Natmac

**judoguy** · Posted On: 10/20/2005 8:15pm

Those of you living in the Uk might be aware of Natmac. National Martial Arts College. There was a link to the website on the Bullshido homepage a while ago. At first glance this seems like an MMA school. Kickboxing, grappling, boxing, etc are all taught along with some karate.

I ask you all please, do not be fooled. I went down and had a free introductory lesson, before speaking to Tony Higo, founder of Natmac.

Tony is a businessman above all else. He told me how his instructors get paid loads and that he has several houses, boats, cars, etc. Hmm, I wonder why. Taking fools money? It costs £10,000 to train to become an instructor. WTF? Greedy bastard!

I told somebody I had done judo for 10 years and was not quite a black belt. He commented that that was "not very good" and with the nat Mac system, people can achieve their black belt in 2 years or less.

The main aim of the school is to "produce black belts"

Classes last half an hour and the fees are ridiculously hiigh for such a short time. You pay for periods of so many week and will end up paying literally hundreds a month.

You must buy a NatMac suit (basically a karate suit) even if you have your own suit from another martial art.

I saw an instructor teaching judo and he was rubbish! £10,000 to be able to suck at doing Ogoshi against a static uke.

Higo's claim to fame is holding the Guiness World Record for fastest high kicks (10 a second. Is that possible? Somebody tell me as I'm not a kicker).

Higo said that fancy, spinning kicks are not practical in real life. Good, I agree. He then said he teaches them because a lot of people just like to do them. Better yet, why not just don't teach them and get it into the heads of those people wanting to do flashy moves that they have no business in fighting. Tell them to go to drama school.

Whilst some things are good (they regard boxing punches as the best, and there are good arts in there. E.g judo and boxing amongst the crap) but the high prices, the way the place is run like a business (Tony has his own office in the dojo and whenever speaking to him you must bow to him and call him sir), the kiddie black belts, the short time it takes to become a black belt and the incompetence of one instructor to perform even a simple judo move has prompted my decision to announce Bullshido on NATMAC. Those in the UK, do yourselves a favour and stay away from this place. Hre is the website, with addresses of the NATMAC clubs if you wish to check things out for yourselves:

http://www.nat-mac.co.uk/2601/frames.php

**Kengou** · Posted On: 10/20/2005 10:17pm

"Higo's claim to fame is holding the Guiness World Record for fastest high kicks (10 a second. Is that possible? Somebody tell me as I'm not a kicker)."
Depends how you define a kick. If you mean a useful kick that will actually cause any amount of damage, then no, impossible. But if he stuck his foot out there and vibrated it a bit, then sure.

**judoguy** · Posted On: 10/21/2005 4:44am

I'm guessing he just did the latter.

**thrashpilot** · Posted On: 8/30/2006 5:12am

"Tony is a businessman above all else. He told me how his instructors get paid loads and that he has several houses, boats, cars, etc."

Bollocks.

Hello, I am your instructor, this school is expensive (£5 a lesson if you come 4 times a week, which we would really like you to)

and over here is my selection of boats and ferrari's and I am gold plated.

Either you're full of **** or he is a terrible buisness man, introducing yourself to new pupils like this would ruin you....

**LydiaC** · Posted On: 8/30/2006 6:18am

What in the name of all that is decent and holy is kickrobatics? From the website:

Kickrobatics is our 'Extreme Kicking' system. If you've ever wanted to be able to kick like they do in the movies then this is where you will learn it. Jumps, doubles spins from 90 to 540, doubles and trebles whilst jumping its all here and taught to our Masters and Leadership Students.

**doner_kebab** · Posted On: 8/30/2006 6:37am

Why even bother with an introductory lesson when you can tell it's **** just from looking at the website?

**LydiaC** · Posted On: 8/30/2006 6:37am

I went to one of the links from the website - Karateworld. Even the name sounds like quality. If you have the patience, scroll down and read the "story" in the grey box. Karate is about hugging homeless drunks. Apparently.

The kids who go to this school are going to get beaten up in real life very badly.

http://www.karate-world.co.uk/

**FredGarvinMP** · Posted On: 8/30/2006 6:42am

Half an hour classes? Damn...I'm just about loose by then. That sucks. What the heck can you do with 30 minutes? What do you learn in 2 years of 30 minute classes? Nada.

**thrashpilot** · Posted On: 8/30/2006 7:42am

I honestly don't know what kickrobatics are.

a friend of mine goes and they are 1 hour lessons.
4 times a week.

**TehDeadlyDimMak** · Posted On: 8/30/2006 8:53am

Originally Posted by FredGarvinMP

Half an hour classes? Damn...I'm just about loose by then. That sucks. What the heck can you do with 30 minutes? What do you learn in 2 years of 30 minute classes? Nada.

You can learn some warm ups.