One Spirit Martial Arts (OSMA) located in Herndon, VA is home to one of the better MMA schools in the Northern Virginia, Washington, DC Metro area. The school itself has been through many different iterations from a strictly TMA school (Shotokan, Taekwondo, Hapkido, etc.) to a full gamut MMA gym offering pretty much everything you would need to compete under one roof.
OSMA is of moderate size, located in a mixed development office/warehouse park. There is a large mat area with plenty of room to comfortably hold up to 30 students at any one time. Being a mixed martial arts facility, OSMA offers all your basic combat training in striking (Muay Thai), grappling/submission (BJJ/Judo), Krav Maga, JKD, and Kali. Classes are also offered in MMA training for aspiring professional fighters. The only real complaints I have is that the mats are usually dirty since the Krav Maga classes wear their shoes on the mat. It’s a pain in the ass having all these nasty smears on my gi after a workout. Also the building itself is starting to burst at the seams it seems. When the classes are packed, it's packed. You don't have much room to work with, especially in BJJ. The Krav classes are a pretty much chaotic as it is. There are plans to move to a bigger facility within the next few months. It's still a pain in the ass to grapple when you have two feet of dedicated space to yourself.
OSMA proudly boasts (and I emphisize that) the acclaim of being the new official headquarters of the Pedro Sauer Jiu-Jitsu Association. As of September 2006 Master Pedro Sauer, 7th Degree Red-Black Belt under Helio/Rickson Gracie, picked up camp in Salt Lake City and moved operations to OSMA. Master Sauer personally instructs the Monday through Thursday classes and travels to host seminars throughout the association on the weekends. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu classes are top notch, Gracie Academy level, packed with step-by-step, technical run downs on every technique. This should be expected considering Master Sauer's highly acclaimed instruction (voted Most Sought After BJJ Instructor in a ADCC poll in 2005). Classes run an hour and half with 15 minutes of warm ups, 45 minutes of instruction, and 30 minutes of drilling and rolling. Thursdays we have the pleasure of hosting Maurice Allen, 8th Dan Judo master and head instructor of Sport Judo provide an hour long session on Judo takedowns to suppliment BJJ. The school also offers a Junior Jiu-Jitsu program 3X a week.
Other classes are an hour to two hours (muay Thai) long each with a dedicated instructor. There are no Jacks-of-all-trades that teach every class here. Many of the students do, however, cross train, which is encouraged for those wanting to join the local circuit. OSMA no longer offers Taekwondo or Hapkido but still has Judo, Aikido, and Kali. You will find that the student population is very friendly (leave your ego at the door) and helpful.
Contracts are basic no frills, what you see is what you get. No shady tactics here. They offer single classes all the way up to two year terms. Signing up for the two year gives you $99 a month of unlimited training in any one of the styles offered (add $24 to the price if it is BJJ—only because the classes are an extra 30 minutes longer). There are also packages which allow you to take two or more styles if you like at a discounted rate. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable (All the staff are students of one style or another) and they are more than happy to answer all your questions upfront.
dinnerpig
7/26/2007 10:44am,
I trained at one spirit a few months ago. The BJJ program is amazing thanks to Pedro Sauer and other highly skilled purple belts that help teach class . Sadly, the same can not be said for the Muay Thai program. Although the Muay Thai classes are run by two Thai boxing champs...that doesn't make them very good instructors. Every class is the same. 40 minute warm up of running, jumping jacks, twisting hops and shadow boxing in front of a mirror. From there the students move practicing one or two combinations demonstrated by the instructor...over and over again with your partner. Muay Thai pads and focus mitts are never used for training purposes so you have to go light when practicing these combinations with your partner. After that, you end the class with a series of pushups and sit ups. Yes, it is as dull as it sounds. I tried this class 3 times and had to go through the same routine all 3 nights. It was also mentioned to me by one of the students that they almost never do any sparring. That's just a shame.
I can't really comment on the other classes that are offered at OSMA because I never stuck around to watch them. I know that they offer Judo, MMA, Krav Maga, Kali and AIkido (based on info from their website. Everyone at OSMA is friendly and helpful - even the students.
dinnerpig
1/22/2008 10:29am,
OSMA employs a muay thai instructor by the name of Master Danny who was convicted of sexual battery against a female student in 2007. Ladies, I would think twice about going to this school.
Trubble
2/29/2008 1:08pm,
OSMA employs a muay thai instructor by the name of Master Danny who was convicted of sexual battery against a female student in 2007. Ladies, I would think twice about going to this school.
Here is the Herdon Police Report for the incident. Master Dann's real name is Brumrung Prawatsrichai. He is no longer listed on the OSMA Instructor website though.
Kijimuna
3/19/2008 2:30pm,
The other instructor, Reshad Woods was recently arrested and taken back to Florida on a felony charge. His real name is Timothy Cletus. I guess having your name in the papers as a local MMA champion isn't such a good idea when you are on the run...
the873663
4/18/2008 10:10am,
his name is Timothy Woods, and he was wanted for a violation of parole from at attempted first degree murder. I do not think that any students or parents know, but who is to say that this guy won't snap again and try to kill someone? the owners are being very irresponsible in allowing these types of people teach there...
dinnerpig
6/06/2008 1:05pm,
Wow. That's scary. I trained with that guy! Nice to know that I didnt even know his real name.
GoldenJonas
6/08/2008 6:57am,
his name is Timothy Woods, and he was wanted for a violation of parole from at attempted first degree murder. I do not think that any students or parents know, but who is to say that this guy won't snap again and try to kill someone? the owners are being very irresponsible in allowing these types of people teach there...
Link please...we can't have statements like this posted without support.
the873663
6/11/2008 2:35pm,
Link please...we can't have statements like this posted without support.
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This convict is a joke - it has been said that he has gone to train with Brandon Vera and LLoyd Irvin - Reshad Woods, Timothy Woods or whatever alias he has now is a cocky MF who thinks he can be the next word champion in the UFC - Idiot the UFC does not allow convicted felons to fight - specially for a serios crime as this dude has committed. Why woudl Brandon Vera even associated with someone like this dude and damn this dude is under Lloys wing? WTF?
Kijimuna
9/20/2008 10:17pm,
Lloyd will do anything for a buck.
alife
9/22/2008 4:21pm,
hahaha reshad woods is a convict. how funny haha, i dont care that he is..he was respectful and atleast i know but doesnt mean I should be afraid of him. But yea I honestly took muay thai for 3months here and I felt like I barely learn anything. I taught myself more than the instructors really taught me.. they are very knowledgable yes, but not the greatest instructors. Master danny's brother i felt was better instructor than him. I forgot his brother's name but I respected him more than Master danny. Reshad woods actually was a decent trainer at the time. It was hard for me to get better becuase they had nothing plan out. Overall I felt like for muay thai it wasn't worth my money, especially since I'm a college student that is already broke. But yes I was going to do BJJ but that extra 25$ i just couldnt afford
anyways reason why I'm posting is I was looking for any recommdantions to any other decent muay thai gyms in ther northern virginia. I want to go to llyod its too far. Basically I'm looking around chantilly,herndon,sterling,fairfax, or even maybe falls church area. Any advice will apperciate it
I tried gracie va for muay thai, it was okay not much of a workout but good techniques but can't go there because of time conflict
