How to Choose a Martial Arts School in Portland: 7 Questions to Ask Before You Join

Question 1: How Long Has the Head Instructor Been Training – and Under Whom?

This is the one most important question and most schools don’t want you to ask outright.

It does not take a special individual to open a martial arts school. No all-powerful licensing organization can stop a person with a two-year training history and a pricey course package from claiming to be a sensei, sifu or master. In particular, it is a common practice in franchised self defense programs in which instructors are trained in classes on weekends.

What you want is to find documented lineage, clear training from your teacher to a known teacher from a known lineage, who have been practicing a comparable art for decades.

Ask specifically:

• How many years have you been training in this system?
• So who certified you and who trained them?
• Are you still under a senior instructor for training? 

Head instructor Peter Kramer at Instinct Defense Academy in Bethany, Portland, holds the rank of 15th Dan in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu directly awarded to him in Japan by Grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi, who holds one of the highest ranking in the art. Since 1991 he has been teaching in Portland. Not a certificate, a weekend stamp would have been sufficient. That’s years of proven and documented learning.

Question 2: Is the Curriculum Designed for Real Self-Defense – or for Sport and Competition?

Whether this is the right question to ask – and the answer won’t always come at you in a school’s marketing – is very significant.

Numerous martial arts – a great number of good martial arts – are primarily sport systems. There are rules for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments, Taekwondo point sparring, and sport karate tournaments all designed to protect the athlete. Those rules also have other techniques banned. That is of course fit for sport. This is a major restriction for purposes of self-defense.

Whenever you consider a school for your own protection, for your spouse, or for your children, you should be asking:

• Is training scenario-based? Are skills taught on how to respond to grabs, choking, multiple attackers and/or weapon threats?
• Is there an on-going competition league or tournament connected with this school?
• Is it taught with a focus on avoidance and de-escalation or just physical response?

A true self-defense class will educate you on how to identify dangers before they are actually engaged in a physical fight. Situational awareness is the ability to read the environment, detect danger and prevent most real world attacks. When a school program doesn’t provide any instruction on awareness, it is providing you with learning how to fight, not how to stay safe.

Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (traditional Jojoji system taught by Instinct Defense Academy) is not designed for Sport use. All the techniques are based on actual combat situations at 9 traditional Japanese schools for warriors. Points, trophies, rules do not exist that would make the system less effective in a real situation.

Question 3: Can You Watch or Attend a Class Before Committing?

If a school doesn’t want you to observe a class before the contract, they’re telling you something you should listen to.

A first class school is proud of what has taken place on its training floor. A live class will tell you things that a website will not, a brochure never will and a conversation with a sales person will not:

• How does the instructor relate to beginners and advanced students?
• Are you in an environment that’s test-taking or student learning?
• Do students appear engaged and challenged, or bored and going through the motions?
• What goes through the student’s mind when they make a mistake? 

The martial arts scenes in Portland are diverse, and the culture of each school is vastly different – ranging from competitive combat gyms to more traditional dojos that emphasize community. Neither is wrong. But one will feel right with you, and you will be able to know which one you see in a class for 30 minutes.

Instinct Defense Academy invites prospective students to watch class and provides a complimentary introductory class for adults, women and children prior to commitment.

Question 4: Does the School Have Dedicated Programs – or Is Everything One Class?

Portland’s best schools design their training in relation to particular populations and ends, not round one class that’s all levels and all ages.

Someone learning self defense for the first time, at 45 years old, will have needs that differ from a 12-year old boy or a competitive 25-year old or a fitness trainer. It is convenient for the school and the student to put them all into the same category and label it as a martial art.

Look for schools that offer:

• Progressive curriculum with dedicated adult programs.
• Ages based kids martial arts classes, not just ‘under 18’
• Self-defense programs for females to consider the different threat situations women encounter
• Private lessons for those who desire accelerated or individualized development. 

Instinct Defense Academy offers individual structured programs for adults, children and women. The Empower Her program is specifically designed around the real-world self-defense needs of women and not a watered-down version of the adult curriculum but a program designed from the ground up specifically for the adult self-defense needs of women.

Question 5: What Is the Instructor-to-Student Ratio?

This question is missed because it appears to be a logistical question. It is, in fact, one of the most significant factors in what speed you make your gains.

Correcting martial arts technique by direct personal feedback. With 30 students in a class and one teacher, the odds are not in your favor. A lot of time will be wasted in training mistakes into your muscle memory because no one caught them early enough.

Ask specifically:

• Which is the mean number of children in a class?
• Do there exist assistant instructors/senior students who assist with instruction?
• Has the maximum class size been established? 

Better feedback, quicker corrections, and much quicker improvements will result from the smaller classes. This is where it counts most in the first six months of training – the habits you form are the habits you’ll have for the next years – either for years to come or for years to end.

Question 6: How Does the School Handle Contracts and Fees?

There are instances in the martial arts world where the contracts are a rip-off. Some schools employ pressure tactics for enrollment, have a 12–24 month contract in place, offer high cancellation fees, and include escalating prices for renewals. But it doesn’t imply that all schools that have a contract are worthless – it simply implies that you should read carefully and ask specific questions.

Before signing anything, ask:

• Are there any trials or introductory classes before a contract?
• What do you have to do in order to cancel, and will you incur a fee?
• Do there need to be any extra expenses for testing, uniforms, equipment, or seminars?
• What if you have an injury or some other life situation that prevents training? 

If a school is confident about their program they will not be able to lock you into a contract. It keeps the students as it provides excellent training, and the community is a good place to come back to.

Question 7: Does the School Have a Track Record in the Portland Community?

Longevity is a community’s biggest clue for authenticity as it gets older. If a school has been in existence for 10 years, or 20 years, or 30 years, then the community has had enough time to test the school’s reputation and retest it.

Check out sources outside of the school’s official website. Look up a review on Google and Yelp. Inquire whether the teacher is actively involved in the various activities of the local community, safety seminars or any other neighborhood organization. See if it has been a long time since the senior students have left to teach, or if the community has depth beyond the head teacher.

Martial arts in Portland are vibrant and grassroots. Schools such as One With Heart, founded in 1981, represent the type of community involvement one expects to find in a school, rather than a gym – and the same applies to all disciplines.

Instinct Defense Academy has been teaching the Bethany, Portland area since 1991. For over 30 years, adults, children, and women have studied from Master Peter Kramer in Portland families. That history is not a coincidence. It is the most obvious indicator of the school’s actual provision.

The Bottom Line: Let Your Questions Guide You

Portland has a rich and varied martial arts community, of which we are all proud. If you are a complete beginner looking for your first course in self-defense, a parent in search of the right kids martial arts in Portland, a martial arts master looking to get even better or a woman who wants to learn protection skills that can be transferred out of the ring, there exists a school to teach.

Check your presentation using this filter of 7 questions. Where you want to invest your money is where the school will receive and respond to them simply and confidently.

If you live near Bethany or Portland and are interested in learning Bujinkan Budo Taijutus first hand, then Instinct Defense Academy is hosting a free class for new students. No contracts, no pressure – only an honest appraisal of what self defense training really entails, after 35 years in the same community.