🧵 Dojo choice
Anonymous at Mon, 31 Oct 2022 22:03:25 UTC No. 123127
Moving to a new city soon and and want to learn a martial art there. Mostly joining for self-defence, fitness and fun. Can anyone help me decide? There's only four in the area:
Advanced Tactical Combat:
>Doesn't really say what martial art, get the impression it's basically just Krav Maga with a few extra bits
>Trainers seem well qualified, everyone has at least 10+ years experience in various martial arts, and experience teaching military/police
>Accredited by British Combat Association, OCFM and British KAPAP Association (dunno if these actually mean much?)
>Sound cool but not sure if they're legit or a mcdojo
BJJ:
>Biggest dojo in the area
>Offer Gi and No-Gi classes
>Owner has over 15 years experience, the head trainer has about 5. All of them are certified by Gracie Barra Europe
>Regularly send teams to tournaments, hold mini in house tournaments too
>Has a beginners class
Kickboxing:
>Not much info about their actual courses/team on the website, except that they teach kickboxing and recently refurbished their dojo
>Offer lessons three times a week, one of them is contact sparring
>Regularly send a team to compete at WKA and other tournaments, they also train the national team there
>Say beginners are welcomed to any of their classes
Muay Thai and MMA:
>Offer lessons in both, as well sparring in separate sessions
>Two trainers have over 10 years experience, are active amateur MMA fighters, have placed high in a couple of tournaments and regularly go to Thailand to train and fight
>Trained in boxing, muay thai, jiu jitsu, and judo
>They have MT a beginners course starting in January, 6 weeks, 2 lessons a week.
I'm leaning to the MT/MMA one at the moment, at least for the beginners course. Afterwards, I'll maybe keep doing MT and the BJJ depending on how much free time I have.
Anonymous at Mon, 31 Oct 2022 22:38:51 UTC No. 123134
Advanced tactical combat. Do you want be to standing there holding your dick when al Qaeda abducts your daughter? When you get jumped by hip hop style thugs do you think your double leg and head movement are going to mean jackshit? Other than your shit getting jacked? Become a weapon. Advanced and tactical. Combat sports are for pussies.
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 02:13:58 UTC No. 123157
>>123127
Krav Maga is notoriously bad and ineffective. It doesn't have pressure testing like combat sports. The others sound like.
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 02:28:41 UTC No. 123158
>>123127
For self defense, assuming you can't run, anything that can incapacitate your attacker quickly so you can gtfo of there is what you want to go for. You don't want a long, drawn out fight. Typically, fighting dirty is the quickest way to incapacitate. Eyes, nose, throat, groing, knees, shins and instep and all very effective. You don't need to know any specific martial arts to do this.
If your goal is to survive an attck, doing anything you can to avoid confrontation is your first form of self defense. There's no shame in running. Any person experienced in self defense and/or combat that's not a complete retard will tell you this.
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 02:31:36 UTC No. 123159
>>123158
I meant to say
*Eyes, nose, throat, groin, knees, shins and instep are all very effective.
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 03:06:54 UTC No. 123160
>>123158
>There's no shame in running
Yes there is. I can understand running and recuperating from maybe an armed attacker or multiple. But to run away from an attacker only breeds weakness in oneself which will only haunt you in the long run, more than any physical wounds. People who have the 'just run' or 'give them everything' philosophy on fighting fail to realize what the attacker wants. You give him your wallet? Next your shoes, watch, phone, jacket, pants, manhood, and maybe he say's "ah fuck it" and still clobbers you or blows you away just for the sake of not wanting witnesses. The running thing, like previously mentioned, only breeds capitulation in the face of danger and overall weakness for future endeavors not just fighting. Run when you are outnumbered or the attackers have a mighty weapon. Run and spilt off your attackers and try taking them one on one or finding a weapon to take them on better. Only run to escape when you are outnumbered by armed persons or total a mob, law enforcement are arriving, or it has become apparent the fight isn't ending or is over.
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 12:12:47 UTC No. 123190
Just look at which gym is producing the highest level of competitors right now. Which one has the most pro fighters or most coaches who used to be pro. From what you described they all seem like shitty mcdojos. Surely there has to be a boxing gym nearby you could train at instead?
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 12:39:49 UTC No. 123191
>>123134
HEMA for people who like Liam Neeson films is a good selling point
>>123157
Thanks. That one seemed a little larpy and not very fun anyway, I'll probably avoid it
>>123158
>>123160
Fair points. Honestly the area I'm moving to is very safe and low crime, so I'm not worried about getting attacked any time soon
>>123190
Thanks for the advice. There's two boxing gyms, but I can't find much on their websites about actual training outside private hire lessons, just HIIT and boxfit type stuff. There's also a judo and karate club, but they're both closed right now and I dunno if they're gonna reopen. The MT/MMA gym is run by two guys who seem experienced and compete, but I dunno if any of their students do. The kickboxing gym trains the national team, but I dunno anything about the coaches.
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 12:51:03 UTC No. 123192
>>123191
I would visit each of them for at least an hour. Martial Arts gyms tend to have terrible websites with little information, regardless of their actual quality.
Definitely not the Advanced Tactical Combat place. 100% a mcdojo. All of the others sound like good, reputable gyms, so whichever one you stay with will probably rely on your style preference and the people and culture at each gym.
Striking? - kickboxing
Grappling? - bjj place
Mixed? - MT and MMA place
Going to the MMA/mt training course is probably a good bet, it will help you figure out what you're interested in, just don't feel obligated to stay there after, but fuck it if you like the place just stay. So long as the coaches are reputable and there's fighters with wins at the gym, the rest of your development is really up to you.
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 13:07:06 UTC No. 123193
>>123192
Thanks anon, that's helpful. It looks like they all offer a free trial session, so it should be easy to move on if I don't like the MT/MMA one
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 22:52:49 UTC No. 123223
Take a few classes in each, duh
Most people here dont train, and those that do are biased
My personal take is train bjj for a few months and then go for muay thai/mma
Anonymous at Tue, 1 Nov 2022 23:25:54 UTC No. 123232
>>123127
The MT/MMA gym sounds the best. Anywhere that produces competition athletes will have the highest quality training even if you never want to compete or just do something for fun.
I am a bit skeptical of the WKA associated kickboxing one as Western kickboxing as much as I love it, is a dying art with even the best Western k1/glory/unified rules kickboxers or those who cross train grappling and go into the UFC having Muay Thai backgrounds. And true Muay Thai places would state their association to a gym in Thailand like the MT/MMA place does and not a Western sanctioning body like the WKA. But that's like my opinion man. Maybe they are great K1/Unified kickboxers and Nak Muay not slightly dated American style kickboxers.
Anonymous at Wed, 2 Nov 2022 02:06:43 UTC No. 123255
>>123127
I'm going to be honest with you here; if self-defense and fitness is a priority and you are tall to any degree, start working out with calisthenics and lifting. Size does much more to dissuade would be attackers than skill does.
Yes, martial skill will help more in a fight but you'll get into way less fights if you're bigger.
After you've put some muscle on then try out the BJJ classes, but try to focus on staying on your feet and throwing your opponents. Wrestling or Judo would be better for self-defense than BJJ as BJJ builds bad habits, but it sounds like you don't have that option.