Back to the Basement

I often get asked about the location of my school/dojo, and when I reply that “I train out of my home in my basement & back yard”, I usually get that polite smile-cringe or their ears perk up with widening eyes. I’m certain some people mentally picture me in my jammies in the basement swinging a samurai sword at piñata-enemies with a headband on. No, that’s ridiculous. I don’t wear a headband.

I also get asked “Which is better? Schools or Homes?” To that I respond “Homes are better, because I am biased”. Then I lob a question over to them. “Which ice-cream is the better?” Once their eyes finish rolling, I answer my own question with “I have tongue-punched a lot of ice-cream in my day, and I have about 16 favorites”.

I have trained in both homes and schools, as well as recreation centers and public parks and I love them all. There are benefits to all.

I feel a school is a great place that has regular business hours, offer multiple classes and instructors, and to gather experience with a diverse group of people. Schools also usually have ample training gear and equipment and might host seminars. Schools often have a belt or ranking system that is relied upon and that detail is attractive.

Home dojos can offer a more personalized one on one experience. Areas of strengths & weaknesses can be recognized, addressed, and tailored to the student’s growth and trajectory. However, there might only be a few classes a week versus many classes a day. Home dojo’s may or may not have a formalized curriculum or ranking system for progression and that detail is also attractive.

Some Brazilian Jujitsu and Judo schools often visit each other’s dojos for diversity, friendly competition, and this can be especially valuable for those that want to hone their skills with all levels of practitioners. By contrast, not all home dojo instructors might be “plugged-in” to the martial arts community. The flip-side to that coin is that they might have direct experience and contact with more “well-known” martial artist and could be privy to private training not offered at schools or seminars.

The needs and wants of the individual are weighty ingredients when making the decision of what kind of ninja cake you want to bake.

To time-bomb drop, In 1998 while working in the mail room for a large corporation, a co-worker (I’ll call him “Bro” for short) and I were talking about nothing in particular and as a very animated person and I was making boxing like gestures and finished with a knee strike. Bro twitched at me then asked if I do boxing or anything? I told him that I did Tae Kwon Do “back in the day”, but mostly just practice on my own since I was young and poor but loved martial arts and I want to learn them all. To which I asked him about his interest in martial arts and he said he trains Muy Thai a few times a week. As a Muy Thai fan boy, I lite up like kid in a toy store with questions. We probably gabbed more than worked that day. Flash forward to a couple weeks later he invited me over to where he trains. It’s invite only to private training school out of this ninja masters home! Bro told me that he likes my energy and told his sensei about our exchanges and offered me an interview to see if I’m worthy of training.

Well, apparently I passed the test because the Muy Thai Guy (I’ll call him MTG) said I could come back. MTG’s training area was in his basement which had torture-looking devices connected to the wall with sticks & chains. An Iron palm training area in the closet. The other half of the basement was partitioned off by matts and mirrors. That was the ring. It smelled of sweat and pads and Dit Da Jao (which is a magic ninja sauce to help healing and recovery) and it was glorious.

MTG’s back yard had several tree stumps ranging from 2 to 6 feet tall with different training apparatus to connect like ninja potato head toy. They had nooks and crannies to connect arms to mimic a wing chun doll or a tire dummy used for Kali stick training. It was a unique and rare experience and. It felt like a movie.

It was our time at MTG’s dojo that a couple friends and I got introduced to seminars, specifically a Kali stick seminar. Our brains and our hands hurt after the 6 hour seminar one state away from our beds. We wanted more. After a week of rest.

During my first 3 months of Muy Thai I met a guy named Jay Carstensen who had been training there for 3 years but was leaving for his own reasons. Jay and I met back up years later in a kismet like happenstance about 6 months after I left MTG’s dojo. Jay invited me over to his basement dojo to learn a little art called “Silat”.

Jay and I trained Kali & Silat for 12 years before he left this world. There were times I’d take a break from Silat for a few months to gain some new perspective and I’d try new schools for a few weeks or months before returning back to Silat. I met people with similar interests at those schools and occasionally those new friends came to train Silat with us for a few months, and possibly tell a friend, and so on.

So yeah, I like the home dojo for the personalized experiences and that works best for me. That said, I still go to schools! I’m fortunate enough to not have to pick only one martial art to train, and I’ve made friends in those schools as well that come and train with me in my home dojo. It’s cyclical. My objective is to use each type of training experience as my own amorphous whetstone.

I need to stay rounded in order to stay sharp.

Back to your question. Which is best? Both! Both is best!