Though my dad's English skills aren't the best (since he came from Korea), I know he has the skill to back it up. His taekwondo got him a scholarship to the University of Seoul, and he didn't need to serve military time because he was representing the country as an athlete. He managed to get a gold medal in the Asian Games. I'm really proud of my dad 😁
The dojo I attend only checks the box of hardly any fails in belt test since the real test is every class. The instructors are quite capable so I love it.
In my city, I am one of the instructors for a local ATA Martial Arts Studio. I've been in ATA Taekwondo for over a decade, and an instructor for 6 years. From my experience: 1) Last time I knew, we have about 15-20 black belts currently enrolled at our school (not-including instructors), and easily over 45+ color belt students (numbers have drastically changed in ratio thanks to covid era). We have a team of 7 certified instructors running this school (all of us 3rd Degree/3rd Dan or higher), and we've recently won an award for "Best Martial Arts Facility" by public vote in our city! (YAY!) 2) Since we use a new-ish ATA system that is encouraged by Masters both in the ATA nationally and in our region, it takes approximately 2.5-3yrs to get a 1st degree (1st Dan [we say degrees here as a commonality term]), starting from white belt. 3) To go off from #2, this approximate 2.5yrs feature 8-9 week long testing cycles, and that is if you pass every single testing (which we do get students that fail every cycle, including black belts due to score requirements us instructors must abide by). They can fail by not breaking a board, bad technique in form demonstrations/sparring, not exhibiting discipline or respect during testing, or their overall score doesn't meet the benchmark that our school sets (which follows ATA guidelines my Chief Instructor has access to and shares to the other instructor). There is only minor modifications to our testing requirements that we do which caters to the needs for our students to not only earn their rank, but also fits within very specific situations we adapt by per student (i.e. disabilities or physical movement complications) 4) Funnily enough, all 7 of us instructors are 24 years old or under (I'm the oldest at 24years, 5months as of this posting). Yet all 7 of us have been doing ATA Taekwondo (or martial arts in general, some of us swapped to different martial art styles), since we were kids or very young teens. My Chief Instructor, a 5th Degree/5th Dan, has been in the ATA since he was 4! (His baby photos are so cute that his mom sometimes shows us). 5) Our abilities level fluctuates with each instructor. Unfortunately, I know that I'm the least flexible out of the instructors and can't do much flips/cool tricks; however, I have a strength in seeing techniques as it relates to body motion, and simplifying complicated techniques, demonstrations, or sparring tactics. Also, all 7 of us have different preferences in what they do (some of us are hardcore sparrers and go to every tournament out there, some of us are big on extreme/creative competitions - where you make your own form demonstrations with open hand or weapons, do flips and XMA-like moves, some of us loves self-defense and going over practical applications in martial arts, and some of us like pure traditional martial arts approaches). Our students generally get to learn where each instructor have their strengths in as they go through our ranks, while we each have our own teaching style. We've had very little complaints from students or parents about our variety, and overall I think it has made our studio very successful historically. 6) Our cost, last time I knew, is around the $140 mark. This includes 3 classes a week, free uniform, free belts and testing, and some free gear we give out (water bottles, T-shirts, and patches). Our old programs before we changed it was cheaper per monthly payment, but didn't include most of the free stuff I mentioned above. We also have different programs that are more expensive, but they include other benefits depending on the program and classes the parents and students are interested in (like those who are interested in doing tournaments/competitions seriously). 7) We do advertise that we have world champions in our studio (that's what we call our "dojo"). However out of the 20ish total black belts we have, only 7 of us actually hold World Champion Titles in the ATA either currently or in the past (we hope for more this year!). 8) We joke that we're a sparring school where I instruct. I mention above that 7 of us have world champ titles or multiple titles or had held a title. Yeah... the largest majority of Total World Titles is from Individual or Team Sparring competitions. Sparring Classes are usually our largest classes we have, and we even have Team Sparring divisions within our region we participate in. For older TKD students we have, usually older teenagers/adults (no matter the rank they are), if they are interested in doing sparring, we hold "Fight Nights" every Friday night where all we do for a whole hour is spar lol. Btw, Nat, I've been watching your shorts and videos for a while now and I really enjoy them. Keep up the work bro
This channel made me realize I went to a mcdojo as a kid. There were no tests for a new belt, you just got a new one every 3 months (a black belt took 2.5 years). There was no sparring, and in the year I went there we only ever used punching bags like twice. One class all we did was sit and talk about Earth day and the environment. Another time they brought in a woman who they claimed was a karate national champion, so you’d think she’d give us some tips or have us work on our forms, but instead she just had us run in circles and do a few push ups.
I can happily say my dojo wasn’t a McDojo (unfortunately we closed down due to the pandemic and never reopened) 1) We had less than 10 black belts (myself included) at the time of closing. 2) There were definitely people that failed, but not too many. When you got promoted, you earned it. 3) My Sensei was a wonderful instructor, and he was always teaching us hands-on. I’ll never forget him and how patient he was with us 4) When I had first started it was $75/month and a couple of years later when we moved to a different building, it was $100. It was money well-spent though. 5) We didn’t really compete at a world-championship level, but we did go to local tournaments every couple of months. 6) The kids/teens would spar with protective gear and the adults without. For the teens and adults we’d do grappling (which was good because it helped us improve our ground game) and we would even do games sparring where we’d only be allowed to kick for one round, then only punch for the other. It was loads of fun
1:54 I am a black belt instructor at my dojo. At the tender age of 14, I won't say that I am a great coach, but I can most definitely say that I am a good coach. I take care of the sparring and training sessions and make sure my students understand how each and every move works and the correct way to execute them. I don’t allow them to move on from one skill to another until they have mastered the current one. That’s why it took me five years to become a black belt, as my sensei taught me the same way I am teaching them now. I often have them spar every two days. Two of my students even went to a national-level tournament for Kumite one won gold and other silver and even my other students were praised that they fight very good, even me myself I have won a lot of gold medals as a student so, in my opinion experience matters the most
Yeah I thinks mine is because there are like 20 junior black belts and 80% don’t know how to do a spinning hook kick. And plus whenever we are sparring we aren’t allowed to do low kicks, nor grapples,
Im training Kyokshinkai Karate and my dojo has (out of 40 adults) only 3 black belts. And the price is really cheap: 70 Euro per a termin (half a year)
I think my school is in the clear!!! I do ITF TKD and started when I was 8. I'm 21 and almost a black belt. (I did take a big break around the pandemic and when I started university) I will be my instructors first black belt if I can make this test (we do have a two or 3 other black belts but they are community members that mostly trained at other schools). My teacher is pretty strict and while I can't think of a test that he has failed someone for, he won't let you go to test unless he thinks you are ready. He has many prelim tests that you will generally fail many times before you figure them out. We also spar quite a bit and we even teach kids to shadow spar early on so that they can have confidence for when they are ready to really spar. I know I'm bragging a bit but this video made me proud of this huge part of my life. I'm going to try to test for my black belt this year!!!
This is a very good advice also for other situations in life..., beware of oversell. Thanks for sharing general Nat ;) love those medals in the background...
Some of these also just depend on your style and size of dojo. In the classes I regular, most people are black belts. That's because roughly 75% of the people at the dojo are 8-10 year olds under a green belt, and I wouldn't get anything out of going to those classes, so I generally only go to adult classes, where 50-75% of people will be black belts. Also, black belts tend to be more disciplined, leading to them showing up more consistently. In regards to the "no one fails testing" thing, that's also based on the size of the studio. This dojo has tons of kids, and if the grandmaster let everyone who wanted to test, testing would take ages and half the people there would fail. Because of that, he refuses to let you test unless he's had you pre-test in regular classes, at which point the actual testing becomes more of a ceremonial thing, and the only way you're gonna fail is if you don't try.
Great video with some excellent points. 2 things though: "Do they have any videos to showcase how good they used to be" - alot of ppl don't even use social media. Such ppl potentially also only teach a small class, therefore don't relay on as much publicity. And sometimes only charge enough for the training to cover their hall hire. They're not interested in profit as it's about passing on the knowledge. Also, Re: high kicks. You can't judge the quality of a Dojo by it's kicks. Or the height of them. In traditional/original Okinawan karate there were hardly any kicks anyway. Kicks only appeared in modern karate l, and they "copied" from Savate. Coz karate had nothing ranged to replace the use of samurai swords.
