A question about the length of classes...

[Sandpaperhead]

Hi,

I'm going to the US and I've been looking at martial arts schools/gyms websites and I notice all the classes are only an hour long...

Is there a reason why classes are only an hour long? Because I'm accustomed to training for 2-3 hours and was wondering why the classes in the US are so short.

 

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

It depends on the school.
Our classes are 2 hours.

 

[rlobrecht]

The school I attend has 1 hr classes (actually 45 min, 50 min, or 1 hr depending on the rank.) Our school is largely children, and I know that my son (9 yo) would probably not stay focused for longer than 1 hr.

 

[Bobby135]

It really depends on the school you are looking for and the art. Most schools are structured along the hourly lines. Look a little deeper with the schools and check out a few schools before hand. Talk to the various instructors and see what they have to say. My school posts times as guidelines but that is all they are. My average training on the weekends goes from 2-4 hours depending on how the class goes.

 

[Stac3y]

Our kids' classes are 1 hour; adult classes are 1.5 hrs.

 

[blindsage]

Some schools also transition from one type of class to another i.e. a striking class to a grappling class, or a beginner's class to an intermediate class, and many of the students train in both classes, so it may be that an individual class is only an hour or hour and half long, but in reality many of the students are training for 2-3 hours.

 

[searcher]

The school I train at is 2-2.5 hour long classes.

My school has 1 hour kids classes(all that my nerves can take) and the adults are 1-1.5 hours long. As my students progress in rank and can pay better attention, the classes get longer. Having just started a new school with some of my former students, we are trying to find the sweet spot.

Besides, most people cannot absorb more material than what they get in 1 hour.

 

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

When I was a teen the TKD school had a 1 hour Kids class that I would attend (and at Green belt I usually taught 50% of it) then an hour later a 1 hour Beginers class and a 1 hour advance class and the school stayed open for another hour.

I used to come home from school, eat, run to the Dojang at 4:30 and stay till 9-9:30pm. As well as 2 classes on Saturday.

Our classes are 2 hours- 15-25 minute warm up/ Breakfalls, and then the classes are broke into sections, rarely do those sections go over 40 minutes. I like to work 2- 3 sections in my classes.

When I teach kids I keep it no longer than 1 hour, and about 10-15 minutes of that is playing martial games with a 5 minute Stranger Danger talk/lesson each class.

 

[Mark Lynn]

I teach at a Rec. Center so I have classes structured for 4 hours a night.

My young kids class is 45 minutes and that's about as long as their attention span is.

My other Older kids/teens classes are 1 hour long. I prefer to teach longer so my arnis class can run up to 1.5 hours long if the students are OK with it. When I use to teach private/semi private classes I would teach generally for 2 hours.

 

[Xinglu]

I prefer to train in class anywhere from 1.5 hours to 2 hours. As such I have never attended a school where training was only one hour long.

However, if it is a very small school and class sizes were small I would consider training a shorter time as the time with the instructor would be greater.

 

[wushuguy]

many commercialized martial arts schools I know will give odd numbers like 45 or 50 minutes for class, to let one feel they're getting more for their money... because it was more than 30 minutes but not quite 1 hour.

However, more traditional classes will be 1 hour and up and straightforward with pricing and class times.

 

[theletch1]

Our school does 1.5 hours during the week and 2 hours on Sunday. We use a room at the local Gold's gym so have to tailor our classes to what's available. When we had a stand alone school we had 1 hour kids classes and 2 hour adult classes. Many American's are so tied into living life in increments of x no. of hours that the 1 hour class fits well with lives that are entirely too hectic to be truly enjoyed.