Since we opened in July 2005 (13 years ago at the time of writing this article) many people have misconceptions about what would be required to train here at Tring Martial Arts Academy. Once we have had a chance to explain, its amazing how many people then sign up for membership.
1. I am worried I won’t be fit enough – we have a beginners class every night of the week and at weekends. No prior experience or fitness levels are required, that’s why its called a beginners class 🙂
2. I don’t feel I am flexible enough to do all that high kicking – it’s a fair point, in all of our videos we show experienced students performing high kicks. Through committed training over a period of years every beginner can achieve this. We stretch in every class, and every person in our video started with poor flexiblity and our training enabled them to achieve what seems impossible to a beginner!
3. I thought you were just a kids club – it’s true we have an excellent reputation for teaching children from 4 years and over and we have in the region of 180 children aged between 4 and 17 training at TMA. But we do have a thriving adults group. The rule is, the later the class, the older the student, so if you wanted only to train with Adults (plus some older teens) then choose our classes at 8pm.
4. I don’t want to get hurt – hey, who does? We certainly don’t want anyone to be worried about getting hurt. All of our beginner classes are 100% non-contact, instead you learn the foundation skills of our curriculum against pads. When you enter intermediate classes (about 2 years into your training) you will start Touch Sparring with full safety equipment. Only when you get to Black Belt will you be offered the opportunity to enjoy free sparring but ONLY in what is called Semi Contact! And even then, Semi Contact Sparring is optional!
5. I’m not sure I can make it twice a week – unlike Amateur clubs, we won’t fool you into believing that you can achieve anything worthwhile in the Martial Arts without committed training. Our 13+ years of experience shows us that students who commit to training a minimum of twice per week will gain the full benefits of training. In fact, the more training the better, which is why our memberships allow students to train up to 6 times per week in an experience appropriate class. Unfortunately, if you genuinely cannot commit to training twice a week, then we aren’t the place for you.
Ready to commit to training?? Enrol in our starter programme today at Starter Programme