When I was 4 my parents put me in a martial arts class, I left at 8 because even at that age I figured out it was a mcdojo. You would automatically get the next belt (that you had to buy) unless you missed too many sessions. All I learnt was how to shout
McDojos 101: 1) The instuctor tells you he prefers to teach "mindset" over "techniques". 2) The instructor tells you that he never applies for tournaments because the lethal techniques he's been teaching you are "only for the streets" and you could kill someone inside the ring. 3) The instructor rarely, almost never, spars with the students because his killer insticts might kick in and accidentally cripple someone. 4) The older students actively put effort in crushing newbies to prove that they are indeed the "killing machines" their instructor told them they are. 5) The wall is filled top to bottom with diplomas and trophies, but none of them are from a legitemate federation. 6) Instructor is going to give you a hard time, might even kick you out, if he finds out you tried another martial art alongside his. 7) Instuctor tells students after 3 months that they are already able to take on everyone (strongly tied with statement No4). 8) The (supposedly) top students are completely unable to oversee and correct newbies. 9) Instuctor tells you to do bag and shadowfight work without actually observing your form and fixing mistakes. 10) Students (especially
My mom almost signed me up for a wingchun mcdojo claiming they were “IP man’s student” but a week before the lessons started he was caught being a pedo then got sent to jail
Only three black belts at my dojo: the head coach, and two assistant coaches. All with 20+ years under their belts. One brown belt who rarely ever shows up. A couple purple. Rest are blue and white.
My dojo charges around $150 Canadian a month, but we DO actually have a few world champions in the WKC; 3-5 black belts including myself on average per class, but I know them all personally and we've all been training well over a decade. The price point is always a little tricky to navigate, but my recommendation is to always take trial classes whenever possible - it's really helpful to gauge the legitimacy of any dojos you attend.
My boxing academy - have alot of students who fight professionally and plenty of sparring - my boxing coach already trained a world champion and participated on the olympics - People learn the fundamentals and they always help you if they figure your doing an punch wrong and instruct you to do exercises - its pretty not super expensive but not cheap either Ive got really strong since i joined so am guessing thats an great fighting academy
In my jujitsu dojo, -There are 4 black belts out of 26 people. -The membership is £3 a week (1 - 2 hour session) -There are 0 world champions -Everyone passes gradings (These gradings are done when enough people are deemed good enough to pass) Which cost £3 -We do sparring but no competitions It is not a mcdojo but is definitely a less serious club
A big red flag for me was always if the "Master's" wife/girlfriend is a current or former student of the school, especially if she's significantly younger than him. Every time I've encountered this the place turned out to be a McDojo.
In my dojo (judo), there isn’t a single black belt aside from the sensei, as they get put in a separate class to train nationally with other black and brown belts. We rarely fail, as we take quite a while between grading, but if someone does something blatantly terrible then they will be failed. My dojo is also partnered with Kodokan, so it literally can’t be a mcdojo lmao. It’s not too expensive, but there’s 3 classes a week. We do randaris frequently, usually after we’ve learnt a technique, but it’s much more common in newaza. There also aren’t too many people in my class, as it’s separated into 5 separate classes- 1 for really young kids who are just getting into it (rarely grade, just there to have fun), the older kids who aren’t looking to take it too seriously (do a lot of techniques but only grade to orange/green and grade rarely), the adolescent kids looking for something serious (will grade to blue then take gap years, do lots of competitions), then the adult classes- those looking to try it out long term, and then finally adults who are looking (or have previously done it) to take it to a very high level. I’ve been doing judo for around 7 years now, and I’m only at green belt (about to be blue), so I’m fairly sure that it’s not a mcdojo, but in the younger classes they do usually just get given the belts no matter what, though that’s only up to like yellow belt.
You're doing quite well! At my dojo the belt/time ratio was quite similar to yours. When I did Judo, I stopped at brown belt, as my dojo closed down :( I really wish you the best, and hope you get as far as you can!
@ thanks man! My sensei says after I get blue belt he’s gonna sign me for a lot more tournaments, so I’ll get some experience with other fighting styles and techniques, I’m hoping I’ll go to black, I really love judo and really all martial arts!
This is all spot on information, fully reliable video and I hope it helps others, be them newly welcomed or lifetime practitioners find a genuine place of training.
My dojo became a mcdojo after Covid. Started giving black belts out like it’s nothing. Even had online black belt tests. Although I do think that maybe it was a mcdojo my entire time being there. I never met anyone to fail a test. Also during black belt training some kids brought Pokemon cards and played with them? I love karate but man I wish there was a better dojo in my area.
In my gym there’s only 2 black belts, which is the instructor and the assistant instructor. Head instructor trained for 30+ years has 4th degree black belt. There’s 5-6 brown belts but they are middle age to older people of 10+ years. Mostly blue belts and the rest are white belts
Failed my black belt pre exam 5 times, when I got it I really felt like I earned it. There were little kids at the studio, because the master had the incredible business model of running an after school and day care during the day, drastically improving profit margins and growing the school to multiple locations. Those kids got stuff out of it, but it was mostly about discipline and self control for them, they were too young for much else. The night classes were where it was at, where the learning was serious, and they also had black belt and pre black belt only classes, since there was a very healthy population for the school. We did have plenty of black belts, around 30 from the few hundred students who came through the school. I’m not how the masters had the stamina for 4-7 classes a day, at a minimum, plus after school stuff, but looking back they were super impressive dudes, very glad they were a part of my childhood.
One of the main reasons I didn't go to a specific dojo growing up was solely because my friend who recommended it was a black belt at 8 years old. I asked him how long it took to get it and he said something like 2 years. Even at 8 I knew if I could become a black belt in as little as 2 years, it wasn't legit. The dojo that I ended up going to did yearly grading, but told everyone you couldn't become a black belt until you were 18, no matter how long you've trained there. You couldn't just go to black belt, and you had to earn your way there. They didn't let you grade unless either the Sensei's or the Shihan told you directly that you would be able to grade.
I learned taekwondo under one of like 3 grandmasters of the chung do kwan style in the entire US, and one of 90 9th-degree WTF black belts in the country. Pretty damn well-renowned guy in the TKD community. His dojang is in a strip mall. Safe to say probably about as far from a mcdojo as you can get: extremely accomplished grandmaster whos been in it for probably over 50 years and you could walk right past his place if you didnt know where to look. Hes that damn humble
Hello Nat, Im Anay. Been following you for years have learned alot from you and just wanted to let you know im literally one of the biggest fan of you and trevor. please let him know this and im also getting your flexibility program to get better at martial arts right now. Keep up the GOOD WORK!!!!
I actually can’t tell if my dojo’s a mcdojo or not. On one hand, they don’t actually take training too seriously, and there’s a weird grading system in place. But there aren’t any black belts in my class, we spar, all the instructors are at least over the age of 30 (and they clearly care about martial arts), and we even had a BJJ world champion over to teach a class once. For reference, I do Japanese Jiu-Jitsu and a bit of kickboxing, but they also teach filipino kali, BJJ, and muay thai.
my karate and jiujitsu (japanese not brazilian) dojo is part of an old sports club of my hometown, it costs only 18 bucks per month. they also offer judo, krav maga, boxing and wrestling and I believe they will soon offer kickboxing too. belt exams are 2 times per year and they cost 10-20 bucks each (dan/black belt exams are like 50 bucks). in karate we have 9 rankings (white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, 3x brown) until we reach black belt and 6 in jiujitsu (white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown). I believe you need about 5-7 years here until you reach black belt, depending on how many times per week you can train. when I train with yellow or orange belts (I am still a white belt because I just started 3 months ago) they whipe the floor with me so imo they are already quite good. we have like 15-20 active people in karate, 3 of them are black belts and in jiujitsu there are about 10-15 active people and 2 of them are black belts. most of the advanced guys visit seminars regularely and compete in tournaments. karate is 2 times per week for kihon, kumite, kata and theres another session per week for kumite and free sparring only. everybody can and should train at the free sparring session, even if they are still white belts. jiujitsu training is also 3 times per week and the trainer learned jiujitsu while he was training to become a police officer and he then worked for the federal border protection and federal criminal police office. we also learn to fight with and against the stick (hanbo) and knife (tanto) in jiujitsu. karate and jiujitsu are kinda complementing each other in my dojo. I think its definitely the opposite of a mcdojo and I am quite happy so far and most of the other dojos in my area are really similar, but there are actually also 3 mcdojos which offer their own fantasy styles of karate, jiujitsu, ninjutsu or kenjutsu for a hefty monthly fee.
