So, you’ve now scheduled some visits with martial arts schools in your area. Hopefully you’ve been following along through all of the previous lessons and have been able to gather some good information. Remember, choosing a martial arts school in your area should not be a quick decision. You will be investing your valuable time and money into something that should be fun, exciting, practical and enjoyable. If you make the wrong choice right out of the gate you will, most likely, be turned off to martial arts forever. We want to make sure your first experience is a positive one and that takes a little bit of research on your part.

Now that you are headed off to visit a few schools there are a few things you need to know. First, although I would think this is common sense, we find many clients do not: make sure you schedule your visit DURING a typical class time. If you happen to just “drop in” to a dojo or dojang that you’re driving by and theres no classes going on, you can still get a good feel for the facility and possibly the owner or staff, but you’ll still have to watch the instructor in action before you can really decide if its the right school and right martial art for you.

So, here are the basic rules for visiting martial arts schools in your area.

1st. Dont go alone. Not that you necessarily need to be worried about your safety, its simply that having another person with you will help with your decision. The other person will typically be more objective than you since you may be too invested in “wanting” it to be right.

2nd. Use the question list from lesson 3. Its one thing to watch a class and get a good feeling about the facility and the instruction, but there are still a bunch of questions you’ll need answers to before you can make an informed decision when choosing a martial arts school in your area.

3rd. Trust your gut! This is a big one and its actually a good self defense lesson as well. Most attack situations, and their avoidance, can be traced back to a “gut feeling” the victim had but ignored. You will get some gut feelings while you are visiting martial arts schools and the best thing to do is to trust what you’re feeling. If the place feels good and right to you, give it a try. If the place has an odd feeling that you just can put your finger on, get some more answers or maybe schedule another visit.

See you next time for another lesson to help you better choose a martial arts school in your area.