JKD Training in NYC?

[BIG Sean Madigan]

Hi El Maestro,

"I'm talking about JKD schools."

Bro, you owe it to yourself to give Christian and Renzo a look. These guys are amazing teachers. Don't sell yourself short looking for something that is not there. When you say that you want a "JKD" school I am assuming that you mean "ojkd"...Right? Hey, I understand, I was there once.

But take a visit to these schools, see what the training is like. You will never turn back.

BIG Sean

[BIG Sean Madigan]

Ojkd....

Hi El Maestro,

"I'm talking about JKD schools."

Bro, you owe it to yourself to give Christian and Renzo a look. These guys are amazing teachers. Don't sell yourself short looking for something that is not there. When you say that you want a "JKD" school I am assuming that you mean "ojkd"...Right? Hey, I understand, I was there once.

But take a visit to these schools, see what the training is like. You will never turn back.

BIG Sean

[El Mastero]

Hey Sean,

Yeah, I may give up on the whole JKD thing since it looks like there are no schools in the area. At this point OJKD, JKDC or even Functional JKD would've been cool. I'm not interested in BJJ because they spend too much time on ground fighting and submissions. I don't mind learning how to roll but I want equal if not more instruction in some good stand up skills. The only school I wouldn't train under are the one's affiliated with PFS, only because the ease at which one can be certified in the art.

Anyway, why don't you have one of your protege's open up a Combative Solutions gym in the Bronx? And if it's not too much trouble, open it in the Fordham Road area.

[ryanhall]

El Maestro,

SBG is "Functional JKD."

I'm curious if you've ever trained before. I'm not knocking you, but I just get the impression that you're very new to this--which is cool, of course. I think you would be making a mistake by not checking out a bunch of schools, particularly some of the calibur that have been mentioned.

At SBG-NYC, we train both ground and standup. Thursdays are strictly Muay Thai and boxing. Monday is reserved for MMA (all ranges). There are a number of people at the gym with very good standup skills (sadly, I am not one of them).

Also, I would point out that if you can't grapple, you can't stand up. Your ability to strike is directly proportional to your ability to stay on your feet. That means that if you can't wrestle, you won't be striking for long. If you don't have Jits skills, you won't ever make it back off of the ground to start striking again. Just something to think about.

I would highly recommend giving Christian's place (SBG-NYC) a look. Just get on the mat with some of the people there and you will quickly find out if they have anything to offer you.

Oh, yeah, I heard Renzo's was ok as well. I just remember somebody telling me about those Gracie guys being pretty good . Go there too.

[El Mastero]

Hi Ryan.

My MA background is in TKD. I studied it for a few years back when I was in college. It was free, so you can't beat that.

Anyway, yes I am aware of the Straight Blast Gyms, Matt Thornton and "functional JKD". I was actually more interested in an OJKD or JKDC school in the Bronx. Since I am unaware of there being any then I would settle for an SBG or even MMA gym. I'm not knocking SBG or MMA, just that I wanted to study a system who's primary focus is standup where ground fighting is secondary.

But the key word here is in the Bronx. I'm really not interested in travelling down to the city (Manhattan) for training. For two reasons mostly. One, it's a long commute and two, most schools in the city are overpriced.

Anyway, I mentioned that I was looking for a school in the Bronx. You stated that you went to school in the Bronx. I wasn't sure if you were trying to be funny. I went to school in the Bronx too. Elementary school, Junior High etc.

Anyway, if you know of one in the Bronx then give me some info. A website, the school name and address etc. Thanks.

[C. Montes]

Maybe you'd have better luck looking for a boxing or muay thai gym (check those forums) in the Bronx if what you're interested in is Stand up fighting. coming from a JKDC background i can tell you from experience that the majority of the functional stand up fighting that is taught is based on a Western Boxing delivery system. Most JKDC stand up curriculums also carry a heavy muay thai influence (leg kicks, knees & elbows) though not as much focus on live clinch training/sparing as you would find in a 'pure' muay thai gym. but that will also depend on the instructor's background and what their individual preferences are.

I would recommend that type of atmosphere over a 'martial arts school' environment anyway if you're really interested in performance-based training. this way you get more of whats important (functional skill) and less of the non-practical that looks cool but wastes valuable training time.

[El Mastero]

Hey C. Montes,

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to have to figure out which MA schools are in the area and check them out. It's funny that back in college I had the MA bug. I was taking TKD at my college for free and then found a community center that also had a TKD program and went there as well. So I was taking TKD classes 5 to 6 days a week. The funny thing is that the community center also had a boxing program. I probably would have benifitted more if I had kept my TKD training in college but did the boxing at the center instead. Oh well, live and learn.

[Beach Head]

You forgot to mention that he was an instructor at Anderson's Martial Arts. It's really sad when people forget or ignore where they came from. I don't think that was Christian's intention, or yours. But I could be wrong.

Sifu Dan Anderson and Christian Montes are both great guys who teach excellent. They both taught me what I know and I plan on going back to Dan Anderson this year. I'd take and recommend either one of them. I have taken a few years off from training MMA, but still work out with weights and still retain the knowledge that those two taught me.

[mma_fan81]

Hey C. Montes,

Thanks for the tip. I'm going to have to figure out which MA schools are in the area and check them out. It's funny that back in college I had the MA bug. I was taking TKD at my college for free and then found a community center that also had a TKD program and went there as well. So I was taking TKD classes 5 to 6 days a week. The funny thing is that the community center also had a boxing program. I probably would have benifitted more if I had kept my TKD training in college but did the boxing at the center instead. Oh well, live and learn.

In case you don't know, Taekwondo doesn't work at all in a real fight or in MMA. This is coming from an TKD black belt. I now train in BJJ and want to begin Muay Thai. The plus side is people trained in TKD pick up Muay Thai a lot easier than newbies.