# Looking for Gym (Hatfield - St. Albans Area)



## Harley (Jan 2, 2010)

Hello everybody,

I was doing martial arts for several years. Now that I am studying in Hatfield I can not attend my usual gym anymore.

My style was kung fu for the last 7 years.

But I did not feel absolutely satisfied with it (even though I actually love it). To much forms, to few practicals... :-(

I want to be prepared if I get attacked on the streets, I do not feel prepared through my KF training. I need an art that is working in real life on the streets. That may sound cheesy... But I want to be able to protect the ones I love, to take out a tread as fast as possible...

I thought about MMA since it combines a lot of MAs to get the most out of it.

Can somebody recomend a gym to me which is close to Hatfield or St. Albans?

I do not have a car, so it should be availabe by bus.

I do life in Hatfield and do have a busticket to St. Albans... those would be the best solutions. But since both towns are kinda death.. I need sth. quite close to this locations.

Any ideas?

Thank you very much guys.

LG

Harley


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## benny (Oct 9, 2009)

Harley said:


> Hello everybody,
> 
> My style was kung fu for the last 7 years.
> 
> ...


Hi Mate

well I will probably start a riot on here but here goes....

MMA is a sport and not really self defence system so isnt really the ideal thing for defending you against an assailant. That does not mean its techniques do not translate to real world situations the striking elements would be more than useful but you probably won't want to armbar/submit a wouldbe attacker. Something like Krav maga or any of its variants (Defendo/FAST/KAPAP) would be best for "real world" self defence as they only concentrate on a few simple techniques (which mainly involve a kick to the balls/punch to the throat followed by running away) and drilling them over and over. There are a couple of classes running in Hatfield I think(try realstreetdefence in google). I'm not saying MMA is no good for self defence for one minute just that you'll probably learn more techniques than you will realistically need. If you do want to go down down the MMA route (I train in both self defence and MMA)Welwyn Garden City has a great MMA class in FORCEMMA they train on Mondays and Thursdays they have a strong emphasis on striking and combat fitness which would give you more than enough skills to defend yourself from any local drunks,wallies etc. I wouldnt fancy my chances against those guys in a brawl lol

the Instructor Darren has a background in Muay Thai and BJJ as well as other systems he's a good bloke and worth having a chat with.


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