I coached wrestling and it broke my heart whenever a beginner wrestler said they felt like the coaches ignored them in favor of the starters. It's so discouraging to them and you see them putting the effort in and all they want is a little engagement.
I don't see anything wrong with that unless there's people starting everyday but yeah generally they should pay attention to the less skilled to the most advanced student
This is so on point. The lack of range and interest invested into teaching something proper has turned a lot of casual/beginner classes into cardio-torture sessions which give the feeling of acomplishment but have no technical progress or investment.
@@oakuvalentine7734depends on what you guys mean by cardio torture because throwing techniques with good form while moving around is pretty exhausting in itself imo
@@oakuvalentine7734 because you're supposed to get them tired fast and give them the feeling of achievement without actually teaching them something practical or proper foundations/technical investment. That's a McDojo trademark even in respectable gyms who train professional fighters. Conditioning and technique are separate. As a beginner you're prone for 70% technique assimilation and drills and 30% conditioning. Your main conditioning should come from drills and sparring since your energy expenditure is not optimal being a beginner. Amazing jumping jacks pushups and crunches aren't gonna help you with self-defense either. It's about selling a product that gives the impression that it works but put to any trial... It doesn't.
Glad I found this comment high up, a Krav Maga instructor which is useless for mma and in ring combat takes Monday kickboxing classes and I go to the other gym in another area on the Mondays because we just run around like maniacs for 40 minutes and do a few combinations at the end. Great if you’re there for calorie burning but I’m in the business of trying to be better at kickboxing 🤷🏻♂️
As someone interested in getting into more of a coaching role later down the line, I really appreciate this video. Hopefully you can also do a video on tips for aspiring coaches/assistant coaches. Thanks again.
Second this, I would love to be a trainer for fighters but I've never foughtbeyond a few smokers and I worry about not having enough real experience beyond teaching cardio classes
@@willburchfield Depending on your level of competency, you could maybe specialize in teaching "new" students solid fundamentals, preparing them for more fight-experienced coaches to work with later down the line? Being a good coach is also about a lot more than being a good fighter - studying boxing and being able to teach the ideas/principles of boxing is a huge part of it too.
@@kristianjensen5877 thanks! I've definitely done and enjoyed that role before (between informally at gyms with folks at place that encouraged students helping students [important distinction this wasn't leading classes but more of thing that just kind of happened organically before and after classes] and also working at a Title boxing where teaching fundamentals was part of the job [not a fighter gym though, don't get me wrong great workout and liked the place but way differentthan coaching folks for real fights eh?])
The critic on high paced classes where everyone is so exhausted that they end up not learning much boxing wise is so spot on. I tried out a gym when I moved in here in Brussels and it was exactly why I disliked the class, even though I felt like I had a good workout. On the other hand when I go to my legit muay thai gym at my parents place, where the coach is a world champion/elite muay thai fighter the class is more relaxed cardio wise, but also way more technical.
Honestly realised how much of a privilege it is to have my father be my martial arts instructor, he has trained me all my life in classes and privately, everything adapted to my every wants and needs. Really helped me grow so much. Amazing video
Yea you are. My parents wouldn’t teach me anything. Whenever I’d ask a question or try to personalised whatsoever so I would learn better, they get angry. 20 years and it has barely changed or improved
@@theprodigalson4003Learning how to take criticism is a crucial skill to develop once you get older. It hinders personal growth when someone can't take criticism if you actually think about it
It's hard to train my own children. I try to train them playfully, but send them to someone I trust for the majority of the work. It also helps them not to be limited to a subset of what I know and can pass on. I would rather find someone good for them, and supplement their training, than try to be their main teacher. But that could just be me.
My gym has a policy of only having max 8 students per sessions which I think is great, the coach can really spend time watching us and teaching specific variations. I think he knows us all by heart now, whenever we spar he already knows our habits and patterns.
@@shadymilkman443 we have an app to register so we can see if the class is full or not. But even if it is, people can still come but they'll have to do extra burpees during the warmup session. Since there are several classes during the day it is spread out pretty well
As an instructor, I would love to know more red flags. As much as I've relieved I feel I don't have any of your top 4, I am always attentive to critics to improve.
Keep it up man. I've had WAY to many coaches that have disappointed me, and it's sad. Being a coach is a important job i wish more people would act like it. So thank you for being good and actually caring.
Thanks guys. We're still far from perfect. We don't train or join competition (my instructor used to, back in the day, and won many tournaments). We also lost 75% of our clients over pandemic stuff. We're starting over.
One thing I try and keep in mind is how new an instructor is, and if any red flags I notice are things they're likely to learn from. When I first started teaching TKD, I was really strict with the kids. The result was a bunch of them would start crying, leave in the middle of class, and never come back. I had to learn the appropriate amount of discipline based on age, belt, and personal knowledge of the kid. I had to learn how to keep discipline over the whole class, and not let one disruption derail the entire class. I learned these skills over several years of teaching. It wasn't instantaneous. Now, I'm a BJJ student. Sometimes I get frustrated with the advice that purple belts give me, or the way they give me the advice. But then I have to remind myself that a purple belt is just starting to be considered an advanced level, and so they're brand new at coaching. In the same way I made mistakes when I first started teaching, so do they.
Thanks for this great video. I am now reviewing my instructor that I had 25 years ago and I appreciate his classes even more now. He took his time work on the fundamentals and show the class some techniques, had the class to try it out and proceeded to spar with each student and provide feedbacks.
The way some trainers find absolutely not necessary to pay any personal attention and interraction with your work in the gym, but at the end of the day have no problem taking your money every month is astounding.
Being a coach myself, one I thing I hate is when a teacher has that ego, disrespecting other martial arts, then ending up being beaten by their students only a few weeks in the sessions. This has happened to me with a TKD guy, disrespecting Muay Thai, saying he could beat all champs, krus,etc. He ended up getting his "ego" crushed and quit the gym due to it.
I always thought about having formal training. I just never want to because of so much negativity from humanity. These red flags and many others is a reason. So I tried learning things on my own so I could at the least protect my self. I think the high pace would make me turn away too fast and the low one to one learning. Got to create the muscle memory to build up the speed and that takes the right amount of one on one teaching.
As a kickboxing instructor, I was very happy to find I haven't fallen into any of these traps, but I have been to classes where 1, 2 or all of these have been present and you are right, for fitness they are fine, but not for development.
It's what I remember from my Karate class: the feeling I didn't get the guidance to improve and my level was still quite low/average after a couple of years. I didn't have the right mentality to make good progress either so it was shared responsibility. I realized that years later after watching technical explanations on different YT channels.
Glad I stumbled on to this video. I do the opposite of all of your red flags. I show my students a broad array of different styles, and I spend equal time with each student. I go out of my way to help my students.
I have coached for some time and realized long ago that the techniques that will work for each person can be very different. Peoples' physical attributes can be so different that there is no one size fits all. I have also realized during the course of coaching some students to be competitors and even pro fighters that they could benefit from the coaching of others that would give them other skills that would help them be successful. I have had my students also train with other coaches i knew that could help them in ways I could not. I did not want to hold back my students' progress. The greatest reward I have gotten from coaching is seeing and being part of students' success. Not just in martial arts but also in life.
