Hello, first off this is my first time posting on MAP. Before starting a MA i read some of the threads on here and made my primary choice as muay thai. Now yesterday evening I went to a trial class and got involved, 15 minutes prior to the class proper the instructor took the class through the beginnings of a warm up. It consisted of jogging, moving across the mats in a variety of weird and wonderful ways then sets of pressups and crunches interspersed with more jogging. Then he moved onto sets of skipping shadow boxing and burpees. Altogether i'd say there was 25 mins of conditioning followed by 5 mins stretching. Afterwards we went through a few drills with headguards, nothing fancy as this was a beginners class just jab, cross, round kick you'd do it to your partner then he'd do it back to you there were 3 minute rounds in which you kept doing it while he went around the class giving pointers and advice. After a couple of rounds of that he had us switch stance so our weaker side got the work as well. then after a couple of rounds we were to switch it up moving between the stances as we were able. He then introduced a new move into it and after practising that one we were told to incorporate them all. Every couple of rounds we'd switch partners. Through this you were allowed to make contact but it was slightly lighter than usual. This section lasted about 30-40 minutes. Afterwards he said it was time for sparring now the class split into 2 at this point as he said people who wanted to beast each other went to one side while lighter contact went onto the other ( i went lighter contact as he has no insurance on me). Now the sparring was a bit different to what we'd done in class in that it was focused on the knees, we'd grab each others heads one round the outside one with their arms inside the other guys. It was a bit like wrestling in that you had to try and get your arms on the inside as it gave you more purchase to pull them in as you delivered your knee to their midriff. Again 2-3min rounds switching partners every couple. After that he quickly went through club news ie fight nights etc etc before a 5 minute jog around the gym just to warm down. Overall i'd say it went on for just over 1.5 hours I really enjoyed the class but i have no experience of Martial arts and while i enjoyed it I want to make sure that i'll gain something from it so i was wondering if you guys thought it sounds largely ok? On another point the academy offers a number of martial arts to train in and for my £44 a month i get unlimited training in any disciplines. I was actually offered a chance to take part in a keysi class last night as well. (it's not just one instructor teaching all the arts). Now while I have no desire to compete or anything I would like to get the most rounded view of martial arts possible so i am thinking 3x week Thai 1-2x a week other discipline. The options are JKD (main instructor is: Apprentice Instructor under Guru Dan Inosanto 2nd Level Instructor under Rick Young Graded by Rick Young.) Keysi (instructor 1st dan) Escrima BJJ (blue belt under Mauricio Gomes) Combat submission wrestling (UK Qualified Coach of Erik Paulson's Combat Submission Wrestling.) Now from a rounded point of view which would you guys take? Cheers all, Dan
If you liked the Muay Thai, and it sounded like a decent club, then you should stick with it. Depending on what you want from your trainning (Self defence, fitness Competition) I would take either BJJ, Sub Wrestling or Escrima. The sub wrestling or BJJ gives you experience with ground work and the escrima gives you experience with weapons work.
cheers, i did enjoy it (it nigh on killed me of course). But the class sounded ok to you? I suppose with the mix of martial arts I could just mix it up, it's not that important to me that i progress super quickly, I can commit to 5 sessions a week and i kind of think that it's important to have a basic understanding of both ground and weapons work so i might do 1 session wrestling and 1 session of escrima on top of my base thai stuff.
Most what you said about this Muay Thai class sounds legit. But what did you mean what you said "he has no insurance on you."? In any martial arts training, students sign up to get hurt. That risk is accepted every time a student enters the dojo. Nightblade
surely anyone involved in teaching and training an activity which could be injurous to people or property would require professional indemnity insurance? In a few of the places i enquired they all said that part of my joining fee went to pay towards insurance... Maybe someone who runs a club based in the uk could clear it up for me?
The guy has done 1 lesson, you don't get your license 1st time out. If he likes it he joins and get insured. This was a TRIAL lesson and sounds OK. Typical M/T lesson. The £44 a month sound a bit steep but as it is unlimited training for that price you can get your money's worth if you put in the effort.
It's dirt cheap and sounds like a great class structure. Mix up the MT with the Escrima and the BJJ and you're sorted!
Anybody running a business, never mind teaching martial arts in the UK requires insurance of some description in the UK. All dojos, even ones run as a hobby in the local sports center count as businesses here in the UK. In addition to this, virtually all martial arts clubs insure their students against injury and death. The arrangements vary between clubs and organisations. Some teachers will opt for a block insurance deal. Others will insure students individually and others will act as agents re-selling insurance to their students. If the instructor is saying you're not insured, he probably opts for the individual policey approach or he doesn't want you making a claim before you've paid your dues. Either way it shouldn't be a huge problem for a taster session.
trust me it was no problem for me! not on the first session at least. We do pay insurance individually as it's listed in the joining fee section. I think maybe i've mislead people, the instructor didn't specifically say it was down to insurance, i just assumed it was one of the many reasons (probably one of the most important for him) that i was grouped in light contact. In the condition i am in and the exhausted state i was in it would have been wrong for me to jump straight in on full contact, with the weak state of my core i was feeling even light contact! I want full contact as soon as possible but there was no way i was expecting it in my first few lessons. Anyway, second lesson today, lots of pad work and counters to punches with knees and elbows, we also spent some focused time on improving our punching technique. I really enjoyed it again though i've got to say i didn't realise holding the pads could be such hard work!
Health and Fitness question sent to Health and Fitness area. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57984
