Rising Storm Training Academy is a wonderful place for kids to learn the art of Martial Arts. Newly…read moreopened and offering great session times for working parents! Nathan, the head instructor and owner, has a real skill for teaching and engaging kids that can lose focus. The rates are very reasonable to. He offeres a free introductory lesson to try out. My son is having a super time and learning the art so quickly directly because of Nathans teaching.

From the owner: We are a full time Martial Art School…read more Offering professional instruction in Rising Storm Kempo Karate. This program teaches traditional techniques along with kid safe awareness. A big draw to our Academy is the fact that we incorporate ground defenses in our training as well. This is taught through fun and exciting exercises for kids, teens, and adults. The instructor was also nominated into the World Martial Art Federation 2010 Hall Of Fame for "Outstanding Youth Instruction."

My son has been attending Elite Freestyle Karate for ~4 years or so. He has progressed from a…read morewhite belt to a purple belt over this time period. While the belt progress is great, what's more is the mentorship he has received from the staff. We started with Sensei Nick, who now teaches at another location (Arlington?), I believe. Senseis Henry and Jasmine are our most recent instructors. All 3 have been amazing to our family and to our son. Sensei Henry in particular has taken our son under his wing and instilled confidence in him (which has been the primary purpose of us doing karate). The instructors are really great about keeping the kids focused and keeping their attention, but also making karate fun and educational. Our son was recently invited to join black belt club, which is an additional 10 minutes after each class but they get to learn how to use additional equipment like kali sticks, nunchucks, and do some light sparring. There are a lot of extra things that EFK does too, like bootcamps and tournaments. You can opt in to whatever you'd like. A big thanks to EFK (including leadership, Shihan Gary and Sensei Ryan) and our amazing instructors (Sensei Henry and Sensei Jasmine) for providing such a great and positive experience for our son.

I am deeply disappointed with the business practices here. My son trained here for over 4 years,…read morebut our experience ended on a terrible note. Upon leaving, we were hit with over $800 in cancellation fees. It feels like they care more about profit than the kids. What's worse, they are now encouraging children in class to promote the dojo at school for sign-ups. It seems more like a marketing machine than a place focused on teaching leadership. If you decide to sign up, read the fine print very carefully--do not get locked into their contracts. This final experience left a black mark on the last 4 years. Not recommended.

Best karate class I've seen! The instructors are students themselves and under the instruction of…read moretheir respected teacher Rocky, they pass knowledge on. The environment is welcoming and everyone has a place. Parents are allowed to be spectators, fresh coffee is brewing and a table full of communal healthy treats are present for all. I love it...

Prof. Rocky DiRico is an amazing, gifted instructor, as is his son, Sensei Chris DiRico. My…read moresix-year-old son has responded to both instructors and it has done wonders for his self-confidence (we are still working on self-control). I can't say enough good things about this school. The instructors are positive and spend time both on physical awareness and forms as well as having a responsible, respectable character. The classes are set up in such a way that the lower belts learn from the higher belts and everyone develops respect for each other. My son is eager to attend his classes each week.

Steve Nugents karate Institute has 2 main karate schools or called "dojos", this one in Winchester…read moreand the main one on Cambridge Street in Burlington, Mass. They structure their programs around safety and awareness, overall respect, and good basic karate self defense skills. Their instructors led by Grandmaster Nugent are super trained, even in first aid and cpr, which I thought was excellent. They are super passionate and attentive toward their student and actually are quite caring, which I have never found in my searching for quality karate schools. Definitely check them out... I am very impressed !

This is one of the best places i've ever been in Massachusetts, nay, the United States. This was a…read morebeautiful experience that made me feel renewed. Going into the pool was like a baptism. It was very cheap to get into also. An all around perfect YMCA

