Clearly a red flag = Dojo has a drive thru.

I think the biggest red flag of all should be advanced students who aren't very good. That's the only warning sign I need.

In my Tang So Doo school, you had to wait forever to test. I remember being in there for 4 years and never got to test for my black belt. (I had to quit because I got into a bad car accident and got injured.) The instructor told me it wasn't a bad reflection on me, it was more for the school's reputation. My instructor hated schools who cranked out black belts. He wanted all of the students to earn the rank. We went to tournaments and our green belts beat a lot of other schools black belts.

Their martial arts instructor is Ronald McDonald

Other warning signs: 1. The grand master is 100 pounds overweight. 2. Sparring is never allowed under any circumstances. 3. You’re required to buy a gi from the school and no where else. 4. The grand master is ALWAYS praising the female students no matter how wrong/bad their technique is.

Another sign that it's a McDojo: They ask if you want fries with that Black Belt.

I trained Kyokushin. The first thing a new student was asked when they arrived was "have you been to watch other styles?" If they answered, "No", it was strongly suggested that they "watch this evening and then spend a night or two looking at other places. If you like what they're doing, you won't like what we do here." I think it was great advice.

Another sign: The sensei is clearly out of shape. Or he doesn't show any clear sign of wanting to further his own education.

After finishing a free trial class a new student asks: “So how long does it take the average student to get a black belt?” McDojo: “Anyone can get a blackbelt in 1 or 2 years” Legit School: “The average student doesn’t get a black belt, very few students get a black belt here”

Just to give you guys an idea here, I have been doing Iaido and Kendo for more than 20 years; my master had a grand total of THREE students, and NONE of us paid him any money. Our loyalty to him was by traditional oath alone, and we were never his meal ticket.

I've seen a dojo where the instructor wrote instructions on a board and went to walk his dog while the class took place. I've also seen a place where the instructor did not show up for a class and that seemed to be okay.

When I started practicing MMA, my nephew got interested, and ask me if he could join. I said sure, come with me and try it out. He was TKD Brown belt and I had never seen him practicing before. We went to class, my teacher ask him if he had previous experience. He said yes, so he put him to kick against a muy Thai bag. His fighting stance was terrible. And his kicks sucked big time. Then he did light sparring with couple of the other students( I hurted my hip,the week before,so I couldn't participate). He moved like he was swimming in jellow, and couldn't punch either. So at the end of the class, he decided to join the school. I was surprised, since my teacher told him he had to start as a white belt. On the way home I asked him about how was his training in the other school. He told me he was about to get his black belt in three months, but for the test he had to pay $400. 00 U.S. bucks. Well,that was 4 months ago. And he hasn't said anything to me about his other school. He even participate in point karate tournament with us( my teacher also teaches shotokan karate) and couldn't score a single point. So, I guess he wasted 4 years of his life in a real macdojo...

1:55 Jigoro Kano (Judo) I do Judo since 2004 I have to say one thing: In my Dojo, there was never one Student failed the Belt Test 'cous our Teacher won't let them do it if they are not ready to pass. And that's what a good Teacher has to be....

I love my dojo, you just pay for a membership (Nothing else) and then you can go to any training within youre age range and grade.

Years ago I taught a karate class for a college. Well we had an instructor from the mcdojo in town taking my class. Needless to say she had a culture shock and an awakening.. she was a 2nd degree black belt in tkd. So seeing as how my class was just a basic karate class I assumed the material I was teaching would be easy for her. Red flag 1 was she was oblivious as to what an axe kick was or a crescent kick...I'm an isshinryu karate instructor even though we don't have an axe kick in isshinryu,I still use it as a stretch and a teaching tool. But she had no clue as to what they were.. red flag 2 she "earned " her tkd blackbelt in 9 months and had just received her 2nd degree black belt shortly before that semester... throughout the class she complained about the repetitive nature of kihon & contact on partner drills

the dating students killed my dojo when his wife found out. I should find some more martial arts to do

Here in the U.K. The two major McDojos are Karate Leadership UK and GKR. Avoid them at all costs. My Shotokan dojo has only 3 of us, and that's what us and our sensei wants. We focus more on the fighting aspect of Shotokan and put less emphasis on kata. In other words, spar more, kata less.

Another sign...Nonrefundable one year contract to start...bastard tried to send me to collections when I called him a used car salesman and quit.

I have had an experience with a MD. The reason I joined was the distance from my home. I was even chastised for being "too good" and that I made other students uncomfortable. I was that student that spent countless hours studying the history of my art, training and self developing even branching out to tournaments as a detached competitor (a competitor without a team or coach) I've fought and placed in everything from backyard tournaments to AAU, USAT and ITF and WTF tournaments. I've seen older kids not know their requirements and just start bawling and be passed along. My first Dojo in 93 was awesome, it was small and had only one Sensai. The adults were separated from children (ages 15 and below.) It was a great school, but unfortunately closed. This was a great video, thank you, Sir.

