Watson Martial Arts

I have trained at a lot of gyms and this is a great place, expert instruction and great people.

Great gym, everyone is really nice, welcoming, professional, and helpful. Highly recommended! Love this place.

Watson Martial Arts is a great place to train! I was in St Louis on a business trip and I reached out to Kyle by email to ask about joining his class. Kyle was fast to respond and welcomed me to come out for a roll. The gym is clean and has plenty of space for students to work. Kyle and all of his students were all very friendly, I did not feel like an outsider. If I lived in St Louis I would definitely want to be a student at Watson Martial Arts!

Ok, so I don’t actually train here. My husband does. And he loves it!!! He happens to have the unlimited pass, so he can go to as many classes as he wants every week. But there are a handful of different options and price ranges. There are usually a couple classes or an open matt session almost every day of the week. Sundays there is sometimes an open matt, and sometimes it’s just closed for the day. The different packages allow you to come a certain amount of days a week. For instance, if you buy the two day pass, you can go to as many classes as you want on those two days. The only exception is that there is an occasional advanced class that you can only attend if you’ve achieved a certainly belt level. Most of the classes are in the evening on weekdays and during the day on the weekends, with an occasional early morning class.
The facilities look pretty nice, based on the times I’ve come in to pick him up. The waiting room has two very comfy couches that are clean and stylish. There’s also a healthy vending machine that offers food other than chips and gummy bears. They have their own parking lot and although it’s on the small side, he’s never had a problem.
My husband loves the teacher (Kyle) and the community of people this place attracts. He not only learns from Kyle, but from all advanced belts that he gets to roll with. He seems pretty happy with array of belts around him — sometimes he gets to roll with someone that hasn’t been training as long (which makes him feel successful) and other times he gets to roll with someone who has been doing Jiu Jitsu for years and can really put his skills to the test! He was a white belt with no stripes when he started in December and has earned a couple stripes since then. He’s been extremely happy with how much he’s learned. It takes quite a bit of time to earn your stripes, so when he does get a new one he feels like he really deserves it.
He also enjoys taking private lessons a couple times a month, especially if he’s prepping for an upcoming competition.
If you check in on Unilocal,you can get two weeks of free classes! OR you can keep an eye out on Groupon!

Great facilities. Great instructors that will always find time to make you improve your technique. Lots of classes and good dedicated attendees. They also have good gear both for use and for sale

Highly recommended!
The schedule and classes are posted online to help you out! You get to try some free time to see if it’s a fit for you. Kyle is fantastic in his approach to teaching and welcoming new people. Everyone at this gym are very welcoming and helpful.
I can’t recommend it enough!

A very clean and professional gym with great instruction from Kyle Watson. Be sure to leave your ego at the door, or it will get tapped. :) I highly recommend this facility if you’re in the downtown Saint Louis area. Great Jiu Jitsu with even better people!

I highly recommend Watson Martial Arts! I’ve have been training under the instruction of Kyle for many years and must say that his ability to teach all levels and ages is incredible! He is very personable, professional, and truly cares for his students!

Great space and very welcoming people. They post their schedule online and makes it easier to coordinate with your own, unlike some places. Prices are fair and there is no pressure to join. Guys and gals are welcome and everyone I’ve talked to have been warm and friendly. There is a supportive and willingness to teach and learn from each other atmosphere. It’s great if you’re looking to challenge your mind or if you just want a great work out and get a good sweat in, you should just try a class or two. They have classes that you can come in and try out and see if you like it. It gets active and fun pretty quick.

I would highly recommend this gym to anyone in the St. Louis area. Great atmosphere and really good instruction.

Highly recommended!
I’m brand new to martial arts and I talked to Kyle about his muay thai kickboxing class. I was a little nervous since I’m a total beginner, but he’s always been extremely nice and professional, and he and the other instructors are very helpful during the class.
Along with getting a fantastic workout, I always feel comfortable asking them for help if I need a little more instruction with a particular technique. I just signed on to be a full member and highly recommend it for anyone else!

Awesome describes it all here. Started doing jiujitsu here about a month and a half ago with no experience and am eager to keep training and getting better! Kyle is a fantastic instructor and is very respectful and helpful. After just moving to St. Louis and trying out something new I always feel welcome here. Definitely cares about everyone at the gym and there is a definite inclusive team mentality. Everyone is friendly and respectful and willing to help each other, i learn tons of new things every class from multiple people. Also the gym is moving soon to a bigger and better location so check it out!

I was in St. Louis for a business trip and had to get my Brazilian Jiu Jitsu on because I can’t go too many days without training, as I’m a Blue Belt and completely addicted. I searched the city for the schools in the area and came across Kyle Watson BJJ, top notch BJJ Competitor and UFC fighter; nothing more really needs to be said.
I sent the school an email and Kyle Watson reached out via phone same day and invited me to train while I was in town. Stopped by and he was a super nice guy with awesome techniques. He really explained the techniques and made it easy to drill them. There were a lot of new people in the class and Kyle was very patient in teaching the basics to everybody. Overall, great BJJ class and everybody was super nice. If St. Louis was home for me, I’d be training with Kyle Watson all the time, no questions asked.
I also stuck around for the Muay Thai class and it was a killer as well. The instructor for the class was Elmir and the guy knows his stuff. Again, he taught the basics very well and was very patient with everybody while explaining. I was smoked after class.
Overall, if you live in St. Louis and are not training here, you’re doing yourself a disservice. Top notch people and training. A++

What a great place. I started taking the Muay Thai boxing class as a newbie, and it’s such a fun experience and of course, a great work out. I was really nervous at first since I’ve never done it before, but everyone is so welcoming and friendly. The owner is great and laid-​back, and will try to accommodate what you’re looking for in a class/​gym. I haven’t been to the gym it’s associated with downstairs, but they have deals for Watson Martial Arts clients.
SO much fun, and I recommend it to anyone who is trying to stay fit but wants something different and challenging.

Two thumbs up for Watson BJJ! I was in St. Louis for a business trip and stopped in one night and attended a BJJ Fundamentals Class. The instructions were clear and concise. Kyle was very welcoming and professional. You can tell he his passionate about BJJ.
The first 10 minutes of the class was a warm up with jogging, high knees, bear crawls and a few other joggin excercises. He then broke the class into two sections advanced and beginners. The beginners watched as he took a few minutes to give instruction to the advanced class. He quickly followed up with the beginners giving instruction on a sweep and keylock from mount. For the rest of the class Kyle would alternate between the two groups. After about every 10 minutes or so of drilling he would add to the beginners series with another move, and ultimately ending with some instruction on armbars. I think the advanced class rolled for the last 10 minutes while the beginners continued to drill till the end of the hour. Kyle followed up with some team building by introducing all the new (myself included) and newer members to the class.
Highly recommend Watson BJJ to anyone thinking of training in St. Louis.