Hyun’s Hapkido & Tae Kwon Do-North

DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING! I had my ex take my boys for the free class that was offered. He thought he was signing up for information to be emailed to him and instead was sent a bill for over $ 3000.00. He is now in collections and was told he has to pay ¹⁄₃ of the bill to get it dropped. Who does business like this? My boys have not had one class as we decided against it, but they are refusing to remove this bill for services we never received. This place is a total scam and I will continue to write emails every where this place is listed on the internet until this bill is removed from their records. DO NOT GO HERE!

I took my daughter here for a few months and she loved it! We stopped going due to a family tragedy and I was out of state for a few months. I tried to call and I told them my situation; only to be hung up on. I believe if you going to run a business at least have manners. Hanging up on people is not morally right. Life is unpredictable and things happen! Apparently here they don’t understand that. It’s a wonderful atmosphere and the instructors are great! If only I was handled in a respectful manner that would have been appreciated. I don’t have anything negative to say about the place. Heck, I was willing to talk to someone, but wasn’t given the time of day. Mind you they withdrew money from my account when we stopped going! Without my permission! Sad world we live in when people lose morality over money

I totally agree with the comment made, «I enjoyed the training but felt that it really was a very commercialized martial arts gym.» I trained there for a couple of years. After my first year I did sign another contract, When I did resign my other contract a majority of the black belts left the school due to paying same fee as everyone else even if they were instructors and lack of new material to be taught. It was never discussed by Master Jacoby or Master Hyun about the circumstances leading to all them black belts walking out. I am by far no expert but it has to do with muscle memory and your ability to do the technique even with your eyes closed. I really enjoyed working out with some of the black belts that had years of experience and emphasized technique over muscle power. The school took a great loss in leadership when those black belts left the school. I have met many great fellow students as well as some great instructors.
As far as the training I never felt like I was in danger of receiving injuries from any of the instructors, most understood and taught techniques well. Some students would get a little out of hand trying to speed through a technique and forget form and try to muscle it, that’s when you as a crash dummy should speak out, and tell him to slow down and do a couple of slow repetitions before going full speed.
Master Jacoby is very knowledgeable but anyone would be if that was your job and been training since age 5. My only issue that I had was that I was a paying student
and when I was a white belt I was taught to sweep the dojo by other black belts. Which I understood it as the bottom of the ranks as a white belt training with all black belts. As I progressed in belts it seemed that I was still in charge of the sweeping the dojo even if I was stretching or warming up even if lesser belts were in the room. I wonder who’s sweeping now? Master Jacoby does have his favorites students that he spends more time training than those that are having difficulty with the technique.
Grandmaster Hyun has a lot of knowledge and I never really had issues as he is considered the Owner after all he is running a business for over 40 years. My experience with Grandmaster Hyun was always like a father figure, If I had an issue with the bill he would resolve it, and his door was always open.
What I didn’t like was the corporate people in Florida and them calling my cell phone asking when I was going to make a payment. It seems that the school and corporate bill collectors didn’t talk, I would have to remind them that I already talked to grandmaster Hyun about the issue.
Would I come back? most likely not it came to the point where I was counting down my days at the school.
I hope this review helped and that if you really want to try Hapkido you should give it a go.

I recently started training here and I absolutely love it.
I’m sorry other people had bad experiences with «salesmanship» but I didn’t. He explained what I was getting, how much it would cost, and the time commitment they’d like to see from me. It was all very straight forward.
As far as the training, I’ve never done any other martial art and I’m very impressed. Master Jacoby takes the time to make sure everything down to my pinkies (very important… seriously) are where they should be. I don’t ever feel like I’m going to get hurt, but I do learn a huge amount every single class.
The gym itself is no frills. Nothing fancy. I like that. It’s not there to be pretty.
All in all I very highly recommend this gym to anyone looking to start a martial art. I’m very very impressed.

When it seems like there’s a martial arts studio on every corner. One open and one closes every other day. One stands out as a long-​time staple in the Chicago martial arts community, K.S. Hyun has been at the same location for over forty years. Grandmaster Hyun and his instructors have a deep understanding of the art of Hapkido and the need for self defense.
I’ve tried other hapkido studios in the past. Having found my way there two years ago, I discovered a friendly place where I became one of the Hyun’s family very quickly. With great hours and many classes daily, Hyun’s has a time and a day for every schedule. Grandmaster Hyun has extensive knowledge of martial arts and is always willing to take the time to discuss any subject that life brings your way.
At Hyun’s, you will gain confidence. We train in a friendly, controlled atmosphere. We are all here to learn an art that will last a lifetime