As a person who crosstrained I can say there are many pros and cons to doing so. Some art styles will enhance others and can help to build your base. One things I would suggest to anyone practicing martial arts is to also study yoga. It will greatly increase your flexibility as well as your stability. However there are down sides to crosstraing. And some arts don't mesh well. I would also suggest studying Tai Chi. Though it has little practical application it will help you to stay calm in violent situations. Staying calm and not panicking will spell the difference between a win and lose or life and death. I would also suggest Boxing or MMA. Get in a ring with one or the other or both, doesn't matter. Because they will beat the holy hell out of you. This is going to teach you practical application and what it feels like to get hit, I mean really hit. Which again will aid in not panicking in a violent situation. On the topic of dating students. A friend of mine lost his dojo because of this. He started dating a student, they later got married and have 2 sons. Now he only does private instruction.

I had a great experience with yoshinkan aikido. My sensei ended up being my training partner for a class and I kept try to keep up.with him. By the end of it I felt like my heart was trying to.pound out of my chest but I learned alot from that session with him.

They let you spar on the first couple days, knowing you have no experience, and his students feel like wet noodles, including his brown belts and black belts (that make up about 2/3 of his entire gym) Happened with me, I wrestled for 13 years but didn't know Jiu Jitsu or Judo, didn't know submissions past the RNC. I went against all 6 of his black belts on the first day, and only one of them even attempted a submission on me. I was going about 50%. Needless to say, I didn't go back.

My first karate dojo was a kyokushin mcdojo. The sensei was legit alright, but he divided the classes in two: real training for the brown and black belts, and fake training for anything below: those were just a money grab. I quit after three years with a 'blue belt', having never thrown a punch to a person. None of us did. I could do a flashy kata though. I was about to join another dojo, but that day, there were boxing lessons given instead. I was invited to join the training, and decided to stick with that instead. Probably the best martial arts-related decision in my life.

I trained at a Dillman school back in the 90s for about a year. Enough said.

I remember I was the first “kid” to get an adult black belt when I was doing Tang Soo Do. I was 9 when I earned it but I’d been training since I was 5 and I had the living piss kicked out of me during the 3 hour test, and they did fail 2 people that test cycle. I didn’t get my 2nd degree until about 3-4 years later again. We definitely had some of these signs (main one was no cross training) but they were pretty legit with their training, they liked sparring a lot.

Interestingly enough, while he did not fall into any of the other categories, my instructor did marry one of his students (though I don't know if they were dating prior to that). In all fairness, the student is Philippean and had training in Eskrima. I know he did fail people during the black belt exams, though for lower belts, he would select students independently for promotions based on observed skill during classes (there still was a test, however, and when I was a kid, I almost failed some of those tests as well). My Taekwondo teacher was a former coach/trainer for the US Olympic team in 1988, so he did have credentials. Tiger Schulmann's was the most ubiquitous McDojo in the area (as a franchise). They did a demo in my high school and, hilariously, I knocked them around like ragdolls (I did all the drills they told us to do, I just did them properly. Their instructor yelled at me for making them look bad, simply because I had better technique than they did) and apparently that branch went out of business about three months later. So, I may have literally beaten a business to death with my bare hands.

I've never saw my first Judo Sensei fail a student. He held promotions twice a year and no one tested unless they were ready. We even had students spend a good year or two in the same rank before they were ready for testing. We did not have testing fees or even have to pay for our new belts.

Wow. When it comes to martial arts training this has got to be among the top 5 most important videos on the internet.

They claim to be best friends with George Dillman.

Excellent presentation, thank you. I practice Tai Chi Chuan, as you know, we have no belts or ranking system. That makes it a bit harder to find a teacher who actually knows what's what. A teacher can tell you anything, it's best to watch a few classes at different schools and note the differences.

I cross train two martial arts and the two dojos I go to are near each other and train at the same times. So, me and my dojo went to the pub after training, and bam! my other dojo was in that pub. I introduced my instructor to my other instructor and my dojo to my other dojo. It was kinda funny since the students seemed to be interrogating each other like "hmmph, is this a mcdojo?". It's a shame a cool fight didn't break out. There is this sensei I have, he really likes the martial art he teaches (he trained in a lot of others) and he does discourage me from cross-training with the school I train with currently (due to bad experiences with my other school apparently), but he is the opposite of McDojo sensei. He gives everything out for free, gives discount lessons, gives free sparring gear, free gis, free drinks at the pub, free dojo merch. He even said if he gains any more student he will just discount the lessons further and that he doesn't like earning money from teaching because he has another job for that. He's a kind dude, one time I lost my travel card and he offered to help me get home. I feel like he really is only teaching because he likes the martial art. I think he is too generous for his own good. While the senseis in my martial art are very unMcDojo-y, I still doubt the practicality as the lower kyu grades rarely spar. McDojos aren't the only thing to watch out for imo. Almost everyone thinks their martial art is super practical and makes them able to defend themselves or do well in a fight but truth is, some arts are more practical than others whether it's a mcDojo or a great authentic dojo. Tai chi and Aikido for example, even if trained by a great sensei in a true dojo, I doubt they'd ever be practical. I've grown attached to the martial art + community as they have a very strong principles/ philosophy and are anti-earning money through teaching the art. It's more of an interesting traditional thing and I think it helps me grow as a person. This is a bit of an irrelevant ramble, but I think any martial art / dojo can do something for someone.