There is one super important thing to remember, taking the black belt one as an example: if you have 100 people, and none of them are black belts there might be something wrong. Same with the pass to fail ratio, if there is nobody passing there might still be something wrong
an interesting thing my club do is they dont allow people to go for gradings unless they are 100% certain they have the potential to pass, pretty cool!
yes my dojo does this too! In the weeks before a grading we will practice skills that would be in the grading and give it 100% effort and if my sensei thinks we don't have the potential to pass we will go for it next time. When I was brown belt with two white stripes I wasn't put forward for a Black Belt grading because I wasn't good enough and then 6 months later I was put forward and earned my black belt. This was last December and I've been doing karate for nearly 8 years consistently.
And now i finally got to know what this "MCDojo" is 😃at first I expected it to be something a bit different from everything you've explained in this video tbh😅 but now that it's clearer, thanks Mate!😉
As a black belt myself in taekwondo, a yellow belt in Shidokan karate, a kickboxer and all around martial arts lover for 30 years now, I would of started with sparring as number one. Freestyle sparring will show you if your dojo is a serious dojo. But Nat you are completely right. Keep making good videos.
3:22 I spotted that you said that only WKF is a quality stamp of karate organisation. Maybe in traditional karate, but kyokushin has their own federations/organisations, and WKF don't have a lot (if any) kyokushin dojo's. Concluding, not all karate styles are associated with WKF and that simplification may be harmful for e.g. kyokushin or oyama karate
Keep in mind that just because it is a McDojo doesn't mean there aren't good martial artists there. I've been doing taekwondo for over 10 years with an organization that most would probably consider a McDojo, but I understand that there are lots of really good athletes and instructors within it that genuinely are doing it for the betterment of the community around them and enjoy doing it. I got my instructor certification about a year and a half ago, and our academy is not at all hesitant to fail someone if we don't think they should rank up. Most of the instructors there are also volunteers.
@samoerai6807 You could get your black belt in about 2 1/2 years if you never fail a testing. Unlikely with the new way we grade testings, but good students who put in a lot of effort could do it.
The defending themselves is a really good point that applies to a lot different things in life as well, if someone isn't good at something themselves they probably shouldn't teaching it to others
According to my sensei…grading belts are nothing in front of hardwork and practice….lower belt holder can beat black belts…if they are practicising in proper way
We did light contact sparing. I guess I started when I was 12. The sparing was intimidating back then. Now I'm old and 32 I thought I'd try my hand at kickboxing. Sparing the best. Big soft gloves and shin pads make it 90% safe
when i was about 10-12 i was in a mcdojo taekwondo place, i was going to test for my yellow belt and i was so excited for testing thinking that i could fail and i needed to be prepared, but they passed me without doing anything and i was disappointed
I’m 15 now and I have been doing mma since was 6 got by black belt, and I don’t really feel like I earned it but I was sparring against other kinds or teens but I always felt like a fraud but I’m now doing my training to be an instructor. But you can always improve. Love the vids man ❤❤
With the greatest respect, immediately after saying McDojos are just after money instead of wanting to make people better out of kindness, you plugged your flexibility system. Everyone expects to find Mr Miyagi in their apartment building offering to train them for free, but coaches and school operators need to make a living too. I think the point is how much of what they charge is tuition and how much is you being nickel-and-dimed for every little thing like long term contracts, loads of weapons, special programs, merchandise, etc
I think he meant that a McDojo would rather only get your money, wheres a Dojo would actually teach you, for a price. A McDojo is just time and money wasted
About your failing test point: I do Itf Tae kwon Do and we only go to gradings if we’re ready so just because no-one fails on the day some people aren’t allowed too.
Same. I practice Iaido and even at the lower ranks, senseis do not let you test if they dont see you passing on the mat already. So my sensei generally comes up to someone and says "you going to be ready for a test soon?" And thats his hint that in the next week or 3 hes going to spring a "mock test" on the kyu ranka for put some of us through our respective tests. He just says mock test so as to calm nerves ha. However a shodan test is different, way more formal, and also something that your sensei will not let you do if they dont see you exhibiting passing marks in the way you perform on the mat regardless of how much time youve had. In the next year i believe ill be able to test for shodan ho and then 6 months later perhaps shodan
They always told me whether or not id be ready to test on the next formal testing day. The test day itself wasnt really a test but rather to prove to the masters there that you met the requirements for the next belt. They actually judge your abilities during classes and determine if you’re ready to formally demonstrate them. The only times ive ever seen fails is people straight up walking off the mat in frustration or forgetting their form entirely
As a long-time martial artist, I understand what you're trying to get at. A lot of gyms will stray from tradition an er on the side of convenience and profit. I think there is a level of bias here, though, that needs to be mentioned. Not everyone needs to be a world champion to teach. I understand looking up one's history, but to disqualify someone because they lost a fight once would mean no one is suitable. Losing is part of the experience and will happen to everyone. As you say, world champions are quite rare. Additionally, many capable teachers may prefer solitude to social engagement, leaving that to their students. Sorry to say, I disagree with you on this point. Now, that aside, the mcdojo culture is performative in nature. You are accurate. Sparring is limited if not unheard of in these environments. More importantly, there's an air of mysticism in these schools. As a martial artist myself, if I ask a teacher why something works and they can't answer in a way that satisfies my understanding, then I disqualify them as capable. It's as simple as demonstrating a technique, breaking it down step by step, explaining why the technique works, where force and speed have roles, understanding variations of that technique, and their applications. I.e. every art has a round house kick. Where, why, how, and when do the variations get used, and how does one properly make use of the kick (apply force)? Most mcdojo teachers will shake their head in disbelief. They do not know what they teach and amount to little more than trained students. That's my 2 cents, though.
he never mentioned them being disqualified for losing a fight once, he simply said and i quote "have a look at their history, see if they've got any videos on how good they used to be." he also never mentioned them needing to be world champions he roughly said "if your dojo has a bunch of world champions it's most likely a McDojo". i'm almost certain you just slightly misunderstood what he was saying at certain points, so i hope this reply doesn't come off as rude.
One promotion is all it takes to get to black belts, but the trainings are super strict To be fair, black belt is literally just the 2nd tier, there are higher tiers, but they have red belts and focus the identifiers on a chest badge that turns full yellow in the highest tier ("Pendekar")
My Dojo never fails people as long as they don’t quit the test, but we don’t let you test until you show in class that you’re ready. Essentially we treat tests as the formal ceremony, the real test is every time you walk on the mat and give it your all.
I survive a kung fu dojo or mcdojo because my "Master" is deadly he said and powerful also he is 46 yr old but his martial arts arent connecting to what he is teaching
I never understood the link between past ability and coaching potential. Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr were on the same Bulls team, but one will be remembered for his playing and the other for his coaching. Freddy Roach, one of the greatest boxing coaches of all time, was barely average as a fighter
My dojo to go to first degree black belt u need to go through 12-13 belts White, yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, red, red with a black line through the center, brown with a white line through the center, brown, brown with a black line though the center, and black Each month we will have a test on our curriculum and we get a stripe, if u get the right amount of stripes u go to the next belt, there are also 3 kinds of classes beginners with white yellow and orange, intermediate with blue green and purple, and advance with the rest of the belts, And if u are going to a different class u need to do a test, of everything u learned in that class, it takes u about a year to go through 3 belts
I'm quite surprised, aren't black belts in the US regulated at all ? In France the black belt and further dans can only be delivered by the French Karate Federation through a regional exam supervised by a jury of three people. Dans are recognised by the state and are commonly associated with a diploma allowing you to train people. Recently Dojos have been allowed to organize first dan exams by themselves, but you still need 3 people with at least a second dan to do so. It is usually common practice to make the kids pass kyus, even if they aren't particularly good, since they are childs and it is a way to keep them motivated and award their consistency. But usually blue and brown belts still have signifiance (but it depends on the dojos).
