Keyboard Warrior
Head Administrator
Ze Führer
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Practitioner
Posts: 721
|
Post by Keyboard Warrior on Aug 22, 2012 20:35:57 GMT -5
So I tried out a new gym/dojo thing today because it's next to my house. And I just didn't care for it. Some things I could overlook, other aspects I couldn't. It got me thinking, as to what exactly you look for in your gym/dojo? I think we'll get some varied responses because some of us are traditional guys and others aren't.
Is location key? How much they train in technique? Size of the classes? How organized they are? What do you look for? What are some deal breakers?
|
|
odee
Global Moderator
Kyokushin 10 years - Brazilian Jujitsu 3 years - Muay Thai 2 years.
Posts: 1,286
|
Post by odee on Aug 22, 2012 22:18:19 GMT -5
First thing that matters to me is the sparring. How is it conducted, what kind of levels, what kind of intensity, what kind of atmosphere while it happens?
The teacher/teachers are the next most important. How a teacher interacts with the class is usually a good indicator of a teacher's methods. Most of the teachers I've had are the type who try things before making a descision about them and usually have more knowledge for students to pry as a result than teachers who just dismiss things that aren't part of the syllabus.
The other students are my final concern. I want a good selection of people who have equal or greater ability to spar against. I've never been the best on any practice mat that I've called 'my school' and I hope that never changes. Someone better is someone to aspire to be better than.
|
|
|
Post by jwbulldogs on Aug 23, 2012 1:40:37 GMT -5
Location is one thing. But I look for a good teacher. If the teacher is knowledgeable and is good at sharing that knowledge.
My first instructor was good. Having watched others that I didn't think to be as good I never wanted to be taught by someone that wasn't that good. I felt that I would be taking steps backward if I didn't have a good instructor. I needed to have someone on that level. When I could no longer train with him I asked him for advise on finding a good teacher. There was no way I could go from where I was to what I thought as an inferior school. He gave me a list of places. I went o visit most if not all until I found a place that I believe was right for me. It had one drawback though. My 1st sense taught us judo, but we were taught judo as self defense. We learned how to defend ourselves from punches, kick.s etc and to use them. Tournament was secondary. My new dojo didn't teach any self defense. The sensei explained they only teach judo as an Olympic sport. I like the class, but I didn't like how far it was. I joined with my wife, son, and 2 cousins. Everyday after warming up the next thing we did was to train in mat work. We were there a long time and hadn't gone over any throws. I was surprised that they had my wife and others that came with me do randori and they hadn't learned any throws. It wasn't a problem for me since I had previous training. I did't know it at the time that our sensei in that dojo had trained with the Olympic team. He was an alternate for the 88 Olympics.
When that dojo moved further away I stopped attending and again had to search for a good instructor. I found my current sensei. I didn't care for his demeanor at first. But I checked out his class and was impressed. So I joined and have been there since. He has attempted to get me to teach my own school, but I declined when the other places wanted me to teach on the same days that I train with him. The latest place agreed to move the days to different days. This would workout fine. I could still train and learn with him. He could stop by my dojo when he wanted and could help out. The center never got its funding from some outside source.
My main things are quality of instruction, location, and price.
|
|
|
Post by rollingrock128 on Aug 23, 2012 11:09:25 GMT -5
personally i like small classes and coaches focus on technique. i also hate when coaches only focus on certain people because they see more potential in them i see that a lot. Also like odee said how sparring is conducted. in my gym you have to have 6 months of classes no matter how good you are unless you come from another gym and are already skilled. and of course safety you can't be letting kids have 100 percent wars in there. 1 last thing i hate i want the coaches to act like normal people good role models but not like how you picture a traditional coach focusing on discipline and all that. i want the focus to be on fighting.
|
|
|
Post by capoeirista on Aug 27, 2012 10:26:33 GMT -5
I've made a point to look for 3 things in any group I join.
1. Camaraderie: this is extremely important. If there's no camaraderie in a group, I will most likely walk out before I get embroiled in some sort of drama. The best part of my Muay Thai gym is the team sense we have. If you have a match, everyone turns up to cheer you on. Even if you lose, everyone drags you along to the bar to cheer you up.
2. Ethic: this is a problem with my capoeira group sometimes, but not so that it becomes too annoying. Most people in my group come to class and put their souls into capoeira for 2 hours. I mean, that's why you come, right? Not for some people. You see, there are a number of very attractive girls in my capoeira group, and you end up with a bunch of couples who make lessons extremely slow. My worst nightmare would be a group with no sense of ethic or drive at all.
3. The student-teacher relationship: This one is the sole reason I've left many groups behind. For all the groups I currently attend, I know that if anybody insults a teacher, the teacher will have no trouble in telling them to get the fuck out and sort out their attitudes. However, if the teacher is too soft on bad students, too harsh on good students, or just downright retarded I don't hesitate to leave.
|
|
|
Post by Possum on Sept 8, 2012 7:48:12 GMT -5
I look first for schedule and location (what good is the place if I can't make the classes?).
After that, I want a knowledgeable instructor. As I get older, I realize I can't do the things I used to be able to do, and I want to make sure the instructor doesn't treat me the way like I'm a teen. And I want an answer to a question I ask, not a "I don't know" or "don't worry about that".
That it. I couldn't care less about the mats, the heating, the mirrors, the kid black belts. I don't want to trip over art work and kindergarten chairs like I once did at a YMCA.
Oh, and dealbreakers? contracts. I despise them. Month to month, thank you very much.
|
|
|
Post by Glutton4Punishment on Oct 11, 2012 3:53:37 GMT -5
Primarily the teacher and their training methods, followed by the other students and the location all in that order. I drive to train for about 30 minutes each way and it's no big deal. One thing that really does matter to me is not having dickheaded training partners. The types who just start steamrolling the new guys during their first sparring session as opposed to helping them learn, for example. Nothing bugs me worse than bad training partners.
|
|
|
Post by shurite99 on Oct 17, 2012 9:04:00 GMT -5
I will probably start cross training in about a year, so i have given this some thought.
For me location is pretty obvious. If its more than 20min forget it. Reality of life is i don't plan on spending it in a car.
Its important to have a good community feel to it. In my current dojo all of the senior belts enjoy each others company and it makes a huge difference in terms of A) enjoyment B) willingness to help each other out on the dojo floor and C) no ego.
I don't care much for if the gym has a fitness set up/fitness classes. I do my own workouts and have a great fitness instructor, but maybe thats just my situation.
I think a good gauge is the quality of the students - truthfully you won't learn much about the instructor by talking to him/her for 10min. If the students are good thats a big tick in the box.
The sparring must be hard, though scaled depending on the skill of the student.
Not a fan of contracts.
|
|