• Ability to upload large custom avatars;
• WYSIWYG editor for user profiles, school descriptions, and other comments;
• Additional schools (now more than 20,000) and martial arts styles in our global directory;
• Option to receive an email when another user sends you a private message;
• And a small but significant facelift for the site layout.

We have many more improvements in the queue, and we welcome your comments and suggestions on what features you consider most valuable and important. One of our users and contributors, Anthony D., recently asked…

I think this is an awesome website, but it seems like the user base is pretty small (at least in my area). Is there anything I can do to help you guys out besides obvious word of mouth?

This is the kind of question we love to hear, Anthony! DojoScore is still a new service, and we appreciate your efforts to help it grow, and thereby become more powerful and useful for martial artists everywhere. Anyone can help by taking the following steps:

• Sign up, and fill out your user profile.
• Add your school to our directory.
• Publish a review of your favorite martial arts school.
• Describe your impressions of, or experience with different styles of martial arts.
• Submit, vote for, or like our pages on your social network of choice: Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Reddit, or whatever else.
• Blog about us. If you write about martial arts, you will be doing your readers a favor by mentioning our service.
• Link to us from your own website.
• And tell your training partners, teachers, students and friends about DojoScore!

Sorry–that isn’t going to happen. Maybe, if you are among the lucky, you’ll find a skilled instructor teaching lessons you can afford, at times you can usually attend, and at a commuting distance you can manage. Sadly, though, some would-be martial artists are never so lucky.

For any one of a dozen different reasons–tuition fees, schedule, training goals, et cetera–you may find yourself unwilling or unable to attend any local martial arts school. How then can you start, or continue your martial arts* practice? Relying exclusively on books and videos will definitely hinder your progress; you need real human feedback. You need a training partner.

A set of exercise friends can help you stay focused, motivated, and productive. Not just anybody will do, though: you need a group whose training methods are compatible with your own. The mere fact that two people are both interested in “martial arts” in general, does not guarantee they can play well together; despite one’s best intentions, it is difficult to mix knife fighting with submission wrestling, for example.

DojoScore solves all these problems, making it easy to meet new exercise friends and practice partners:

1. Create a free account.
2. Enter your city and favorite martial art(s) into your public profile, along with any other information you choose to share.
3. Check the box labeled “I am interested in meeting practice partners.”
4. Other members can now search for your profile, and you can search for theirs. Once you’ve found each other, you can use DojoScore’s messaging features to communicate and arrange a meeting.

Good luck, and have fun!

*DojoScore is not just for martial arts styles: we do Yoga, Qigong, and Pilates too!

There are some questions you just shouldn’t ask a teacher of martial arts, and some questions they would be unwise to answer. Here is a sample of those questions, along with reasons for avoiding them, and recommended alternatives.

Stupid Question #1: What is the instructor’s belt or rank?

Why it is stupid: There are no universal standards for belt ranking. In some cases, a black belt indicates technical mastery of the art, in other cases it represents combat effectiveness or teaching ability, and in still other cases it means absolutely nothing.

In the real world, belt promotions are sometimes given out as encouragement for faltering students, or as rewards to loyal but unskilled students. Many commercial schools charge testing and grading fees, which is an incentive for them to promote (too) early and often. Perhaps worst of all, some instructors promote themselves to “Grandmaster” when opening a new school!

Smarter alternatives: How many years have you studied this art? How many hours did you train over those years? Who taught you (and what is their reputation)?

Stupid Question #2: How long will it take me to earn a black belt?

Why it is stupid: Students learn at different speeds. Even if you attend every class offered, there is no guarantee that you can absorb and retain every lesson the first time through.

Smarter alternatives: Have you promoted any students to black belt level? How long did they study to achieve it? Are there a minimum number of lessons or hours required for belt promotion?

Stupid Question #3: How is this style better than other styles of martial arts?

Why it is stupid: A proper answer requires significant expertise in multiple schools and styles of martial arts. Very few people, including instructors (MMA and otherwise), have the necessary background to provide such an answer–and even if they did, it would be grounded in personal preferences that you may not share.

