Looking for Martial Arts

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I did some basic karate when I was a kid, and would like to get into it again. I know there are a lot of places that offer lessons in all sorts of marital arts, but I had a very bad experience with the one in Arlington Center.

To put it simply, I hate people yelling at me. Most martial arts teachers I've seen treat their students like a drill instructor chewing out new recruits, and I absolutely refuse to pay money to have someone scream at me.

Can anyone recommend a place to learn martial arts with polite, helpful instructors? I don't have much of a preference for the type of art, though I think Akido would be interesting. I am looking for some place on public transportation, preferably on the Red Line.

Do you have any suggestions? Thanks!

Comments

[knowthyself.livejournal.com]

Well, it's not exactly around public transportation, but I can't recommend enough the Theodorou Academy of Jiu Jitsu (http://bostonselfdefense.com/) in Watertown. I've been going there for 5 years. Sensei Nick Theodorou is great, definitely NOT a yeller, but an excellent motivator. The instructors are also greta, very friendly and helpful, as are the students really. If driving is or becomes an option, very much worth checking out!

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I suggest messaging lyonesse via message. She has taught before (and I have considered learning from her before; I don't like people yelling at me or otherwise behaving in a way I consider inappropriate either). I don't recall if she is currently teaching, but I expect she would at least be able to point you in a very good direction.

Best of luck.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Actually, I recall a friend mentioning something about a wonderful place near Union Square in Somerville when I told him I thought about Aikido--will poke him and get back.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[joylewis.livejournal.com]

I believe that's Shobu Aikido. My boyfriend has been going there for almost two years after training at a couple of other Aikido dojos. He loves it and says it's the best training he's ever gotten.

http://www.shobu.org/

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Yes, that does sound right. I have danced with the man who recommended them to me for a couple of years now (know him through dance) and from knowing him and seeing how he moves, I would trust his judgment as well.

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

Friend gave me the link. Here it is:

http://aikidotjboston.org/

Good luck!

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

oh, hi :) yeah, i'm not really a yeller, although yelling (kiai) is taught as part of aikido practice. i don't currently have a regular teaching schedule, but i do seminars (3 hours) on weekends now and then, and you're welcome to let me know if you'd like to be on my mailing list.

i teach kokikai aikido, with an emphasis on aikido's goal of safety for all parties in conflict and nearby. i'm the senior instructor at aikido kokikai littleton. (i *am* looking for a more-local dojo space -- i live in davis but my current mat space is in littleton -- so if anyone reading this knows of any please to ping me :)

now that it's spring i'm also considering teaching more informally outdoors, likely in powderhouse park (a ten-minute walk down college ave from the davis t-stop) but have not yet set a schedule for that.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Please do put me on your mailing list! Littleton is out of my range, but powder house park would be lovely!

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

cool, could you email me your contact info at lyonesse@livejournal?

(others invited as well of course :)

when we go to littleton we usually carpool from davis, so i wouldn't discount that entirely, but it might be a ways from now anyway :)

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Revere's a hike, but Doreen Cogliandro, the master instructor at the Revere Karate Academy, is my teachers' teacher, and she is a fantastic person. Her #2 instructor, Sita Van, is also pretty awesome. I haven't seen either one of them in years (I kind of dropped off the face of the martial arts earth during college), but I'd have no compunctions about recommending their school.

Unfortunately, the school I went to, which I love dearly, is even farther away.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Bother! Sadly, I don't have the money for a car, and if I got a ZipCar membership, I wouldn't be able to afford lessons.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend Jae H. Kim Tae Kwon Do. I've been going there about a year and a half, and love it. I go to the Boston do jang near Fenway, but there's one near Porter Square on Mass Ave, too.

http://www.tkd-boston.com

Suck it up, soldier!!!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

:)

Re: Suck it up, soldier!!!

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

If they're barking orders, they'd better bloody well be paying ME to be there. :P

Re: Suck it up, soldier!!!

