Choosing the best kickboxing school in South San Jose (Oakland: home, neighborhood)

[dogandcat]

Hi folks,
Could you suggest a good kickboxing school for adults in South San Jose, and very preferably in Santa Teresa neighbourhood? I'm not interesting in "fitness-cardio-kickboxing classes" that many gyms offer on regular basic for people who mostly take them just for some cardio or weight loss. I'm interesting in a respectable and professional school that allows people to continuously develop their martial art skills, and became a fighter in a long-term perspective. I googled and found out that American Kickboxing Academy can be an option. What do you think about that school? Do they have a friendly social environment? I observed they also offer classes for kids (and probable for females as well?), but some commentators on Yelp mentioned that prices a little bit high. What other kickboxing schools can you suggest? Thanks a lot.

[bobby_guz_man]

AKA is the home of two current UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champions, one heavyweight ex-champion, and the current Bellator light heavyweight champion. They're the top echelon of the MMA school in the entire Bay Area. Their price may actually be worth it if you get to train with and taught by the actual fighters themselves.

Other than them I don't know of any other MMA-specific schools. You get your usual TKD and Kung Fu stuffs around the neighborhood. Heroes MMA in Downtown I heard is pretty good, a lot of jiujitsu.

I would also suggest a pure boxing class as well, to supplement your kickboxing. There's a few good boxing schools around Downtown.

[dogandcat]

Originally Posted by bobby_guz_man

AKA is the home of two current UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champions, one heavyweight ex-champion, and the current Bellator light heavyweight champion. They're the top echelon of the MMA school in the entire Bay Area. Their price may actually be worth it if you get to train with and taught by the actual fighters themselves.

Other than them I don't know of any other MMA-specific schools. You get your usual TKD and Kung Fu stuffs around the neighborhood. Heroes MMA in Downtown I heard is pretty good, a lot of jiujitsu.

I would also suggest a pure boxing class as well, to supplement your kickboxing. There's a few good boxing schools around Downtown.

Thanks a lot bobby for a valuable detailed response.

[bobby_guz_man]

Originally Posted by dogandcat

Thanks a lot bobby for a valuable detailed response.

You're welcome

[neutrino78x]

I used to do martial arts in high school, and lately thought that if I got back into it, I would do Jeet Kune Do. There's a place called Tandez Academy, in Mountain View, that teaches JKD. They also do Kali. The head Sifu knows Dan Inosanto; there's video on their youtube of him giving Dan a birthday card. So the JKD they do there would appear to be of that lineage. Inosanto advocates learning Original JKD before you go into what he calls "JKD Concepts", which is a form of MMA. So Wing Chun would be involved. Modern Inosanto JDK Concepts involves BJJ. So I would suggest checking them out:

http://www.tandezacademy.com/

The other JKD place that seems like it would be good is "The Oakland School" but they don't have a studio per se. It is a group of people who meet in high school gyms etc. in Hayward. The founder learned JKD directly from Bruce Lee and taught his son. You have to email them and tell them you want to learn. Their site:

Original Jeet Kune Do Martial Arts and Self Defense

[EdLeGrand]

In the Santa Teresa neighborhood there is a West Coast World Martial Arts. Their focus is Tae Kwon Do, but they were one of the first studios to offer MMA classes starting in the 90s. AKA is also in Santa Teresa and I've heard good things about their studio.