Checked out one for a friend and dear lord, this place was horrible. Asked the usual questions. Learned about the menu for the pizza place next door, a few of the other restaurants near by, and learned that according to him with my untapped chi I could become a black belt if I just paid 3,000 for their program. I would be a Black belt with my "Untapped warrior chi" in a year. Felt like I was at Amway and not a school.
I was skeptical about how they seem to pass just about everybody at every testing but eventually I realized how many people weren't allowed to test because they weren't deemed ready.
Yer thats the thing to consider more so do they just pass everyone bc mcdojo or do they only let people grade when they're ready or you just don't notice people who are failing
The Taekwondo school I train at has been operating for 36 years and we have 21 black belts and 1 junior black belt (He def deserves Full Black, he just isn't old enough yet). I was on my Blue Belt Red Stripe for 2 years before I got to test for solid red the first time, was failed fairly as I wasn't practicing my patterns enough outside of regular class as I should have been. Recently re-tested and turbo smoke the test. Very rewarding.
I train Kyokushin in a small town in North Carolina with Sensei Kenny Buffaloe and 2 time world Champion Senpai Christian Buffaloe. They are awesome!! Osu!
Building off the belts point, if you're in a martial art that doesn't normally do belts (Muay Thai, for example) and the gym your at has a belt system, it's probably a McDojo
The reason why I left my dojo was because it felt like they were starting to get a bit too greedy. Which sucks because there was a time where it felt like a family
This is I’ve got a big dojo, and I pay a lot but I went to a Interantional torna,ent fighting people who are 4 years above my age coming home wit a silver
Its pretty easy, if they dont have any fighter / competitor, or even the coach is (or was) a real fighter, its probably a McDojo. There is a chance that it doesn't, but there is no point of risking anything, just go to a proper gym with fighters.
The way I knew my Dojo is authentic is that they're associated with the country's Karate Federation. (I'm an expat so can't dishonestly claim it is my country in a small act of loyalty to my own nationality) There's official certificates and signatures. We do sparring(also were made to buy guards for protection, however expensive it annoyingly was..my brother still needs his groin guard though), and the coaches are authentic(at one point one of our our inter-dojo championships had to reschedule cause the coaches were busy with other stuffs in dubai). At some point I knew there is one student that apparently failed too many times that the head (quite an aged owner of the dojo and also a martial artist) took pity on them and gave it anyway.
I remember i was in a kickboxing gym where there was a fat girl who could barely throw a punch or kick and she was very high belt level There where also kids that always slacked and they always got the highest ranks while the people who were good at kickboxing only got yellow belts at best I also went to an mma gym where the sessions were super easy and it just felt off so now i will go to a boxing gym instead
Same here! I don’t believe I’m at a Mcdojo since I only know 3 others who are at my skill level (that aren’t black belt), just wondering about the price argument (Though the American economy is probably to blame).
my judo club pretty much passes everyone they grade, but they grade only twice a year and the coach decides if you’re ready (and it’s often that you’ll miss several of these gradings)
1. Ok so i don't think they do make it quick to receive a black belt, as we actually don't have any black belts except for 2 girls, one who's there cause she has been training before the pandemic and wanted to dip her toes in martial arts, and another who is an instructor who said she has trained 4 years before receiving her black belt from they're sensei both are related to our sensei, basically all the top people are people who are family to our sensei so probably not 2. We did have people getting their belts later than they we're supposed to as they didn't do anything, and for sparring we do have a win or lose system 3. Well i have two main senseis the one black belt girl who is only 18, but is helping her dad (our main sensei) run his dojo, and our main sensei, hasn't done anything remarkable per say, but he has kicked kids holding soft kicking shields away a bit, and he has done punches that was quick, but he's on the sensei Seth build, (which is ok) and over this year he's been progressing apparently he just received his 10th degree red belt in the higer organization 4. It's cheap enough Like it isn't cheap cheap, i live in the Philippines so it's 400pesos but it's not 1k pesos which for us is the expensive stuff, but this is only 400 for us this is pretty cheap specially since this is just a karate class, and two days a week. Which is my weekends unlike school sport programs which costed me like 1k pesos each time 5. They've never said anything like that, the front of their page is literally "learn the japanese art of self defense and sport" 6. YEP! They'd usually don't allow jump kicking or takedowns though BUT THEY STILL TRAIN HOW TO DO THEM, takedowns are allowed only some time's, but my sensei has said that in tournaments takedowns are allowed in tournaments What yall thinking?
my instructor is i think aound 50-70yrs old, hes korean and teaches tkd and the stuff he teaches i know is legit cus of online too and idk when sparring would start but he does say you have to spar at least 2 people in part of your black belt testing
I recall having my first wing chun instructor explaining why we should properly make a fist when punching, he showed us a video of him breaking his hand during some hard sparring, he most likely still can't make a proper fist with his left hand, considering he didn't wear a cast.
Though my dad's English skills aren't the best (since he came from Korea), I know he has the skill to back it up. His taekwondo got him a scholarship to the University of Seoul, and he didn't need to serve military time because he was representing the country as an athlete. He managed to get a gold medal in the Asian Games. I'm really proud of my dad 😁
What year did he win the gold in the asian games
@@Yderthere 1994 Hiroshima
@@FattyMcPattyThe3rd thanks
@@FattyMcPattyThe3rd which weight class tho
@Yderthere He fought as a Featherweight
The dojo I attend only checks the box of hardly any fails in belt test since the real test is every class. The instructors are quite capable so I love it.
In my city, I am one of the instructors for a local ATA Martial Arts Studio. I've been in ATA Taekwondo for over a decade, and an instructor for 6 years. From my experience:
1) Last time I knew, we have about 15-20 black belts currently enrolled at our school (not-including instructors), and easily over 45+ color belt students (numbers have drastically changed in ratio thanks to covid era). We have a team of 7 certified instructors running this school (all of us 3rd Degree/3rd Dan or higher), and we've recently won an award for "Best Martial Arts Facility" by public vote in our city! (YAY!)
2) Since we use a new-ish ATA system that is encouraged by Masters both in the ATA nationally and in our region, it takes approximately 2.5-3yrs to get a 1st degree (1st Dan [we say degrees here as a commonality term]), starting from white belt.
3) To go off from #2, this approximate 2.5yrs feature 8-9 week long testing cycles, and that is if you pass every single testing (which we do get students that fail every cycle, including black belts due to score requirements us instructors must abide by). They can fail by not breaking a board, bad technique in form demonstrations/sparring, not exhibiting discipline or respect during testing, or their overall score doesn't meet the benchmark that our school sets (which follows ATA guidelines my Chief Instructor has access to and shares to the other instructor). There is only minor modifications to our testing requirements that we do which caters to the needs for our students to not only earn their rank, but also fits within very specific situations we adapt by per student (i.e. disabilities or physical movement complications)
4) Funnily enough, all 7 of us instructors are 24 years old or under (I'm the oldest at 24years, 5months as of this posting). Yet all 7 of us have been doing ATA Taekwondo (or martial arts in general, some of us swapped to different martial art styles), since we were kids or very young teens. My Chief Instructor, a 5th Degree/5th Dan, has been in the ATA since he was 4! (His baby photos are so cute that his mom sometimes shows us).
