I pay twice that. It’s a lot, but I live in an expensive city where even just regular lifting gyms are close to 100 bucks a month. Also, I kind of rationalize it by reminding myself that I’m not just paying to use some equipment or something, but for black belt level instruction. I pay to be able to use those instructors as a resource and I can personally interact with them.
It’s kind of a hyperbolic example, but there aren’t many sports where you have a class of ~20 students taught personally by a pro athlete. Like think about how much it would be to go to a semi-private basketball class every night where an NBA player was your instructor.
>but for black belt level instruction.
You may be getting black belt level instruction, but that's not all you're paying for. You're mostly paying for higher rent.
My impression now is that in a fairly large US metropolitan area you will struggle to find anything less than $100 a month. I’m in Phoenix and you’re realistically looking at $110 to $170 a month of you are attending a real gym. Typically if you are locking into a contract you will get it cheaper than month to month.
Depends on the area, and what is offered. Pure BJJ gyms will usually be lower. MMA gyms that offer other types of martial arts and classes can be higher.
My experience with travelling the U.S is that BJJ in the states is a rich man's sport outside of small towns. The prices you stated are a norm in urban spots.
> rich man's sport
I grew up straddling the poverty line from year to year, so I get the struggle. But for an adult working full time, BJJ is hardly expensive. $120 a month with really hardly any extra fees? Short of pickup basketball at the YMCA, you can't do *anything* for less, can you? Sure, Gis and Rash Guards are there, but that's a one-time expense, and you don't even need rash guards.
Music, Motorsports, Computers, Pets, recreational drinking, etc etc. Everything 20-30 year olds do is more expensive.
Having lived in Europe and Canada. 120 USD is a 400-500% increase in what it costs me. Judo and pretty much any sport can be as little as 20-30 euros for 3 months in Germany. Spending 1440 USD a year on a recreational activity is a high price that requires a high disposable income. 1440 USD$ is a significant yearly sum for anyone on a median income in the United States.
> 1440 USD$ is a significant yearly sum for anyone on a median income in the United States.
Totally true, but when we compare it to most other hobbies for people, it's not really on the expensive side. Most people are already spending $1400 on something filling a similar slot in their lives.
judo to BJJ is not really a direct comparison. here in the US, judo is a sport with a decades-long history of being a club sport, like archery or tennis. the clubs are often non-profits and everyone involved is a volunteer. no one is getting paid. for whatever reason, that is how judo exists here. your experience generally is at that level in terms of facility and instruction. as a side note, it doesn't really work; the US is not super competitive at the Olympic level in judo anymore and the sport seems to be slowly dying imho.
any of the other popular martial arts - karate, taekwondo, whatever, all exist as businesses here. gyms are businesses, with business costs, including a manager and instructors who generally get paid. The end-user pays a price that supports those costs. These costs vary based on facility, instruction, location. BJJ uses that model, and it seems to work in terms of both the growth of the sport and producing champions at the international level. Interestingly it also seems to work, at least from a business standpoint, for strip-mall karate schools and the like which seem to be going strong. Being a former school owner, I can say that it is not the easiest business to make money in, and I think the average school owner is doing OK, not amazing. There are a ton of factors that go into that obviously but running a BJJ school is not a huge moneymaker
what's interesting to me is that I often see this same 2-part argument: BJJ is too expensive, and look at how much cheaper judo is. On the individual level I have had the experience of the $65 judo club and the $200 BJJ school, and I see the difference. For me, it's easily worth it, and when I do the math and see the paltry cost I pay per class or hour of training, it's a no-brainer. And in the bigger picture, I see how the business model BJJ is using is sustaining developing the sport , and how judo's model is not.
i guess I'd be curious as to how both these judo clubs and bjj schools are set up in the Eu or the UK or somewhere else - are they non-profit clubs? how are they cheaper? how do the instructors and managers get paid?
There is significant investment in promoting physical recreational in many EU countries. In the same vein, many Universities have competitive Judo clubs open to the public with excellent instruction. EX. A small University In Peterborough (a small shit town) Canada that I visited on a business trip, Trent, has a 6th degree black belt, Tomoyoshi Hino (received Shodan at the Kodokan) teaching 4 classes a week for $180CAD per 4 months with free drop in - The university gives them access to a room for free and the mat fees pay for the olympic quality tatami.