Happy to see that this YMCA's website now finally does allow you to see how much membership…read morecosts---for a while they required you to share email & phone info in order to receive that info, after which they'd bombard you with nagging calls & emails if you didn't sign up immediately. Whew. Whoever came up with that bright idea, I hope no longer works there! I came back here out of curiosity after a good 1-2 years away after discovering the Waltham Y, which is about the same drive time from where i live (Arlington) but is open later and has a sauna which this Woburn location lacks (they do have a steamroom), and is generally a much more pleasant environment. Now it appears that Woburn Y has extended its hours so that it closes just 30 minutes earlier M-Thu (9:30pm), 1 hour earlier on Fridays (7pm), and the same time on Sat/Sun (6pm)...so they're almost there! Everything is about the same as I remembered, except they have moved the one squat cage in the main functional fitness/cardio central area to the front workout room next to two other squat cages, where all the free weights and the one pulley multi-station is, making it even more crammed/crowded than before. The weight plates are strangely mismatched, which makes things a bit awkward if you are using one of the squat stations at the same time as folks are on the other two squat stations as well as the leg press machine, all of which share this random (3 different kinds!) weight plate collection. Now, God help you if you come here to lift weights during the peak 5-7pm period: I swear, it's just as bad as Planet Fitness in terms of being packed in there like sardines! Must be hell whenever there's a flu, cold, or covid bug going around. Oh, and remember what I said about "too bad this place lacks a sauna"---well, actually it DOES have a sauna: i.e. this front weights area, where the AC either doesn't work or is kept at 82F!!! Yep, while the main central area was probably a very comfy 68-72F, pretty much everybody in this cramped little space was sweating buckets! Luckily the day I went, everyone must've remembered to use deodorant because nobody particularly stank...but I can imagine how bad it must be on those days when somebody does! It seems like this Y's management has made a conscious decision to relegate lifters to second-class status, keeping the largest and most pleasant space in the center of the gym, with floor-to-ceiling glass views of the swimming pool and main street, for the "functional fitness" and dubious Life Fitness strength machines users. I'm guessing it's for cold, hard dollars-and-cents economic reasons, i.e. to promote personal training. People who lift weights usually know what the hell they're doing and are far less likely to shell out $50-70/hour for personal training. So I did notice a number of personal trainers with their clients in that central area, but for the most part the it was far less densely packed than the front weights area. Sigh, capitalism...

Great place but way too expensive. They are asking for…read more 416.66 per month . Total of 5000k a year.

Genuine teaching and passing on the knowledge and wisdom of generations of martial artists. But we…read morewarned - this smith of warriors is not for the faint-hearted.

I had been wanting to take a self-defense class for some time and so I finally looked on Yelp to…read moresee where to go. I found Personal Safety and clicked the link to their website to find out more information. I really liked that they trained police officers and bouncers in addition to civilians, and sent an email to find out more. Marcus replied letting me know they usually have a women's self-defense seminar one Saturday a month, in addition to classes on most days. I had a few other friends interested in taking the seminar too, so we were able to set up a Saturday morning class within a few weeks. He sent me some information on what the class covers (situational awareness, boundary setting, striking essentials, etc...), and what we needed to bring (ID, sneakers and comfortable clothing)/not bring (jewelry and valuables) with us. When we arrived we had a little trouble finding the building because they had mentioned it was near Gold's Gym and we were on the wrong side of the parking lot then...but I am notorious for getting lost and most of my other friends found it OK. We checked in and got started right away. Marcus was giving the lesson along with a bouncer that worked at a club downtown. After two hours, we were confident in our ability to eye flick, arm chop and kick a possible attacker where it would really hurt. We laughed, we apologized and we learned a lot! We were actually practicing on each other, and I kept apologizing for arm chopping and chucking balls at my friends. At the end of the course I mentioned how I wish I had taken something like this years ago, and they should include it in every college orientation. And we decided we'd come back in a few months for an additional seminar that building off of what we've learned. I'm so glad I found Personal Safety LLC through Yelp, and finally got around to taking a self-defense seminar. That evening I was already showing my friends at a party what we learned, and karate chopping and apologizing once again!

Please take note that I have NOT taken a class with Personal Safety…read more Rather instead, they hosted and sponsored an event with Not-Me! Self Defense and Urban Skills & Safety Workshop. The facility is located right next to Arlington Heights and is relatively easy to find. They are located upstairs of the building in case you get confused when you walk into the suite. There's ample parking in the adjacent lot. The facility is super clean and has a nice amount of open space to learn in. The staff are super professional and make sure that your paper work is all in order before getting started (well for liability reasons and such). Marcus Lincoln, the owner, was extremely helpful in answering questions I had regarding taking classes here. Apparently they actually help train law enforcement and government officials, bouncers, corrections officers, security guards and more. They also offer a specific woman's personal safety class every morning on Saturdays from 9-10 am, which I am considering. But due to my current financial situation, this will have to wait a few months. They offer a monthly membership similar to a gym, but they don't have any contracts that you're obligated to stay in which is nice especially if you decide this is not for you. I watched some of the girls and guys go through their classes while I was doing my self-defense and it can get intense! And like I said, I'm really interested in this especially when it can not only save your life, but it really helps develop and build your body.