5) Our abilities level fluctuates with each instructor. Unfortunately, I know that I'm the least flexible out of the instructors and can't do much flips/cool tricks; however, I have a strength in seeing techniques as it relates to body motion, and simplifying complicated techniques, demonstrations, or sparring tactics. Also, all 7 of us have different preferences in what they do (some of us are hardcore sparrers and go to every tournament out there, some of us are big on extreme/creative competitions - where you make your own form demonstrations with open hand or weapons, do flips and XMA-like moves, some of us loves self-defense and going over practical applications in martial arts, and some of us like pure traditional martial arts approaches). Our students generally get to learn where each instructor have their strengths in as they go through our ranks, while we each have our own teaching style. We've had very little complaints from students or parents about our variety, and overall I think it has made our studio very successful historically.
6) Our cost, last time I knew, is around the $140 mark. This includes 3 classes a week, free uniform, free belts and testing, and some free gear we give out (water bottles, T-shirts, and patches). Our old programs before we changed it was cheaper per monthly payment, but didn't include most of the free stuff I mentioned above. We also have different programs that are more expensive, but they include other benefits depending on the program and classes the parents and students are interested in (like those who are interested in doing tournaments/competitions seriously).
7) We do advertise that we have world champions in our studio (that's what we call our "dojo"). However out of the 20ish total black belts we have, only 7 of us actually hold World Champion Titles in the ATA either currently or in the past (we hope for more this year!).
8) We joke that we're a sparring school where I instruct. I mention above that 7 of us have world champ titles or multiple titles or had held a title. Yeah... the largest majority of Total World Titles is from Individual or Team Sparring competitions. Sparring Classes are usually our largest classes we have, and we even have Team Sparring divisions within our region we participate in. For older TKD students we have, usually older teenagers/adults (no matter the rank they are), if they are interested in doing sparring, we hold "Fight Nights" every Friday night where all we do for a whole hour is spar lol.
Btw, Nat, I've been watching your shorts and videos for a while now and I really enjoy them. Keep up the work bro
heres a like cus u wrote all this
What’s your school name?
This channel made me realize I went to a mcdojo as a kid. There were no tests for a new belt, you just got a new one every 3 months (a black belt took 2.5 years). There was no sparring, and in the year I went there we only ever used punching bags like twice. One class all we did was sit and talk about Earth day and the environment. Another time they brought in a woman who they claimed was a karate national champion, so you’d think she’d give us some tips or have us work on our forms, but instead she just had us run in circles and do a few push ups.
I feel sorry for you, my man.
🫡
What was is called
Same when I was 5 we had no test they just handed out belts,but the dojo i go to now is a proper dojo
@@BensonJabbour Action Karate
I can happily say my dojo wasn’t a McDojo (unfortunately we closed down due to the pandemic and never reopened)
1) We had less than 10 black belts (myself included) at the time of closing.
2) There were definitely people that failed, but not too many. When you got promoted, you earned it.
3) My Sensei was a wonderful instructor, and he was always teaching us hands-on. I’ll never forget him and how patient he was with us
4) When I had first started it was $75/month and a couple of years later when we moved to a different building, it was $100. It was money well-spent though.
5) We didn’t really compete at a world-championship level, but we did go to local tournaments every couple of months.
6) The kids/teens would spar with protective gear and the adults without. For the teens and adults we’d do grappling (which was good because it helped us improve our ground game) and we would even do games sparring where we’d only be allowed to kick for one round, then only punch for the other. It was loads of fun
Do they serve Burgers and Fries? - You're probably at a McDojo 🍔
I mean not exactly? But there's an actual McDonald's like in the same mall we train in😂
I suppose you’re right
And Ronald McDonald is probably the sensei 😂
1:54 I am a black belt instructor at my dojo. At the tender age of 14, I won't say that I am a great coach, but I can most definitely say that I am a good coach. I take care of the sparring and training sessions and make sure my students understand how each and every move works and the correct way to execute them. I don’t allow them to move on from one skill to another until they have mastered the current one. That’s why it took me five years to become a black belt, as my sensei taught me the same way I am teaching them now. I often have them spar every two days. Two of my students even went to a national-level tournament for Kumite one won gold and other silver and even my other students were praised that they fight very good, even me myself I have won a lot of gold medals as a student
so, in my opinion experience matters the most
mcdojoist
Yeah I thinks mine is because there are like 20 junior black belts and 80% don’t know how to do a spinning hook kick. And plus whenever we are sparring we aren’t allowed to do low kicks, nor grapples,
That probably an mc dojo💀
Yeah, that's a clear sign.
ahh okay thank gosh. Because i have only like 5 or 6 black belts
Im training Kyokshinkai Karate and my dojo has (out of 40 adults) only 3 black belts. And the price is really cheap: 70 Euro per a termin (half a year)
where is this dojo?
I think my school is in the clear!!! I do ITF TKD and started when I was 8. I'm 21 and almost a black belt. (I did take a big break around the pandemic and when I started university) I will be my instructors first black belt if I can make this test (we do have a two or 3 other black belts but they are community members that mostly trained at other schools). My teacher is pretty strict and while I can't think of a test that he has failed someone for, he won't let you go to test unless he thinks you are ready. He has many prelim tests that you will generally fail many times before you figure them out. We also spar quite a bit and we even teach kids to shadow spar early on so that they can have confidence for when they are ready to really spar. I know I'm bragging a bit but this video made me proud of this huge part of my life. I'm going to try to test for my black belt this year!!!
This is a very good advice also for other situations in life..., beware of oversell. Thanks for sharing general Nat ;) love those medals in the background...
Thank you👊glad you enjoyed the video
Some of these also just depend on your style and size of dojo.
In the classes I regular, most people are black belts. That's because roughly 75% of the people at the dojo are 8-10 year olds under a green belt, and I wouldn't get anything out of going to those classes, so I generally only go to adult classes, where 50-75% of people will be black belts. Also, black belts tend to be more disciplined, leading to them showing up more consistently.
In regards to the "no one fails testing" thing, that's also based on the size of the studio. This dojo has tons of kids, and if the grandmaster let everyone who wanted to test, testing would take ages and half the people there would fail. Because of that, he refuses to let you test unless he's had you pre-test in regular classes, at which point the actual testing becomes more of a ceremonial thing, and the only way you're gonna fail is if you don't try.
My taekwondo group is tought by a 6th dan who shreds tournaments and us. we have 10 people and 0 black belts.
Great video with some excellent points.
2 things though:
"Do they have any videos to showcase how good they used to be" - alot of ppl don't even use social media.
Such ppl potentially also only teach a small class, therefore don't relay on as much publicity.
And sometimes only charge enough for the training to cover their hall hire. They're not interested in profit as it's about passing on the knowledge.
Also, Re: high kicks. You can't judge the quality of a Dojo by it's kicks. Or the height of them.
In traditional/original Okinawan karate there were hardly any kicks anyway.
Kicks only appeared in modern karate l, and they "copied" from Savate. Coz karate had nothing ranged to replace the use of samurai swords.
When I was 4 my parents put me in a martial arts class, I left at 8 because even at that age I figured out it was a mcdojo. You would automatically get the next belt (that you had to buy) unless you missed too many sessions. All I learnt was how to shout
That's bad, do you go to a real one now?
McDojos 101:
1) The instuctor tells you he prefers to teach "mindset" over "techniques".
2) The instructor tells you that he never applies for tournaments because the lethal techniques he's been teaching you are "only for the streets" and you could kill someone inside the ring.
3) The instructor rarely, almost never, spars with the students because his killer insticts might kick in and accidentally cripple someone.
4) The older students actively put effort in crushing newbies to prove that they are indeed the "killing machines" their instructor told them they are.
5) The wall is filled top to bottom with diplomas and trophies, but none of them are from a legitemate federation.
6) Instructor is going to give you a hard time, might even kick you out, if he finds out you tried another martial art alongside his.
7) Instuctor tells students after 3 months that they are already able to take on everyone (strongly tied with statement No4).
8) The (supposedly) top students are completely unable to oversee and correct newbies.
9) Instuctor tells you to do bag and shadowfight work without actually observing your form and fixing mistakes.
10) Students (especially
Sir, this is a wendojo
😂
Can I get a spinning back kick with a side of left hook?
