an hour from home. Generally less. I'm not counting travel to things like seminars.

 

[KenpoMaster805]

My karate class was only 15 min away

 

[dvcochran]

@Tony Dismukes nailed it.
Can't remember time exactly but I can say several trips required airtime. I did a few trips to Queens Island NY where after flying in we would ferry over. They were 3-5 day classes/seminars but invitation only so pretty cool. I have drove or ridden to every state east of the Mississippi except the 5 upper tip states. And been to several mid-west and western states. I have worked out in every state except Hawaii, and Alaska (I used to travel a lot for work). Can't say how many times I have been to Mexico and Canada. Central America twice, South America twice. Jamaica and Puerto Rico four times each.
Closer to home the furthest I traveled on a regular basis was about 1-1/2 hours one way 2 times/week when I trained Kali east of Nashville. Done that for 3 years. Have traveled to west Nashville at least once/week since 1987.
So now that you have some viewpoints, why don't you tell us what the basis of your question is? In short, if the training is worth it, the travel is worth it. IMHO

 

[Monkey Turned Wolf]

Drive? DRIVE??? If you're not walking, barefoot, uphill both ways and swimming across at least one alligator infested river to get to class, you're soft. Weak. You'll never be an Alpha Male. Or get the girl.

I don't think I've ever regularly attended a school that was more than maybe an hour from home. Generally less. I'm not counting travel to things like seminars.

But how many squats are you doing while walking barefoot? And how much are you lifting? If it's not at least 300 you're the unmanliest man ever

 

[Hanzou]

So now that you have some viewpoints, why don't you tell us what the basis of your question is? In short, if the training is worth it, the travel is worth it. IMHO

You're quite perceptive....


A friend found a MA school they wanted to try, but it was about 30 minutes away from where they lived, and they wanted some advice. My only experience with long distance training was the very short time I did Judo. It was an hour there and an hour back, and was one of the major reasons I didn't stick with it. So I thought I'd ask around here to get some other perspectives.

Anyway, thanks for the input.

 

[dvcochran]

You're quite perceptive....


A friend found a MA school they wanted to try, but it was about 30 minutes away from where they lived, and they wanted some advice. My only experience with long distance training was the very short time I did Judo. It was an hour there and an hour back, and was one of the major reasons I didn't stick with it. So I thought I'd ask around here to get some other perspectives.

Anyway, thanks for the input.

I would say perspective is at play here. Where I live 30 minutes to ....well anywhere is not very long. Open country where we live. When you get to a town the traffic is terrible. The last I heard Nashville is ranked 23th in the country for congested traffic. Of course if you are talking about walking/bicycling the weather would play a big factor certain parts of the year and 30 minutes would be a lot.
Does your friend have closer options, I mean good options? I suggest trying them all. Or at least a few of them, especially if they are new to MA's.

 

[Hanzou]

I would say perspective is at play here. Where I live 30 minutes to ....well anywhere is not very long. Open country where we live. When you get to a town the traffic is terrible. The last I heard Nashville is ranked 23th in the country for congested traffic. Of course if you are talking about walking/bicycling the weather would play a big factor certain parts of the year and 30 minutes would be a lot.
Does your friend have closer options, I mean good options? I suggest trying them all. Or at least a few of them, especially if they are new to MA's.

No, it's a 10th Planet Bjj location, and its the only one in her area. She prefers no gi, their style, the names of the moves, etc. so whatever.

 

[Rich Parsons]

You're quite perceptive....


A friend found a MA school they wanted to try, but it was about 30 minutes away from where they lived, and they wanted some advice. My only experience with long distance training was the very short time I did Judo. It was an hour there and an hour back, and was one of the major reasons I didn't stick with it. So I thought I'd ask around here to get some other perspectives.

Anyway, thanks for the input.

I drove an hour plus for one of my FMA arts.
I know others would not drive it. So they did not go. Then they got upset when I got better, even if they started before me.

People will do what they want.
Yet, most are not looking for a passion. They are looking for exercise, or to "Feel" safe. These people will drive to the school that is on their way home from work, or within 5 miles - 10 minutes of their home. From my experience.
...
I had someone who wanted to train private lessons with me, and the did not as they could not afford the time and money for the travel.
They then asked me to do the travelling and were surprised when I said I would charge them for the drive time, and the Gas at the federal mileage rate $0.55-0.58 / mile which was meant to average gas and maintenance.

they were upset when I broke down the costs for them.
...
Yet, when I drove my miles, the only cost I was thinking about was after class, making sure I practiced once I got home. Working with others to make it mine.

I hope they find what they are looking for.
If it is something the truly want , I mean really want, they will find a way to accomplish the task.

 

[geezer]

I've traveled considerable distances to train at times when I had no choice since there was nobody teaching the stuff close by. And then there were the years when I drove my teenage son all they way across town to his TKD class ...when there were several schools close by our home. But he only wanted to train with Master Nick. And I wanted to have a better relationship with my son.

Those drives were about the only time I could connect with the kid at that age. Don't regret a minute of it!