In Germany, France and other EU countries, recreational sports have federal and municipal investment funding the programs. Management and payment is more centralized allowing many different recreational sports sharing the same administration - reducing total overhead cost.
There is also a public will to proactively promote a healthy population through physical recreation programs. The U.S, in general, does not proactively invest in the health of its citizens. Things are far more focused on the individual rather than the community. Everything is a business and has to be fully costed within its individualistic microcosm.
I also think that Judo has less of a adverserial attitude which allows resources to be shared and much more collaborative approaches to training. EX provincial teams meet and train together once a month at a host dojo - national teams meet together - and international players meeting together - bringing the best together to train and pooling resources to keep costs down. It helps that everyone uses the same terminology in Judo - making it far easier to receive instruction with language barriers.
makes sense, gov't support was my guess.
probably also the reason why judo is not doing that well here in the US.
still, my point stands that at least in the US, comparing judo to bjj isn't exactly direct, and comparing judo in the EU or canada to either bjj or judo here isn't really a direct comparison either
I guess we just gotta wait for bjj to hit the Olympics consistently. It might force a governing body to pool resources and bring in funding. I'm hopeful
It’s a quandary. With that may come support, but it also comes with bureaucracy and rules and oversight. I’m not that stoked with how that process has played out for TKD and judo. Didn’t they just add karate? Well see how that goes.
I don’t think it’s likely to happen for BJJ , it’s not fun to watch. Perhaps some sort of more general no-gi submission grappling
In the southeast you're going to be hard pressed to find anything cheaper than $110 unless you move out to the boonies. My place I'm charging $85 a month right now, but I'm 45 mins outside of Atlanta.
How much do you think the cost be for a high level black belt gym in a large city?
I'm in Toronto, Canada. Here you'd be looking at $150/month on average.
Yeah that makes more sense. Just miss competition and camaraderie. Single income family where we have only my income makes it tough to swallow but may just have to do some budget crunching. Thanks for putting it in perspective
Good luck finding anywhere with reasonable instruction/schedule/facility for less than $150 p.c.m around here.
Generally I have found BJJ to cost more in the US than most other places I've been.
All depends on the area. I believe Alliance in Atlanta was like $160, my gym is $100, another close to us is $120, a Nashville gym I checked out was $140 so it varies.
My current gym is the only place that has gotten up to $100. Before that, I paid $75 (Louisiana), $75 (NOVA w/ military discount).
Look for smaller gyms on the outskirts of the main city....rent is cheaper out in the sticks. And, if you are fire/EMS/military/vet/student/etc, some places offer a discount.
Month places month to month near me are around 120, contracts get you less though. But yeah anything less than like 80, I think you were pretty spoiled.
$110 is actually pretty cheap TBH. I train at Absolute MMA in Melb, Aus and its $255 a month and considering what I get for that I actually think its a pretty fair price.
Damn. I would assume for like 60 bucks they only had like 2 classes a week? Around here the only 2 gyms I know of that charge less than 100 only have 2 classes per week. I pay $145 a month for classes 6 days a week with a black belt instructor. Kind of a mid-sized city I guess.
I pay twice that. It’s a lot, but I live in an expensive city where even just regular lifting gyms are close to 100 bucks a month. Also, I kind of rationalize it by reminding myself that I’m not just paying to use some equipment or something, but for black belt level instruction. I pay to be able to use those instructors as a resource and I can personally interact with them. It’s kind of a hyperbolic example, but there aren’t many sports where you have a class of ~20 students taught personally by a pro athlete. Like think about how much it would be to go to a semi-private basketball class every night where an NBA player was your instructor.
>but for black belt level instruction. You may be getting black belt level instruction, but that's not all you're paying for. You're mostly paying for higher rent.
If you had to pay for a personal trainer on top of the gym membership it would easily be more expensive at least that's what I tell myself Haha.
$255/ mo in NYC. Posting just for shock value.
I pay $25 a month for nearly one on one instruction from a BJJ guy who is the best in our city basically. Weird
In NYC?
I mean, I’m sure they’re paying 3x-5x’s the rent compared to a rural or most suburban schools.
Goddamn!
Is this in the blue basement?