And I am in BuckDojo
My mom almost signed me up for a wingchun mcdojo claiming they were “IP man’s student” but a week before the lessons started he was caught being a pedo then got sent to jail
That bastard’ll be there for a while and if we’re lucky, some angry inmates might kill him in his sleep.
Person must be very old to be an up man student
Wow that took a dark turn
Only three black belts at my dojo: the head coach, and two assistant coaches. All with 20+ years under their belts. One brown belt who rarely ever shows up. A couple purple. Rest are blue and white.
thats normal, only about 1/300 reach black belt. and lots stop once they reach it,
That gave me a business idea ! Having a McDonald directly inside our dojo.
My dojo charges around $150 Canadian a month, but we DO actually have a few world champions in the WKC; 3-5 black belts including myself on average per class, but I know them all personally and we've all been training well over a decade. The price point is always a little tricky to navigate, but my recommendation is to always take trial classes whenever possible - it's really helpful to gauge the legitimacy of any dojos you attend.
My boxing academy
- have alot of students who fight professionally and plenty of sparring
- my boxing coach already trained a world champion and participated on the olympics
- People learn the fundamentals and they always help you if they figure your doing an punch wrong and instruct you to do exercises
- its pretty not super expensive but not cheap either
Ive got really strong since i joined so am guessing thats an great fighting academy
Mine has a really low fail rate but we are evaluated multiple times before we are paying for a real test.
In my jujitsu dojo,
-There are 4 black belts out of 26 people.
-The membership is £3 a week (1 - 2 hour session)
-There are 0 world champions
-Everyone passes gradings (These gradings are done when enough people are deemed good enough to pass)
Which cost £3
-We do sparring but no competitions
It is not a mcdojo but is definitely a less serious club
A big red flag for me was always if the "Master's" wife/girlfriend is a current or former student of the school, especially if she's significantly younger than him. Every time I've encountered this the place turned out to be a McDojo.
In my dojo (judo), there isn’t a single black belt aside from the sensei, as they get put in a separate class to train nationally with other black and brown belts.
We rarely fail, as we take quite a while between grading, but if someone does something blatantly terrible then they will be failed. My dojo is also partnered with Kodokan, so it literally can’t be a mcdojo lmao. It’s not too expensive, but there’s 3 classes a week. We do randaris frequently, usually after we’ve learnt a technique, but it’s much more common in newaza. There also aren’t too many people in my class, as it’s separated into 5 separate classes- 1 for really young kids who are just getting into it (rarely grade, just there to have fun), the older kids who aren’t looking to take it too seriously (do a lot of techniques but only grade to orange/green and grade rarely), the adolescent kids looking for something serious (will grade to blue then take gap years, do lots of competitions), then the adult classes- those looking to try it out long term, and then finally adults who are looking (or have previously done it) to take it to a very high level.
I’ve been doing judo for around 7 years now, and I’m only at green belt (about to be blue), so I’m fairly sure that it’s not a mcdojo, but in the younger classes they do usually just get given the belts no matter what, though that’s only up to like yellow belt.
You're doing quite well! At my dojo the belt/time ratio was quite similar to yours. When I did Judo, I stopped at brown belt, as my dojo closed down :( I really wish you the best, and hope you get as far as you can!
@ thanks man! My sensei says after I get blue belt he’s gonna sign me for a lot more tournaments, so I’ll get some experience with other fighting styles and techniques, I’m hoping I’ll go to black, I really love judo and really all martial arts!
My jiujitsu dojo has succeeded in not being a mcdojo in every one except maybe the price one because it cost 220 dollars per month
Same. My Judo dojo charges 250 a month. I bite the bullet though because it’s close by and has a good reputation
I’m paying jiujitsu and muythai for 215
@@fishjuice3987 total or for both?
Whose making money? Honestly i like nonprofit dojos
This is all spot on information, fully reliable video and I hope it helps others, be them newly welcomed or lifetime practitioners find a genuine place of training.
My dojo became a mcdojo after Covid. Started giving black belts out like it’s nothing. Even had online black belt tests. Although I do think that maybe it was a mcdojo my entire time being there. I never met anyone to fail a test. Also during black belt training some kids brought Pokemon cards and played with them? I love karate but man I wish there was a better dojo in my area.
In my gym there’s only 2 black belts, which is the instructor and the assistant instructor. Head instructor trained for 30+ years has 4th degree black belt. There’s 5-6 brown belts but they are middle age to older people of 10+ years. Mostly blue belts and the rest are white belts
Failed my black belt pre exam 5 times, when I got it I really felt like I earned it. There were little kids at the studio, because the master had the incredible business model of running an after school and day care during the day, drastically improving profit margins and growing the school to multiple locations. Those kids got stuff out of it, but it was mostly about discipline and self control for them, they were too young for much else.
The night classes were where it was at, where the learning was serious, and they also had black belt and pre black belt only classes, since there was a very healthy population for the school. We did have plenty of black belts, around 30 from the few hundred students who came through the school. I’m not how the masters had the stamina for 4-7 classes a day, at a minimum, plus after school stuff, but looking back they were super impressive dudes, very glad they were a part of my childhood.
bro is actually the goat. you really give good tips 👊
Thanks mate I appreciate it👊
i dont even have to think if my dojo is a McDojo
One of the main reasons I didn't go to a specific dojo growing up was solely because my friend who recommended it was a black belt at 8 years old. I asked him how long it took to get it and he said something like 2 years. Even at 8 I knew if I could become a black belt in as little as 2 years, it wasn't legit.
The dojo that I ended up going to did yearly grading, but told everyone you couldn't become a black belt until you were 18, no matter how long you've trained there. You couldn't just go to black belt, and you had to earn your way there. They didn't let you grade unless either the Sensei's or the Shihan told you directly that you would be able to grade.
I learned taekwondo under one of like 3 grandmasters of the chung do kwan style in the entire US, and one of 90 9th-degree WTF black belts in the country. Pretty damn well-renowned guy in the TKD community. His dojang is in a strip mall. Safe to say probably about as far from a mcdojo as you can get: extremely accomplished grandmaster whos been in it for probably over 50 years and you could walk right past his place if you didnt know where to look. Hes that damn humble
Hello Nat, Im Anay. Been following you for years have learned alot from you and just wanted to let you know im literally one of the biggest fan of you and trevor. please let him know this and im also getting your flexibility program to get better at martial arts right now. Keep up the GOOD WORK!!!!
Thanks for the support💪I appreciate the comment, and good luck for the program👊
did you get a book copy or was it just a digital copy of the stretching program`?
MC Dojo's are more common than good one's nowadays which is kinda sad
That’s where karate gets its bad name from too I think
I actually can’t tell if my dojo’s a mcdojo or not. On one hand, they don’t actually take training too seriously, and there’s a weird grading system in place. But there aren’t any black belts in my class, we spar, all the instructors are at least over the age of 30 (and they clearly care about martial arts), and we even had a BJJ world champion over to teach a class once.
For reference, I do Japanese Jiu-Jitsu and a bit of kickboxing, but they also teach filipino kali, BJJ, and muay thai.
my karate and jiujitsu (japanese not brazilian) dojo is part of an old sports club of my hometown, it costs only 18 bucks per month. they also offer judo, krav maga, boxing and wrestling and I believe they will soon offer kickboxing too. belt exams are 2 times per year and they cost 10-20 bucks each (dan/black belt exams are like 50 bucks). in karate we have 9 rankings (white, yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, 3x brown) until we reach black belt and 6 in jiujitsu (white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown). I believe you need about 5-7 years here until you reach black belt, depending on how many times per week you can train. when I train with yellow or orange belts (I am still a white belt because I just started 3 months ago) they whipe the floor with me so imo they are already quite good. we have like 15-20 active people in karate, 3 of them are black belts and in jiujitsu there are about 10-15 active people and 2 of them are black belts. most of the advanced guys visit seminars regularely and compete in tournaments. karate is 2 times per week for kihon, kumite, kata and theres another session per week for kumite and free sparring only. everybody can and should train at the free sparring session, even if they are still white belts. jiujitsu training is also 3 times per week and the trainer learned jiujitsu while he was training to become a police officer and he then worked for the federal border protection and federal criminal police office. we also learn to fight with and against the stick (hanbo) and knife (tanto) in jiujitsu. karate and jiujitsu are kinda complementing each other in my dojo. I think its definitely the opposite of a mcdojo and I am quite happy so far and most of the other dojos in my area are really similar, but there are actually also 3 mcdojos which offer their own fantasy styles of karate, jiujitsu, ninjutsu or kenjutsu for a hefty monthly fee.
