Good martial arts places in Chicago?

I'm likely going to be moving to Chicago soon. Name me some good martial arts places in Chicago (preferably in the near West Side area).

 

Define west side.. The west side of Chicago runs almost from the Wisconsin border to Joliet and farther south

 

Well it could be a little farther out too. How about this....Illinois.Medical district. Near there

 

There are a couple of schools in the Dekalb area, in the round lake area there is a couple of jkd affiliates and in Libertyville, Marc Hallack has a big school.. I know in Plainfield, there is a kuntao school which is taught by one of the former Dethouars affiliates.. In Lisle, there is a silat gayong school which is ran by a friend of mine who I worked with when he was in the military. He was featured on the national geographic show which focused on silat a couple of years ago

 

Ok I will take a look at them. Thanks. If anyone else has any more offers let me know. I like a lot of options to choose from. Thanks.

 

It does. I will check that out too

 

Oh wow. I kind of just grazed over your statement at first but I just looked at Mark Hallack's school more thoroughly. He actually trained with Danny Inosanto himself (Bruce Lee's Proteige). That's actually really impressive. I might have to really check that place out.

 

If you can make it to Bloomingdale Marcus is legit http://www.marcuscharles.net/

 

just on chicago ave. on the near west side there is: boxing, wing chun, aikido, bjj (x2), tkd. start there in google maps, focused on chicago and ashland intersection and you should find them. there is also a krav place in the west loop.

expand your search area a bit and you should find everything you could possibly be looking for.

are you going to school at uic or doing a med. residency?

 

Chicago is actually home for Ron Balicki who has several affiliates in the local area.. I know that Fred Degerberg has a couple of schools on the west side, but its been a couple of years since I was in the area, so the location is not coming to me right now.. Balicki and Degerberg have strong ties to Guro Dan ( Does the name sound familiar as Balicki's wife is guro dan's daughter)

 

1)Yeah I found plenty of schools. I'm just asking the people here because I am trying to get some advice on who is legit. There are too many mcDojos out there today, and sometimes it is hard to tell what is real.

2)Yes I am a student but I am attending my local college, and that school has online classes and in a year I will be finished with the degree, so I won't be charged out of state tuition and can still attend the school and complete my degree online. I also work as well. I had a place with my brother in June, and then it got bad, and I was literally robbed at gunpoint and I had to get out of there. The only place to go was my mom's house so I currently live with her and her partner. Her partner however is very abusive to my mom and has problems with drugs, so I have to get out of there because it's a very toxic environment and I don't want to wind up going to jail for their stupidity because we got in such a bad domestic dispute a few days ago, that the police were called and I could have easily wound up in jail. I have to get out of there. I have a very close friend who lives in Chicago, and I have a couple grand saved up and am going to live with my friend.

3) Yes, I saw the Krav Maga school on west loop and that place looked really good. It's called "Force Krav Maga" and it's actually taught by two real cops. I was just a little hesitant to take Krav since I don't believe they ever spar and I am very weary of a place where no one ever spars. But I will definitely check the place out anyway. If I could just confirm that school is legit and the real deal, then I would gladly attend. That place actually interests me more than any other school

Yes, I will definitely have a strong look at those places.

 

i can vouch for andre maneco's bjj school as i've trained there, he's legit. he's a pro, and his facility is top notch.

i have not trained at brazil 021, but the co-owner is hanette stack. look her up.

i've trained at the aikido dojo. it's a great place, top-notch facility and instruction. i would prefer to train aikido at the midwest aikido center, but that is a hike for you. but you won't go wrong with the chicago ave. school if you're looking for aikido.

 

So it's the real aikido then? Like the real O'Sensei Aikido? Not that hippy crap that a lot of aikido has been reduced to?

 

o sensei aikido is at the mac. no joke.

also i would say that unless you've trained in aikido, you probably wouldn't know the difference.

 

At the Mac? Huh? What do you mean?

Also yeah, I know that unless I have trained in it, I would not know the difference. That is why I'm so skeptical. If I decided to go Aikido, I'm looking for good Ueshiba/Steven Seagal Aikido, not this lousy hippy crap. How do you tell the difference?

 

If you are talking about the chicago cops who also teach martial arts, their school is Izzo martial arts.. Serious practitioners if you like the no frills real world application that have been proven in real world experiences..

 

No. But that place I might have to check out too. I was actually talking about a place called, "Force Krav Maga". That's what that one dude was referring to. It's on the near west side.

 

Simon I like you. You seem to be more knowledgeable than almost anyone on this site. Out of the places mentioned here. Which ones seem the most legit to you?