This little town I live in has NO martial arts schools, what are some ideas to obtain proper training?
Frankly, move. If there isn't any option to actually receive training where you are, you need to go to where the training is available. To think anything else is to be delusional, and suffer from an entitlement complex… of which far too many young people today do already.
This, frankly, is the problem with this "information age"… it gives people the impression that they should be able to have anything they want when and where they have want them to be, regardless of the reality…
Would taking to some ex-mma fighters be an acceptable route to try?
Acceptable to who? For what? What is your actual aim?
Alternatively, you can always try to start up a class. I'm currently reading BryceSPQR's book on how to start a school/club/etc. and he lays out very clearly what you need to do. If you have 20 years of practicing, may be worth giving it a try.
BryceSPQR if you want to message him about it.
Honestly, I have some issues with this advice… mainly in that, as far as I can tell, while the OP claims 20 years of "experience", that experience seems to be largely non-existent (I am waiting to hear clarification on that… but the idea is supported by his comments here and in other threads). Additionally, even if it has some basis, we don't know what his experience is in (art/system-wise)… who knows if he's able to teach it?
Honestly, I need to get anyone willing to come up here and help teach me so I can, but do it proper, where people aren't at risk. But when I get the training I would LOVE to start a school.
Start a school of what? Get people to teach you what? "Martial arts" aren't just one thing… they are wildly different in many ways… and just because you have someone teaching you aspects of one doesn't mean you have any real knowledge or grasp of anything else.
I have a ton of respect for the art of Aikido, don't let my comment confuse you. But, in my experience, (what little I do have, bar fights, etc.) Aikido had limited practical application until higher Dans.
It's too difficult to use such fine motor skills when in the heat of the moment.
Who says it's fine motor? Some Aikido is quite gross motor, when you get down to it… but of course, here we again start to look at the minimalist experience you have had with regard to martial arts…
Is a confidence thing. And I have taught a few people. I just don't have the confidence because I have next to no traditional training, and always assumed I needed that to start an actual school
"Little to no traditional training"… "what little (experience) I do have, bar fights etc"…
So what exactly is this 20 years you're claiming?
This is true. Can't learn if I don't try I guess. Thanks for that!
Can't learn if you don't do. And so far, you haven't "done" martial arts, from the looks of things.
And you seem quite presumptuous. I've spoke with 4 mma fighters and have all told me that in a life or death situation aikido will get you killed every time.
Unless you have 60+ years to devote. I do not, but found two fighters who are going to help me. So your semi offensive remark is null. But thanks?
Ha! MMA fights are nothing like "life or death", so how the hell would they know? What experience do they have with Aikido in life and death situations? Who says you need 60 years to be able perform Aikido in a situation?
But most importantly, you have found two "fighters" who are going to help you… help you do what? What are you actually going to be learning from them? Generic fighting skills and martial arts are two rather different things, you know… I mean, if you wanted to learn TKD specifically, how does an MMA guy help? Or if you wanted to learn the intricacies of Hsing-I? Or Iaido? Or, well, anything to do with any form of martial art other than the competitive sport of MMA?