There is one super important thing to remember, taking the black belt one as an example: if you have 100 people, and none of them are black belts there might be something wrong. Same with the pass to fail ratio, if there is nobody passing there might still be something wrong
an interesting thing my club do is they dont allow people to go for gradings unless they are 100% certain they have the potential to pass, pretty cool!
yes my dojo does this too! In the weeks before a grading we will practice skills that would be in the grading and give it 100% effort and if my sensei thinks we don't have the potential to pass we will go for it next time. When I was brown belt with two white stripes I wasn't put forward for a Black Belt grading because I wasn't good enough and then 6 months later I was put forward and earned my black belt. This was last December and I've been doing karate for nearly 8 years consistently.
And now i finally got to know what this "MCDojo" is 😃at first I expected it to be something a bit different from everything you've explained in this video tbh😅 but now that it's clearer, thanks Mate!😉
As a black belt myself in taekwondo, a yellow belt in Shidokan karate, a kickboxer and all around martial arts lover for 30 years now, I would of started with sparring as number one. Freestyle sparring will show you if your dojo is a serious dojo. But Nat you are completely right. Keep making good videos.
3:22 I spotted that you said that only WKF is a quality stamp of karate organisation. Maybe in traditional karate, but kyokushin has their own federations/organisations, and WKF don't have a lot (if any) kyokushin dojo's. Concluding, not all karate styles are associated with WKF and that simplification may be harmful for e.g. kyokushin or oyama karate
Let me check.
*Looks around at the grills and deep fryers*
Yes.
I go to the same gym Conner mcgregor went to sbg in Ireland Dublin headquarters they also made a ton of wwe wrestlers
dang then you probably could become a ufc fighter
Keep in mind that just because it is a McDojo doesn't mean there aren't good martial artists there. I've been doing taekwondo for over 10 years with an organization that most would probably consider a McDojo, but I understand that there are lots of really good athletes and instructors within it that genuinely are doing it for the betterment of the community around them and enjoy doing it. I got my instructor certification about a year and a half ago, and our academy is not at all hesitant to fail someone if we don't think they should rank up. Most of the instructors there are also volunteers.
Is it in Wichita?
What are the reasons many would consider it a McDojo?
@samoerai6807 You could get your black belt in about 2 1/2 years if you never fail a testing. Unlikely with the new way we grade testings, but good students who put in a lot of effort could do it.
@@areshorrorah thanks!
The defending themselves is a really good point that applies to a lot different things in life as well, if someone isn't good at something themselves they probably shouldn't teaching it to others
I was an aikido practitioner for ten years, so I was doing a Mc Martial Art
According to my sensei…grading belts are nothing in front of hardwork and practice….lower belt holder can beat black belts…if they are practicising in proper way
Mine had over 300 students and only about 7 blackbelts
nice
Very good ratio, you are probably not in a mcdojo
We did light contact sparing. I guess I started when I was 12. The sparing was intimidating back then. Now I'm old and 32 I thought I'd try my hand at kickboxing. Sparing the best. Big soft gloves and shin pads make it 90% safe
when i was about 10-12 i was in a mcdojo taekwondo place, i was going to test for my yellow belt and i was so excited for testing thinking that i could fail and i needed to be prepared, but they passed me without doing anything and i was disappointed
No you don't lmao yellow belt is super easy to get and only takes around half a year before grading
my father runs my dojo and we have alot of black belts because its the only people that have stayed for long enough and we dont get many students
turns out the dojo i was in for 4 yrs was a mcdojo, good that i left it before summer
I’m 15 now and I have been doing mma since was 6 got by black belt, and I don’t really feel like I earned it but I was sparring against other kinds or teens but I always felt like a fraud but I’m now doing my training to be an instructor. But you can always improve. Love the vids man ❤❤
With the greatest respect, immediately after saying McDojos are just after money instead of wanting to make people better out of kindness, you plugged your flexibility system. Everyone expects to find Mr Miyagi in their apartment building offering to train them for free, but coaches and school operators need to make a living too. I think the point is how much of what they charge is tuition and how much is you being nickel-and-dimed for every little thing like long term contracts, loads of weapons, special programs, merchandise, etc
I think he meant that a McDojo would rather only get your money, wheres a Dojo would actually teach you, for a price. A McDojo is just time and money wasted
About your failing test point: I do Itf Tae kwon Do and we only go to gradings if we’re ready so just because no-one fails on the day some people aren’t allowed too.
Same. I practice Iaido and even at the lower ranks, senseis do not let you test if they dont see you passing on the mat already.
So my sensei generally comes up to someone and says "you going to be ready for a test soon?" And thats his hint that in the next week or 3 hes going to spring a "mock test" on the kyu ranka for put some of us through our respective tests.
He just says mock test so as to calm nerves ha.
However a shodan test is different, way more formal, and also something that your sensei will not let you do if they dont see you exhibiting passing marks in the way you perform on the mat regardless of how much time youve had.
In the next year i believe ill be able to test for shodan ho and then 6 months later perhaps shodan
same with my shorin ryu dojo
They always told me whether or not id be ready to test on the next formal testing day. The test day itself wasnt really a test but rather to prove to the masters there that you met the requirements for the next belt. They actually judge your abilities during classes and determine if you’re ready to formally demonstrate them. The only times ive ever seen fails is people straight up walking off the mat in frustration or forgetting their form entirely
As a long-time martial artist, I understand what you're trying to get at.
A lot of gyms will stray from tradition an er on the side of convenience and profit.
I think there is a level of bias here, though, that needs to be mentioned. Not everyone needs to be a world champion to teach. I understand looking up one's history, but to disqualify someone because they lost a fight once would mean no one is suitable. Losing is part of the experience and will happen to everyone. As you say, world champions are quite rare. Additionally, many capable teachers may prefer solitude to social engagement, leaving that to their students. Sorry to say, I disagree with you on this point.
Now, that aside, the mcdojo culture is performative in nature. You are accurate. Sparring is limited if not unheard of in these environments. More importantly, there's an air of mysticism in these schools.
As a martial artist myself, if I ask a teacher why something works and they can't answer in a way that satisfies my understanding, then I disqualify them as capable.
It's as simple as demonstrating a technique, breaking it down step by step, explaining why the technique works, where force and speed have roles, understanding variations of that technique, and their applications.
I.e. every art has a round house kick. Where, why, how, and when do the variations get used, and how does one properly make use of the kick (apply force)?
Most mcdojo teachers will shake their head in disbelief. They do not know what they teach and amount to little more than trained students.
That's my 2 cents, though.
he never mentioned them being disqualified for losing a fight once, he simply said and i quote "have a look at their history, see if they've got any videos on how good they used to be." he also never mentioned them needing to be world champions he roughly said "if your dojo has a bunch of world champions it's most likely a McDojo". i'm almost certain you just slightly misunderstood what he was saying at certain points, so i hope this reply doesn't come off as rude.
One promotion is all it takes to get to black belts, but the trainings are super strict
To be fair, black belt is literally just the 2nd tier, there are higher tiers, but they have red belts and focus the identifiers on a chest badge that turns full yellow in the highest tier ("Pendekar")
Unless your last name is Gracie, ain’t no way you getting a red belt in BJJ
My Dojo never fails people as long as they don’t quit the test, but we don’t let you test until you show in class that you’re ready. Essentially we treat tests as the formal ceremony, the real test is every time you walk on the mat and give it your all.
