Info on martial art schools

Hi guys, hope none of you mind all the questions I'm asking. I just need a little help with advice and then I can make my own decisions.

I may or may not continue with the CLF school or change my mind if I want and wait on it. My brother wants to do training also which is great. Right now while there are many good mma schools in NY, I was curious about other schools and styles and I searched up places out on the island with high ratings and if anyone knows about these schools if they have good trainers or not and are good schools, I'd really appreciate it.

Ling nam sui lum kung fu academy
Martial arts institute
Goshinkan dojo
Ten tigers kung fu academy

These places got high stars, not sure if that truly means anything but those who would know more and which to trust the most would be very helpful. Thank you guys.

 

By my own standards and values I can see nothing that would entice me to train at any of those schools.

For yourself I wonder what you think you can get there that you won't at your CLF school.

Which MMA schools are you contemplating?

 

High star reviews give an indication that they aren't awful. Probably submitted by satisfied students.

But what do they actually do and will you like the way they train? Only way to be sure is to go and take a look.

 

I wasn't sure the CLF school was really training me the right way and was wondering if these schools have a different way of training. As for mms schools, there are so many to choose from. Someone told me that Adels karate is decent but if these schools will limit me in training then I'm better off without those schools. Renzo and Serra looks to be really good.

I should. So far I found out from the ling nam kung fu school that you have to pay up front for 2 months before joining and trying a class. Is that a good thing or bad? They teach wing chun and hun ga which I know are close range kung fu styles. Not sure if they offer grappling, joint locks or even other things similar to CLF and other kung fu styles, but you got to sign up 1 or 2 months before joining rather than than try one free class.

 

I would not sign up for anything without at least seeing what the lesson is like. I can understand signing up for a month or so, or paying insurance and monthly fee, but I have never been to a class that I hadn't had at least one free sample lesson.
Wing Chun and Hung Gar rarely have grappling. Some may train for Sanda which includes throws, but no ground work.
Those clubs that do will say they train for SanDa/sanshou.

 

I don't know of any, but I can find out.

So for the hung gar/wing chun school, it seems the only way is to pay up front about $200 for 2 months then decide if I want to continue $100 for each month. They have an introductory demonstrating a little of what they teach but you can't participate in an actual free trial class. I'll ask if I can at least watch to get an idea of what training they do.

They seem to be very against ground fighting or any grappling ot modern fighting combative concepts as the teacher there said he doesn't believe in that stuff. Not sure if that's a good thing or bad. What exactly do they do in wing chun and hung gar? Is it more practical and useful compared to CLF and other styles? Does it have good advantages?

I haven't tried Sanda before. Is it more kung fu or kickboxing?

 

That's bad

Very bad

 

Go and try out matt serra's school, it'll be light years ahead of all the ones you've posted.

 

It's not good or bad... It's the worst.

Sanda is a full contact striking sport involving throws. It's great.

 

$100 seems on the pricey side, I anticipate classes might cost more in the NY region. I would expect that for a high calibre school - by that, I mean one that produces successful fighters.
doesn't believe in grappling? That's like saying you don't believe in running as a method of moving fast?
I would avoid, it's a toxic attitude.

Not believing in grappling is bad M'Kay

I always found SanDa was one of those difficult to find things, it's usually associated with Kungfu, but also is WuShu, they seem to be extremes ends of each other in training, yet often trained at the same schools.

My gut feeling is you should look at the other schools around (particularly MMA).

 

As a hung ga person I had a look at some vids from the hung ga guy. he definitely looks like he is worth giving a go.

When you say he does not believe in grappling or combative - what do you mean by that? Hung ga contains a lot of grappling and he teaches chinese wrestiling on top. so he isnt just into thumping people.

If he seems to be saying you do not need to be able to fight on the floor. that is a big red flag. seriously bad. fights often go to the floor and if you what to teach self defence you must teach defence on the floor.

