Looking for a change

Mike1969 · White Belt

I'm a 43 year old blue belt at a McDojo. I hate learning katas, but I love the full contact kickboxing that we do twice a week. My kids just started at the same school. The school is too expensive and since we moved, too far away from my house, but we still make the 30 minute drive 5 times a week. The instructors are awesome. They dont do any competitions and to me this is important. My question is this, what style should I switch to? Theres lots of BJJ tournaments but I'm really not into rolling around with the guys. Theres also lots of TKD tournaments but correct me if im wrong, but not much punching? really? what the heck is that? I really dont know what to do, any ideas?

JusticeZero · Black Belt

The first question is "What is available?" Without knowing more about the area, nothing can really be said. I don't know where you are geographically and I don't know what your options are. You will most likely need to check out the schools in range of you one at a time to get a feel for them.

The second point is that you are almost certainly not at a McDojo if you have contact sparring. That word is being tossed around far too loosely, since a McDojo is, by definition, an unrealistic horror story with awful instructors to flee from, which most places are not. McDojos would never dare to do anything in class that might give you any experience to compare what you are learning with reality.

TKD is specialized on kicking. They have punching, but their competitive rules de-emphasize it in favor of linear kicks from a side stance.

If you want competition, you might also look into Judo (an Olympic sport, even - it's based on grabbing people and throwing them on the ground hard, but they don't wrestle there much), or a good old Boxing gym. Neither will spend too much time making you memorize forms. If you can find both, you have a great combo, since they use the same stances and transitions.

Then the MMA stuff like Muay Thai that you can sometimes find, though i'm not sure that there are many schools of that that aren't just MMA-style schools at this stage, and that involves rolling. Which you really shouldn't dismiss offhand, lots of people find it to be a really interesting skillset to work with, and it's easy to find competitions that involve it at this stage.

Next for the exotics - you might not even have any of these. Things like Savate, etc. can be found scattered here and there, but they are not commonplace so there's not much point in suggesting them. Ask if you see something you don't recognize for a synopsis.
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Mike1969 · White Belt

Thanks for the input, believe it or not, I'm in the Coconut Creek/Coral Springs section of South Florida. I have EVERYTHING here. Top Team, Gracie Barra, Olympic TKD, Boxing and Kickboxing. Theres a dojo on every corner. You would think thats a good thing, but it makes the decision even tougher. I def want it to be a belt school so my kids(and I) have goals of reaching the next belt.

Harlan · Orange Belt

Interested in karate? I hear that this dojo in Miami has good kids classes and a good reputation. Give them a call.

http://www.pinecrestmartialarts.com/

Mike1969 · White Belt

Thats a bit too far, but thank you.

bushido_man96 · KF Sensei

I'd get to a BJJ school, but that's just me. There is so much the style has to offer, I don't think it would ever get boring.

As for TKD, like JusticeZero mentioned, the focus of the style tends to be on kicking, and it offers some great physical challenges in the advancement of kicking techniques. Depending on the type of TKD you find will tell you how much hand techniques you get to use. ITF stylists tend to use more hand techniques in sparring, and even allow head contact. WTF style only allows hand techniques to the body in the form of a fist, and none to the head. ATA schools do point sparring, with light to medium contact, depending on the rank, and have forms that are challenging as they get higher ranked. ATA schools will often get the infamous McDojang label, but there are some good ones out there, and you get out what you put into it. Most TKD schools will likely offer a kids program, as well.

Good luck in your search, and let us know what you decide on.
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mal103 · Purple Belt

Just find a good Dojo, it may not be the shinyest or the busiest, they may not look impressive but you will know when you find it.

We do Shotokan but with full force/power, generally the students love Kata as we show applications, drill parts of them and put 100% into them.

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