I survive a kung fu dojo or mcdojo because my "Master" is deadly he said and powerful also he is 46 yr old but his martial arts arent connecting to what he is teaching
I never understood the link between past ability and coaching potential. Michael Jordan and Steve Kerr were on the same Bulls team, but one will be remembered for his playing and the other for his coaching. Freddy Roach, one of the greatest boxing coaches of all time, was barely average as a fighter
My dojo to go to first degree black belt u need to go through 12-13 belts
White, yellow, orange, blue, green, purple, red, red with a black line through the center, brown with a white line through the center, brown, brown with a black line though the center, and black
Each month we will have a test on our curriculum and we get a stripe, if u get the right amount of stripes u go to the next belt, there are also 3 kinds of classes beginners with white yellow and orange, intermediate with blue green and purple, and advance with the rest of the belts,
And if u are going to a different class u need to do a test, of everything u learned in that class, it takes u about a year to go through 3 belts
I'm quite surprised, aren't black belts in the US regulated at all ? In France the black belt and further dans can only be delivered by the French Karate Federation through a regional exam supervised by a jury of three people. Dans are recognised by the state and are commonly associated with a diploma allowing you to train people.
Recently Dojos have been allowed to organize first dan exams by themselves, but you still need 3 people with at least a second dan to do so.
It is usually common practice to make the kids pass kyus, even if they aren't particularly good, since they are childs and it is a way to keep them motivated and award their consistency. But usually blue and brown belts still have signifiance (but it depends on the dojos).
You need zero qualifications or standards to open a martial arts school in USA. We're really big on the "land of the free" here.
@@aetherkid Well that's a shame
Checked out one for a friend and dear lord, this place was horrible. Asked the usual questions. Learned about the menu for the pizza place next door, a few of the other restaurants near by, and learned that according to him with my untapped chi I could become a black belt if I just paid 3,000 for their program. I would be a Black belt with my "Untapped warrior chi" in a year. Felt like I was at Amway and not a school.
😂😂😂that can’t be real
I was skeptical about how they seem to pass just about everybody at every testing but eventually I realized how many people weren't allowed to test because they weren't deemed ready.
Yer thats the thing to consider more so do they just pass everyone bc mcdojo or do they only let people grade when they're ready or you just don't notice people who are failing
The Taekwondo school I train at has been operating for 36 years and we have 21 black belts and 1 junior black belt (He def deserves Full Black, he just isn't old enough yet). I was on my Blue Belt Red Stripe for 2 years before I got to test for solid red the first time, was failed fairly as I wasn't practicing my patterns enough outside of regular class as I should have been. Recently re-tested and turbo smoke the test. Very rewarding.
my dojo only had 3 black belts out of 45 people
Is this a good thing or a bad thing?
Very good. You’re not in a mcdojo. My class has two black belts and it’s the instructor who has 4th degree black belt and the assistant instructor.
Even tho the tkd school i go has young kids as black belts, i found out my main instructor is an 8 time national TKD champion.
Off topic but your hook kicks are amazing
I train Kyokushin in a small town in North Carolina with Sensei Kenny Buffaloe and 2 time world Champion Senpai Christian Buffaloe. They are awesome!! Osu!
Nice💪
a lot of them in the usa
Teakwondo sensei ❤
Building off the belts point, if you're in a martial art that doesn't normally do belts (Muay Thai, for example) and the gym your at has a belt system, it's probably a McDojo
My old dojo embodied some of these qualities but it’s students did compete in amateur MMA bouts and consistently won
I actually often worry if I’m even a good black belt cuz i DIDNT fail my first black belt test
Same with me. I got my blackbelt at 11 but I trained since I was 5. I always worry if I’m an actual qualified black belt
The reason why I left my dojo was because it felt like they were starting to get a bit too greedy. Which sucks because there was a time where it felt like a family
each class I'm in usually has like 40 people
the only one with the black belt (most of the time) is the coach
This is I’ve got a big dojo, and I pay a lot but I went to a Interantional torna,ent fighting people who are 4 years above my age coming home wit a silver
best description of a mcdojo
Thanks for the advice bro ❤❤❤.
You’re welcome👊
I've seen WKF fights and I've seen JKA fights. Calling the WKF the pinnacle of competition is a bit of a stretch...
I got a McDonald’s ad before this video
The sigh of relief I gave when i realized my dojo isn't a McDojo haha!
my dojo is somewhere in between 💀
Its pretty easy, if they dont have any fighter / competitor, or even the coach is (or was) a real fighter, its probably a McDojo.
There is a chance that it doesn't, but there is no point of risking anything, just go to a proper gym with fighters.
The way I knew my Dojo is authentic is that they're associated with the country's Karate Federation. (I'm an expat so can't dishonestly claim it is my country in a small act of loyalty to my own nationality)
There's official certificates and signatures. We do sparring(also were made to buy guards for protection, however expensive it annoyingly was..my brother still needs his groin guard though), and the coaches are authentic(at one point one of our our inter-dojo championships had to reschedule cause the coaches were busy with other stuffs in dubai). At some point I knew there is one student that apparently failed too many times that the head (quite an aged owner of the dojo and also a martial artist) took pity on them and gave it anyway.
Nah I'd win.
My sensie doesn't give his students a higher belt if they skip more than 3-5 sessions a month
I remember i was in a kickboxing gym where there was a fat girl who could barely throw a punch or kick and she was very high belt level
There where also kids that always slacked and they always got the highest ranks while the people who were good at kickboxing only got yellow belts at best
I also went to an mma gym where the sessions were super easy and it just felt off so now i will go to a boxing gym instead
well my sensei is one of the founders of my countris karate federation
im watching this video knowing that i definetly don't go to a mcdojo but sill here just to be 101% sure
Same here! I don’t believe I’m at a Mcdojo since I only know 3 others who are at my skill level (that aren’t black belt), just wondering about the price argument (Though the American economy is probably to blame).
@@rileywong8777
Yeah, the price argument isn't very good anymore I think
i was testing out bjj at my gym and only the instructor had a blackbelt the others were broen blue or white
That’s normal
1:12 Oh good there are 9 including myself out of 60 or 70
This also applies for McHighSchools, McElementaries, McLiberalArts, etc.
my judo club pretty much passes everyone they grade, but they grade only twice a year and the coach decides if you’re ready (and it’s often that you’ll miss several of these gradings)
1. Ok so i don't think they do make it quick to receive a black belt, as we actually don't have any black belts except for 2 girls, one who's there cause she has been training before the pandemic and wanted to dip her toes in martial arts, and another who is an instructor who said she has trained 4 years before receiving her black belt from they're sensei both are related to our sensei, basically all the top people are people who are family to our sensei so probably not
2. We did have people getting their belts later than they we're supposed to as they didn't do anything, and for sparring we do have a win or lose system
3. Well i have two main senseis the one black belt girl who is only 18, but is helping her dad (our main sensei) run his dojo, and our main sensei, hasn't done anything remarkable per say, but he has kicked kids holding soft kicking shields away a bit, and he has done punches that was quick, but he's on the sensei Seth build, (which is ok) and over this year he's been progressing apparently he just received his 10th degree red belt in the higer organization
4. It's cheap enough
Like it isn't cheap cheap, i live in the Philippines so it's 400pesos but it's not 1k pesos which for us is the expensive stuff, but this is only 400 for us this is pretty cheap specially since this is just a karate class, and two days a week. Which is my weekends unlike school sport programs which costed me like 1k pesos each time
5. They've never said anything like that, the front of their page is literally "learn the japanese art of self defense and sport"
6. YEP! They'd usually don't allow jump kicking or takedowns though BUT THEY STILL TRAIN HOW TO DO THEM, takedowns are allowed only some time's, but my sensei has said that in tournaments takedowns are allowed in tournaments
What yall thinking?
My dojo has 1000-3000 people black belts = 236 coach 30 for normal coach 50for high belts
my instructor is i think aound 50-70yrs old, hes korean and teaches tkd and the stuff he teaches i know is legit cus of online too and idk when sparring would start but he does say you have to spar at least 2 people in part of your black belt testing
I recall having my first wing chun instructor explaining why we should properly make a fist when punching, he showed us a video of him breaking his hand during some hard sparring, he most likely still can't make a proper fist with his left hand, considering he didn't wear a cast.
my club doesnt fail people, but they dont grade people who arent gonna pass