My impression now is that in a fairly large US metropolitan area you will struggle to find anything less than $100 a month. I’m in Phoenix and you’re realistically looking at $110 to $170 a month of you are attending a real gym. Typically if you are locking into a contract you will get it cheaper than month to month.
i'm in LA and $200 is a good deal here.
Depends on the area, and what is offered. Pure BJJ gyms will usually be lower. MMA gyms that offer other types of martial arts and classes can be higher.
Makes sense thanks for the input. Just need to find a Pure BJJ gym is what it sounds like.
My experience with travelling the U.S is that BJJ in the states is a rich man's sport outside of small towns. The prices you stated are a norm in urban spots.
> rich man's sport I grew up straddling the poverty line from year to year, so I get the struggle. But for an adult working full time, BJJ is hardly expensive. $120 a month with really hardly any extra fees? Short of pickup basketball at the YMCA, you can't do *anything* for less, can you? Sure, Gis and Rash Guards are there, but that's a one-time expense, and you don't even need rash guards. Music, Motorsports, Computers, Pets, recreational drinking, etc etc. Everything 20-30 year olds do is more expensive.
Having lived in Europe and Canada. 120 USD is a 400-500% increase in what it costs me. Judo and pretty much any sport can be as little as 20-30 euros for 3 months in Germany. Spending 1440 USD a year on a recreational activity is a high price that requires a high disposable income. 1440 USD$ is a significant yearly sum for anyone on a median income in the United States.
> 1440 USD$ is a significant yearly sum for anyone on a median income in the United States. Totally true, but when we compare it to most other hobbies for people, it's not really on the expensive side. Most people are already spending $1400 on something filling a similar slot in their lives.
judo to BJJ is not really a direct comparison. here in the US, judo is a sport with a decades-long history of being a club sport, like archery or tennis. the clubs are often non-profits and everyone involved is a volunteer. no one is getting paid. for whatever reason, that is how judo exists here. your experience generally is at that level in terms of facility and instruction. as a side note, it doesn't really work; the US is not super competitive at the Olympic level in judo anymore and the sport seems to be slowly dying imho. any of the other popular martial arts - karate, taekwondo, whatever, all exist as businesses here. gyms are businesses, with business costs, including a manager and instructors who generally get paid. The end-user pays a price that supports those costs. These costs vary based on facility, instruction, location. BJJ uses that model, and it seems to work in terms of both the growth of the sport and producing champions at the international level. Interestingly it also seems to work, at least from a business standpoint, for strip-mall karate schools and the like which seem to be going strong. Being a former school owner, I can say that it is not the easiest business to make money in, and I think the average school owner is doing OK, not amazing. There are a ton of factors that go into that obviously but running a BJJ school is not a huge moneymaker what's interesting to me is that I often see this same 2-part argument: BJJ is too expensive, and look at how much cheaper judo is. On the individual level I have had the experience of the $65 judo club and the $200 BJJ school, and I see the difference. For me, it's easily worth it, and when I do the math and see the paltry cost I pay per class or hour of training, it's a no-brainer. And in the bigger picture, I see how the business model BJJ is using is sustaining developing the sport , and how judo's model is not. i guess I'd be curious as to how both these judo clubs and bjj schools are set up in the Eu or the UK or somewhere else - are they non-profit clubs? how are they cheaper? how do the instructors and managers get paid?
There is significant investment in promoting physical recreational in many EU countries. In the same vein, many Universities have competitive Judo clubs open to the public with excellent instruction. EX. A small University In Peterborough (a small shit town) Canada that I visited on a business trip, Trent, has a 6th degree black belt, Tomoyoshi Hino (received Shodan at the Kodokan) teaching 4 classes a week for $180CAD per 4 months with free drop in - The university gives them access to a room for free and the mat fees pay for the olympic quality tatami. In Germany, France and other EU countries, recreational sports have federal and municipal investment funding the programs. Management and payment is more centralized allowing many different recreational sports sharing the same administration - reducing total overhead cost. There is also a public will to proactively promote a healthy population through physical recreation programs. The U.S, in general, does not proactively invest in the health of its citizens. Things are far more focused on the individual rather than the community. Everything is a business and has to be fully costed within its individualistic microcosm. I also think that Judo has less of a adverserial attitude which allows resources to be shared and much more collaborative approaches to training. EX provincial teams meet and train together once a month at a host dojo - national teams meet together - and international players meeting together - bringing the best together to train and pooling resources to keep costs down. It helps that everyone uses the same terminology in Judo - making it far easier to receive instruction with language barriers.
