chewy555 wrote:
I had thought about doing martial arts, but dont think that I could do it at my size. I never did it when I was a kid, so I just dont know. Maybe I can find a class with other over weight adults in it, dont want to take a class with a bunch of little kids.
You should be fine as long as your doc says your healthy enough for exercise.
As a white belt you are not going to be going flying double jump kicks or fighting for extended matches. Some schools dont even let you spar until you are somewhere between yellow/orange to green.
I welcome you to our school, but i dont think you want to commute to Garland
Choosing a school is a very important thing if you stick with it, you will be spending the next few years of your life with this school or longer. I see a lot of people that join our school after spending years being unhappy at other schools. Are we the best for everyone? more than likely not. But the students we have are happy and are learning at a good pace and showing excellent improvement in skill/attitude/leadership/fitness.
I have been doing martial arts off and on for almost 10 years. I spent 3 years with one school that I truly loved before it went out of business. I have bounced between schools during my failed attempts to get back in shape until about a year ago where I found my new perm home.
heres a few things to keep in mind when looking for a school.
in the following when i say students, i mean adults and children alike..
First and foremost avoid a McDojo
McDojos were big in the 80s when everyone wanted to be the karate kid or american ninja. There were tons of students who wanted to take martial arts to be cool and the schools knew the students would not stay long. They would usualy franchise a well known instructors name and then make students sign contracts. After a few months when the students got bored, or realized how bad the instructors were, or figured out that they were not really learning from Jhoon Ree (or whomever's name is on the sign outside) they would get upset. They knew the students would leave.. they had a signed contract and got their money through contract break fees or through collection agencys.
Sadly these are STILL very popular, especially people trying to cash in on instructors names like Ed Parker, or the forementioned Jhoon Ree.
Never join a school that REQUIRES a contract
. If they have some sort of package deal where you get a better price for 6 months or 3 months instead of going monthly, thats fine. But any school that REQUIRES you to sign a contract you should avoid.
Second, talk to the students.
The instructor needs students to keep his school going. He is going to try to get you to join. Very few will ever tell you that you are not a good fit for their school.
Ask the students after a class if they enjoy going there. If they feel that they are making progress in their goals. Just because a school is large or has been there a long time does not indicate that its a great school, it could just be run bya good businessman.
Third, talk to the instructor
Find out if he is the one teaching the classes. In a lot of schools the head instructor only does private lessons, or only does belt tests. In our school our head instructor teaches in every general class. The student instructors like myself only help out during the main class, and we only fully teach in the specalized classes. I run a friday night class where I split focus on self defense (joint locks, etc) and sparring. I also do some private work with young students who are timid and afraid to be in the general classes. It is for students who would like some extra help or extra training in those areas. The head instructor should be the one teaching the general classes.
Find out if the instructor is willing to work with you on your current fitness. No instructor is their right mind would not be willing to work with you to obtain your goals. A good instructor understands that you cant do 50 situps, but that you will try as many as you can. But there are some looneys out there. I joined a TKD school in richardson for a month a couple of years back in another failed attempt to get back into shape and to get back into martial arts. the instructor just saw me as training fodder for his tourney sparring team, he had no interest in my goals, only that of getting the next trophy for his window. Some schools will give an estimate of how long it will take you to get to your black belt. If a school GUARANTEES any time frame for your belt, run.... and run far. Find out the age spreads for the class times/dates you wish to attend. Sometimes I want to workout with the kids. It gives me leadership experience and gives me a fresh look on life. Sometimes I want something more serious and want to only work with adults.
Fourth, do some research
If an instructor tells you who he learned from, google him. You may not find anything about the guy, thats *not* a bad thing at all. Most martial arts schools are very bad about net presence. You just want to look for articles where someone has a complaint and what the complaint is. I also took kempo from a guy but found out that he was involved with a mail order black belt thing in the 90s. While the instructor is legit, I would not want to have his name on my diploma knowing that he just gave them away.
And last, Do not sign up until you get all the facts.
There are plenty of schools out there. Do not sign up for a school that does not offer a trial peroid. Use the full extent of the trial peroid, do not be pressured to join until you are saisfied. Try another school. you may find you liked a previous one better than the one your trying now. Instructors will usualy welcome you back with open arms if you choose them over another school even if it takes a month or two to decide. Take a look at any fees they add into the school. Most schools are part of a federation. This is usualy a requirement to compete at a state or national level. These federations require dues. Keep these dues in mind when you join a school. Find out if there are any initiation fees and what that covers. For some schools it doesnt cover anything just some cash in the pocket for the teachers, in some it includes your dues to the federation and a uniform. At our school we are independant. We do not pay dues to a federation, but we can not compete except for "open" matches. We do not have an initiation fee, but we have to pay for our uniforms.
Oh and as a side note from one big guy to another...... wear an undershirt and clear it with the instructor to either allow you to buy your own uniform and order a mediumweight or heavyweight thickness uniform or have him order one for you from his supplier. They will be more expensive (80$ish vs 20$ish) but you wont sweat through it and let the world see your underwear.
You can always take the patches off a uniform and take it to another school.
Don't wait for your ship to come in, swim out to it...kill the captain...and claim it as yours. : Lodge2004
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