Thursday 4 December 2014

Fake Martial Arts Schools in New York - How to Spot a McDojo, PART 4

This four-part article series highlights some of the obvious signs that your martial art gym – "dojo" - or class isn't actually the genuine article.

Welcome to the final installment of this four-part article series on the signs that your martial arts school in New York may be a "McDojo" and not the genuine article you were hoping for. In the previous two installments, we covered the following points:

Sign # 1: There are 10-year olds running around with black belts.
Sign # 2: They offer a "fast-track" to earning a black belt.
Sign # 3: Your "master" doesn't look very much like a Martial Arts New Yorkmaster.
Sign # 4: The classes are pithy with very little focus on actual combat.

Let's take a look at two final indications before summing up the key issues with learning a martial art through a McDojo.

Sign # 5: The class content focuses mostly on warm-ups and exercise, rather than actual martial arts technique

If you find yourself spending the first 10 minutes of the lesson stretching, the next 30 minutes dancing around to a beat, punching and kicking the air and the final 10 minutes "warming down," you might want to rethink your choice of martial arts school. If you're not learning any valuable grappling, wrestling, punching, kicking and self-defense technique, then chances are you've walked slap-bang into a McDojo!

Sign # 6: There are a lot of kids everywhere

NYC martial arts schools that specialize in teaching youngsters are probably going to provide more of a watered down version, because it's safer that way. The last thing they want on their hands is a furious parent threatening them with a lawsuit because their 6-year old knife-jacked the neighbor's cat. These kinds of establishments are going to reward kids more easily, too, because youngsters tend to get bored and may throw in the towel if they don't move up a belt level in the first few months.

Key Problems with Studying at a McDojo

This may seem fairly obvious: the problem with learning a martial art through a McDojo is that you're not actually learning a martial art. Rather, you're getting exercise through NYC Martial Artsclasses that are teaching you a watered down, even lazy version of the particular form of martial art you've chosen. The skills you acquire and the physical feats you achieve simply could not measure up to a student who is learning from a genuine master. Even if you have a black belt, you wouldn't stand a chance against someone half your age with the same belt.

This is where the real issues arise: the false sense of achievement and of capability. While true martial arts teach the individual to avoid combat and ultimately, to seek peace, those with a half-baked education in combat technique will probably want to practice it on the first irritating drunkard they come across. This puts TWO people at risk, because that "drunkard" may be able to show you a thing or two about real-life combat your McDojo classes failed to.

And you don't want to have to learn that lesson the hard way.

Ultimately, if you've signed up for martial arts at New York studio because you want to get fit and look amazing with your shirt off, then as long as you're getting the workout you want, you should be fine. But, if you want to truly master a form of martial art and all the various tiers that come with it – physical skill, self-defense, mental control and code of ethics – you should be wary of signing up with a McDojo.

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