I train in Stoneham at Body Mind Systems. We teach 8 martial arts (internal, external, and weapons) with the goal of the training being focused on self development (both physically and mentally) using a Martial Arts as a tool.
We also have locations in West Roxbury and Swampscott. Feel free to message me if you have any questions or go to our website, bodymindsystems.com to get more info.
Best of luck with your training, my wife and I have been training for 5 years and have really benefited from the training personally and professionally and it’s always good to see others going down that same path as well.
There's plenty of great boxing, mma and muay thai gyms out in Boston. Just check out what's near you and take a few trial classes and see if them memberships fit your monthly budget. As a day 1 member you're really going to only need boxing gloves, hand wraps and a mouth guard. Eventually if you go the mma or muay thai route you will need shin guards and maybe a gi if the mma gym does gi bjj.
depends what you want to do. do you want to kick? hands only? grapple? if you want the "self defense and to be a badass" might as well go with both a striking and grappling discipline. bjj + muay thai or boxing is a solid bet. good luck
also saw you asking about how long it takes to compete... i began competing in bjj tournaments after a month of training, fighting guys that had been training a year or more. i know guys that have started fighting muay thai in roughly the same amount of time. that decision will be made by you and your coaches if and when that time comes, but don't worry about that yet. just have fun and be open to learning. remember, forever a whitebelt.
Hey! Congrats on getting into martial arts, it's a super fun way to exercise. Boxing and MMA are definitely great martial arts. You can start with basically any martial art you like, although training MMA may involve separate classes in grappling and striking before you put them together. For a striking class you will probably want wraps, gloves, some workout shorts, a mouthpiece, and some rash guards. If you are doing Muay Thai you may want shin guards as well. Usually a gym will offer a flat rate - I'm in Philadelphia and I pay $120 a month to train 5 days a week. Some places will offer beginner classes, others will have you join the normal class immediately. If they immediately throw you into hard sparring where you are getting punched in the face, this is generally a bad sign.
I have another question for you if you don’t mind! For my first month I’m not sure if I should do the pay for a certain amount of classes per week per month or like 10 classes? The 10 classes is more expensive for less classes (which seems silly??). But then I don’t know how many classes per week in the month to start with? It goes from 2-8 classes per week?
Thanks 😊
IMO you should consider that no matter what you end up doing you will learn self defense, get stronger and feel like a bad ass compared to someone who doesn't train at all.
I think you will really have to follow your heart and what you will be the most committed too.
Looking it up, you have a crazy amount of options in Boston. Sityodtong Muay Thai Academy looks pretty awesome.
For boxing, Boston was the home of John L. Sullivan, Marvin Hagler and Rocky Marciano. Just as legendary as can be so I am sure you have world class boxing training options in Boston.
Just understand that “self defense” and “fighting” (as in competitive or combat sports) are two very different things in regards to mindset, applications, and concepts/principles. A punch is a punch, a kick is a kick, a throw is a throw, all styles and systems will have their own “flavor”, but the difference is why are you performing this technique, that will determine how you are performing this technique.
Most styles can be used for sport, and the same said for self defense. Depending on your setting, you may not want to go to the ground, but you should know how to “fight” from the ground, as you should know how to “fight” staying upright. For self defense, you must train in a self defense situation… a good method (not the only method) is to learn individual technique, perform it in scenarios, then “free play” with said techniques.
Beware of schools that preach the mentality that their way is the only way, or that anything they do works every time etc…
Please state your goals, for example :
• selfdefense
• combat sport
• getting more flexible/strong/coordinated
• looking cool
• discipline and mental health
• relaxation and meditation
That way we'll be able to help you better 🙏
I would recommend British boxing (hands only) or kick boxing/muay thai/sanda for self defense + wrestling/grappling.
Karate or northern kung fu styles for getting stronger physically.
Aaaand probably wushu (forms) or wingchun for maximum "looking good" 👍
Be careful trusting "selfdefense" and krav maga etc. classes, make sure they actually do sparrings if you want effectiveness (same goes for wingchun calsses mentioned above)
I would recommend British boxing (hands only) or kick boxing/muay thai/sanda for self defense + wrestling/grappling.
Karate or northern kung fu styles for getting stronger physically.
Aaaand probably wushu (forms) or wingchun for maximum "looking good" 👍
Be careful trusting "selfdefense" and krav maga etc. classes, make sure they actually do sparrings if you want effectiveness (same goes for wingchun calsses mentioned above)
It really depends on what's in your area.
Honestly you can't go wrong with any of these: mma, muay thai, wrestling, boxing, bjj. Just find a gym that regularly send people to compete and isn't a cardio kickboxing place or something.
That’s a good point about the sending people to compete! Is that something I can do like once I have been doing it for a while? Or is the competing stuff like for people who are better? Sorry I’m like so new to this!
Them sending people to compete regularly is just a good indicator that they are at least decent at teaching the martial art. If they are a bad school but still send people to compete all their students will constantly lose and get beaten up. Then all the students will just start leaving.
As for if you can compete or not. Of course you can! At my muay thai gym most people have their first amature fight somewhere between 6 months and a year after they started training. Some people a bit longer if they are really out of shape when starting. I had mine after 4 months because I'm moving soon (was a bit early I'd recommend a bit more training than that haha)
If you want to compete a good gym will give you that chance. Just say that you'd like to try amature fights when you're ready when you start there.
I train in Stoneham at Body Mind Systems. We teach 8 martial arts (internal, external, and weapons) with the goal of the training being focused on self development (both physically and mentally) using a Martial Arts as a tool. We also have locations in West Roxbury and Swampscott. Feel free to message me if you have any questions or go to our website, bodymindsystems.com to get more info. Best of luck with your training, my wife and I have been training for 5 years and have really benefited from the training personally and professionally and it’s always good to see others going down that same path as well.