Excellent advice yet again, you sir have won a subscriber. I'm an experienced Muay Thai mixed martial artist who has mentored, advised, partially/lightly trained many young fighters but am about to step into the realm of full time training in a third world country with students who's idea of training is hard sparring - Every single day!!! I went to train their team a few times and after my instruction their evening simply consisted of warming up for SERIOUS HARD SPARRING, no mouth pieces, no head gear, no shin guards, and all on a concrete surface, the best available surface they have in their area. I haven't sparred in many years AND I'M ABOUT TO TRAIN GUYS WHO DO NOTHING BUT HARD SPAR EVERY SINGLE DAY. Now, honestly, I'm a whooooooole lot better than these guys, but they're swinging to put a guy down (I've seen it), and the coaches and spectators are extremely respectful and humane and they typically don't let a guy take too many hard shots before they break it up (almost like a street fight), which is actually pretty cool. I have yet to see any blood, bruises, missing teeth, or anybody get hurt in any way (which is utterly amazing in itself), but I definitely plan to spar with these street warriors and I'm not about to simply take a bunch of hard shots every day, and being that we're on concrete and I effectively have no takedown option (which also makes defense much easier), I BASICALLY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DELIVER SOME SERIOUSLY FAST HIGH TECH VERY CONVINCING HARD SHOTS TO BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN MY OWN STANDARDS AND COMPOSURE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO HURT THE GUYS. Truthfully, I hit muuuuuuuch harder and I'm p4p much stronger than any of them (actually trying to get them to strength train more), and I could seriously hurt any of them very quickly SO I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW HARD TO HIT THEM!!!!! I don't want really want to hurt any of them (because they do a great job of avoiding hurting each other) but my greatest method of defense IS A REEEEAAAALLY amazing offense, and once guys experience my speed, power, and athleticism, that typically stands as my best defense and that's just my style. So, I'm going over my options in my mind and what I've decided to do is go spar at local boxing gyms (who are well equipped) and work my way back into full sparring mode and see how my speed and power affects the boxers, and also invest in some head gear, mouth pieces, and shin protectors for their MMA guys so we can spar properly. This and another video has helped in this decision. Thankyou
Excellent list of red flags. Especially the slowing down of technique to teach it right. Far too many gyms have you banging the bags with every single strike completely off balance.
I've really enjoyed your videos a lot and I've noticed a common thing you've articulated is "the reason that [incompetent person does wrong thing] in this way is because they don't want you to notice that they're a fraud". while I think this is absolutely the case a lot of the time, one thing I've noticed personally is sometimes people are genuinely so far removed from (or averse to) information that challenges their conceptions, so sure they're right, so biased in their own favor and not really thinking critically about their position as a coach / teacher / role model, that they genuinely believe with absolute certainty that they are right. So where one person may be all "I know I'm wrong, but I will purposefully manipulate circumstances to avoid being found out for [nefarious / selfish / lazy reasons]", I think it's equally true that people are just so sure they're right and so incapable of confronting reality that in a weird way, it can actually be harder to recognize it as a student---because in their heads, they are NOT telling any lies, NOT misleading in any way, this is just how it is, and anyone who questions me is ignorant, etc.
Lol I breathed a sigh of relief after finishing this video and the one about gym red flags. Whole time I was waiting to be like "oh crap I do that" Feel Pretty confident I don't do any of the bad things. Hopefully my students agree.
Met this guy at the gym the other week, he was super nice, great to watch him spar, I really admire people who master a craft, he’s the reason why I chose Victoria martial arts
On my first sparring my coach served me a thousand jab in my face telling me to "move my head how he taught me the other day" I was incredibly stiff and ate more punch in a couple minute than in my entire life. He rock me a little (due to the number of punch) but he made no damage he was just pushing the punch no big deal. I got out of the class at the end very happy that I learned how stiff I was and what to work on for the next class. Your coach must be the friendliest man while giving you the amount of punition you need to improve. Thank you Gabe, I love your content!
I'm just an instructor at a college club, so I often wonder how good I actually am or it's just that I'm free and the only one teaching catch wrestling and HEMA in the area lol. Glad to see I'm not on this list!
Really good info! Came across your channel recently and I'm really impressed at your ability as an instructor. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!
The following is based on my experience as a student and instructor: Personal Attention - absolutely 100% agree. Not Hurting - just keep in mind that accidents do happen. If the coach doesn't treat it like an accident or doesn't learn from their mistakes, then it's a problem. Teach What They Know - I think this is debatable, and it might just be a question of what you mean by "their personal fight style." For example, I'm a very experienced TKD instructor, and I've been doing BJJ for about 8 months. It would make more sense if I were to open up a TKD school for me to teach kicks than to teach groundfighting. Class Pacing - I always try to alternate between energy and technique when I teach.
Fantastic points. As a matter of fact, what you listed (apart for point 2, since it’s different) is also applicable for those looking for a Personal Trainer.
So how to find a gym in your area where they actually care about the fights and have qualified instructors who will focus on technique instead of just trying to tire out the students through conditioning and make it seem like an accomplishment?
I think the sparring red flag doesn't apply when the coach is over 60 years, In Argentina we had a boxing coach : Amilcar Brusa, he was an amateur but as a coach he got several world champions in Boxing and he was an old man . Really helpful video
You are so right ! And Thankyou for making this video! It helped me alot actuelly, because i had coaches who checks out on all the boxes. I did eventually find a very good coach. That made realise the very things you talked about in the video.
I loved this video ! I’m a Muay Thai Coach out in Kelowna and I really try to focus on technique and walk around and correct anything I see that people need help with and try my best at explaining the techniques to the fullest. I loved the points you said in this video, thank you for this 🙏🏼
Great video. Hitting all the key points. I've been involved in combat sports for 32 years now. 32 Years consistantly minus 2 months off back in 2016. Been in some of the best gyms in the world including places in Thailand and the Netherlands. Competed in Muay Thai and before that freestyle kickboxing. What you say about these red flags in certain gyms is spot on mate. Hopefully people will take notes from this video and take time to find a good gym with coaches who can actually teach and coaches who care. Great work mate
I came across your channel yesterday and was totally fascinated by your New Gym Red Flags video. This one's another banger, liked and subscribed. Your channel is phenomenal and you are a stellar speaker, please give us more!
I'm actually leaving my Gym tommorow due to my relashionship with my coach having become extremely toxic in the last 6 months. He teached me everything I know and somehow I feel like I owe him but I just dont trust him to be in my corner anymore so It's time to go
@@DisciplineLab1 He was constantly telling me everything I was doing was wrong and talking to me like I was his enemy. I talked to him about it but he refused to listen and even told me "You're free to go, I don't need you here". Ever since I lost my last fight due to a bad weight cut he started having that attitude. It got to the point where I was 2 weeks from my next fight and he was still acting like that. How can one athlete get up on the ring with confidence when for the past 5 or so months all he's been hearing is how litterally every single other guy in the gym is doing better (even guys who've only been there for a couple weeks)? I'm not full of myself, I know my mistakes, I have 8 amateur bouts and even won the national amateur tournament championship in 2021. He wasn't being honest with me so don't trust the man to be in my corner anymore. I feel like I haven't improved at all in the last 6 months due to my relashionship with my ex coach. I kept training and giving my best but I ended up losing motivation due to the training environment. I tried explaining everything in a "not confusing" way but yeah, it's a lot so it might get confusing
@@damage968 nah i got it, i understand your decision and you should, i hope you’ll find a good gym with good coach that can push you further but in a positive way
@@DisciplineLab1 I actually started training in a boxing Gym this Friday. After some sparring and bagwork The coach pointed out some of my faults and I talked to him about my experience so far and my goals for the future. Now we'll see how I progress with him and then when the time is right I'll get back in the ring
Brother Awesome, 👍 Did you ever Train With Bryant Perrella? My Coach in Highschool Greco Roman Wrestling Caused my back to get messed up he was a tough Sob. I Tangsoodo was to soft. I liked the Sambo & Systema School & they do Boxing Which is My roots. My Grandfather Knew Ray Boom Boom Mancini. Awesome. Love the Videos Coach! 🙏🙏🥋🥊🥊👍
My teacher is very good and very hands on he'll show us a drill and than he'll go around the room checking on the other students and letting them know where they need work and how to use what they are learning
Sadly my town has about thirty BJJ gyms but only one kickboxing/Muay Thai gym. And even they're BJJ and MMA focused. So I would love to crosstrain or find a gym with better coaches and sparring partners but there aren't really any other options.