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I agree :)

[skexy.livejournal.com]

Mark at Davis Square Martial Arts is great; I studied there for five or six years before deciding my body just couldn't keep up, at least for now. But I intend to go back for Tai Chi eventually and would probably go back to Mark when I do if I'm still in the area. I can assure you, you will not deal with chastisement there. I have heard good things from a couple of friends who studied at the Tae Kwan Do place in porter square; but I wasn't thrilled when I walked in there. I have heard nothing but good things about the Aikido dojo in porter and was impressed by the class I watched there.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I am a huge fan of Total Performance Sports (http://www.totalperformancesports.com) (and even though I linked, you should probably ignore their website. It sucks, but it's under total reconstruction right now, so they're not fixing the parts that suck in the old site). If you like (and message me with your e-mail), I can send you a coupon for a free week.

It is not a martial arts studio, it's a gym. But at said gym, Muay Thai is offered twice a week, taught by an awesome and gentle instructor named Heather. She's tiny and soft spoken but could also clearly kill you with her brain. As a bonus, you'd also have access to the weights, powerlifting equipment, etc. There are other classes as well, but this gym is unspeakably awesome and deeply geared towards making people strong and powerful.

It's still in process (in my opinion) of recovering from the "only men want strength training" forms of sexism, but it's doing pretty darn well, and the kettlebells classes are often more than half women.

The membership pricing structure is awkward, but boils down to how much you're willing to commit to. If you want no committment, a month membership is something like $59. But on the opposite end of the scale, if you're willing to pay a year in advance, the price comes down to $24/mo. So if *all* you do is Muay Thai, that's about 8 classes for $24 or $3/class. (Even if you *don't* commit, $59/mo= less than $8/class!) There are also usually informal classes on the weekend.

I see you don't have a car, and while Everett is not on the Subway T, it's very bus-able. It's just a short ride from Sullivan Square.

Another thing to know is that TPS is NOT bougie (like so many places increasingly are). The class times are geared towards people who work during the day, and the whole place is very multi-racial, multi-ethnic, and more-or-less working class and no nonsense. That said, I've had more people be nice, helpful, and outgoingly supportive there than in any gym I've ever been to. Actually, the people have been more nice and welcoming than in any *church* I've ever gone too!

[rawrin.livejournal.com]

Do you mean, "only men want strength training, all women want to do is tone but we'll change that up real fast"? IIRC, strength training was their big thing for everyone, and women were definitely more than encouraged to train for strength. Haven't been there in awhile, maybe that's changed?

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

Yes, that's the attitude that I'm referring to. I think they are battling that attitude, yes, but what I meant is that I don't think they're *done* yet. They have ads targetted at women (specifically at soon-to-be brides!) encouraging them to come in if they want to slim down before the "big day," and in a recent (anonymous) case study, they referred to the case in question as being in personal training to lose weight and then later said she was "female (obviously)"

In person, I've never encountered that attitude (which is really the most important part!!), but it bugs me that it still comes through in their marketing material.

getting a little off-topic

[rawrin.livejournal.com]

It's actually a pretty common attitude, one I've seen a lot, and not just there. TPS is just a lot more forthright about it. It's actually kind of rare to find a woman who wants to lift heavy without a little persuasion first. However, they do manage to convince a number of women that they should and need to train for strength.

So I can see why that kind of attitude might show up in marketing - it's attractive to a greater percentage of women and THEN you can pull out the "you will do strength training and here's why" speech. They have to get the sales in somehow.

Glad to hear they are trying to ditch that particular attitude, because I don't think their rep is for tone and burn. It's much more likely that a woman who seeks them out does want to do strength training, so why insult them right off the bat? :)

I should be more clear

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

I think that TPS has WAY LESS of that attitude than just about ANY other workout place, gym, studio, or anything else of that sort.

I just have have a very low irk threshold for that sort of thing.