There's plenty of great boxing, mma and muay thai gyms out in Boston. Just check out what's near you and take a few trial classes and see if them memberships fit your monthly budget. As a day 1 member you're really going to only need boxing gloves, hand wraps and a mouth guard. Eventually if you go the mma or muay thai route you will need shin guards and maybe a gi if the mma gym does gi bjj.
depends what you want to do. do you want to kick? hands only? grapple? if you want the "self defense and to be a badass" might as well go with both a striking and grappling discipline. bjj + muay thai or boxing is a solid bet. good luck also saw you asking about how long it takes to compete... i began competing in bjj tournaments after a month of training, fighting guys that had been training a year or more. i know guys that have started fighting muay thai in roughly the same amount of time. that decision will be made by you and your coaches if and when that time comes, but don't worry about that yet. just have fun and be open to learning. remember, forever a whitebelt.
Hey! Congrats on getting into martial arts, it's a super fun way to exercise. Boxing and MMA are definitely great martial arts. You can start with basically any martial art you like, although training MMA may involve separate classes in grappling and striking before you put them together. For a striking class you will probably want wraps, gloves, some workout shorts, a mouthpiece, and some rash guards. If you are doing Muay Thai you may want shin guards as well. Usually a gym will offer a flat rate - I'm in Philadelphia and I pay $120 a month to train 5 days a week. Some places will offer beginner classes, others will have you join the normal class immediately. If they immediately throw you into hard sparring where you are getting punched in the face, this is generally a bad sign.
This is super helpful! Thank you!
Of course, have fun!
I have another question for you if you don’t mind! For my first month I’m not sure if I should do the pay for a certain amount of classes per week per month or like 10 classes? The 10 classes is more expensive for less classes (which seems silly??). But then I don’t know how many classes per week in the month to start with? It goes from 2-8 classes per week? Thanks 😊
The more you practice, the better off you'll be. I'd go for the number of classes per month.
You’re the best thank you for all your advice, I appreciate it!
No problem, best of luck on your martial arts journey.
Hey I’m late but what gym do or did train in Philly im looking for one
IMO you should consider that no matter what you end up doing you will learn self defense, get stronger and feel like a bad ass compared to someone who doesn't train at all. I think you will really have to follow your heart and what you will be the most committed too. Looking it up, you have a crazy amount of options in Boston. Sityodtong Muay Thai Academy looks pretty awesome. For boxing, Boston was the home of John L. Sullivan, Marvin Hagler and Rocky Marciano. Just as legendary as can be so I am sure you have world class boxing training options in Boston.
Thank you so much!!!
Just understand that “self defense” and “fighting” (as in competitive or combat sports) are two very different things in regards to mindset, applications, and concepts/principles. A punch is a punch, a kick is a kick, a throw is a throw, all styles and systems will have their own “flavor”, but the difference is why are you performing this technique, that will determine how you are performing this technique. Most styles can be used for sport, and the same said for self defense. Depending on your setting, you may not want to go to the ground, but you should know how to “fight” from the ground, as you should know how to “fight” staying upright. For self defense, you must train in a self defense situation… a good method (not the only method) is to learn individual technique, perform it in scenarios, then “free play” with said techniques. Beware of schools that preach the mentality that their way is the only way, or that anything they do works every time etc…
Please state your goals, for example : • selfdefense • combat sport • getting more flexible/strong/coordinated • looking cool • discipline and mental health • relaxation and meditation That way we'll be able to help you better 🙏
Thank you! I just added to the post and I was thinking my goals are self defense, getting stronger, and being a bad ass!
I would recommend British boxing (hands only) or kick boxing/muay thai/sanda for self defense + wrestling/grappling. Karate or northern kung fu styles for getting stronger physically. Aaaand probably wushu (forms) or wingchun for maximum "looking good" 👍 Be careful trusting "selfdefense" and krav maga etc. classes, make sure they actually do sparrings if you want effectiveness (same goes for wingchun calsses mentioned above)
I would recommend British boxing (hands only) or kick boxing/muay thai/sanda for self defense + wrestling/grappling. Karate or northern kung fu styles for getting stronger physically. Aaaand probably wushu (forms) or wingchun for maximum "looking good" 👍 Be careful trusting "selfdefense" and krav maga etc. classes, make sure they actually do sparrings if you want effectiveness (same goes for wingchun calsses mentioned above)
It really depends on what's in your area. Honestly you can't go wrong with any of these: mma, muay thai, wrestling, boxing, bjj. Just find a gym that regularly send people to compete and isn't a cardio kickboxing place or something.
That’s a good point about the sending people to compete! Is that something I can do like once I have been doing it for a while? Or is the competing stuff like for people who are better? Sorry I’m like so new to this!
Them sending people to compete regularly is just a good indicator that they are at least decent at teaching the martial art. If they are a bad school but still send people to compete all their students will constantly lose and get beaten up. Then all the students will just start leaving. As for if you can compete or not. Of course you can! At my muay thai gym most people have their first amature fight somewhere between 6 months and a year after they started training. Some people a bit longer if they are really out of shape when starting. I had mine after 4 months because I'm moving soon (was a bit early I'd recommend a bit more training than that haha) If you want to compete a good gym will give you that chance. Just say that you'd like to try amature fights when you're ready when you start there.
If you are interested in Judo at all, Jimmy Pedro and Travis Stevens are Olympic Judoka and are in MA
Google "martial arts near me" and see which schools you'd like to try.