I agree with all of this!!! 100%....... but also this: If your fighters cant beat you up, how good of a coach are you... my guys (some) can beat me up!! yessir!! Thanks Gabriel
I been part of the MMA/boxing community here 19 plus years, I started in traditional style boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai then to MMA with some judo, jiu jitsu and grappling which was not my best but It gave me more confidence with my stand up. after the age of 20 I entered a Olympic boxing gym cause I wanted to have a legit ammy background in boxing before doing MMA but my plans for that got ruined by bad coaches that opened up gyms said that they were open to the community but if the new people wanting to join weren't close friends, family they would beat up and pick on the newbies cause those newbies had no1 to defend em, I felt bad cause I had to step in and teach a lot of the new kids cause they were confused and didn't know what to do while the family that was running our gym were all training in straight elite style training with only their own family, it was like prison you had to prove to be a fighter to be accepted, I was one of the ones that wasn't family that was pretty much elite and able to defend myself against all the pros there, the reason y I got the chance to actually compete was was only cause of the original owner was really into my stand up skills. the one running it were just helping the owner who was 80 run the gym cause he was to old to hold mitts so he could only coach from the corner. that was until the wife of the one who was helping run the gym got caught taking deposit money from already rented houses and got locked up for 6 years, the 80 year old owner didn't trust the couple to run the gym anymore with his money and he stopped dealing with the ammys and only deal with the pros cause he lost a lot of money from what happened, most of our ammy fighters lost there opportunity to go pro and for me being in the sports for so long I was lost soul, I was promised after trying to compete that I would do 10 plus fights do a couple tournaments and possibly go pro from there but it never happened. a new community came a long right after and I thought all hope was coming back, I tried to compete again and thought I would had gotten my life back, I met this new guy and I talked to him because he was the owner of the new gym and i told him my experience and told him about my passed years with most of the trainers in half of the states community and told him about my experience training/sparring with the pros for a couple weeks I start training with them and One thing I noticed he was only focused on his people. One day Everyone I knew that we had been teaching at our previous gym came in to spar one day cause they had gotten invited to this new gym and he saw that everyone that we had been teaching at our previous gym was saying hi to to me it was kind of like a family reunion. he ends up calling everyone over to talk to us and tell us that everyone was going to spar today and he starts to separates the beginners with the elites and most of this trainers students were ages 6 to 18 with like 3 of em being over 23, so he starts calling everyone over and tells everyone they were gonna spar, he starts to separate everyone by experience so he separates me and 2, little kids kids on one side and puts everyone else on the other side. in my head I was thinking he better not be doing what I think he's doing, especially with me being 15 plus years experienced I felt that something was wrong, first thing he says is beginners are gonna spar first he points me out first being 25 at the time and a kid that was 14 years old and a little kid that was like 8 years old, at that point I knew he was trying to embarrass and my prior teammates that we were teaching at our old gym just stayed quiet and didn't say anything but they knew something was definitely wrong, but I kept my cool even though I wanted to flip out. I did the sparring went light on the kid and after 3, 2 minute rounds of light sparring with a 14 year old kid I couldn't take em seriously anymore I walked out that gym and never came back to them, that guy was a big part of the commission and when he came a long he ended up taking over most of the community over so no matter where I went he was gonna try his best to humiliate me and run me out by trying to embarrass me again wherever I tried to go and he was only lucky to do it cause our trainer who was the 80 year old ended up retiring after a couple heart attacks. after being thrown out by this guy I began heavily binge drinking, smoking, gambling, became very depressed gained weight lost most of my MMA skills/ boxing skill and I was mad at the whole world, I became very confused about life and didn't know where I belonged anymore and literally had stopped training for a few years cause of getting into trouble with the law, work, etc and I lost a lot of my golden years getting pushed to the side while this new guy who took over our community was just using his best fighters to beat up on the beginners that had no more than 2 months experience and now those same fighter are either in pro MMA,/boxing and trying to stay amateur and build over 100 fight records which I think is wrong cause when this guy brought the golden glove to our state, he was the judge of his fighters, while his assistant was the corner for the fighter for the competition and all of there fighters won the golden glove competition and now there trying to get a opportunity to go to the Olympics there is or was a lot of dirty stuff going on in our community when that guy came around and a lot of people started to see it slowly and started transition to different gyms or just quitting. I started training again a few years ago cause I wasn't gonna let this guy get in my way but recently after finding out that a lot of people here were having a problem with him, I knew I wasn't wrong about what was happening and for a while I thought I was just being delusional I'm glad he's not here anymore that guy became a big problem in my life and other peoples life, I'm glad you showed this video cause it reminds me of what I'm seeing and now I'm planning to get back into mma cause after 3 years ago I wasn't gonna let anyone get in my way, I will subscribe to your channel and I hope people will learn from this cause some people think it's just easy to go into a gym and become something but these types of trainers will definitely get in the way of your life if your trying to make a career from it.
I agree!! With my experience think twice about if you wanna tell any School if you have received training before. I say this because maybe the schools don't like one another or maybe the instructor just want to down play you. Like the knowledge that you already have isn't correct.
06:14, in Languages classes, I had a teacher who did that 😅😅😅😅😅😅, he taught all the book in only 1 month and a half but I was during 20 hours per week in my English Classes
Great videos i look forward to your videos always! And its so true when someone tries to force students away from their strengths. Yes we have to learn lots of different things to be well rounded but not using peoples strengtgs to their advantage i think is a fail
I am overweight (15 kg over my ideal weight) and the warm up part of the class literally leaves me without any energy to perform the moves when the martial art class starts. My coach doesn't care, he keeps demanding me to jump, run and kick the air. After a few minutes I can't even lift my leg. I'm thinking about quitting theses classes, lose some weight and then start at another gym.
There are so many bad coaches out there. I've personally have had one really toxic coach, and then one who just didn't care. It's so disappointing man.......... Don't settle for bad coaches. If you don't like your coach then just leave. It's not worth it, trust me
The points for those who want the summary: 1 coach should give personal feedback 2 coach is hitting but not hurting the students - ie when they spar they don't hurt them, shows ego problem or lack of control 3 coach only coaches their personal style 4 all classes are high pace/intensity There's good stuff in this video but I think it misunderstands what a "red flag" is. Red flag = sign of danger. Points 1 3 and 4 are bad coaching. I think better to just call these signs of a bad coach instead of "red flag".
Turbokick used to be (and possibly still is) a good kick-cardio class. And to touch on something you said, some techniques in those classes are actually done "incorrectly" from a kickboxing perspective. Reason being, repetition of an imperfect technique at high enough speeds would result in damage. So, for example, no rolling of shoulders on punches, and likely no heel turning, just a modified, well explained technique to prevent injury. Good content as always, and fun to watch!
My gym focuses only one fighter, they tell me and a few others we are fighting soon but the time never comes . They go based off that one fighter and never gives those who train their asses off a fight or a chance to even show their potential.
Hi Gabriel. Just found you. I have a personal trainer in boxing and self defense...LOVE him! Also am trying a kickboxing on the side. I have concerns. High paced group classes. Every single time. I only have five days in the kicks. Im consulting my instructor right away. My bext boxing session is a day away. My gut tells me to tell jim everything thing I went yhrough yhe last week. The questions keep popping up. I do not feel okay...
Great tips! I just moved to a new city, and have tried a couple of new gyms, gonna be on a better look out for futur trials :) I would also add to the list 2 things : - coaches that don't adapt exercice to the fighters restrictions (i had to train - and get kicked- with a guy wearing shoes.. he said he had to keep them on. Coach should have gave him other drill..like knee instead of kicks 😐) 2- coaches who just want to destroy the students (same gym, coach made us do something like 400 Mountain climber, 100 push up.. No need for that, also no focus on technique !)