Re: I should be more clear

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Actually, I've been doing a lot of strength training at the Gold's Gym in Arlington, which is subsidized by my health care. I have an odd problem with my shoulders, so I do a lot more with the rowing machine than the pull-down bars.

[modlin.livejournal.com]

You might check out aikido at New England Aikikai (http://www.neaikikai.org/). Very convenient in Porter Square, and friendly, welcoming people. No screaming. You can observe a class to get a feel of what it's like.

[whitefire.livejournal.com]

Look, you can't quietly and politely ask someone to please sweep the leg if they wouldn't mind.

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

Perhaps I did not explain this clearly. I don't mind being given directions or orders; I object to excessive volume and harshness in commands.

I will not take lessons from a teacher who demonstrates a move once and then screams when a student fails to do the move correctly. A teacher who demonstrates something once or twice, at different angles, and then helps students who execute the move incorrectly--without raising their voice--is fine.

[perich.livejournal.com]

Ignore the other person; they're trolling. There are a wealth of martial arts programs in the Boston metro area that get students psyched about learning - and teach you how to actually fight - without belittling their students.

(I echo knowthyself's recommendation for Theodorou Academy (http://bostonselfdefense.com/), having studied and taught there for over 9 years. It's a short walk from the #71 bus out of Harvard, if that helps)

[cosinezero.livejournal.com]

There just simply isn't pain in this dojo.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

whyever not? certainly just expecting a beginner to *do* this is rather demanding, yelling adds nothing at all to the educational process.

[imvfd.livejournal.com]

I'd very much recommend Boston Classical Soo Bahk Do:

http://www.bcsbd.com/

The classes are pretty intense but it is a very friendly environment and there is never any yelling at students. I believe that you can get a "free sample" one-on-one class with the instructor to see if this is the art for you.

However, the art is very much not like Aikido, in that it involves a lot of hand and foot strikes, although it does involve some grappling as well as slow, almost Tai Chi like movements as you go up in rank.

[enochs-fable.livejournal.com]

tagged. This is a great thread!

[djdreilinger.livejournal.com]

I've been taking karate at Emerald Necklace Martial Arts (http://www.emeraldnecklacebudo.com/karate.htm) for three-plus years now, and I can't sing its praises enough. Power without machismo; hitting plus community service. Recent relevant post (http://jasongould.blogspot.com/2010/03/ever-wonder-if-karate-was-right-for-you.html) from Sensei Gould's blog.

It's in Allston, 95 Everett St., on the 64 and 66. Feel free to msg me. You could also just stop by any Saturday at 10:30 a.m. to watch the beginner's class.

Check out C.W. Taekwondo in Central Sq.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

It's very affordable because they are a 501c3 non-profit, and it is right on the T and across the street from the green street parking lot. I have been going there for 8 years now. I have many friends from there, and there is no yelling. You can stop by for a free trial lesson to see if you like it.

[anyee.livejournal.com]

CW Tae Kwon Do. http://www.cwtkd.com
They're on the red line in Central Square, on the street behind Mass Ave towards the river. The school is affiliated with MIT, so lots of fun geeky adults of all types come kick there.

I've done TKD on and off for years. I love CW for a few reasons:
1) They respect your body's limits. When things start swelling and tearing, the instructors tell you to stop, even if you don't want to!

2) They're focused on the sport and accomplishment. There are many people who go to tournaments, many levels of training, and a sense of overall desire to do well.

3) They're non-profit, so the rates are lower. Less than 100/month as I recall it. JHKim is about 250, last I checked.

CW TKD awesome. A lot less traditional but a lot more enjoyable. I found that at JHKim, the focus was on getting money out of me. From blackbelt clubs to special training programs, there was always a new money-making scheme. That was one of the major reasons I stopped going.

[dylanesque29.livejournal.com]

Seconded. I started studying at JHKim school in Quincy, and finished at the Cambridge school, and I saw a fairly rapid decline in quality. They've become a total belty factory. Avoid.