There is also a difference between rolling with the students and using them as punching bags

OMG yes black belt club they kept trying to get me to join I quit after they kept annoying me so much

I agree with most of your points but I would never train at a school that doesn't spar. If you don't spar and pressure test your self defense skills in somewhat of a live realistic manner, your skills will fail you. MCDojo instructors care about money more then they care about you actually being able to defend yourself. If they don't let you spar, they lower their liability and lower their chances of being sued. Their students get a false sense of confidence and end up getting killed trying to defend themselves from violence and rape. Don't ever listen to an instructor who tells you you can become a competent martial artist without sparring early in your training and frequently. You will get your ass kicked one day.

You gotta be careful what questions you ask my sensei because he loves to talk about his art. So you might be expecting a short simple answer. Next thing you know he just taught you the entire history of where that move came from why it was done the way it was how it has changed over the years and now you walk away with a deeper understanding than you were expecting.

One thing to point out when it comes to people don't fail tests, how often do they test for example I've gone up three ranks in the past year, meanwhile this 15 year old kid who started before me has only tested once. he does not care about the class and only goes because his parents force him and his brother. however his brother absolutely loves doing karate and has gone up three ranks also. We don't get to test until the teacher says we're ready. so we put a lot of effort into the test and even before the test we have to get a review done by a senior student. If you're not ready, you won't test even if they said you were going to test. However I've yet to see someone fail a test because of this policy of making sure everything gets reviewed first before the test. They don't want to waste people's time if they're just going to fail it

I was very lucky to go to a real traditional JKA Shotokan Karate school, with a 70 year old sensei from Peru who had over 50 years of experience in Karate around the world with famous sensei's. He died last year, and I was devastated. He taught me a lot man. 7 dan black belt. People like him are rare in western world man, I wish I used it more...

My school only has 6 students. It's really nice because the instructor gives personal advice!

A couple of other warning signs. There are lots of different grades between white belt and black belt. When you go white, yellow tab, yellow, yellow star, yellow two stars, green tab, etc, you might want to think again. Also if they have black belts in half a dozen different styles, that is usually a bad sign.

My initial school was a McDojo. They weren't a big franchise but I got 3 belts in one year, they said they where a Hybrid style but weren't clear on what the main art was, it took research at the library and going to other dojo's and temples around to find out and my instructors had bad reputations of being bad teachers. Those where just a few examples but I left in my second year. I learned from those signs and life happened till I got back to recently restart in a decent dojo.

It took my 16 years to get a black belt. 16 years!!!!!! I have seen kids getting a black belt after 2 years, and they can't even do a proper shining kick. Mc Dojo's are almost every where.

I take adult classes. Only about 7 or 6 students. Our instructors correct us. They go through step from step. And you get a normal uniform. You don't have to buy a bunch of merchandise, just your gee and pants, and yes my instructor does participates in class. If you fail, you would have to wait until the next test. My head master is almost 50, and he has a 5th dan, we do Taekwondo, Karate, and Judo. If you come early you can watch the classes

The instructor being overweight/never even lifted a weight beforehand other than lifting a cheeseburger to their mouth

In my school they don't let you know you're being tested. Basically it'll be a normal class, except for that specific class they will push you much harder than they normally do (pairing you up with several far more advanced students for sparring for example), and if they think you did well they reveal they were testing you and promote you, but if you failed, then, you wouldn't know. Then again, that's for intermediate and beginners, for black belts or advanced belts there's an entire day dedicated to testing.

Man, I'm so grateful for this channel, especially the huge series on Kyokushin. OSU.

I live in Australia and we wear full gi when it's forty degrees!

I'm a black belt but I feel like my dojo has really fluctuated between legit and McDojo status throughout the years. We have a lot of signs like in this video but overall at least in the adult class we do spar an awful lot and it's not just drills. Either way it's fun, and it's a good workout so I'll stick with it for now

I've always have a lot of thoughs about that.. because. here in Brazil, I used to train the Songahm Taekwondo (or ATA taekwondo). And the training was really hard, nobody get a black belt before 6 to 8 years at least (going through the color belts, well.. that was easier, everybody passes the tests because they've learned the content, and the idea was to continue to improve that, a black belt HAS to know ALL the content of the other belts). But here is the thing.. I read on some coments over the internet about kid buying a black belts, and people achieving the black belt without ever spar with anyone. But this is defenitly not the case here. And also, my teacher did sparing sessions everytime with us. Of course that, on championships we had to folow the rules, such as no punching the face or throwing your partner on the ground... but at the dojo? training we did it all! The instructor was very focused on teaching us HOW TO FIGHT, as much as teaching the values and philosophy of the Songahm. If american schools are crap. To bad for them. My school in the south of Brazil was the best. I've trained other arts in my life, but nothing compared with our training back then.. Anyway.. know your dojo and your teachers. There's no better art, there are the better teachers.

If anyone in the Toms River / Brick area of New Jersey wants to avoid the McDojo, please consider Paul Predergast Karate. Their attention to each individual student is beyond fantastic, and their quality of work teaching kids to have honor, integrity, and respect is second to none.