The last one is the one I hate the most. I have seen it happen when instructors compete and don't have time for their own training so they use the class they are teaching as conditioning sessions or strength session. If I wanted that I would go to an expert in that
Teaching/instructing is a discipline unto itself, apart from a person’s performance, experience, or ability. In fact, the person to whom the skill or activity comes easy, may not be in the best position to help someone who is struggling. Rather, the person who struggled while mastering the material is probably in a better position to help someone else who is struggling. Thus, the best teacher in a dojo, in many cases, may not the best fighter, but is rather the best teacher. And this is just as true for math/vocations as well.
In my first MT gym, the co-trainer hit me with a knee to the body in my first sparring and broke a rib. This was around 4 weeks after I joined the gym (totally beginner back then). I needed around 4 weeks of recovery after that and couldn't train nor sleep. The trainings sessions were also "high paced" all the time. Bag, ropes, pads, circles most of the time. And push ups as punishment if you did something wrong. We did 100s of them. Yes, there were corrections/instructions, but 90% the two trainers were focusing on their competetive fighters. Only good thing about this gym was, that my athleticsm was top-notch. I looked for another one and training is way better. Techniques and technical sparring every session. Workouts are built-in in a smart way, but not too much, so arms are not too heavy for effective training.
Gabe, what’s your take on Thai style teaching? In Thailand they don’t put a lot of emphasis on teaching technique, they run you through pad work bag work, running, clinching, and sparring (light). You kind of learn mostly on your own.
When I was in martial arts, there were a lot of dudes that were all about being macho. Really they were just insecure punks. Those same traits show up in every pedagogical situation.
My friend told me his coachin Vancouver knocked him out in sparring. He told me his coach was supposedly going light. I said obviously not light enough if he knocked u out My coach told me he trains me differently than he would train someone else. I think I need to slow down and practice the techniques on pads.
2) When I was 12, one year of jiu jitsu, early ninties. The instructor would line us up now and then, and then would hit is in the belly. It was too much for me at that time and I quit partly bc of that. But looking back I realize he did teach me a lot and specifically falling and tensioning the abs to protect yourself. I actually still remember and have all the skills he teached me. So looking back I think this was ok and I was just a bit more sensitive being the youngest there. I was scared going there though. And I dreaded those moments where we had to line up. At the same time I do not remember it being very painful either. Is this over the edge in terms of the coach? What do you guys think?
I had a a martial arts instructor that hurt me many times and said it was to toughen me up because it was like as soon as I left the class billions of people wanted to kill me and fight me what a joke I quit that school after many years of training there it wasn't for me anymore
I recently got back from the break i took from Thai and the gym i used to go to switched instructors, i sparred 5 times before sparring with this new instructor, and he beat me up, i had 2 concussions my whole leg was swollen and he almost landed a head kick on me( i asked him to stop the spar mid-round and he didn't care just kept punching me super hard).
My kickboxing coach has us spar hard sometimes there was this 15 year old national champion average height vs an 18 year old very small like Gervonta Davis for example, the 18yr old is alright, he has heart but the 15 year old is just a lot more skilled so they sparred hard and the kid broke the other guys nose and they kept sparring like that, they encouraged them to keep going, and yeah i expect my teammates to hit me hard cuz its sparring you have to simulate a fight, but then sometimes when i tell them relax we're not here to kill each other cuz they go all out some of them they're like ok, ok and then keep doing the same thing, especially when they have more experience and they're bigger, not necessarily more skilled, just more experience being hit and in the fire per say, so i left the gym after 2 months, that wasn't the sole reason, I'm considering to go back although im kinda busy, what do you think Gabriel? My point is we're kids and we're already sparring hard at this age im 18,if we're doing this now what will become of our heads in 10 years or more? A friend of mine told me he got ko'd unconscious 4 times and he said they weren't even knockdowns he said he went to sleep, and it's kinda the culture he had no problem with it, he also sparred with the gyms champs a diff guy a big heavyweight and he said got laid out while there's over 50kg difference between them, also the gym is kind of expensive for 3 days a week, even if it was 5 it should be less
hitting students hard should be fine if the student is trying to prove you're a fake cause if they don't get hurt, they will think that's proof you're fake. right?
This one style only is not allways bad. It is not my coaching style but I have seen also good results with that. If you are the guy who is like your coach, this is very efficient. Your coach is expert to teach style that fits for you and all your training partners are good in that style and can teach you too. Then your advance will be fast. This works when there is a big gym and there is huge material so that the coach can concentrate coaching those who fits to model. But if you are not the guy whos natural style is that, it is not your place.
I’m a fighter whose doing coaching as a side hustle to support my training. These are good tips for coaching . Could you create a guide on how to teach/learn martial arts more effectively?
Well if your kind good person and you dont allow people to just hard spar all the time, and you make sure people are doing light sparring, you're already ahead of 70 percent of coaches.
I've definetly had an issue with the "teaching his own style" part. I've butted heads with my current instructor for a very long time until he accepted that I cannot use the same fighting style that he does, I'm a 5'7 welterweight, no I ain't gonna be boxing them from the outside bro. It was like magic, the moment I ignored his "corrections" I was about twice as good.
@@jacobteeter7879 absolutely use all of your reach. I've found a lot of the times your training partners provide better insight than a hard-headed coach.
I might switch gyms. Although I appreciate the intensity - my coach has a heavy angry energy and can be condescending. Maybe I'm too sensitive but I think there's a happy medium between a coach who's too nice and one who has no patience. Getting talked down to for his lack of clear instructions etc
good video. just had a question re 6:46 the way boxers duck and weave.. since you know and understand range fighting, is it not dangerous to duck and weave like that making you suseptive to a fast front leg round house to the head? such as if you were ducking and weaving predictably to one side i would utilize that motion as a ranged fighter to allow you to weave into my foot? i haven't had much experience with duckers and weavers like this, but when I have my feet have generally been quite surprising to them
I coached wrestling and it broke my heart whenever a beginner wrestler said they felt like the coaches ignored them in favor of the starters. It's so discouraging to them and you see them putting the effort in and all they want is a little engagement.
I don't see anything wrong with that unless there's people starting everyday but yeah generally they should pay attention to the less skilled to the most advanced student
This is so on point. The lack of range and interest invested into teaching something proper has turned a lot of casual/beginner classes into cardio-torture sessions which give the feeling of acomplishment but have no technical progress or investment.
Bro frfrfrfr. Like i get pushing the cardio before an event but if theres no evebt then why tf is 70% of the class cardio torture???
@@oakuvalentine7734depends on what you guys mean by cardio torture because throwing techniques with good form while moving around is pretty exhausting in itself imo
@@folieadeux147 my gym will have days where 15 mins is spent practicing actual technique and the rest is spent doing actual workouts nonstop
@@oakuvalentine7734 because you're supposed to get them tired fast and give them the feeling of achievement without actually teaching them something practical or proper foundations/technical investment.
That's a McDojo trademark even in respectable gyms who train professional fighters.
Conditioning and technique are separate.
As a beginner you're prone for 70% technique assimilation and drills and 30% conditioning. Your main conditioning should come from drills and sparring since your energy expenditure is not optimal being a beginner.
Amazing jumping jacks pushups and crunches aren't gonna help you with self-defense either.
It's about selling a product that gives the impression that it works but put to any trial... It doesn't.
Glad I found this comment high up, a Krav Maga instructor which is useless for mma and in ring combat takes Monday kickboxing classes and I go to the other gym in another area on the Mondays because we just run around like maniacs for 40 minutes and do a few combinations at the end. Great if you’re there for calorie burning but I’m in the business of trying to be better at kickboxing 🤷🏻♂️
As someone interested in getting into more of a coaching role later down the line, I really appreciate this video. Hopefully you can also do a video on tips for aspiring coaches/assistant coaches. Thanks again.
Yes. I can do that.
Agreed. How to be a coach is a whole vein to be mined. Also, how to be a cornerman.
