Help finding a new club in North London/Hertforshire.

**Cuchulain** · Posted On: 1/11/2007 9:26am

I found out that my Kyokushin instructor has moved away, the club has been taken over by a very respectable Kyokushin sempai but the timetable has now changed and it would mean that i could only train once every 2 weeks (which i probably will still do) but obviously i need to make up for training else where.

so i need to find a new place to train. Can anyone please reccomend me a club or instructor in my area. I'm open to most styles (ground/grapple/striking) as long as the training is "alive" and whatnot (where else am i gonna practice my d34dly single whip?).

I have looked around on the tinternet and can only find mcdojo's and the like, i did find very good looking Judo club;

www.wgcjudo.org.uk

But due to other commintments and work i cant attend on the days they train.

At the same place is a class called Kempso (presumably a typo for kempo?) Jujitsu, with a guy called Doug Griffiths, but i cant really find anything else about it.

Basically any help would be appreciated.

**slideyfoot** · Posted On: 1/11/2007 7:01pm

Hmm. I'm in Bucks (for some of the week at least), so the next county along from you.

Not sure if any of these would be within reach (depends exactly where you are in Herts), but there is an excellent (apparently: I've not trained there myself, so going by what I've heard) judo club in High Wycombe. But then you've already got the option of a decent one in Herts.

If you're willing and able to get into London on a regular basis, there is a good MMA gym in Harrow (short walk from Rayners Lane tube station, a tiny little door that says Harrow Martial Arts Centre, or something like that. Used to be called HSD Combat, last I heard it was renamed The Mauler's Cage Fighter's Gym) and a little further into London, Elite Fighting Systems in Elephant & Castle (Heygate Club Room, Brandon St). Both the MMA clubs are £5 a class - I've trained at both and would recommend them based on that limited experience.

I'm guessing you wouldn't want to go the more expensive route, but the Roger Gracie Academy near Westbourne Park station is well worth the cash, though its not North London.

Doing a quick Google brought up something called Dragon Thai Kickboxing, which may or may not be worth a look, but then I'm sure you've trawled through Google already.

**Cuchulain** · Posted On: 1/12/2007 7:27am

Cheers slideyfoot if worse comes to worst i will have to travel to london.

Anyone know anything about this

http://www.martialartsclubs.com/clubsinfo/664.php

**Cuchulain** · Posted On: 1/12/2007 7:36am

ah wow, this place looks good http://www.tokonacademy.com/ anyone know if the guys background is ok?

**Sophist** · Posted On: 1/12/2007 8:04am

Originally Posted by seanyseanybean

ah wow, this place looks good http://www.tokonacademy.com/ anyone know if the guys background is ok?

http://www.tokonacademy.com/David_Webb_Profile.htm

This page claims he was learning MMA from 2000 and competed. I am happy to report that this is backed up by a verifiable fight record on Sherdog which confirms fights against Paul Jenkins and against Javier Garcia:
http://www.sherdog.com/fightfinder/f...FighterID=6026

I'd say he looks pretty legitimate from here.

The kiddie karate in the News section shows a pleasing lack of young black belts. It doesn't mention David Webb's ranking in judo or BJJ, or whether it's him or someone else who instructs the classes, but the other evidence is favourable enough to definitely make it worth checking out IMO.

**PointyShinyBurn** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 6:56am

If you're willing to come as far as the east end, there's the hugely awesome London Fight Factory, where I train. As well as three BJJ black belts, there's also Muay Thai and boxing. Also slightly less abusively priced than RGA...

**slideyfoot** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 11:26am

Originally Posted by PointyShinyBurn

If you're willing to come as far as the east end, there's the hugely awesome London Fight Factory, where I train. As well as three BJJ black belts, there's also Muay Thai and boxing. Also slightly less abusively priced than RGA...

And wrestling, which looks interesting. Have you ever tried the classes? Something I've always wanted to have a go at.

**PointyShinyBurn** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 5:44pm

Originally Posted by slideyfoot

And wrestling, which looks interesting. Have you ever tried the classes? Something I've always wanted to have a go at.

Sadly no. The day I went to try it was the day the guy went back to Poland, and has yet to return. Annoying. According to the guys who actually made it to his classes they were awesome.
If you want to do some wrestling, there are classes at the Tokei and London Shootfighters. There's also a club out near Canada Water I think, but I can't seem to Google it up right now.

**Cuchulain** · Posted On: 1/14/2007 6:30pm

Cheers everyone.

Update: I've emailed the Tokon academy and basically found out that the MMA class is once a week and is about 30 mins drive from me, so not ideal but its an option. He strongly reccomended that i train with the Judo guy in the first link i posted, apparently the instructor is dynamite on the ground and has a great rep.

So i've now emailed the Judo guy and am awaiting response on training times.

I've also emailed Andy Nugent shown in second Link i posted, who is claiming to teach BJJ, Kali and MT under the JKD name. Theres no site or anything, so how can i check the guys credentials?

(and whats with MA instructors not checking their emails...)

For now i think i will avoid London unless i run out of options, however over the summer i might look into it as i am gonna be working in the city full time.