I'd add shit like "how to beat up somebody who's attacking you with a knife". I've heard of legit schools having the rubber knife as a fun exercise to prove that the only decent counter is spotting a potential aggressor and staying on the other side of the street, but nobody with any sense is going to say "Okay, so this guy pulls out his knife and gets into stance like it's an action movie..." Also, no full-contact sparring.

Very good material! The best I´ve seen so far about this topic. Thank you a lot!

I once asked my sensei if he ever promoted a 5yr old to black belt. He said "yes but by the time they got thier black belt they were no longer a child" in other words he doesn't promote kids to black belt.

Wow, I've noticed a lot of this at some of the studios I've trained at, especially the rapid promotion and passing of tests. I don't think these places started out as McDojos, but when business got bad, they resorted to some of these practices to help keep the doors open. As you might have guessed, it cost them more business than it saved.

Fantastic Video. This has helped my teaching thank you. I started in Kenpo many years ago but never managed to fishing training due to the school closing but I still have Kenpo in my style. Thanks again.

I was in a classical Karate school. Next door we had a Kyokushin Mcdojo. I figured it out when I visited them & discovered the following: 1- lots of "promotion" & bragging that they are the tougher Karate 2- their students level of physical fitness is way lawer than our guys 3- students with relatively high ranking belts do lot of technical mistakes as if they're white belts!

My Dojung (Korean TAe Kwon Do) was a great school. They discouraged cross training until we at least got a first degree blackbelt.

I would also add instructors that are overly disciplinary and expect a hero-worship status. "Sensei is god" type attitude. That almost always indicates an underlying insecurity on the part of the instructor that should be avoided. Most instructors have a very humble, relaxed and welcoming demeanor. That's a good sign as well. Great series Sensei! Thank you for the straight forward guidance!

I really liked that you qualified you answers, and provided thoughtful insight!

I used to travel a lot for my employers and over several decades would take my gi with me, stop by an out-of-town dojo and asked to join a class. I find all of your points valid, and recognized and agree some of the 'McDojos' had a lot of the visible warning signs mentioned. Regardless, I was welcomed and never refused by any dojo, which I attribute to, it's always good to have another first dan on mat for appearances, and occasionally tested by students or instructors, but left knowing more than when I arrived. Bruises heal and blood washes. Training never ends, there's always more to learn, and even 'McDojos' have something to teach me and were receptive to what I could impart.

25 years of martial arts training. Karate, judo, tae kwon do, MCMAP, kali, and kung fu. All that for me to work at a McDojo. SMH! New video idea, how to open a school. Lol. *Update* I found the videos you posted a while back.

I would be careful on the point about testing and no one fails. I know that it is not what you are implying, but someone could read into it the wrong way. Some schools do not have open tests, and only let people test if they feel they are ready for promotion. Clearly if the person testing is clueless as to what they are doing and they pass, it should be a case of failure, but when they mess up here and there, but they were doing well before, it could be a case of nerves. Our school always had a 100% pass rate, but you had to be given permission to test, and I was denied permission a few times, because they felt I was not ready.

I think i might have accidently found the best dojo in my state, the only boxes it did tick was "dojo shirts" which isn't even a big deal because here in India, summers get toxic very quickly and not everyone can get a nice breathable T shirt, my master learnt his artforms from the instructor of the para military forces here in India, and trained under him for a very long time, everyone there in my dojo are like a 2nd family to me and they're honestly some of the best people I have ever met, I honestly love being there and they even let me sit around in the dojo and watch other batches of students and arts for HOURS and they actually praise me for it as it shows I am actually interested in learning something from there, their fees month to month and you have the option to leave anytime you want, it gets abit crowded in evening but considering my dojo is one of the best (and one of the few in my city in overall number of quantity) it ultimately is unavoidable, I go into the morning batch where most kids are either at school or at tuitions so I practice there along with my 2 best friends, 2 to 3 hours everyday and there are at least 2 instructors there even in the morning. I could honestly write over 1000 words just describing how good I feel going there everyday, there is a championship coming up in 3 weeks and I am preparing for that as we speak!

I got into a rather tense discussion with folks from a large franchise out of Colorado because I have failed people on belt tests including my son. They were totally freaked out. My point of view was that it is a test, therefore failure is a possibility.

Good stuff, Dan! As you, I've been lucky to find some great instructors. From the beginning, I never trained at a McDojo. The term hadn't been invented yet. lol There were some bad schools, of course. When I decided to get back into the martial arts a few years ago, I looked at every school I could find in my city. I was so surprised with what the TKD schools were doing and the inferior level of training that they were selling. I did go to one and take a class, but TKD wasn't my style, even though I did have a BB in Chung Do Kwan. My style was closer to old style Tang Soo Do or Shotokan, like Chuck Norris does. I finally settled on a Renshinkan school as that was as close as I could find to the Kenpo / Karate system (Kang Duk Won) I had been taught by black belts out of San Jose, Ca. Because of things I didn't like about that school, I eventually left and went back to that "McDojo" ITF TKD school that I had taken a class at. By then I was a long way back to being my old self again. At my rank and experience, I can train myself to a point. The thing was, the head instructor and owner of that school, even though it is a McDojo because of so many child black belts, no one fails a test, and so forth, was special. I imagine, at your level of experience, you can watch someone workout hard for a minute and have a pretty good idea if they have skills. This guy had major skills. So I train with him. I learned then that he was four time Cuban National Karate champion, BB in Judo, Boxing Champion, High level Krav Maga, and to top it off, ex Cuban Special Forces Black Wasp. I rolled with him one time, and he knew how to use BBJ. I asked him, "I thought you told me you didn't do BJJ?" He said, " BBJ is a sport, I'm Special Forces." And that was that :-) I can't fight like the machine he is, but he has helped me get better so I tolerate the McDojo, stay humble, and keep the ego in check.

