How should anybody know what is being taught at your YMCA? The quality of any martial art class varies widely and determines greatly what you can and will achieve even though they are all the same style. Some teachers will be really good while others are not and that will determine how good you will be and what you will learn. There is no possible way to tell what you will actually learn. Does jujitsu teach self defense? It does, but your teacher may teach it as a sport with the emphasis on scoring and not self defense. The only way to find out what is being taught is to check out the classes before you sign up.
Maybe, maybe not.
This is something that depends on not the place, but the instructor. You can have a good instructor training at a park making little money, and a bad instructor teaching at a YMCA making lot's of money teaching watered down user friendly BS, and vice versa.
What I have seen with YMCAs (and I work at one as of now), is that when it comes to martial arts at a Y, it's usually a mc-dojo or a fraud.
Is this how it is all around? No. But that's just what I see.
Talk to the instructor, see if you can take a weeks worth of classes for free, then see what you like. Beware of mc-dojos.
http://mcdojo-faq.tripod.com
I am planning on taking a jujitsu class at the YMCA. Will it actually teach me jujitsu and self-defense?
