A common dilemma amongst persons wishing to learn skills associated with self defense is which class or course should he/she sign up for? A quick scan through the yellow pages of any given city provides a wide range of schools and curricula from which to choose from. Which one is best for you? Ultimately, if you do fall into this category and are not at all sure about which school meets your needs, you do need to first reflect and rationalize what is it you are really looking for? If the first thing you do is merely convince yourself that you need to take martial arts, you will undoubtedly hear all the right things from the first instructor you meet in your search. Rightfully so, every instructor will tell you how the art they teach will meet your needs and their school will meet the needs demanded by you and that art form.

Most instructors will tell you that students often come with very vague specifics in terms of what it is they are looking for by signing up for their class. Quite frankly, most instructors simply assume what the student wants and they assimilate the new student into their class much like a pastry chef would simply add another ginger bread man onto the cookie-sheet. The "cookie cutter" approach if you will. For those of us who intend to take part in martial arts-related activity, simply take a few moments to scan the room and its students and ask yourself:

Does each and every student want the same thing from the training they are getting? Perhaps by simply asking these people will we truly find the answer. Some of the answers often heard, however, point to a varying degree of expectation. Real life examples of student goals received are:

"To defend myself"
"To get in shape"
"To develop self control and discipline"
"To increase confidence"
"To feel more in control when I walk across my workplace parking lot at night"
"To help my flexibility"

I am sure that you can come up with some more. There certainly are instances when these answers are lost upon martial arts AND self defense instructors and the activity in class merely mirrors what the instructor likes to do or reflects what an organization's fixed curriculum is about and less about what the student is really seeking.

From a high level viewpoint, let's break down the classes into 3 major components that goals are typically built around:

1. Martial Arts
2. Self Defense and/or Tactical
3. Fitness

Many instructors will undoubtedly tell you that they blend all of these elements into these classes. In simple terms, what is typical for a "martial arts" class is that its curriculum will be based on martial technique that is very specific in style, terminology, presentation, and emphasis. An example is Taekwondo, which highly emphasizes kicking, Korean terminology, and a structured and traditional presentation both verbally and in clothing. Similarily, you find very similar "ritualistic" training in at forms such as karate, ju-jitsu, and kung fu. More often than not, it is in the "martial arts school" arena where you will find a belt ranking system. In other words, a school that provides a curriculum that measures your progress with the awarding of belts. Some students are very determined to achieve status as a "black belt". There are exceptions to this rule (eg. Krav Maga).

"Self Defense" or "tactical" courses/classes emphasize "real world" confrontation. Good examples of these are rape-prevention seminars, law enforcement courses, tactical weapons training and so forth. These classes strip much of the "ritual" out of the training and instead focus on simple physical AND verbal confrontation skills. In essence, these classes make an extra effort to safely re-create (as close as possible) the conditions you will encounter in a street situation.

Our third component, "fitness", has increasingly made its way into the mainstream of available courses with the cardio-kickboxing craze. Kickboxing is ideal for its blend of simple martial technique while challenging the fitness of its participants. It is somewhat frightening to hear the odd participant of a cardio kickboxing classes feel that, by virtue of these classes, they are ready to defend themselves. These classes do benefit the student in many ways from a physical attributes point of view, however, cardio kickboxing classes do little to prepare someone for the realities of an unnerving confrontation.

As a student on a search for a school, you may be searching for a specific element described above OR, perhaps, a blend of all three. But what is it that YOU want?

As a simple tool, consider these three elements noted above in your search for instruction. In addition to hearing what the instructor is telling you, take the time to inquire about the elements that you find valuable. Also, put the techniques that are learned into the context of your environment. An example of this is would you only want to learn how to take someone down to the ground and tap him or her out if you often fall victim to (or feel threatened by) multi-person attacks? Similarly, would you focus your street self-defense training on high kicks when you live in an environment that has snow or ice on the ground 7 months out of the year? Perhaps you want a mix of these scenarios? The bottom line is to take note of YOUR expectations and compare these expectations to the class material that is taught. If you do find that group instruction does not fully fulfill your needs, private instruction is an excellent means to outline specific requirements that you may have, after all, that is YOUR time.