At my old school. The Instructor held belt test every 6 weeks and everybody passed. Sometime students would not show up for weeks at a time and show up right before the belt test and still get promoted. That use to upset me because I and other people were there all the time and even came before practice to get some sparring in that the instructor eventually stopped. He also claimed to be the 3rd person to be taught Jeet Kune Do and that he combines 15 different martial arts and when you get your black belt in 2 years or less you will be a black belt in 6 different martial arts. When I left as a red belt he tried to get me to come back by offering me to test for my black belt. This was a Taekwondo based school. I would also see him create locks and hold before class and teach them to us as if they were tested and proven. I left because i discovered it was a mcdojo. Awesome video!

Thank you for this video. Just started self-defence in a Japanese Jiu-Jitsu dojo and while I felt it was a good one, now I feel even more sure about it.

I have been training in over 25 years and have seen a lot of schools open and close. Especially in rural areas. I completely agree with your criteria here. I have taught for free out of a church cafeteria. I mainly started because of so many mcdojos in the area. I felt like these instructors were doing such a disservice to the people that have dedicated their lives to training. I’m not saying a style trumps another but I have seen very effective training and hybrids especially now with a wealth of knowledge and science. I also enjoy some of the traditions because in a way I feel connected to people through time. I know it’s not for everyone and that’s fine. I started teaching for free because a lot of people didn’t have money and not where they could afford these absurd fees every month and I couldn’t let them not be included because of economics. All I asked was donations, whatever they could afford and it went into a class fund to pay for supplies for our training. The way I saw it was that I would be training regardless so I wanted to help others during that time too. Also, a comment on the instructors being vague, be careful not to confuse vagueness with language barriers. I have trained with a lot of masters from Korea and I’m just using Korea as from experience. That a lot of potential students didn’t enroll because either they couldn’t deal with language barriers or didn’t understand what they meant or cultural differences. A lot of times there were instructors or black belts that would be able to help communicate ideas or answers. Most people I think would be able to tell the difference but someone new to martial arts going in with this checklist may interpret language barriers with vagueness because they are trying to be careful to not join a Mcdojo. Also be careful with asking a school about another school. I have heard so many people tell me about schools, instructors, and students lie about another to try and discredit them to gain new students or squash business competition. I was victim of it myself because I was offering it for free. Some of them were even former classmates that I trained with at some time or another. That I would have consider to be a friend prior to that. I mean absolute lies and that really hurt me. Sorry for the long comment but it really struck home how much of a problem this is.

I spent a couple years training with the American Schools of Shaolin Kempo in Oregon, founded by a former Fred Villari student. In retrospect I’m not sure if it was a McDojo but I did recognize some of the warning signs you mention (franchising, pushing students to spend a lot of money up front to join the black belt club, discouraging training in other styles or systems, and I don’t think I ever saw anyone fail a belt test, although to be fair I can only speculate as to the reasons why... perhaps the instructors were good at identifying when a student was ready). It’s been years since I’ve practiced in the martial arts and I really want to get back into it but I’m pretty cynical at this point about the prospects of finding a school that’ll provide exactly what I’m looking for. In any case thanks for the video.

I remember when I was first restarting shotokan, I went to a club and saw that there was a lot of black belts, almost the same number as white belts so I was a little suspicious. However I got talking to them and I realised that they had all joined right at the start of the school 10 years ago and just didn’t quit because it was such a good club. Well I joined it at 2nd kyu and found out they were exactly right and I have a lot of very experienced members to help me now

Defending a McDOJO lite. I spent 5 yrs at a large Tang Soo Do chain. It had some but not all of the hallmarks of a McDojo. Black belt club, school store selling kubotons, little kids with glow stick nunchakus on the webpage, Black Belt in 4. Luckily the instructors were serious and as it was a college town it attracted a lot of students. Some, like myself, had previous training. Come to find out there was a semi secret, parallel, after hours, invitation only, fight club going on every Sunday. I got the word the moment my white belt came off a learned quite a bit just sparring til we dropped every week. Monday morning we'd be in there with our black eyes and bruised shins doing staff forms again. In a way the Mc Dojo side kept the legit side going.

lots of good advices here. But i will even more drastic: As soon as you are asking for money to teach martial art, you are in the "McDojo" spirit. just look at martial arts masters in Japan (at least the real ones): They were fishermen, craftsman, smith or salarymen else where. The true masters DON'T MAKE MONEY from martial arts. I became aware of that , at a rather early age. I made a point to myself to never receive a single penny from teaching martial arts. I have taught seminars litterally on the five continents, to hundreds of students, I operated two schools in 2 countries. I started teaching in 1993 and I still teach today. Any financial compensation I got from teaching my seminars, i immediately gave it back as a "donation to the dojo". Why? Because as soon as money comes into play, then the mindset becomes "if I teach them this, will they like it?". As teachers, we cannot think in terms of what will please our student, and whether they will "take it" or not. Otherwise, our goal to train our students will be tainted with the need for them to stay. To summarize: Money cannot be tainting the process of teaching martial arts. So, for me, an important criteria for a McDojo: Are the fees SOLELY DESTINATED TO OPERATE THE DOJO, OR IS THE TEACHER GETTING SOME MONEY IN THE PROCESS ? If the latter, i recommend to walk away. Sooner or later, you would otherwise receive a teaching tainted by greed...

