by Makoy

Created on: February 21, 2011

There are a lot of different martial arts disciplines out there and finding a good school is not the first step. Finding a good martial arts school should come next after deciding what kind of discipline do you want. I've been teaching martial arts for more than 5 years already and in my experience, once a student (especially kids) isn't interested in the art, they would label it as bad or incompetent. Let me emphasize this, there is no such thing as a much superior martial art. Martial arts disciplines have different styles thus comparing one art to the other is like comparing apples to oranges. Different martial arts disciplines complement each other.

So before getting to the topic of finding a good martial arts school, let me give a run down of some of the most popular martial arts disciplines. Martial arts could be divided into a lot of ways but for me, it falls into these categories: stand up, grappling, and weapons. Stand up arts are Taekwondo, Karate, boxing, and kickboxing to name a few. Under grappling are Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Judo, wrestling, and Aikido, while one of the most popular weapons based martial art discipline is Arnis.

Get to know what you want to learn. Do you want to learn and develop your striking skills? Do you find grappling more interesting? Or you want to get more practical and learn weapons training? Do not opt for what is popular, go for what you're interested in. Let me emphasize that there is no superior martial art. All martial arts disciplines complement each other and as long as you train very well in a particular art, you'll be good and could defend yourself fairly well.

Now that you have already decided, how will you find a good place to learn? The very first thing that you have to do is to shop around. Do you know anybody who is practicing martial arts? Ask him or her. There is no better way to get information that through a word of mouth coming for a good friend. Next is you assess the quality of the students. Are their character good? Or do they normally pick fights and get into trouble. Trust me, the environment in the school really gets into the students.Go for schools that have good students, the quality of teaching reflects on the students. Next thing is to check the record of the instructor. Was he able to produce champions in competitions or do martial arts enthusiasts seek to train with him? Take note to check the coaching/teaching record, not his record as a fighter or athlete. Great players sometimes doesn't become great coaches.

Take note that dedication and perseverance are very important in martial arts training because without it, you could never sustain and reach whatever goals you have set in martial arts. That is why it is very important to go for what you're really interested in rather than going for what's popular. A good training environment also helps a lot. It should be an environment that builds good character and camaraderie among it's members.

Learn more about this author, Makoy.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.