But if he is saying - dont believe the line sold by many combative and MMA clubs that traditional arts dont know anything about "real" reality of fighting, that the "real truth" of fighting is only available from "spear of destiny reality based street defence plc." then, the might actually have a point.

one should never drink the cool aid.

 

What do you personally want to get out of training? Different people want to learn different things. This will affect what sort of club is best for you.

How do you like to learn things. Different people like to learn in different ways. This will also affect what sort of club is best for you.

 

Well firstly, what do YOU want out of your training. Defending yourself is not really a valid answer. It's not a trick question, and you should be completely honest about it.

Some answers may include:

I liked kung fu movies when I was younger. I want to move and fight like that!

I'm really want to connect with myself on a spiritual level.

I want to be a live-in student and dedicate my life to a martial art!

I just want to be really good at fighting (which people mistakenly think is "defending yourself").

All of these answers are absolutely good answers and it may be that you want a mix of some of them together. i.e I" want to do Kung Fu as a live-in student!"
Which is feasible but might require some altering.

The second point is "what is available to me?"

Like you know what you want, now you have to see what fits your schedule. You might be a gap year student who wants to travel or you might be a dad of three who can only make it twice during the week and once on alternative weekends. Find what you want and what's available.

As to the "defending myself" part, read Geoff Thompson and his advice on sell defence, buy his books and you very quickly realise that self defence is easy when it's done right and has veeeery little to do with martial arts.

 

Bwahahaha!!! Yeah, it's bad. Egregiously so, unless it's like, we don't teach boxing because we're a wrestling gym, but that doesn't seem to be the case. 1993 called, they want their dojo back.

Location will certainly determine that. Our club is a not for profit and we couldn't keep the lights on charging less than that. Training space is at a premium, and insurance alone costs thousands per year. Other clubs here cost even more, though we're fairly average in cost. I'd like to think we're above average in quality.

 

Hey guys sorry for the long delay, I got caught up with school work and such, but I wanted to finish answering my questions I had.

You're right, the thing is my current school is not an actual school. It's actually two instructors that teach CLF to me and few other guys that basically train us privately (considering they don't have an actual dojo, it's at a home) who used to be students years ago to other sifu trainers who no longer teach anymore. The sifu trainers I think used to be students part of Chan Tai San's lineage teachings I believe? Anyway sorry for not being as clear, I don't want you guys to think less of me for not going to an actual legit MA school. Again I still need to make my decision if this is where I want to continue but I've been stuck with school for the moment but plan to go back into martial arts training soon.

Ok I can get the links of the schools I mentioned and you guys can let me know which one seems like it can be trusted. I do plan to at some point try them out and take a look for myself but I'd like to hear your guys opinions since you have good knowledge in martial arts cause some of these places can be scams and I don't wanna go through something like that. Or maybe they're not and are good. The Hapkido&TKD school is way to far, I didn't realize where it's location was, which is in NJ. These are the ones in NY.

Karate For Kids, Teens & Adults | The Martial Arts Institute

Contact Goshinkan Ju-Jitsu Dojo In Merrick Long Island

Max martial arts & Fitness Farmingdale

Xinyi-Dao Kung Fu Academy

http://adelkarate.com

http://www.lingnamsiulum.com

Ok I think that's good enough for now.

The hung gar, wing chun school looks interesting but like I've mentioned before, I don't think they will allow a free try out class, but maybe I can just watch.

Right now I'm more concerned about the trainers themselves. If anyone can tell by the links of their reputation of your opinions on them, that would really help me a lot.

 

It actually eats at me that you have some of the best clubs in the world to train at.... And choose none of them xD

 

Yes but they are in the city which I wouldn't have the time to go to at the moment. The places I listed are within the distance of Nassau and Suffolk county in NY. Which clubs do you personally know of or heard of? Sorry I moved recently to NY.

 

Looked up the area and it's all Tiger Shullman crap. Shame you can't make it to the city center. I'd train at Renzos in a heartbeat.