FAQ
Have a question? Email me at patrickasay@gmail.com or go to the forums and post it there.
Q: What is the best martial art style?
A: Any martial art style that makes you a better person and a more effective fighter.
Q: In what styles are you trained (and still training in)?
A: Japanese JiuJitsu, Taekwondo, Krav Maga, Wing Chun, Grappling, Brazilian JiuJitsu, Kickboxing, Karate, and Wrestling. See the “about us” page for more details.
Q: How do I go about finding a good MA school?
A: Study these articles:
http://appliedmartialartstraining.com/articles/six_steps_to_findiing_a_great_ma_school.pdf
http://appliedmartialartstraining.com/articles/avoiding_mcdojos.pdf
If you live in Idaho and want to know where to go to find good traditional martial art schools, I can personally recommend you to some good Traditional Martial Arts such as Shito-Ryu Karate, Japanese JuJitsu, Taekwondo, and even some other self-defense courses. Contact me personally for this or any other information.
Q: What’s the best style for self-defense?
A: The first thing you must realize is that there are many, many opinions on this topic. There are plenty of good instructors out there. Don't worry about the style. Worry about the instructor, whether he/she is a good one or not.
Q: How important is strength and being in good shape?
A: In my opinion, it is very important. The reality: It depends. I’ve known many seasoned martial artists at a master level who are hardly in any shape at all, but at the same time I wouldn’t mess with them any day of the week. However, they are seasoned. Maybe back in their day they were fit and in shape. Still, they are generally tougher than nails. If you are young and out of shape, I would recommend getting a good fitness program going along with your MA training. Being in good shape DOESN’T HURT. It may just open doors that otherwise wouldn’t be open due to lack of physical training. Also, there are a lot of gimmicks out there that claim you don’t need to be in good shape to win a street fight. They will spit out story after story of how this old couch potato took on five guys in a bar because he bought their exclusive, state-of-the-art self defense video that was originally taught for Navy Seals but has been miraculously leaked. If you have any sense of logic, you won’t waste your money. It is true that winning a street fight doesn’t have much to do with physical fitness, but it does have everything to do with physical ability, to which fitness can contribute substantially.
Q: Do you condone the new MMA craze?
A: Sure, why not? It’s fun! However, we must remember that it is a trendy acronym that represents a sport. Sports such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, and MMA are not necessarily conducive to self-defense. If you only want to learn self defense, don’t participate in a “combat sport.” Furthermore, MMA is not a good representation of traditional martial arts, which teach respect, discipline, peace, personal value, duty, meditation, and inner-strength. These qualities are rarely expressed in the egotistical MMA craze. You’re safe as long as you are able to distinguish between the terms “sport fighting,” “street fighting,” and “traditional martial arts.” They are not all equal in purpose.
Q: Do you HATE traditional martial arts?
A: NO! I have found so much validity in traditional martial arts. I have a black belt in TaeKwonDo and Uch-do Karate under the International Martial Arts Council. Those ARE traditional martial arts. I realize that, in our system, we do not incorporate things like bow-ins, ceremonies, and Katas. However, I have found myself having to revert to plenty of TMA techniques in order to teach a lot of the stuff in my Reality-Based curriculum.
Q: You are young. How can you claim to be an expert in RBSD?
A: I am young. I am also trained (and being trained) by some of the best in the world. I can back up everything I say. Just attend one of our classes.
Q: What can I learn from your MA website?
A: Self Defense. You can learn the basic principles of various forms of martial arts. There is a very heavy emphasis on self-defense in this website. I don’t believe that a martial art is truly “martial” unless it has within it components of real-life application. If you would like to learn how to defend yourself, I will be able to teach you many of the key concepts, techniques, and principles that you will need to fulfill your desire. If you want to become a black belt in a traditional martial art, I can only provide some information based on how to find a good school and definitely some supplemental videos, articles, and other information that will guide you along the way.
Q: If you’re a black belt, does that mean that you’re “street safe?”
A: Of course not. Formal training is invaluable, but it cannot fully prepare you for the real thing, which has no referees, protective gear, mats, rules, or predictable opponents. It knows no boundaries and is very unpredictable. Formal training is a simulation of the real thing, and can therefore only take you so far. The best thing you can do is get as good as you can with the simulation and trust in your abilities. I’m not trying to discourage formal training by any means! Remember that the better you get at the simulation, the closer you will get to understanding the real thing, and will therefore be much more prepared for it than if you hadn’t trained.
Q: What is the Youth Self Defense Program?
A: It is a course designed to help our youth develop many skills appertaining to self defense. Mobility, speed, balance, strength, physical fitness, self-respect, discipline, self-awareness, and the power of technique over a seemingly stronger opponent/attacker are all attributes one may acquire through this program. The adult curriculum is more intense and is not as suitable for children, but the Youth program is an excellent preparatory system preceding the higher level of training within the adult curriculum. Although it is a youth program, all youth and teens will be treated as mature individuals and are expected to comport themselves as such, inside and outside of class. Failure to do so could hinder and halt progress. Keep in mind that physical fitness requirements exist only within the third and final youth certification.
Q: What is the difference between the Adult program and the Youth Program?
A: Intensity. The reality-based simulations and the combat psychology are not suitable for kids and teens. The martial combatives are not necessarily the reason for which the adult program is more intense. In fact, many of the same techniques are taught. The difference is the RBSD simulations and the combat psychology.
Q: Why doesn't the Youth program have belts?