Second this, I would love to be a trainer for fighters but I've never foughtbeyond a few smokers and I worry about not having enough real experience beyond teaching cardio classes
@@willburchfield Depending on your level of competency, you could maybe specialize in teaching "new" students solid fundamentals, preparing them for more fight-experienced coaches to work with later down the line?
Being a good coach is also about a lot more than being a good fighter - studying boxing and being able to teach the ideas/principles of boxing is a huge part of it too.
@@kristianjensen5877 thanks! I've definitely done and enjoyed that role before (between informally at gyms with folks at place that encouraged students helping students [important distinction this wasn't leading classes but more of thing that just kind of happened organically before and after classes] and also working at a Title boxing where teaching fundamentals was part of the job [not a fighter gym though, don't get me wrong great workout and liked the place but way differentthan coaching folks for real fights eh?])
The critic on high paced classes where everyone is so exhausted that they end up not learning much boxing wise is so spot on. I tried out a gym when I moved in here in Brussels and it was exactly why I disliked the class, even though I felt like I had a good workout.
On the other hand when I go to my legit muay thai gym at my parents place, where the
coach is a world champion/elite muay thai fighter the class is more relaxed cardio wise, but also way more technical.
Those classes are called boxercise and cardio- kickboxing good for a good workout terrible for fighting.
Yeah when I wrestled for the school it was just the same, I didn't learn a thing
Honestly realised how much of a privilege it is to have my father be my martial arts instructor, he has trained me all my life in classes and privately, everything adapted to my every wants and needs. Really helped me grow so much. Amazing video
Yea you are. My parents wouldn’t teach me anything. Whenever I’d ask a question or try to personalised whatsoever so I would learn better, they get angry. 20 years and it has barely changed or improved
@@theprodigalson4003Learning how to take criticism is a crucial skill to develop once you get older. It hinders personal growth when someone can't take criticism if you actually think about it
You're lucky man.
It's hard to train my own children. I try to train them playfully, but send them to someone I trust for the majority of the work. It also helps them not to be limited to a subset of what I know and can pass on. I would rather find someone good for them, and supplement their training, than try to be their main teacher. But that could just be me.
My gym has a policy of only having max 8 students per sessions which I think is great, the coach can really spend time watching us and teaching specific variations. I think he knows us all by heart now, whenever we spar he already knows our habits and patterns.
Wish more gyms had this policy, maybe 10 students max
And no one else gets to train? Like they show up and after 8 they start turning people away?
@@shadymilkman443 we have an app to register so we can see if the class is full or not.
But even if it is, people can still come but they'll have to do extra burpees during the warmup session.
Since there are several classes during the day it is spread out pretty well
@@shadymilkman443 got to be a small gym then, if it works it works
Only 8.. ? 4 pairs ? Nah doesn’t sound appealing.
As an instructor, I would love to know more red flags. As much as I've relieved I feel I don't have any of your top 4, I am always attentive to critics to improve.
Means your doing a good job.
Keep it up
@@GabrielVargaOfficial Thank you teacher
2nd for Gabriel's comment.
Listening to critics means you're a high class coach.
Keep it up man. I've had WAY to many coaches that have disappointed me, and it's sad. Being a coach is a important job i wish more people would act like it. So thank you for being good and actually caring.
Thanks guys. We're still far from perfect. We don't train or join competition (my instructor used to, back in the day, and won many tournaments). We also lost 75% of our clients over pandemic stuff. We're starting over.
As a coach (and still a student) I agree 100%! Excellent stuff
One thing I try and keep in mind is how new an instructor is, and if any red flags I notice are things they're likely to learn from. When I first started teaching TKD, I was really strict with the kids. The result was a bunch of them would start crying, leave in the middle of class, and never come back. I had to learn the appropriate amount of discipline based on age, belt, and personal knowledge of the kid. I had to learn how to keep discipline over the whole class, and not let one disruption derail the entire class. I learned these skills over several years of teaching. It wasn't instantaneous.
Now, I'm a BJJ student. Sometimes I get frustrated with the advice that purple belts give me, or the way they give me the advice. But then I have to remind myself that a purple belt is just starting to be considered an advanced level, and so they're brand new at coaching. In the same way I made mistakes when I first started teaching, so do they.
This is pure gold advice.
#3 👊🙏 …. A great teacher tells you where to look but doesn’t tell you what to see.
Thanks for this great video. I am now reviewing my instructor that I had 25 years ago and I appreciate his classes even more now. He took his time work on the fundamentals and show the class some techniques, had the class to try it out and proceeded to spar with each student and provide feedbacks.
The way some trainers find absolutely not necessary to pay any personal attention and interraction with your work in the gym, but at the end of the day have no problem taking your money every month is astounding.
I appreciate how your channel covers a wide variety of topics that help practitioners become well-rounded martial artists :)
Great content!
Being a coach myself, one I thing I hate is when a teacher has that ego, disrespecting other martial arts, then ending up being beaten by their students only a few weeks in the sessions. This has happened to me with a TKD guy, disrespecting Muay Thai, saying he could beat all champs, krus,etc. He ended up getting his "ego" crushed and quit the gym due to it.
I always thought about having formal training. I just never want to because of so much negativity from humanity. These red flags and many others is a reason. So I tried learning things on my own so I could at the least protect my self.
I think the high pace would make me turn away too fast and the low one to one learning. Got to create the muscle memory to build up the speed and that takes the right amount of one on one teaching.
This is great advice and great info. Sometimes u don't know what u don't know. But now...thanks!
As a kickboxing instructor, I was very happy to find I haven't fallen into any of these traps, but I have been to classes where 1, 2 or all of these have been present and you are right, for fitness they are fine, but not for development.
My coach is great! Happy to watch this and say to myself yup! I’m in good hands
It's what I remember from my Karate class: the feeling I didn't get the guidance to improve and my level was still quite low/average after a couple of years. I didn't have the right mentality to make good progress either so it was shared responsibility. I realized that years later after watching technical explanations on different YT channels.
Glad I stumbled on to this video. I do the opposite of all of your red flags. I show my students a broad array of different styles, and I spend equal time with each student. I go out of my way to help my students.
I have coached for some time and realized long ago that the techniques that will work for each person can be very different. Peoples' physical attributes can be so different that there is no one size fits all. I have also realized during the course of coaching some students to be competitors and even pro fighters that they could benefit from the coaching of others that would give them other skills that would help them be successful. I have had my students also train with other coaches i knew that could help them in ways I could not. I did not want to hold back my students' progress. The greatest reward I have gotten from coaching is seeing and being part of students' success. Not just in martial arts but also in life.
Excellent advice yet again, you sir have won a subscriber. I'm an experienced Muay Thai mixed martial artist who has mentored, advised, partially/lightly trained many young fighters but am about to step into the realm of full time training in a third world country with students who's idea of training is hard sparring - Every single day!!! I went to train their team a few times and after my instruction their evening simply consisted of warming up for SERIOUS HARD SPARRING, no mouth pieces, no head gear, no shin guards, and all on a concrete surface, the best available surface they have in their area. I haven't sparred in many years AND I'M ABOUT TO TRAIN GUYS WHO DO NOTHING BUT HARD SPAR EVERY SINGLE DAY. Now, honestly, I'm a whooooooole lot better than these guys, but they're swinging to put a guy down (I've seen it), and the coaches and spectators are extremely respectful and humane and they typically don't let a guy take too many hard shots before they break it up (almost like a street fight), which is actually pretty cool. I have yet to see any blood, bruises, missing teeth, or anybody get hurt in any way (which is utterly amazing in itself), but I definitely plan to spar with these street warriors and I'm not about to simply take a bunch of hard shots every day, and being that we're on concrete and I effectively have no takedown option (which also makes defense much easier), I BASICALLY HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO DELIVER SOME SERIOUSLY FAST HIGH TECH VERY CONVINCING HARD SHOTS TO BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN MY OWN STANDARDS AND COMPOSURE, BUT I DON'T WANT TO HURT THE GUYS. Truthfully, I hit muuuuuuuch harder and I'm p4p much stronger than any of them (actually trying to get them to strength train more), and I could seriously hurt any of them very quickly SO I REALLY DON'T KNOW HOW HARD TO HIT THEM!!!!! I don't want really want to hurt any of them (because they do a great job of avoiding hurting each other) but my greatest method of defense IS A REEEEAAAALLY amazing offense, and once guys experience my speed, power, and athleticism, that typically stands as my best defense and that's just my style. So, I'm going over my options in my mind and what I've decided to do is go spar at local boxing gyms (who are well equipped) and work my way back into full sparring mode and see how my speed and power affects the boxers, and also invest in some head gear, mouth pieces, and shin protectors for their MMA guys so we can spar properly. This and another video has helped in this decision. Thankyou
Excellent list of red flags. Especially the slowing down of technique to teach it right. Far too many gyms have you banging the bags with every single strike completely off balance.
