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

[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.