Smarter alternatives: What is the greatest weakness of this style of martial arts? What is its greatest strength? What kinds of people are best suited to learn it?

Stupid Question #4: Is this an effective form of self-defense?

Why it is stupid: Any style of martial arts can be applied in a self-defense context. Whether it is effective depends on a variety of factors, not least of which is the practitioner’s toughness and skill level (in comparison to their assailants).

Smarter alternatives: Does training incorporate freestyle or full-contact sparring? Weapons defenses? Multiple attacker scenarios?

Stupid Question #5: What would you do if…(insert threatening gesture here)

Why it is stupid:Attacking a martial arts teacher, even in jest, may lead to humiliation and injury. Unless you already know them well, you should not expect them to exercise restraint in their response, nor should you expect to learn anything useful in the bargain.

Smarter alternatives: If you absolutely must ask about the defense against a particular technique, make sure the answer is demonstrated on a nearby student, and not on yourself!

Armed with a list of goals for your martial arts training, and a list of schools to consider, your search can begin in earnest.

We know that visiting a half-dozen different schools is a hassle. But it is far better to invest these first hours in finding a great dojo, rather than in studying at a mediocre one. When you visit each school, be sure to ask these essential questions.

Are the classes compatible with my schedule and budget?
Some schools offer only two or three hours of instruction per week, and others are open all day long. Talk to the instructor, and discuss how many hours of daily or weekly attendance would be appropriate to meet your goals. Consider whether you are both willing and able to accommodate that training schedule, on an ongoing basis.

The costs of martial arts training can add up quickly. Find out if you would be required to pay for yearly association membership dues, uniform and equipment fees, testing and belt promotion fees, tournament entrance fees, or seminar attendance fees, in addition to monthly tuition. If the school asks students to sign a long-term contract, check the fine print for an early termination penalty, or other nasty surprises.

Am I allowed to observe a class?
Any good school will allow you to either observe, or participate in a trial class before signing up. Given a choice between the two, we recommend that you sit quietly and watch the teacher and students, rather than following along with them. For now, it is best to give your undivided attention to the instructor, the students, and the training environment, rather than focusing on the technical details of the lesson itself.

If you decide to participate, you may be asked to sign a liability waiver first. This is a standard legal formality, but do take it seriously. If you are uncomfortable with the risks outlined in the waiver, discuss your concerns with the instructor.

There may be a small participation fee for your trial class. This is normal, and it is fair. Such policies are meant to discourage flighty visitors from wasting class time, and when you eventually become a regular student yourself, you will be grateful for them.

What is the instructor’s teaching style?
Few martial arts instructors have any formal education training, and teaching strategies vary in style and effectiveness. Are you comfortable with the amount of positive and negative feedback given by the instructor, and the attitude with which it is delivered? How about the amount of physical contact, and the level of personal attention given to each individual student? This may represent an opportunity to expand your comfort zone, or it may just be a signal to move on.

What can I learn from the student body?
Observe how the junior, least experienced, or worst students in class are treated by everyone else. If you decide to join, you will be the new junior student.

Look at the senior students too. Perhaps even more than the lead instructor, they exemplify the quality of the school. If you are not impressed by the performance and behavior of the best students, then don’t bother signing up to become one.

Do you see a healthy balance between competition and cooperation? Between formality and fun? Education and entertainment?

Does the class meet my requirements and expectations?
It is difficult to evaluate the breadth and depth of a school’s offerings over the span of a single class. You probably have questions about what you have seen, and have not seen. Now is the time to ask them! If the curriculum seems in conflict with something you read or heard elsewhere, bring the issue up directly with the teacher. Don’t assume your prior information was correct.

There are some questions that the average martial arts teacher is unwilling or unable to answer. We will cover those in the next section.

With a good martial arts book or DVD, you will receive information on strikes and blocks, holds and throws, stances and movements, drills and other training methods, and maybe a few history and language lessons too.

When you participate in a good martial arts class, you get all that, and much more. First, you get a teacher who can personally observe and correct your mistakes, and address your questions and concerns. Second, you get a set of classmates who can inspire, support, and otherwise enhance your progress. Third, you gain access to a safe and well-equipped training environment.

