ATA

I was looking for a new way to spice up my workout routine and thought I would look for some martial arts to get a little self defense in with my cardio given the insecurity of this city. I was hoping for kick boxing or some traditional Brazilian capoeira or jiujitsu when I passed by ATA on my way home from work and decided to check it out. Turns out they ONLY offer their own form of TAEKWONDO. It wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but the instructor at reception was super nice and convinced me to come try out a free introductory class.
I showed up at my scheduled hour (rescheduled once, they were very nice and accommodating) wearing my regular workout clothes. Everyone else was in the traditional karate style whites making me feel a bit odd man out, but my friendly young instructor met me at the back of the dojo and led me to the upstairs area and explained how everything works. We joined in on the warmup workout led by another instructor with two other students — two super old chubby guys. The warmup instructor didn’t give any guidance on form or technique. The two old guys seemed to think it was a joke and kept laughing throughout. We paused twice helping a kid who lost his shoes in the class before. When the warmup jokes were over I broke off to do some training one on one with my instructor. He was really great — very enthusiastic, good at explaining the moves and encouraging me to work harder. By the end of the workout I was really sweating. But then, after an intense half hour of jumping about and kicking and punching, that was it. No cool down, no stretching.
Afterwards the manager lady told me about the packages. In order to partake you need to buy a gee (white ninja uniform) and agree to long term participation. It seems like a lot of investment to hang out with two old guys joking about, help a kid find his shoes and not get any stretch instruction.
In addition, the facilities were not that clean, and I didn’t feel too excited about the prospect of walking around barefoot on a sweaty mat that doesn’t get wiped down between classes if ever.
I watched some of the other classes going on, and it seemed like while you could potentially get good training if you really pushed yourself, there was a lot of waiting around and a large number of the participants had big bellies. It just wasn’t a motivating and aspirational workout space for me. Perhaps better for kids or someone looking for a community to prepare for taekwondo competitions with.