That is exactly what I meant and he knows it!


GLW, What do you mean by me not being open minded?

Are you not the one who put my words in quotes and then commented on them?



Here in metro Detroit, most schools have open nights. Let me give you a few off the top of my head (these are mostly the ones I have visited in some way or another)

Kronk's Boxing:

(Many champions found here)

Tripp Academy;

(Best jujitsu and Judo in the Midwest, Dan "the Beast" Sevrens trained out of here for his return trip to the UFC, which he won)

Detroit San Shou:

This gym houses some of the best San Shou and Muai tai fighters in the mid-west. Plenty of champions here also.....

Any Issinryu Karate in the metro Detroit area

"Hell they will drag you off the street because they love to spar so much...

Any Koi-kan Karate Dojo:

Sensei Frost and Co: Bogo amour or no Bogo amour......"nuff said here"

Berkley Kook Soul Won (Korean jujitsu): home of some very fine fighters like Mike Fox and Co..

Woodward Shaolin Kung Fu:
Nice!.......

Sterling Hts Aiki-jujitsu: I can sum up them in two words..."be prepared!!!!!"

My list could go on and on and on,

All have open nights..........

Any of these places you could go in and in a respectful friendly manner ask to spar after class or come back on their open night. This is done for a couple of reasons.

Just as you said Sum Guye "it's part of the business and comes with the territory"

No, I wasn't talking about going in a starting a fight. GLW you couldn't have thought I was saying that. If you did, you should have asked to me explain my statement further, instead of shooting off like I'm some kind of troll.


To see if a school is legit, you go down and get on the deck and mix it up with some of the students or the instructors on open night etc

Common knowledge...after all it is martial arts were talking about isn't it?

GLW if you have been around as long as your bio say's you knows this.

Why are you so tick off at this notion?


I teach my Xingyiquan with the same intensity of most external schools listed above: I can't say that I'm a better teacher than those listed above because there are some great teachers at these schools!!! Nor do I dare put myself in the same league with some of them either.

But...

I can say that the local Yang or Wu style Taijiquan schools are not of the same caliber of the schools listed above, nor do they have an open night. And they suffer greatly from their lack of compitition

It's like they are oblivious to what is actually out there! (And most of their students are of like mind i.e. blind following the blind)

My Xingyiquan instructor would walk away from them saying whatever...... whatever....... "Have a nice day........ As did I, after experiencing what they had to offer.

That isn't saying they are bad (as I said in my original post) But if you want to know if a school is legit (in a martial sense, not in a health sense) and you can't tell, then I recommend you cross hands with someone before spending money or worst yet valuable time on that school! Money people usually have or can get...it's time that is truly valuable...


Yes, some others have stated it is better to stick around for a while before you make up you mind about an instructor. These opinions have real merit.



Since the original post was about an internal art, and I feel differntly about how to tell if an instructor is legit, I figured my first post was saving that guy some valuable time!!!!!!

And GLW!

No! My first post wasn't BS and no I didn't give bad advice.

But, I might have given advice that is bad for a few teachers out there that I know...

We are just going to have to agree that we disagree and move on. (at least I am)