I've really enjoyed your videos a lot and I've noticed a common thing you've articulated is "the reason that [incompetent person does wrong thing] in this way is because they don't want you to notice that they're a fraud". while I think this is absolutely the case a lot of the time, one thing I've noticed personally is sometimes people are genuinely so far removed from (or averse to) information that challenges their conceptions, so sure they're right, so biased in their own favor and not really thinking critically about their position as a coach / teacher / role model, that they genuinely believe with absolute certainty that they are right. So where one person may be all "I know I'm wrong, but I will purposefully manipulate circumstances to avoid being found out for [nefarious / selfish / lazy reasons]", I think it's equally true that people are just so sure they're right and so incapable of confronting reality that in a weird way, it can actually be harder to recognize it as a student---because in their heads, they are NOT telling any lies, NOT misleading in any way, this is just how it is, and anyone who questions me is ignorant, etc.
Lol I breathed a sigh of relief after finishing this video and the one about gym red flags. Whole time I was waiting to be like "oh crap I do that" Feel Pretty confident I don't do any of the bad things. Hopefully my students agree.
Met this guy at the gym the other week, he was super nice, great to watch him spar, I really admire people who master a craft, he’s the reason why I chose Victoria martial arts
On my first sparring my coach served me a thousand jab in my face telling me to "move my head how he taught me the other day" I was incredibly stiff and ate more punch in a couple minute than in my entire life. He rock me a little (due to the number of punch) but he made no damage he was just pushing the punch no big deal.
I got out of the class at the end very happy that I learned how stiff I was and what to work on for the next class.
Your coach must be the friendliest man while giving you the amount of punition you need to improve.
Thank you Gabe, I love your content!
I'm just an instructor at a college club, so I often wonder how good I actually am or it's just that I'm free and the only one teaching catch wrestling and HEMA in the area lol. Glad to see I'm not on this list!
I think another common/good reason why the instructor wouldn't spar with students is if they are in there 50-90's.
Thank you Gabriel. Your videos are phenomenal and I get great benefit from them. Much appreciated!
Really good info! Came across your channel recently and I'm really impressed at your ability as an instructor. Thank you for sharing your knowledge with us!
The following is based on my experience as a student and instructor:
Personal Attention - absolutely 100% agree.
Not Hurting - just keep in mind that accidents do happen. If the coach doesn't treat it like an accident or doesn't learn from their mistakes, then it's a problem.
Teach What They Know - I think this is debatable, and it might just be a question of what you mean by "their personal fight style." For example, I'm a very experienced TKD instructor, and I've been doing BJJ for about 8 months. It would make more sense if I were to open up a TKD school for me to teach kicks than to teach groundfighting.
Class Pacing - I always try to alternate between energy and technique when I teach.
Very good video. I am an instructor and I aggree to everything.
Fantastic points. As a matter of fact, what you listed (apart for point 2, since it’s different) is also applicable for those looking for a Personal Trainer.
So how to find a gym in your area where they actually care about the fights and have qualified instructors who will focus on technique instead of just trying to tire out the students through conditioning and make it seem like an accomplishment?
I think the sparring red flag doesn't apply when the coach is over 60 years, In Argentina we had a boxing coach : Amilcar Brusa, he was an amateur but as a coach he got several world champions in Boxing and he was an old man .
Really helpful video
You are so right ! And Thankyou for making this video! It helped me alot actuelly, because i had coaches who checks out on all the boxes. I did eventually find a very good coach. That made realise the very things you talked about in the video.
These are great vids. I'm developing my coaching skills (in a completely different sport) and these are are solid reminders of pitfalls to avoid
Great video. I'm a 1 stripe white in bjj. Everything you said can apply to any gym. Awesome video. Thanks for posting.
I just started kickboxing class last night absolutely loved it and your videos are like my virtual coach thank you, love from the Uk❤
very satisfying when you watch the video and your instructor doesnt fall into any of these categories
I loved this video !
I’m a Muay Thai Coach out in Kelowna and I really try to focus on technique and walk around and correct anything I see that people need help with and try my best at explaining the techniques to the fullest. I loved the points you said in this video, thank you for this 🙏🏼
Great video. Hitting all the key points. I've been involved in combat sports for 32 years now. 32 Years consistantly minus 2 months off back in 2016. Been in some of the best gyms in the world including places in Thailand and the Netherlands. Competed in Muay Thai and before that freestyle kickboxing. What you say about these red flags in certain gyms is spot on mate. Hopefully people will take notes from this video and take time to find a good gym with coaches who can actually teach and coaches who care. Great work mate
I came across your channel yesterday and was totally fascinated by your New Gym Red Flags video. This one's another banger, liked and subscribed. Your channel is phenomenal and you are a stellar speaker, please give us more!
Thanks so much. I appreciated the nice feedback and the sub 🙏
Gabriel, you rule man
I've learned from you coach from my gym coach seriously thank you our beloved coach
Great video for all instructors to learn how to improve the quality of their teaching.
Apparently, im very fortunate to have a good coach shout out to everyone at Heritage Muay Thai in Houston
Thank you! Very good video. Please do more!!!
I'm actually leaving my Gym tommorow due to my relashionship with my coach having become extremely toxic in the last 6 months. He teached me everything I know and somehow I feel like I owe him but I just dont trust him to be in my corner anymore so It's time to go
what happend
@@DisciplineLab1 He was constantly telling me everything I was doing was wrong and talking to me like I was his enemy. I talked to him about it but he refused to listen and even told me "You're free to go, I don't need you here". Ever since I lost my last fight due to a bad weight cut he started having that attitude. It got to the point where I was 2 weeks from my next fight and he was still acting like that. How can one athlete get up on the ring with confidence when for the past 5 or so months all he's been hearing is how litterally every single other guy in the gym is doing better (even guys who've only been there for a couple weeks)? I'm not full of myself, I know my mistakes, I have 8 amateur bouts and even won the national amateur tournament championship in 2021.
He wasn't being honest with me so don't trust the man to be in my corner anymore. I feel like I haven't improved at all in the last 6 months due to my relashionship with my ex coach. I kept training and giving my best but I ended up losing motivation due to the training environment. I tried explaining everything in a "not confusing" way but yeah, it's a lot so it might get confusing
@@damage968 nah i got it, i understand your decision and you should, i hope you’ll find a good gym with good coach that can push you further but in a positive way
@@DisciplineLab1 I actually started training in a boxing Gym this Friday. After some sparring and bagwork The coach pointed out some of my faults and I talked to him about my experience so far and my goals for the future. Now we'll see how I progress with him and then when the time is right I'll get back in the ring
@@damage968 thats good to hear brother good luck and take some W’s
Brother Awesome, 👍 Did you ever Train With Bryant Perrella? My Coach in Highschool Greco Roman Wrestling Caused my back to get messed up he was a tough Sob. I Tangsoodo was to soft. I liked the Sambo & Systema School & they do Boxing Which is My roots. My Grandfather Knew Ray Boom Boom Mancini. Awesome. Love the Videos Coach! 🙏🙏🥋🥊🥊👍
Thankyou. This is a big help.
im glad to see my coach is the opposite of all those point
My teacher is very good and very hands on he'll show us a drill and than he'll go around the room checking on the other students and letting them know where they need work and how to use what they are learning
Great video, especially since I'm thinking about going back to martial arts training.
