Please advise MA newb

[Scarymonster]

I'm sure this thread will incite white belt rage on some level, but whatever.

I have never trained MA but wanted to for years, and am now definitely picking a place and going. I'm in pretty good shape and athletic so I expect a quick grasp of basics. I don't want to roll so hence posting in Standup. I live just west of Philadelphia, so there's a bunch of places around the burbs, and I'm resistant to going to center city for a top notch school yet, maybe once I learn a few things... many in the burbs seem to be McDojos teaching TKD, and I have no interest really in kata. But a couple places teach Krav, which despite not really being MA, or competitive in MMA, is by most accounts an effective way to build a foundation of practical self defense, and learn some striking & ground stuff, plus the mental and cardio conditioning... which i'm also interested in, considering the recent number of near fights I've encountered... which is unusual. Now the places that sell Krav are Premier MA schools, which do admittedly strike me as McDojo... any experience from anyone? As a beginner though, is that necessarily a bad thing? Any comments are appreciated.

 

[DrBdan]

What do you hope to get out of training? If you're just looking for a place to learn some stand-up for self defense and get a good workout then krav maga would probably do that for you, though it depends on the gym. If you are thinking of doing krav as a way to build some basic skills before moving into boxing or muay thati (or another stand-up art) don't bother, just start whatever martial art you are thinking of trying.

And for the record I would consider krav maga to be a martial art, it's just not that mainstream (compared to karate, TKD, kickboxing etc)

 

[Scarymonster]

Yah, basically looking for a place to learn some stand-up for self defense and get a good workout. Also the KM place is pretty close. There's 2 MT places nearby and a couple boxing gyms... also the one Premier place has an MMA class... which sounds interesting, if only to be familiar with BJJ & more wrestling, but I highly doubt I'll ever feel like entering a cage. Before I make a committment though i'd like to try something well rounded with a pragmatic application.

Any experience with Premier Schools?

 

[DrBdan]

Nope, no experience with Premier schools. Just looked them up, they've got a tonne of locations. My first reaction was negative since it's a chain of martial arts schools but really since you're looking for some basic skills and exercise it's probably good. If you are just doing it for fun and exercise you don't need some pro fighter with a black belt and 100 fights experience to teach you. I'd call them up and ask if they have some sorta trial membership. Depending on how far those MT and boxing gyms are you should try them too.

 

[platfox]

Sounds like you want to learn mma style standup. That would mean you most likely should be taking boxing or kickboxing. I wouldn't settle for something different unless you found a very good place. But in my experience if you're doing something that wasn't your first choice, you might not put everything into it. Then it becomes a waste of time.

 

[MonteChristo]

If I were chosing and art for street level self defense and had no prior training I would choose MT. The basics can be learned quickly. They spar (very important) and the conditioning that is typically part of it is very benifitial. The sparing is critical to self defense I believe. You can have all the slick game plan you like but when someone lands a kick to the head you revert to your basics to survive. An art like MT is built on a heavy foundation of those basics and sparing lets you learn what its like to get hit with something you didn't see coming.

KM seems to incorporate a lot of moves from a lot of arts. While this can be a good way to go. Someone coming to such a complex system or maybe I should say to a system that uses complex responses to attacks would be better served to have a base in some other art. I experienced this when I began as a newbie in JKD. Without a base for which to appreciate the way that is no way. I missed a lot. It was only many years later after spending time with Japanese Jujitsu and Muay Thai that I came to appreciate the teachings of the JKD camp.

Just my opinion. The arts can be a life long addiction. Get a solid base and you can go anywhere you want.