Mas Oyama's Muteki Kyokushin - Rochester, NY

**Neo Sigma** · Posted On: 10/04/2009 1:21am

Classes are 6:30 to 8:15 PM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and 8:30-9:30 AM on Saturday mornings. Monday and Wednesday class structure is typically-

-Half an hour of cardio

-15 minutes of partnered medicine ball drills

-One hour of technique drills

-A few minutes of ab conditioning and cooldown

Fridays begin with a 25 minute run before we get down to the business of pounding the hell out of each other for the rest of the evening. This is a sparring-intensive class, and beginners must have attended the Monday and Wednesday classes for a month before coming. Gloves and shin guards are mostly optional.

Saturdays are nothing but conditioning, if you haven't had enough of it during the week. This class generally focuses on kettlebells, and I believe there's a yoga class held afterwards for anyone who wants to stick around and stretch out the kinks from the week's training.

Kata generally doesn't pop up until we get near promotion times.

Competition is encouraged, and several members of the dojo fight fairly regularly locally, nationally, and internationally.

Payment is month-to-month and mercifully contract-free.

And now, onto the ratings-

Aliveness, 8- It's kyokushin, what else can you really expect? On a special note, if sensei sees you slacking during class, you'll probably get a whack across the thighs with a shinai, just to make sure you're awake. Being tired is okay; being lazy isn't tolerated.

Equipment, 6- There's a row of heavy bags along one wall, a big stack of kicking shields, medicine balls, kettlebells in varying weights, jumpropes, and thai pads. They're a bit beat up from use, but it all works just fine.

Gym size, 6- The dojo has its own dedicated space in a renovated factory that houses several small shops and restaurants. Training space is 2000+ square feet, so we do occasionally bang into each other while sparring, but otherwise we're good.

Instructor/student ratio, 6- Class size is generally in the 10-20 student range. Sensei Cruz is the only instructor, but there are also two black belts in class to help out if needed.

Atmosphere/attitude, 8- The total lack of egos and general friendliness makes this a great place to train at. There's no "breaking-in" period and no real cliques- the general feeling is "You showed up and trained, and you lived through class. You're cool."

Striking instruction, 8- Alive drilling and regular hard-contact sparring are kyokushin staples, and it's no different here.

Grappling, 1- Since we're not Enshin or Ashihara, grappling isn't covered.

Weapons, 1- Aren't your shins good enough?