How to Find a Martial Arts Gym in Your Area

Video Transcript

"Hi everybody I'm John Graden from the Martial Arts Teacher's Association and johngraden.com. How do you find a good mixed martial arts gym in your area? Notice I said good because here is the deal martial arts is an unlicensed profession. Anyone can call themselves a martial arts instructor, anyone can buy a black belt, anyone can open a martial arts school so you want to be careful, you want to make sure that you are watching the classes. Here is the thing about mixed martial arts though. It is even less standardized than regular martial arts. Anything can be mixed martial arts so you've got to be careful. A lot of guys are opening mixed martial arts that come from a wrestling background or come from a kickboxing background and they're not necessarily trained to be a good teacher. Two certifications you do want to look for. Number one, you want to make sure they are members of the Martial Arts Teacher's Association because that tells you they're involved in improving their professional skills. Another good one to look for is that they are a Pro Star Martial Arts Curriculum School and that way you know the curriculum they're teaching has been tried and proven and safe. It is instructed by professional martial arts instructors. Mixed martial arts can be very dangerous so you really want to watch the beginning classes and in fact you want to make sure there is such a thing as a beginning class. What you do not want to get into is where they throw everybody on the floor and then everybody trains together. That is a recipe for pain, that's a recipe for injury, that's a recipe for a lot of problems. You want to make sure they have their classes structured, beginner, intermediate, advanced, at the very least. You want to watch the beginning students, watch how they are being taught. Make sure the instructors are not just good martial artists. You don't care if the guy has got world championship belts, that is irrelevant. You care if he is a good teacher. Can he communicate well? Is he running safe classes? Then you want to watch the advanced students. You want to make sure there are advanced students. Why? Lots of advanced students means there is high retention. The students continue to come back to class, they continue to train with this person so we are watching the interaction, we are watching the safety level. We want to look at the curriculum and make sure they have a structured curriculum. What does that mean? There are specific techniques that are taught as a white belt, as a beginner. There are specific techniques that are taught as a green belt, intermediate. There are specific techniques that are taught at brown or black, advanced so it is not just kind of a hodge podge of techniques. There is a structure to it just like any school so choosing a mixed martial arts school is actually more difficult than choosing a martial arts school, a traditional martial arts school. Why? Because anything can be mixed martial arts so you really want to take the time to do your research. You want to make sure the decision is not based upon scheduled convenience, not based upon the closest school and definitely not based upon if it is the most inexpensive school. These are not commodity items, it is not the same everywhere. Every single school is different. Take the time to research, watch those classes, talk to the students, talk to the parents and make the right choice when you choose a mixed martial arts school for you. I'm John Graden. I hope that helps. Thanks."