Eeeyy-
Look at that as a mma instructor I don't have any of these bad habits.
Good advice , I abide by very similar rules 👍
Thanks Gabriel!! I am novice practitioner and your videos have helped me to progress 10 fold!!
Fantastic to hear
Sadly my town has about thirty BJJ gyms but only one kickboxing/Muay Thai gym. And even they're BJJ and MMA focused. So I would love to crosstrain or find a gym with better coaches and sparring partners but there aren't really any other options.
I agree with all of this!!! 100%....... but also this: If your fighters cant beat you up, how good of a coach are you... my guys (some) can beat me up!! yessir!! Thanks Gabriel
This guy knows what he is talking about,👌🏻
I been part of the MMA/boxing community here 19 plus years, I started in traditional style boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai then to MMA with some judo, jiu jitsu and grappling which was not my best but It gave me more confidence with my stand up. after the age of 20 I entered a Olympic boxing gym cause I wanted to have a legit ammy background in boxing before doing MMA but my plans for that got ruined by bad coaches that opened up gyms said that they were open to the community but if the new people wanting to join weren't close friends, family they would beat up and pick on the newbies cause those newbies had no1 to defend em, I felt bad cause I had to step in and teach a lot of the new kids cause they were confused and didn't know what to do while the family that was running our gym were all training in straight elite style training with only their own family, it was like prison you had to prove to be a fighter to be accepted, I was one of the ones that wasn't family that was pretty much elite and able to defend myself against all the pros there, the reason y I got the chance to actually compete was was only cause of the original owner was really into my stand up skills.
the one running it were just helping the owner who was 80 run the gym cause he was to old to hold mitts so he could only coach from the corner. that was until the wife of the one who was helping run the gym got caught taking deposit money from already rented houses and got locked up for 6 years, the 80 year old owner didn't trust the couple to run the gym anymore with his money and he stopped dealing with the ammys and only deal with the pros cause he lost a lot of money from what happened, most of our ammy fighters lost there opportunity to go pro and for me being in the sports for so long I was lost soul, I was promised after trying to compete that I would do 10 plus fights do a couple tournaments and possibly go pro from there but it never happened. a new community came a long right after and I thought all hope was coming back, I tried to compete again and thought I would had gotten my life back, I met this new guy and I talked to him because he was the owner of the new gym and i told him my experience and told him about my passed years with most of the trainers in half of the states community and told him about my experience training/sparring with the pros for a couple weeks I start training with them and One thing I noticed he was only focused on his people. One day Everyone I knew that we had been teaching at our previous gym came in to spar one day cause they had gotten invited to this new gym and he saw that everyone that we had been teaching at our previous gym was saying hi to to me it was kind of like a family reunion. he ends up calling everyone over to talk to us and tell us that everyone was going to spar today and he starts to separates the beginners with the elites and most of this trainers students were ages 6 to 18 with like 3 of em being over 23, so he starts calling everyone over and tells everyone they were gonna spar, he starts to separate everyone by experience so he separates me and 2, little kids kids on one side and puts everyone else on the other side. in my head I was thinking he better not be doing what I think he's doing, especially with me being 15 plus years experienced I felt that something was wrong, first thing he says is beginners are gonna spar first he points me out first being 25 at the time and a kid that was 14 years old and a little kid that was like 8 years old, at that point I knew he was trying to embarrass and my prior teammates that we were teaching at our old gym just stayed quiet and didn't say anything but they knew something was definitely wrong, but I kept my cool even though I wanted to flip out. I did the sparring went light on the kid and after 3, 2 minute rounds of light sparring with a 14 year old kid I couldn't take em seriously anymore I walked out that gym and never came back to them, that guy was a big part of the commission and when he came a long he ended up taking over most of the community over so no matter where I went he was gonna try his best to humiliate me and run me out by trying to embarrass me again wherever I tried to go and he was only lucky to do it cause our trainer who was the 80 year old ended up retiring after a couple heart attacks.
after being thrown out by this guy I began heavily binge drinking, smoking, gambling, became very depressed gained weight lost most of my MMA skills/ boxing skill and I was mad at the whole world, I became very confused about life and didn't know where I belonged anymore and literally had stopped training for a few years cause of getting into trouble with the law, work, etc and I lost a lot of my golden years getting pushed to the side while this new guy who took over our community was just using his best fighters to beat up on the beginners that had no more than 2 months experience and now those same fighter are either in pro MMA,/boxing and trying to stay amateur and build over 100 fight records which I think is wrong cause when this guy brought the golden glove to our state, he was the judge of his fighters, while his assistant was the corner for the fighter for the competition and all of there fighters won the golden glove competition and now there trying to get a opportunity to go to the Olympics there is or was a lot of dirty stuff going on in our community when that guy came around and a lot of people started to see it slowly and started transition to different gyms or just quitting. I started training again a few years ago cause I wasn't gonna let this guy get in my way but recently after finding out that a lot of people here were having a problem with him, I knew I wasn't wrong about what was happening and for a while I thought I was just being delusional I'm glad he's not here anymore that guy became a big problem in my life and other peoples life, I'm glad you showed this video cause it reminds me of what I'm seeing and now I'm planning to get back into mma cause after 3 years ago I wasn't gonna let anyone get in my way, I will subscribe to your channel and I hope people will learn from this cause some people think it's just easy to go into a gym and become something but these types of trainers will definitely get in the way of your life if your trying to make a career from it.
Thank you for this video 🙏
I agree!! With my experience think twice about if you wanna tell any School if you have received training before. I say this because maybe the schools don't like one another or maybe the instructor just want to down play you. Like the knowledge that you already have isn't correct.
06:14, in Languages classes, I had a teacher who did that 😅😅😅😅😅😅, he taught all the book in only 1 month and a half but I was during 20 hours per week in my English Classes
Great videos i look forward to your videos always! And its so true when someone tries to force students away from their strengths. Yes we have to learn lots of different things to be well rounded but not using peoples strengtgs to their advantage i think is a fail
in sweden, theres near to 0% of all martial arts coaches who sparr
Great advice!
I am overweight (15 kg over my ideal weight) and the warm up part of the class literally leaves me without any energy to perform the moves when the martial art class starts. My coach doesn't care, he keeps demanding me to jump, run and kick the air. After a few minutes I can't even lift my leg. I'm thinking about quitting theses classes, lose some weight and then start at another gym.
Hello Mr. Varga. Love from India.
Such a good video
There are so many bad coaches out there. I've personally have had one really toxic coach, and then one who just didn't care. It's so disappointing man.......... Don't settle for bad coaches. If you don't like your coach then just leave. It's not worth it, trust me
The points for those who want the summary:
1 coach should give personal feedback
2 coach is hitting but not hurting the students - ie when they spar they don't hurt them, shows ego problem or lack of control
3 coach only coaches their personal style
4 all classes are high pace/intensity
There's good stuff in this video but I think it misunderstands what a "red flag" is. Red flag = sign of danger. Points 1 3 and 4 are bad coaching. I think better to just call these signs of a bad coach instead of "red flag".
Turbokick used to be (and possibly still is) a good kick-cardio class.
And to touch on something you said, some techniques in those classes are actually done "incorrectly" from a kickboxing perspective. Reason being, repetition of an imperfect technique at high enough speeds would result in damage.
