I'm sorry you had some bad experiences. But none of you experiences suggest that any of them were a mcdojo. It only suggest that you weren't interested.
Therefore, the only person that can determine the best class for you is you. We don't know what is available or who is teaching the classes near you. You must go visith several school and find out which class you want to participate.
Avoiding mcdojo
avoid signing long term contracts
avoid school with children black belts
avoid school that guarantee black belts
avoid school that has very high ranking people under 40 (5th Dan)
avoid schools with outrageous fees for testing (testing fees of 300 or more for black belts)
avoid high pressure sales techniques
avoid schools with high ranking students but the skill level does not match the rank (belt factories - awarding rank to keep student happy, interested, and paying customers)
choose a good instructor over a style
take trial class if offered
don't join the 1st school you observe or at least not until you have visited several others
determine what are your goals in learning; do you want to learn a sport or self defense - some schools focus is on competition, some are on self defense
pay attention to the skill level of those with different rank. There should be a difference
Some people will advise you that if the school has birthday parties, etc it is a mcdojo. I have no use for those things, but I disagree that that will mean the school is a mcdojo. It is a commercial dojo, meaning it is there to make money.
Nothing in your text indicates that you've been training at McDojos, it seems you just havn't enjoyed martial arts.
But, from your text, it seems as you'd much rather spar and fight opponents rather than just practicing on "dead"/cooporative opponents/air.
I would then suggest avoiding Martial Arts which main focus is to kill the opponent (Or at least SERIOUSLY injure the opponent by hitting on vital areas/breaking bones).
Among these are Wing Chun, Aikido, Shaolin Kung Fu and Capoeira (The reason why it's hard to spar as a capoeira may be different though).
Martial Arts where you DO spar are Boxing, American Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Karate, Taekwondo, MMA, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Wrestling.
There are more but I don't know them on top of my head.
And also, it seems you don't really like grappling, wrestling and ground techniques so much. Seems like you prefer stand up fighting which narrows down quiet a few :3
Just do some research on each and everyone of the martial arts which interest you and take 1 free tryout (most people allow 1 free tryout) and see if it's right up your alley.
Good luck! :D
You can take any martial art you want. Look for the ones in your area and pick the one that you like best. Any style will be fine, just make sure the instructor is good and you train right, and that's all that matters.
Here's a few signs of mcdojos:
-Little kids that are black belts
-Long term and very expensive contracts
-"grandmasters" under 30
-There is a set time to reach certain ranks/black belt
-The instructor does not know the bunkai (application to techniques) and he doesn't teach them to you
-You receive ranks based more on how much many you pay, and it's a lot of money
They're usually easy to spot if you know what you're looking for. Again, just make sure your instructor and school is good and you'll be all set.
Answer this question: Why do you want to take up a martial art?
It seems to me you wasted about 13 years of opportunities to learn a martial art because you just could not stay with it. Have you really changed that much? Are you now a person who have a clear vision of his goals and have the determination and discipline to pursuit it to fruition? Or are you someone who does things suddenly just because you feel like it, but never thought about why you want to do it and drop it just as suddenly because you don't like it anymore?
For your sake, I hope you have changed because dropping out of an university means a lifetime of minimum wage dead-end jobs.
There are some styles that should be avoided because they consistently have bad schools but for the most part style is unimportant - finding a good school with a good teacher, good training and good sparring partners is what matters.
http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/...
There's some pointers on how to spot bad schools.
Mma is highly effective. What I find with other martial arts is that they don't prepare you for the pain you may endure in a street fight. Muay Thai is also good though and so is boxing
Anything really, as long as you stick with it.
Hi, I'm going to university next month and I was thinking of taking up a martial art. If there's any experts or people who have practiced a martial art out there could you please give me some advice on:
1) What martial art would suit me best? (I'm a 6'1, 11st./70kg male)
2) How should I avoid 'mcdojos'?
In the past I've had quite a few bad experiences with martial arts classes. The first one I went to was a karate class when I was 5, I went to the first class, didn't enjoy it and I dropped out, I'm not even sure if they refunded my mum's monthly deposit. When I took up judo I was between 9-10 years old, I was allowed to sit in on the first class for free, both instructors were over 40 and the class seemed quite hands on but it didn't really interest me. The next class I went to was when I was 11-12, the sensei was around 30 and we spent the whole time learning moves and naming them accordingly, after 3 months this got quite boring and I dropped out.
...so again, if you have any advice I'd be extremely grateful.