Another great video. I "challenged" my instructor within a couple weeks of starting. Not in a crazy way, I just got first pick of sparring with the head instructor or the higher ranking black belts. I figured if this guy is teaching me, he better smoke me, and he did. Unfortunately too many people look at a black belt like it's an end all be all thing and believe the belt is what gives you skill. My instructor always said that the vast majority of black belts in the world couldn't punch their way out of a wet paper bag, sad but true. A lot of great points here and it's so hard to know before going in, and even harder to leave once you establish relationships. I've gotten lucky twice.

If it says "self-defense", "enter the dragon", or "Jeet Kun Do", it is a McDojo

Excellent video! Another thing to think about is belt expectance from other schools. A Mcdojo I checked out would not except my belt rank from a school that taught the exact same style and forms. The school got checks for almost everything you talked about. The Head Master was so pushy he got the contract out before I could even question him about the school or attend a few practices. Later a friend explained to me the Head Master doesn’t even teach class. He makes the highest ranked student at practice teach the lesson. If you say no, he would accuse you of being disrespectful.

This is a great breakdown of the main flags of a McDojo. Thank you for being clear and concise along with enough caveats that give wiggle room for dojos to operate as they need to. Every person has a different path through the arts. Not everyone is destined for MMA greatness, and we do not generally need to defend our village against marauding tribes - so for some people, a good workout is all they really want. For them, a McDojo may be all they really want or desire. I tell people like that, "as long as you know what you're getting yourself into - basically Gold's Gym mixed with Billy Ray - and you shouldn't expect to be able to take on a street punk..." A lot of people are actually fine with this. Additionally, a good school will open the door and show you the path, but the student has to do the walk and the work to earn their rank and own the material. The school I attend does fail students - but that usually happens at the 'pre-test' level. Some of those don't come back, and some try harder.

I believe a huge sign is their involvement,or lack thereof, in tournaments. McDojo's will often have "interschool" tournaments but never compete in outside or open torny's for fear of having their students skills put to a legitimate test and having the school scrutinized in general.

Excellent advice. Thank you!

I'm thankful to have found my school at World Oyama. Best sensei and Shihan ever. They actually trained and taught with Mas Oyama.

I used to join my middle school's teakwondo club, made it to blue belt barely learning a thing all i did is mimic what everyone else does

My instructor is Danny Sullivan under Lee Wedlake who trained under Ed Parker himself