So, for example, no rolling of shoulders on punches, and likely no heel turning, just a modified, well explained technique to prevent injury.
Good content as always, and fun to watch!
Just came to find out, if I am a good coach myself...and yes, I am awesome... 😉😂
My gym focuses only one fighter, they tell me and a few others we are fighting soon but the time never comes . They go based off that one fighter and never gives those who train their asses off a fight or a chance to even show their potential.
another one is , if you walk into a class or gym and the instructor and half their students are jacked on the sauce, turn around and walk out
He he. So many of the gyms in the Netherlands from what I hear.
Hi Gabriel. Just found you.
I have a personal trainer in boxing and self defense...LOVE him!
Also am trying a kickboxing on the side.
I have concerns.
High paced group classes. Every single time. I only have five days in the kicks.
Im consulting my instructor right away. My bext boxing session is a day away.
My gut tells me to tell jim everything thing I went yhrough yhe last week. The questions keep popping up.
I do not feel okay...
Oh Lord I’m so relieved I don’t do any of these things 😅
Great tips! I just moved to a new city, and have tried a couple of new gyms, gonna be on a better look out for futur trials :)
I would also add to the list 2 things :
- coaches that don't adapt exercice to the fighters restrictions (i had to train - and get kicked- with a guy wearing shoes.. he said he had to keep them on. Coach should have gave him other drill..like knee instead of kicks 😐)
2- coaches who just want to destroy the students (same gym, coach made us do something like 400 Mountain climber, 100 push up.. No need for that, also no focus on technique !)
The last one is the one I hate the most. I have seen it happen when instructors compete and don't have time for their own training so they use the class they are teaching as conditioning sessions or strength session. If I wanted that I would go to an expert in that
Can you do a video on Alex perieras footwork I find it weird the way he moves but also unique
Teaching/instructing is a discipline unto itself, apart from a person’s performance, experience, or ability. In fact, the person to whom the skill or activity comes easy, may not be in the best position to help someone who is struggling. Rather, the person who struggled while mastering the material is probably in a better position to help someone else who is struggling. Thus, the best teacher in a dojo, in many cases, may not the best fighter, but is rather the best teacher. And this is just as true for math/vocations as well.
In my first MT gym, the co-trainer hit me with a knee to the body in my first sparring and broke a rib. This was around 4 weeks after I joined the gym (totally beginner back then). I needed around 4 weeks of recovery after that and couldn't train nor sleep. The trainings sessions were also "high paced" all the time. Bag, ropes, pads, circles most of the time. And push ups as punishment if you did something wrong. We did 100s of them. Yes, there were corrections/instructions, but 90% the two trainers were focusing on their competetive fighters. Only good thing about this gym was, that my athleticsm was top-notch.
I looked for another one and training is way better. Techniques and technical sparring every session. Workouts are built-in in a smart way, but not too much, so arms are not too heavy for effective training.
do a 50 things list
There needs to be a Yelp for combat gyms.
Gabe, what’s your take on Thai style teaching? In Thailand they don’t put a lot of emphasis on teaching technique, they run you through pad work bag work, running, clinching, and sparring (light). You kind of learn mostly on your own.
When I was in martial arts, there were a lot of dudes that were all about being macho.
Really they were just insecure punks.
Those same traits show up in every pedagogical situation.
My friend told me his coachin Vancouver knocked him out in sparring. He told me his coach was supposedly going light. I said obviously not light enough if he knocked u out
My coach told me he trains me differently than he would train someone else.
I think I need to slow down and practice the techniques on pads.
2) When I was 12, one year of jiu jitsu, early ninties. The instructor would line us up now and then, and then would hit is in the belly.
It was too much for me at that time and I quit partly bc of that. But looking back I realize he did teach me a lot and specifically falling and tensioning the abs to protect yourself.
I actually still remember and have all the skills he teached me. So looking back I think this was ok and I was just a bit more sensitive being the youngest there. I was scared going there though. And I dreaded those moments where we had to line up. At the same time I do not remember it being very painful either.
Is this over the edge in terms of the coach? What do you guys think?
I had a a martial arts instructor that hurt me many times and said it was to toughen me up because it was like as soon as I left the class billions of people wanted to kill me and fight me what a joke I quit that school after many years of training there it wasn't for me anymore
I recently got back from the break i took from Thai and the gym i used to go to switched instructors, i sparred 5 times before sparring with this new instructor, and he beat me up, i had 2 concussions my whole leg was swollen and he almost landed a head kick on me( i asked him to stop the spar mid-round and he didn't care just kept punching me super hard).
My kickboxing coach has us spar hard sometimes there was this 15 year old national champion average height vs an 18 year old very small like Gervonta Davis for example, the 18yr old is alright, he has heart but the 15 year old is just a lot more skilled so they sparred hard and the kid broke the other guys nose and they kept sparring like that, they encouraged them to keep going, and yeah i expect my teammates to hit me hard cuz its sparring you have to simulate a fight, but then sometimes when i tell them relax we're not here to kill each other cuz they go all out some of them they're like ok, ok and then keep doing the same thing, especially when they have more experience and they're bigger, not necessarily more skilled, just more experience being hit and in the fire per say, so i left the gym after 2 months, that wasn't the sole reason, I'm considering to go back although im kinda busy, what do you think Gabriel? My point is we're kids and we're already sparring hard at this age im 18,if we're doing this now what will become of our heads in 10 years or more? A friend of mine told me he got ko'd unconscious 4 times and he said they weren't even knockdowns he said he went to sleep, and it's kinda the culture he had no problem with it, he also sparred with the gyms champs a diff guy a big heavyweight and he said got laid out while there's over 50kg difference between them, also the gym is kind of expensive for 3 days a week, even if it was 5 it should be less
hitting students hard should be fine if the student is trying to prove you're a fake cause if they don't get hurt, they will think that's proof you're fake. right?
This one style only is not allways bad. It is not my coaching style but I have seen also good results with that. If you are the guy who is like your coach, this is very efficient. Your coach is expert to teach style that fits for you and all your training partners are good in that style and can teach you too. Then your advance will be fast.
This works when there is a big gym and there is huge material so that the coach can concentrate coaching those who fits to model. But if you are not the guy whos natural style is that, it is not your place.
I’m a fighter whose doing coaching as a side hustle to support my training. These are good tips for coaching .
Could you create a guide on how to teach/learn martial arts more effectively?
Well if your kind good person and you dont allow people to just hard spar all the time, and you make sure people are doing light sparring, you're already ahead of 70 percent of coaches.
Two of my best coaches are dead one alot harder than the other
I've definetly had an issue with the "teaching his own style" part. I've butted heads with my current instructor for a very long time until he accepted that I cannot use the same fighting style that he does, I'm a 5'7 welterweight, no I ain't gonna be boxing them from the outside bro. It was like magic, the moment I ignored his "corrections" I was about twice as good.
I have the exact problem in reverse! One of my coaches is 5’6” and I’m 6’2” I’m not a swarm in phonebooth fighter
@@jacobteeter7879 absolutely use all of your reach. I've found a lot of the times your training partners provide better insight than a hard-headed coach.
Yeah, a coach that can’t help you develop your own style is not ideal
@@jacobteeter7879yeah, stick outside and work on clinch to deter opponents from coming in
I might switch gyms. Although I appreciate the intensity - my coach has a heavy angry energy and can be condescending. Maybe I'm too sensitive but I think there's a happy medium between a coach who's too nice and one who has no patience. Getting talked down to for his lack of clear instructions etc
good video. just had a question re 6:46 the way boxers duck and weave.. since you know and understand range fighting, is it not dangerous to duck and weave like that making you suseptive to a fast front leg round house to the head? such as if you were ducking and weaving predictably to one side i would utilize that motion as a ranged fighter to allow you to weave into my foot? i haven't had much experience with duckers and weavers like this, but when I have my feet have generally been quite surprising to them