I would totally agree with others here who mention the sales tactics and cancellation issues. My experience at Hyun’s goes back over ten years ago, and at that time I was pretty young, and apparently naïve enough to sign a contract. After injuring my ankle and realizing that taking two buses from Lakeview to the north school at Elston and Western wasn’t going to work, I tried to cancel my contract. I was told there were two ways to get out of the contract: the school had to go out of business, and at that time they had been in business for 25 years with a strong following — that clearly wasn’t going to work; the other alternative to get out of the contract was for me to die — clearly I wasn’t in favor of that either.
I enjoyed what I learned in the few months I was there but the contracts and sales tactics are shady. Seems there are a lot of martial arts choices around Chicago. Choose another.

My 8 year old daughter has been attending Hyun’s Hapkido for almost 2 years. She has had instructor Collins for her entire time at Hyun’s. He is an extremely dedicated, hard working instructor who has had a major impact on my daughter. He can be tough with the kids but what I see is that they really rise to the occasion and strive for improvement which is amazing. They learn all the techniques necessary for Tae Kwon Do and work hard on forms as well as kicks and hand techniques. She is has really progressed and is learning the meaning of hard work and focus which has carried over in to other areas of her school and home life. She is also learning responsibility through daily practice and class. Part of her goal is not only to progress in obtaining belts but to actually do a great job at each class she attends. I attribute this in a large part to Instructor Collins. I would recommend this school for your kids from a health, character development and technique standpoint but need to warn you that it requires a commitment from both you and your child. My daughter attends 2 – 3 classes per week and practices daily. Believe me, it is worth it!

I took Hapkido here several years ago. I enjoyed it for the first year a lot, and it was a good workout. The facilities were pretty run down, but I didn’t really mind. Things went downhill, though, when Master Jang (the only female instructor, and a seriously kickass one at that) left. She had really stressed community, mutual respect, and serious training over machismo or competition. This changed when she left, with the atmosphere becoming more macho. I took it as my cue to not renew my contract (which was pretty pricey) when several people were injured, including a broken collar bone, in this more competitive and macho environment. Also, sometimes it felt like students were advanced to a new belt just for how long they had been attending class and not based upon their actual skill level (there were no tests other than the black belt test). I can’t say I had confidence that the black belts were actually black belt level. It looks like all the instructors are different since I was there, so I can’t rate the current instructors.

I trained for some time under Master Gary Keller, who is a Protégé of Grand Master Hyun. With nothing but respect for other schools, and other disciplines I can 100% say that Hyun’s Hapkido is the real deal. I train at the North school. Everyone has the same goal in mind — to study the art of coordinated power. It’s an honor to receive this level of training. Not only is Hyun’s hapkido practical, but it’s a great workout, and fun. I cannot say enough good things about this man, and these 2 schools. I would recommend Hyun’s Hapkido to anyone, in any capacity.
See you in class.
«A black belt, is a white belt that never quit»

I studied at Hyun’s Hapkido several years ago and really enjoyed being there. I trained under Master Park who was a phenomenal instructor and I stayed long enough to advance a couple belts… white, yellow, orange. Ultimately, work got in the way and the next step would have been a much lengthier contract so something had to give and it was my Hapkido training. Therefore, my rating of 3 stars was based on my personal experience as a student. i enjoyed the training but felt that it really was a very commercialized martial arts gym.
Since then, Master Park and the instructors who worked with him have left and it sounds like quite a lot has changed. As stated, I enjoyed the school but what tends to define the quality of a school is the number of black belts that stay and continue to advance. While there is a ton of emphasis on getting to that holy grail of martial art marketing the Black Belt, that’s generally the end of the line for students at Hyun’s. My impression, which is also based on conversations with Black Belts from Hyun’s, is that they suddenly found themselves paying the same rate to instruct and never being given new material.
If you’re starting out, I would recommend trying a few different martial art styles at schools that don’t worry as much about locking their students into lengthy contracts. The most important thing is to find the right match and you very well may find this at Hyun’s, particularly if you just want to try a martial art. (Just make sure that you don’t get pressured into a contract for longer than you are comfortable because then you’ll be stuck. This school takes its contracts very seriously.) If you really like the idea of Hapkido, try a few schools and talk with the Black Belts if permitted and get a sense of whether you’ve found a school that offers a long-​term benefit should you decide to go further than your Black Belt. After all, that’s typically considered the equivalent of a high school diploma in the martial arts world and when your real training begins.
Oh, it is important to understand that Hapkido is generally considered a martial art for adults so the children’s classes are Tae Kwon Do.