Even with all the benefits of dojo attendance, less than 5% of martial artists ever reach black belt status. Mastering a martial art can be fun, but it is also hard work, and when you try to learn exclusively from a book or DVD, you are making the task doubly difficult. Therefore, we recommend using such materials only to supplement a living, breathing expert instructor, and not to replace one.

This is the best of times, and the worst of times for new students of martial arts. Never in history has there been so much information published on the world’s diverse styles of traditional and modern martial arts. On the Internet, this information is plentiful, and it is free. And sadly, it is completely unreliable.

Traditional martial arts are the product of a distant time, place and culture. Throughout most of their history, they have been intertwined with local politics, religion, and business. All of these factors conspire against a complete, accurate and objective recounting of historical events today.

To all that confusion, add the market forces of modern Internet publishing. Careful writing, editing and fact-checking are too expensive even for general-interest publications such as the New York Times: most of these organizations lose money on their online operations, and are only kept afloat by their offline counterparts. In relatively special-interest, low-budget industries such as martial arts instruction, publishing high-quality material online is simply prohibitive.

According to the old story, all the finest tea in China was once consumed domestically, while lower-quality leaves were exported to Japan. What the Japanese weren’t willing to drink was sent to England, and what dregs even they would not accept were finally shipped on to America. Consider that when you read martial arts articles on the Internet today, you may be reading material that someone deemed not important enough to keep secret; not complete or accurate enough to print in a book; and not useful or interesting enough to appear in a magazine!

Clearly, that is no basis for to choosing a style of martial arts, into which you may invest hundreds or thousands of hours of your precious time. But if not with online research, then where should you start?

Here is the secret: you don’t have to choose a style of martial arts. Just find the best teacher you can, and study whatever they are teaching, and you’ll do fine.

You could spend months reading about the strengths, weaknesses, attributes and practices of different martial arts, but at this point, it would be a waste of your time. Real-life schools and instructors do not always conform to the popular prejudices and stereotypes around their respective styles. The local boxing coach might be a kind and gentle soul, and your local Tai Chi master might be an arrogant jock. Really.

You have to choose from the options you have. You have to select a martial arts school and teacher from among those available to you. Gather a list of those schools, so that you can visit a few and evaluate them in person.

Why do you want to learn martial arts? Do you want to improve your fitness or flexibility? Increase your focus, concentration skills, or spiritual awareness? Build self-confidence, or win in tournament competition? Make new friends? Strengthen your chances of surviving a random street assault?

Granted, these all sound like positive attributes. Given a list of the common goals and benefits of martial arts training, it is easy to embrace them all. And you can, and maybe you should…

But not at the expense of your own genuine motivations. So pause for a moment of reflection, and consider what you hope to achieve through your study of the martial arts. Because if you don’t know what you want, or haven’t yet acknowledged it, then it will be very difficult to choose an appropriate style, school or instructor.

Write a short list of goals for your practice. While this list can follow any format you choose, you may find it helpful to keep it SMART: list goals that are Specific, Meaningful, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound.

Your list doesn’t need to be comprehensive, and it doesn’t need to be perfect. Consider it a first draft of the road map for your martial arts journey.

When Sun Tzu, the famous Chinese strategist, was asked about the ultimate defensive technique, he gave a judicious reply. “To be prepared everywhere,” he said, “is to be weak everywhere.” Master Sun’s wisdom, originally applied thousands of years ago to organized warfare, is equally applicable to individual martial arts today. To complete a breadth of study, one must sacrifice depth, and vice-versa.

Some brash martial arts teachers will claim mastery of the true ultimate martial arts style. This ultimate style combines all the best elements from a variety of older forms of martial arts, so they say, but without all the useless traditions, outdated beliefs, ineffective techniques and other nonsense. This style sounds very good—maybe even too good to be true. Do you believe there is any such thing as an “ultimate” style of martial arts?