Also, sorry, this post will be long. Last year I worked at a martial arts school in Marietta, GA (main location on Lower 120). There were so many things wrong with that place. When I joined I was hired to be trained (within 6 to 9 months) to become a Level 3 instructor. We had 3 schools already and trying to open a 4th. Open 6 days a week, classes that ran 45 minutes long. 4 to 6 classes a night. We had adults with small children. Between all 3 schools we had over 500 active students, another 500 that would show up when they could. That was not including over 800 students at our elementary school programs we taught at as well. Last November we held a black belt test that had over 70 students in it. During that test, the students had to do grappling self-defense and a lot of other self-defense as well. Including the owners regimen of one-step sparring, 18 predetermined moves essentially. Nobody failed their tests, including the black belt tests. All tests (except black belts) were $45 a test for juniors and adults and $35 a test for Little Dragons. Juniors up to purple belt had three stages of yellow, orange and green before getting purple. But adults did not have that. Black belt fees, $125 for pre-first Dan, $200 for 1st dan, $300 for 2nd, $400 for 3rd and $600 for 4th. That's as high as you could go because the owner is (yes I said is) a Kukkiwon certified 5th Dan, but an ITF certified 6th Dan. NOBODY failed their tests. Classes went like this: 8 minute warm up, 2 minutes talking about a word of the week, 2 minutes working on forms, 2 minutes working on self-defense, 5 minutes on basics, 15 minutes on kicking drills, line up 10 minutes before class end, end 5 minutes before official end of class. 1 main instructor, a few helpers if that to teach up to 40 students a class. And self-defense was set up just like one-step sparring. Each belt level had certain moves you had to know, and certain ways of getting out of those moves. You were forbidden to teach anything else. I have 21 years of teaching and running a school and I know that one move never works for everyone. Everybody is different. Forms, call out the name of form, then start counting. Never correct a student. Basics the same way. I've got video and picture proof of the black belt test that it all looked horrible. I had parents ask me why we only spent the most time on kicks and not learning how to defend ourselves. I quit when the schools owner said all the processes would never change. Yet he changed them 7 times in 6 months. Every other Saturday would be an instructors meeting, to make sure everybody was on the same page. Never once did we work on techniques or how to teach and approach different personalities. Hell, the school owner never got on the floor and taught. He got dressed, but would stand in a corner and watch classes. Then, the one meeting I chose to quit my job on was the week after the black belt test when he complained that forms and self-defense looked horrible, yet his system is perfect. I quit when he told me I shouldn't talk to parents because I wasn't a Level 3 instructor. Then there was the contracts. The contracts were forced to make you pay monthly for a whole year. You had a 30 day period to where if you quit you wouldn't be charged 11 more months. But after that, you either gave us notice and we charged you for another 3 months, or the rest of the yearly contract. There were no free trial classes. It was $20 for 2 weeks, and if you chose to stay, a down payment of the first two months, but hey! It came with a free uniform and free pass for a Parents Night Out and free ASP (after school program if at that school). Every month had a PNO that cost students $20 each. ASP charges differed between each school as well. Ranging from $89 to $229 per child, each semester (2 per school year). I almost tested for my 3rd Dan, except for money issues and after I saw and had to process all the applications, it turned me away. Another part of the black belt tests was having to write an essay, that was never ready, I know because I saw one student copy/paste one word for 6 pages and nobody said a word. Plus the day of the technical test was a written/multiple choice exam on things that were never taught in class. For example, the meaning of Tae Kwon Do, or weight ratios in stances. The tests took place over two Saturdays, the first one being nothing but an endurance test for 4 hours, mostly doing exercises that young students and adults with health issues, well, let's just say that at the end some couldn't walk. Second Saturday was the technical test, that lasted 4 hours as well. Doing forms 10 times, self-defense at least 5 times. It was crazy. Even the parents fell asleep they became so bored. In fact a lot of students were getting hurt during self-defense because we weren't allowed to teach proper technique. Also everyday, instructors had to watch an hour's worth of videos created by the owner himself showing everything he wanted done. Teaching, the processes, even one for how to paint a wall and creating a gift bag for Christmas. Students couldn't wear regular uniforms too. Everything including sparring gear, t-shirts and hoodies had to have the school name and logo during class or while at class. Every holiday we passed out bundles of marketing cards for free classes to students to give to their friends. But guess what, it ended up turning into contract talks. And right before school started we held 9 "Focus Workshops" where we had hundreds of kids just to try and recruit new students before school started and they did other sports. Needless to say, I'm glad I quit. And got my third degree elsewhere, even though I just realized I haven't updated my profile picture on here. It's the only belt that has my name in English. Yeesh.

I was in a McDojo before the term was coined. I at first didn't realize it but as time went by I started catching on. I ended up quitting because I couldn't afford the classes any more. A couple months later I found a school and checked it out. Then I tried out a class. By the end or this class I felt as though I had never learned anything in the arts. And I originally started off in a good TKD school then another traditional Japanese art both before the McDojo. I though my ease of learning at the McDojo was because of all my past experience. Boy was I wrong. And this McDojo was doing all the things you listed in your video. I have a friend that has her teenage daughter in this same McDojo system and she's almost reached her black belt. I keep telling the friend that there are much better Real schools out there but they continue to waste their time and money with the McDojo.

My sensei wears big red shoes and has red curly hair. And his teachings often involve a tricycle too small for his body. Should I be worried?

My first martial art like many was Taekwondo. My school had a lot of McDojo elements but did a good job at teaching the fundamentals of self defense to children/teenagers. Looking back I am glad I moved on from Taekwondo as I feel kicking above the waist is a bad idea on the street unless you are able to catch your opponent off guard. Nevertheless the Friday night sparring classes we had are what made me realize that I love the competition of fighting. (safely)

Happy that my dojang is the complete opposite of this. I trained there for about 4 years when I was younger then after a 5year break, i came back and i love it! That watching part is hilarious. My master always has the kids say “I can always learn by watching”. In my opinion, my dojang is one of the best there is

Thank you,finally someone gets it.someone who teaches for a living is more concerned about the bills for the school.someone who has a full time job and teaches on the side does it for the love of the art!!!

My sensei encourages cross training because he cross trained. He did 6 years of jujitsu and several years of kyroshin and of course over 14 years of Kempo. And we know hes not lying because we can go down to the jujitsu school he trained at which isn't that far away from his school and you can see photos of him there.

