Not all martial arts gyms are created equal. A good martial arts gym can be the crucial difference between you deriving enjoyment, developing skills and attaining success in your new sport (or not).
So if you are considering dipping your toe in martial arts this year; consider this blog post as a catch-all guide for helping you decide where you want to train.
1. Gym Culture
Training should be enjoyable. This will be dependent largely on the people you will be training with. I would say that there are good and bad apples everywhere, but in most cases a precedent is set by the head coach and management staff. A rot will probably spread from the roots and, on the other hand, a good gym culture will percolate down from the management staff to all the members.
Initially, it may be hard to spot a good gym culture but there are always a few key giveaways. Do the team make you feel welcome? Do the coaches make a special effort to remember your name? What are the classes like? Are they well-structured and do the attendees seem to be enjoying themselves? Or are they chaotic, disordered, with an instructor enforcing his authority with excessive shouting?
One detail that stood out about my gym, Fightzone London, was the concerted effort that the head coach, Marco, made in learning all our names. You could be in a class of 50 people and even still, Marco would make sure to address you by name. It may seem trivial, but it made me feel more than a “client” and part of a collective.
One last note on gym culture: your gym should never make you feel out of place. Whether you are a keep fitter, weekend warrior or you just want to give it a go; you should never be made to feel like your interests and goals aren’t being served. In many gyms, where there is a big emphasis on competition, the newbies can feel a bit excluded by their inexperience. The reverse can also be true, but often that isn’t the case. So, whether you’re there to simply destress or jump straight into competition, you should feel like that is being supported.
2. Variety of classes
Life can get hectic; and for most people, training will always be secondary to other commitments. As much as we think we’d make the time, sometimes life takes over and we have to raincheck. That’s why you need to pick a gym that can work around your schedule.
For most people, that’ll mean finding time to train around a 9 to 5. That leaves two windows to train: before and after work. Lets be honest though; the lines between “out of office” and work can become a bit blurred after 5pm. You might have unfinished work that needs handling, a work event to attend or even your daughter’s ballet performance. Whatever it is; you might not always be free after you’ve logged off. Not just that, the chances are you might be exhausted after your boss gave you a bollocking and you had to run 1500 errands for your sister and her dog.
I think we are getting the idea here: you might not always be able to train after 5pm. That’s the bad news. The good news is, (in the overwhelming majority of cases) no one can tell you what to do before 9am. So if you want my advice, pick a gym with morning classes. That way if you need to fit training around work, you have no excuse for missing class.
Classes at your new gym should also be stratified according to ability. You want the classes to be reasonably challenging without being overwhelming. Likewise, you don’t want the content of the class to be so far below your abilities that you get bored. There should be classes for every ability, that way when you’re able to graduate from the beginners class, you will still be stretched.
3. Cleanliness
There is no getting around the fact that martial arts gyms can be breeding grounds for all sorts of unsavoury microbes. For a burgeoning ringworm colony, there are few things more enticing than a hot, sweaty environment filled with potential victims all huddled together. And if that sounds disgusting, that’s because it absolutely is.
Unfortunately, not enough gyms take enough precautions to mitigate against this revolting risk. This could be as simple as a quick wipe or spray of the mats. It need not be an apache helicopter cleaning bot with more functions than a swiss army knife. So when you test out your new gym, you should see tangible evidence of a cleaning regimen. Ideally, this would take place after every class, but at an absolute minimum – after a set of classes. That way the sweat doesn’t sit on the mats and begin cultivating our microbial friends.
These strategies aren’t bulletproof, as we can’t exactly pour Dettol on your less than squeaky-clean training partners but trust me when I say that skin infections ain’t it. So keep a keen eye out for mops and disinfectant at your new gym.
4. Women's Classes
If you’re a woman, the benefits of women’s classes are obvious. You get some female company in a traditionally male-dominated environment, you get to train with people with similar physical attributes to you and you get to tailor your game to your body type (and your opponent’s body type).
That said, even if you’re a guy reading this blog post, you should still see women’s classes in your prospective gym as a massive green flag. Why you ask? Too often gyms are too intent on building their gyms around one cohort of people. Dudes. This goes back to the point on culture. Having women’s classes may not generate a good gym culture, but it certainly shows intent to change the gender-imbalance and meathead stereotype associated with martial arts gyms. If these classes are packed, it may be a subtle indicator that the gym is building an inclusive, open-minded culture.
