Top 5 Signs of a Mcdojo

Here are, in my opinion the top 5 signs you've been enrolled in a Mcdojo. For those of you unaware, a mcdojo is basically a martial art school that has been watered down to the point where the quality of martial art (similar to a mcdonalds) has become more about making money rather than legitimate fighting techniques,

#1 No sparring whatsover.
This is a very clear sign; no contact sparring counts as well. You gain no benefit from punching your opponent 2 inches away from his face. If you want to learn how to fight, you need to spar ALOT. A typical mcdojo wants to avoid such things because either the instructor can't fight himself or he doesn't really know how to teach it.

#2 Kata...Kata...Kata
If all your school does is Kata/Poomse/Forms, then you really need to get out. I totally get it if you want to do it for the sake of meditation and relaxation purposes, but getting a black belt after learning and memorizing 9 forms does not make you a blackbelt, sorry.

#3 Children black-belts
This is a HUGE red flag. No children is capable, or competent enough (trust me, I've seen some great child-blackbelts, but they could not fight at a blackbelt level) to be considered what I call an "adult" in the martial arts. A blackbelt today has been watered down to how much money you have rather than skill required. IF a child can get a blackbelt and the standards of that are the same for an adult, then the standards must be set pretty low.

#4 No addressing self defense
Why the heck are you in martial arts then? This is an absolute must for a Martial art school. Consider it dance if there is no self defense.

#5 Bullshit self defense
If your self defense system consists of this pattern: "Here do a straight forward punch while I finish you off with 100 moves" then it is utter bullshido. (bullshit) The only way to know if your self defense techinques work is with live resistance and realistic attacks. Not someone blindly throwing a straight forward lunging fronstance punch at you. Come on now.

Hope you have a great day, and avoid the Mcdojos!
Martial Arts Tutor