How much does your training cost?

shadowbaby4

Just out of curiosity, what do you pay for classes in your area?

My BJJ school charges $95 a month for unlimited classes, and judo is through a rec club, so it's--incredibly--$12 a month. Both of those seem pretty cheap compared to my local karate schools, which charge by the class.

I'd also be interested to hear about other training-related expenses like gis and gear, tournament fees, organization membership fees, etc. How much does this hobby really cost?

Bianca42

I pay $250 a month for unlimited karate classes for me and my two boys. I try to block out the costs of the equipment, as it's always x3 for the three of us. No testing fees or anything like that. Of course, with my boys being 7 and 12, I'm going to have to upgrade uniform and equipment sizes before too long. The 7 year old is already on his second set of foot guards and we'll be training a year at the end of the month. (I think that we can also go to cardio kickboxing classes without additional costs, but we haven't done that yet.

Out_of_Bubblegum

I've retired from paying monthly fees, as most of my class attendance is teaching these days.

Equipment - my dobok costs around $200 - more if I opt for very expensive brands. I get about 3-4 years service out of one though, so that's not too bad.

Sparring gear runs about $100 for a set, and I replace it every 2-3 years.

I test very infrequently now - my test next year will be the first in 5 years. Cost will be $90, which includes testing fee, new belt and certificate. If I do not pass, I have up to 3 attempts to retry without having to pay again.

Equipment... I have a fair amount of money wrapped in equipment. Probably around $500, and many people have gifted me equipment as well. I would guesstimate I have over $3000 total worth of equipment in the house.

LuizH

I pay for karate by the lesson, sensei tries to encourage families to train together so if I pay £6 for my lesson my kids can train for free. Association membership is £30 per year each to cover insurance costs. I try to get the kids sparring kit and new gis as part of birthday or Christmas presents but costs are pretty low apart from that. Gradings cost around £20 for kyu grades but I get a discount if we grade at the same time. Dan grades are more like £70 but they get further apart as well.

Kobudo is £20 each per month for myself and my son and £30 per year each for association membership. We wear the same gi as karate but we have a lot more equipment because we tend to use a different weapon each week. I asked my family to buy my son's weapons for his birthday and I am slowly acquiring second hand weapons for myself on Ebay

faerie0506

I pay £40 a month for Muay Thai unlimited classes including boxing, MMA and open mat sessions, and £8 per BJJ class, usually 2 per week.
I own 2 Gi's that cost about £80 each, my sparring kit (shinguards, gloves, gum shield) was about £150. I could have bought cheaper, but I'm hoping buying better quality will mean it lasts a bit longer. Then there's little bits and pieces like handwraps, skipping rope etc.
Muay Thai licence is £20 a year, gradings £15 and interclubs seem to be between £5-8, roughly.
BJJ competitions are around £30-35 per bracket, but most give a discount if you enter more than one bracket (ie Gi and NoGi).

Soy_K

my main classes are $150/mo for 8-12 hours of classes per month. i go to another more casual place that has 2-3 hr classes only once per week at $70/mo. i also take classes at a circus school $110/mo for 15 hours of mixed classes where I take acrobatics, flexibility and conditioning. i have no special uniform - just school t-shirts and wushu shoes. some inexpensive weapons for practice.

bingo_007

Mine is 150 dollars a month unlimited muay thai. Gloves were 70. The other smaller stuff I can't'remember.
I do not spend much on equipment as I use normal sport clothes for all my sport stuff. so my summer hiking Pilates muay thai and rock climbing is all in the same sport hear. I don't care that people initially made fun about my clothes during training but I don't want to own too many things.

trackercasey76

I charge $45 per month for a 1hr once a week class. I am cheaper than most around me.

Brabo_Grip

$120 a month for unlimited BJJ and Kickboxing at my MMA gym. I was grandfathered in. New students pay $150 for both ($120 for one or the other alone)

Valsgoals

I go through a park district. The classes are in two types of sessions, 4 week and 8 week sessions. The 4 week sessions are $39, the 8 week sessions are $79. The testing cost depends on the belt level. At my level (yellow-light blue) it costs $50, then it goes up. My daughter's last test to red/black cost $70. Gear: $35 for shins, $35 for gloves and $35 for Gis.

Valsgoals

Oh, and it's 2, 1 hour classes per week. You can go to more classes if you want at no extra charge. Classes are also never prorated. So, for example, I'm only taking the later half of this session but I do have to pay full price for it.

HeliumIsNoble

The pricing structure changes, depending on whether you've got other family members doing it with you or not.

As it stands, I'm on £89 a month for unlimited classes (you could actually potentially attend 7 days a week) for three people. Annual licence+insurance is £20 each.

Grading: £100 a year each for the two littles until black belt. It's going to be £150 a year for me, going forward.

Complete new sparring kit was £129 each for the littles. (I dieted to get back into my sparring kit from when I was 17, and I'm going to wear that until it falls apart.)

In-house competitions (over the course of a year, assuming that you enter everything you're eligible for as an individual) - £35 per person a year.

Uniforms are £25-49, depending on size and whether you buy a white wrap-round karate gi, or a v-neck TKD.

I shouldn't need new uniforms for years, but the littles probably will need a new one each annually.

There were other one-off equipment costs (focus mitts, gloves, small handheld kick pad) when I started, but I can't remember those. It's all stuff that will last for the next ten years, anyway.

Geocitiesuser

4 year contract: about $5,000

Belt test every three months: $45

Intramural tournaments: $40-120 depending on events

Boards for breaking: $2 for small one $2.50 for normal sized (usually in stacks of up to 10)

Black Belt Test: $300 + $200 for Kukkiwon registration (iirc, not sure, I'm not there yet)

So, it's not cheap. They offer discounts for families, so the more kids/family attend, the more they take off the price.