Sun Tzu was right: sacrifices, exclusions and trade-offs are an unavoidable fact of life. However, that does not mean that the quest for an ultimate style is a fruitless pursuit. Quite the contrary, consider this: every modern and traditional martial arts style in existence today, represents someone’s attempt to create an ultimate style. And there is nothing wrong with striving for perfection. Why reach for anything less?

Don’t think for a moment that anyone ever sets out to create, synthesize, learn or rediscover a second-class martial art. Everyone wants the best, or most appropriate style, as defined in relation to their own innate talents, previously acquired knowledge and skills, and personal goals and values.

Goals and values are the most important factor in discovering your own, individual ultimate style. More on that topic in the next section.

According to a recent survey, approximately half of all active martial arts students in the USA are under 18 years of age. Why would millions of American parents, who would never let their children play with a real knife or gun, encourage those same children to attend martial arts classes?

Generally, these kids are not learning real martial arts. And this is probably for the best, as small children are physically, intellectually and emotionally unprepared to do so. “Kiddie martial arts” is a mixture of dance and gymnastics, seasoned with superficial self-defense applications and elements of Eastern culture. Deceptive naming aside, it may be a wonderful, age-appropriate experience for your child.

Kiddie martial arts, like real martial arts, can instill the virtues of confidence, patience and perseverance. They are good exercise, and present an opportunity to meet new friends. These benefits notwithstanding, the kiddie approach is not ideal for adult students.

While kiddie martial arts programs are often designed explicitly to exhaust their participants, real martial artists must learn to conserve and channel their energy. While kiddie martial arts programs tend to focus on relatively safe exercises, such as tumbling on soft mats, real martial arts are concerned with inherently dangerous activities. Perhaps most importantly, the simplistic philosophical messages of kiddie martial arts will not assist adults in skillfully navigating the complexities of the real world.

This guide is written for a mature audience–adult students, or parents guiding their children’s practice–and we will explore some of these issues in detail later on. For now, just understand that martial arts are great for both kids and grown-ups alike.

The guru smiled, and paused before answering: “That IS the shortcut!”

Everybody likes a good shortcut, and we at DojoScore are no exception. We can provide you with a list of all the best martial arts schools in your state, your city, or even your neighborhood, along with detailed profiles and reviews of each school. The one feature we do not provide, is a star rating system.

It was not an oversight. An objective ranking of martial arts schools, while superficially plausible and appealing, is impossible in practice. Students seek instruction in the martial arts for an remarkably diverse set of reasons, and the dojo that completely satisfies one person is, at the same time, completely inappropriate for another.

Some styles of martial arts are great for increasing health or physical fitness. Others can provide practical solutions for street self-defense. Still others offer opportunities for competition, or insights into a foreign culture. But no school, style, or instructor can excel in every area–especially when the very definition of “excellence” is a matter of dispute.

So what exactly would a five-star review signify? It would mean that the reviewer’s interests and values were well-aligned with those of the school–and nothing more. Contrariwise, a one-star review would indicate that the reviewer is not interested in what that school has to offer–and nothing more.

Does this tidbit of information help you, as a potential student? Probably not. It should be no surprise to you that, on other general-purpose review sites, you can find both one-star and five-star reviews given to a single dojo. And both reviews might be completely honest and well-founded, reflecting the diversity of the martial arts community.

You should also know that where online ranking systems exist, they are usually gamed and abused. In the past few years, countless business owners have been caught red-handed suppressing low ratings, or purchasing high ratings from shill reviewers. In some cases, the review sites themselves have been accused of blackmail and coercion!

For these and other reasons, DojoScore does not attempt to provide a one-size-fits-all school quality ranking. (Nor do we recommend you place your trust in such ratings provided elsewhere.)

Make no mistake: we do not contend that all martial arts schools are equal, or equally good. We created a review feature so that students like you can explain why they like or dislike a particular school, with as much detail as they care to provide. This specific information is far more helpful for everyone involved.

When you go looking for that five-star school nearby, please do consider the information and opinions expressed in our reviews. Then go and visit each school yourself, and form your own opinions. Share those with us too. Truthfully, there is no other shortcut.