Does your school make you buy EVERYTHING from them?

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Wandgun

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I just joined a new gym. I moved away from my previous.

My old gym had everything there (jump ropes, gloves, thai pads, etc). The only thing you NEEDED to buy was a gi, mouth piece, cup and head guard if you were going to spar. No-gi was just a pair of shorts and shirt of your choice.

I joined this new gym two weeks ago and only attended one class due to a vacation. I wore my old gym's gi inside out so I didn't offend anyone and intend to buy another gi soon. My buddy joined a week after I did, and while he's signing up, he's told he needs to buy packages for every class in the gym. We're talking "up to" $200 gis, $120 no-gi packages, $200 muay thai packages. I mean, we're buying everything that the other gym included.

The class I attended was gi and no one had a gi of the gym. There was a boxing class after wards and people were wearing whatever. I asked if I could wear my Sprawl shorts to classes and was told, "we're not team Sprawl'.

Is this normal?
 
I've never heard of anything like that before. I train at Roufusport and Combat Corner produces pretty much all the equipment that they sell in-house, but we're not required to wear Combat Corner's products (even though some of it is pretty good for the price; I'm fond of their rash guards). Atama, Shoyoroll, Vulkan, Koral, Warrior, Sprawl, Venum, Hayabusa, etc; you name it and we've probably got someone wearing it. Hell, I saw a guy come in wearing a Gracie Barra gi and nobody cared.

edit: And being told I couldn't wear my Sprawls would irritate me. They are some seriously nice shorts. :p
 
Doesn't sound right to me.

Training is training. Doesn't matter what brand you're wearing.

I'd run and find a new gym. You seem to have found some money grubbing gym. Not a good sign.

On a side note:

You should only need to buy your actual gear...ie...gis, shorts, rash guards, shirts, mouth piece, head gear, leg pads, gloves, hand wraps, cup.

Bags, mitts, mats, balls, etc....should be provided by the gym
 
From what I've seen there is a "front of the house/back of the house". The "front of the house" isn't interested in MMA, and just wants to get every dollar out of you. The "back of the house" head instructor/owner and all other staff seem to be passionate about MMA and don't care about such things. I thought it all sounded a bit ridiculous and was just going to wear whatever until an actual instructor yelled at me.

I wanted to make sure I wasn't being cheap.
 
Ok my suggestion run the fuck away from your gym and never turn back . . . Any gym that forces you to buy their own gear for every piece of equipment is full of money hungry ***gots
 
Wandgun said:
The class I attended was gi and no one had a gi of the gym. There was a boxing class after wards and people were wearing whatever. I asked if I could wear my Sprawl shorts to classes and was told, "we're not team Sprawl'.

Is this normal?
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Dude did you told them that Sprawl is actually not a team as such?

sounds like they are morons.
 
I travel 15 miles(in L.A 15 miles could take up to 45 mins sometimes) to Azteca boxing, because long beach boxing gyms like DG(100-150 a month) and williams(150-200) cost an arm and leg a month and makes you buy all their gear, Azteca is also a world class gym and only charge 30 a month(70 with trainer), they also let you use your own gear and have good gear for fair prices, I also didn't join gracie barra BJJ because the make you buy their 120-180 dollar gis and rashguards, BTT does the same thing but its cheaper than gracie barra and has some good instructors, I train judo and they charge 50 month and judo gis are mad cheap I got my mizuno for 60 bucks,norwalk judo charges like 20 a month but there to far from my house
 
I guess everybody has to do what the have to do to keep the lights on....but I'd prefer gyms simply make money with their legendary reputation and mad attendance rates.

lol
 
lechien said:
Dude did you told them that Sprawl is actually not a team as such?

sounds like they are morons.
Click to expand...

Maybe he was making a joke?

Perhaps they think if you're going to be promoting anything on your gear, that it might as well be the school and not an unaffiliated brand of equipment? This way they can better promote the school at competitions.

i.e. 2 guys in a nogi match, one from "Team Bubkus" and the other from "Team Jones". "Team Bubkus" has their own branded shorts/rashguards while the guy from "Team Jones" has Sprawl shorts and a Manto rashguard. What one makes it easier to ID their school?

I'm not saying it's "right" or wrong, just stating what I think their motivation might be.
 
Because I moved to another city, I've trained at two different schools. Neither made me buy their gear, though one did require that I buy $10 team patches my gis. I was okay with that because I figured the gi patch was more about team identity than about making money.
 
greedy bastards

go somewhere else... the best gyms (imo) are the ones that dont put such an emphasis on money but more emphasis on training
 
bubkusjones said:
Maybe he was making a joke?
Click to expand...

I wasn't joking, and she who told me this wasn't joking. I told her, "you realize Sprawl isn't a team right"? She replied (kinda smirking), "well I tell the guys all the time, we're not team tap out".

bubkusjones said:
Perhaps they think if you're going to be promoting anything on your gear, that it might as well be the school and not an unaffiliated brand of equipment? This way they can better promote the school at competitions.
Click to expand...

I could understand for competitions, but for training?
 
bubkusjones said:
Maybe he was making a joke?

Perhaps they think if you're going to be promoting anything on your gear, that it might as well be the school and not an unaffiliated brand of equipment? This way they can better promote the school at competitions.

i.e. 2 guys in a nogi match, one from "Team Bubkus" and the other from "Team Jones". "Team Bubkus" has their own branded shorts/rashguards while the guy from "Team Jones" has Sprawl shorts and a Manto rashguard. What one makes it easier to ID their school?

I'm not saying it's "right" or wrong, just stating what I think their motivation might be.
Click to expand...

Unless they're giving me free membership to rep them in tournaments I don't really care who knows where I train. As long as I'm still paying membership fees they work for ME and if they don't like it I'll take my business elsewhere
 
I don't think my club sells anything besides T-shirts sometimes.
 
Wandgun said:
I wasn't joking, and she who told me this wasn't joking. I told her, "you realize Sprawl isn't a team right"? She replied (kinda smirking), "well I tell the guys all the time, we're not team tap out".



I could understand for competitions, but for training?
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Slap her in the mouth and tell her to stop being condescending.

Remember you are paying them to teach you, you should be able to wear whatever brand gear you want. It's your money, and make sure you let them know that. I'm sure there are other schools you could go too.
 
My buddy trains at Renzo's in NYC and they want you to wear Gracie gi's there. Most of the other places I've been to in Manhattan don't give a shit. I think it's pretty lame to force that unless you are charging 80-100 max.
 
Oak said:
My buddy trains at Renzo's in NYC and they want you to wear Gracie gi's there. Most of the other places I've been to in Manhattan don't give a shit. I think it's pretty lame to force that unless you are charging 80-100 max.
Click to expand...

Ok, well I guess I'll just say that it is a Renzo affiliate. She said that Renzo requires everyone to have equipment bought from them due to staph and mrsa. From the response you guys are giving, it sounds like that isn't something Renzo requires as much as something she'd like to require.

I do like the gym, I just want to make sure that isn't something normal and I'm not just being a cheap ass.

Like I said, funny thing is, I've been to two classes, the intro and another. I haven't seen a single Gracie gi worn. Not even by the instructor.
 
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