Hey! I'm 12 and a 1st 단 black belt, I understand that I'm a junior black belt; I know you have to be 16 or over for a full BB. I love it there; I've gotten more athletic, stronger, happier in general there, meeting friends and (well) family, kinda, there. I have friends who have gone to State and national championships. It inspired me to learn Korean! So I was just wondering, is it a.. Macdojo(or is it mcdojo I don't really know)| 1 - It's $50 per test; there is : - White - Yellow - Green Stripe - Green - Blue Stripe - Blue Belt - Red Stripe - Red - Black stripe - Double Black Stripe - Black Belt So, it takes about 3-4 years (for kids, 7-12 year old) to reach Black. Slightly shorter for adults but only by a few months. There's so far been Nine teams of black belt that have tested from 2015 - 2019 (on 6 month periods, I might have gotten a number or two off) which consists of : a lot of children, some adults. The main goal of the school is family orientated, so kids get each instructor (Responsible black belts usually ages 12 - 25, knows the entire curriculum) focusing on them for 40m - 75m. I should note here nobody ever gets denied, but it's usually 3 months for lower belts to test. On higher belts, 4 or 5 and above red, 6. It can change, tho. Littler kids and kids that may have Autism, ADD, etc.. Get extra attention and take much longer. 2 - We learn all Taegeuk Forms and basic self defense for color belts, advanced for black belts. While colored may learn basic defenses from punches or kicks, black belts learn grabs and grapples. 3 - We have a demo team, doesn't do some cringe dancing to idk twice or some crap, but does do some stuff at local festivals and parades. 4 - Our primary master is a 5th degree 38 year old Korean man that won the 2008 u.s open for form (I checked on the site and he's there). He diverts a lot of attention to people, DOES *somewhat* partake in class (although he controls himself a lot, no little 6 year olds flying). There's also a 4th Degree Master who does a lot of stuff on the managing side of things, but does teach classes. Her 4th degree brother, who does constant exercises there and has won state and nationals. Also a 3rd degree 25 year old something that helps out too. It's.. Really fun. Sorry there's a bit WOT but I hope I can get some answers.. Love your content, keep it up!

Thank you for your honest video. This is the second video I have seen of yours and I appreciate the content. Keep them coming. As for a McDojo that’s pretty tough. I don’t think it’s so much about ways for schools to make money, as much as a schools dedication to their students. There’s nothing wrong with making money teaching. I’m deserving of money. Now I don’t do much for money besides teach. No branded sparring gear anymore, I do sell some shorts, but if we didn’t make money then where would people train. Not many doing it for free!

This is a very educational video! I am a karate practitioner and head instructor 2nd to my master and I have seen MANY mcDojo's in my time. All of these are very good warning signs to a Mcdojo. Sometimes I have driven to other dojos just to see what they are about, some are pretty good some are BAAAD. A few that are mentioned here and I have witnessed myself are the teacher to student ratio problem. Literally 15 kids in a class all different belts (I'm talking white to brown) and 1 instructor. Maybe only one or 2 of the kids are doing well everyone else can't be handled at the same time. No way those kids are getting good martial arts lessons more like gym class with punches and kicks. Also the never failing a test. I one time sat in on a belt test in a martial arts school I was scoping out. About 20 or more kids (i cant even joke about that) one instructor and all the test was was following the instructor in the mirror do drills and kiai-ing. Everyone passed, no individual skill was shown or even promoted. Also the being vague while answering questions I have been to a few schools where I have pretended to want to have my child join. 3 recently and only 1 answered what style they actually do and the same school talked about what they do in class and what they focus on. the other schools never game me a style (even though i specifically asked for it) and simply stated "we do a lot of different styles". . . "the hell does that mean?" Again a great video, very informative

If in your first class the instructor wants to show you a flying armbar, head for the exit. One of my instructors sent one of his female students to a new BJJ club in town and pretend she had never done any martial arts. This was back when there was only 1 legit BJJ black belt in western Canada and i believe only 5 in all of Canada so he wanted to see if they were legit. They were not and the club didn't last long.

Rhee taekwondo in Australia is a mcdojo, they put you through belt systems so quickly, get your black belt, become an instructor and start branching out recruiting more students. It was also a bit cultish in some of its behaviours.. That being said.... I acknowledge master Chong chul Rhee to be a highly experienced master of the Korean art, he did bring it to Australia and made successful business from it. I certainly enjoyed my time there, got to black tip, would liked to have gone further but the already mentioned problems put me off. And for those who would knock taekwondo, a martial art is only as good as the work you put into it!!

Great video. Thanks for making

I practice Taekwondo at the red center where I live at and I’m at the green belt and I’m really excited and ready to learn new forms and do new things and work hard! :D

I like your channel bro. You are very explicative

That was a great video. Love the comments about the no touch knockouts and young kids with full black belts on. I would also argue that some responsibility needs to be put on the instructors themselves. For instance, if a student is testing and can barely remember the required material, he/she shouldn't have been testing in the first place. Although stage fright is always a possibility for a student, I put a lot of this blame on the instructor who recommended (and likely rushed) the student to test.

Right on, bro! I love your videos. This one was on the money. Keep up the GREAT work. Osu!

I totally agree with everything you said and thank you for putting that out look like that

I would like to think that nobody fails a belt test because the instructor has already taken their measure and decided they have earned the belt, but yeah, I think I understand what you are getting at.

I had to drop out of my Tae Kwon Do classes at the age of 11 because of a lot of assingments I was getting in my actual school, not because it was a McDojo, where am i going with this? In my Dojang, i was one of the best at my age winning 3 to 1rst place in tournaments of people around my age when entering the tournaments. Before dropping out, i was at Red Belt, but, i had started straining at thr age of *4*. It basically had taken me 7 years to get to red belt. Thats how much actual dojos/dojangs/whatever its called in your art, make you train and thats before reaching a high level. I'm planning on retaking Tae Kwon Do sometime soon.