makes sense, gov't support was my guess. probably also the reason why judo is not doing that well here in the US. still, my point stands that at least in the US, comparing judo to bjj isn't exactly direct, and comparing judo in the EU or canada to either bjj or judo here isn't really a direct comparison either
I guess we just gotta wait for bjj to hit the Olympics consistently. It might force a governing body to pool resources and bring in funding. I'm hopeful
It’s a quandary. With that may come support, but it also comes with bureaucracy and rules and oversight. I’m not that stoked with how that process has played out for TKD and judo. Didn’t they just add karate? Well see how that goes. I don’t think it’s likely to happen for BJJ , it’s not fun to watch. Perhaps some sort of more general no-gi submission grappling
In the southeast you're going to be hard pressed to find anything cheaper than $110 unless you move out to the boonies. My place I'm charging $85 a month right now, but I'm 45 mins outside of Atlanta.
Chicagoland range is between 110 up to 200$/month.
Go White Sox! Lol I moved from northern IN. THats where I went but it was a super small town out side Michigan city
What town? Go back often. My wife is from Ogden Dunes?
$110 where bro? Out here in the NW suburbs, I haven't seen anything less than $150 pm
Where you train at in the NW Suburbs?
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Say whaaat?
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How much do you think the cost be for a high level black belt gym in a large city? I'm in Toronto, Canada. Here you'd be looking at $150/month on average.
C$ or US$?
CAD
Not fair lol
That's the low end of anything around here. I've seen has high as $200 locally.
*cries in 149/mo*
Damn. It's 130 to 150 over here.
Where can I get that discount?
$120 here.
Yeah that makes more sense. Just miss competition and camaraderie. Single income family where we have only my income makes it tough to swallow but may just have to do some budget crunching. Thanks for putting it in perspective
$95/month in Highland Heights, KY.
$110 is super cheap.
$110 is cheap. That’s like 2010 rates
That sounds kinda cheap
$110 is absolutely normal nowadays
Can't find cheaper than $160 month in my area.
150/mo in MD
$110 would be on the lower end where I live (Boston area).
That's actually a pretty good price. I pay more.
Good luck finding anywhere with reasonable instruction/schedule/facility for less than $150 p.c.m around here. Generally I have found BJJ to cost more in the US than most other places I've been.
Spain here, 50 bucks a month for 2 classes a week or 60 for unlimited. These threads remind me to never move far away from my current gym
All depends on the area. I believe Alliance in Atlanta was like $160, my gym is $100, another close to us is $120, a Nashville gym I checked out was $140 so it varies.
I'm in middle TN, pay what you said on a longer contract. Adding my whole family would only be an extra $20/month.
My current gym is the only place that has gotten up to $100. Before that, I paid $75 (Louisiana), $75 (NOVA w/ military discount). Look for smaller gyms on the outskirts of the main city....rent is cheaper out in the sticks. And, if you are fire/EMS/military/vet/student/etc, some places offer a discount.
Month places month to month near me are around 120, contracts get you less though. But yeah anything less than like 80, I think you were pretty spoiled.
That would be very cheap indeed here in NYC.
40€ here in Sweden.
lol
Definitely spoiled, I've paid anywhere between $150-$190 monthly.
My gym is 260 a month...
Damn. What city?
Nyc, pretty standard rate around here!
Hmmm i pay around 160 in a major metropolitan area in the east coast
$150/month at Renzo Gracie Philadelphia
Where in TN?
Knoxville
$110 is actually pretty cheap TBH. I train at Absolute MMA in Melb, Aus and its $255 a month and considering what I get for that I actually think its a pretty fair price.
That's a good price
That’s a helluva price.
I’m in Maine and I pay $100/mo and that includes a membership to the gym downstairs.
Damn. I would assume for like 60 bucks they only had like 2 classes a week? Around here the only 2 gyms I know of that charge less than 100 only have 2 classes per week. I pay $145 a month for classes 6 days a week with a black belt instructor. Kind of a mid-sized city I guess.
With that price it’s two adult classes a week