A: Usually in martial arts, there are belts to distinguish rank. For our Youth Self Defense Program, there are no belts. We discourage the practice of belt ranks for children and minors for our self defense course because it is our utmost effort to teach pure martial arts and to combat the prevalent practice of watered-down martial arts in our day and age. This does not mean that earning these ranks would not be as good as if they were belts, it is just symbolic in its principle. For example, many traditional martial arts such as Karate and Taekwondo have child black belts. I've seen them as young as five years old. They may be competent for the art form, but you cannot take little 8 year old Johnny Black Belt, put him in a street fight against a grown man with a knife, and expect him to hold a candle. It does not work that way when dealing with real violence. If Johnny Black Belt's instructor teaches him that, because of his powerful black belt skills, he can defeat a street thug or two or three, he is most definitely a self-diluted Mcdojo Master/Manipulator. Children can scream and run...but that's about all they can do. There may be exceptions, but they would be very, very rare. I teach worse-case scenario street combat. Children are neither physically nor mentally mature for the full spectrum of training found within street combat. Teens? Well, that's a little closer, but it depends entirely on the individual.
Q: Do you require uniforms?
A: Not until formal testing. You may purchase them before testing (or whenever you'd like), but until then wear exercise clothes that are modest. Women, wear comfortable long exercise pants, a supportive sports bra, and a t-shirt. NO TANK TOPS, SPAGHETTI STRAPS, ETC. Avoid wearing your hair down. In a men-only group, long pants and a muscle shirt would be fine. In any case, NO JEWELRY, PIERCINGS, ETC. When uniforms are worn, they consist of MA black pants, an AMA t-shirt, and belt.
Q: Do you teach women's self defense?
A: About half (if not more) of what we teach is women's self defense. The power of technique over a stronger opponent is a strong point in martial arts, and it is a huge focus in Applied Martial Arts..
Q: Does your school incorporate payment contracts?
A: No! We do not condone contracts. Our philosophy is that if you do not like the services you don't have to come back, but we are so confident you'll be pleased with them that we don't need those binding payment contracts. If we are good enough at what we do, we simply don't need to use them. The "pay-as-you-go" idea is not very popular in either fitness or martial arts, but we have discovered that if we are good enough at what we do, our clients will always come back. In other words, understand that you may cancel at any time.
Please click on the following link for more details:
http://appliedmartialartstraining.com/content/rbsd-instructors-vs-tma-in...
Q: What do you charge?
A: I can't stand it when I'm looking for something on the internet or otherwise and the website or advertisement does not say how much they cost! They do that because of several reasons, one of them being that they want one of their salesmen to do the price-pitching, because they are trained as salesmen and they know how to "close a deal." That's manipulative CRAP that I don't like. I like straightforwardness and honesty.
Here's what we charge:
The Youth Program has a minimum of 5 participants in a group, and costs each of them $45.00/month
The Adult Program costs $60.00/session (usually 1 1/2 hours) There is a maximum of 10 participants in a group. How cheap/expensive it is for you depends on how many people you can round up to split up the $60.00. For example, if you have just two of you, it will be $30.00 each. If there are three of you, $20.00 each. If there are six of you, $10.00 each. If there are ten of you, $6.00/each! 6 X 4 = $24/month assuming you train once a week. Twice a week would be $48/month. That's the cheapest you can find in any martial arts school. The Adult program is more expensive because of the training, specifically the RBSD simulations, which cost a little more. Also, the reason there is a maximum of 10 students in the adult program is because of individualization. The entire point of our training program is to maximize individualization. You'll notice that, when you walk into a martial art school, there are about 20-30 students to every one instructor. The 30 to 1 ratio is not very individualized. I come from a personal training background, and I know that if an instructor tells 30 people to do something, he will not be able to monitor every one of them to make sure they are doing it right. Applied Martial Arts eliminates that. This training is very personalized and individualized.
"Hidden Fees": Because this is in-home service, the only overhead we have is car/transportation, equipment maintenance, and paper trails; we are able to make martial arts training more affordable for the masses. We do not have a lease to which we are bound to pay $1500/month like most other schools. Therefore, it is more convenient and affordable for you.
The other fees you will find are testing fees (twice a year if you train once a week and four times a year if you train twice a week). $75.00 every six months. A uniform will cost $35.00. THERE ARE NO OTHER FEES!
Oh by the way: you do not have to train to test. You may train just to train and enhance your skills, thereby eliminating all of these costs. Keep in mind, though, that there is a certain degree of satisfaction when earning something. If you trained with me for three years, without testing for certifications, it would be similar (not as bad, but similar) to going to college, doing all the homework, getting great marks and learning a ton; all without having enrolled into the university. But as far as we're concerned, as long as you're happy training, making progress, and becoming empowered continually...we are perfectly happy, and the formalities don't really matter.
Keep in mind: this is PAY-AS-YOU-GO. No contracts! You may cancel at any time, without any ridiculous cancellation fee! I give discounts if you pay by the month, which is what most of my students do.
Q: What about equipment? Do I have to buy equipment?
A: No. We provide all the necessary equipment; therefore you do not need to purchase any. However, for long-term training, you may prefer to purchase some for your home, as you will be without gear when the instructor is unavailable. Purchasing your own equipment makes your informal training more effective.
Q: How can I obtain access to the exclusive member links?
A: You must be one of my students. If you are a student already, and on the bottom left-hand side of the navigation area you can't see "member links," you must contact me so I can grant you access. I have to personally do it.