Academy of Brian Johnson Karate and Kickboxing RIPOFF!

I've heard various things about The Academy of Brian Johnson Karate and Kickboxing and most of it being bad. I've heard that this academy puts forth very little effort to train the children properly. Instead, manuals are given to teachers with very little Karate knowlage and low belt rank and are expected to teach these children. Why does Brian Johnson not teach these children himself? From what it sounds like, Brian Johnson, who is involved in the MMA arena, trains fighters at his own facility and also uses the facility as for cardio kickboxing. Most of the income I am sure is generated from the cardio kickboxing. I wonder how much of this income is being used to fund these trained fighters of his? I've heard that he pays very little attention to young new students which if I was paying a high price per month for lessons would not make me very happy. Who wants to be trained by someone who they themself were but a student not long before and more than likely is no older than 25 years old? I've read so much about these so called McDojo's, how they take advantage of young children for profit. I really do wish more states would take action against these sort of places and hold them accountable. When these places hide the fact that they "charge" you for belt testing that is dishonest and should be a signal to the one joining. Long term contracts are to be avoided also, this tactic is a sign of a place that for some reason cannot keep it's members. When seeking a place to learn the art of karate or kickboxing DO YOUR RESEARCH! More than likely the head instructor will show a deep interest in you until after you have bound yourself by a contract and left yourself on the hook. Then, all of a sudden the school seems to lose your best interest in the form of $$$ and it is you or your child who end up paying the price.

i attend the academy of brian johnson as a kickboxer

you apparently have absolutely no idea what your talking about.

don't bash a gym you've never attended

false wrote:

i attend the academy of brian johnson as a kickboxer
you apparently have absolutely no idea what your talking about.
don't bash a gym you've never attended

I've never attended this school myself either but what the above post says does make logical sense because I've seen it happen elsewhere.

I agree.

There are so many so called "karate schools" out there these days it's hard to tell which ones are any good. Many of these teachers are not qualified to wipe someones ass and this place sounds like one of them. For most of these schools it's all about money and young kids happen to be the most vulnerable because "karate moms" come in and want little johnny to be able to kick everyones ass so they pay any price the schools want.

I agree with the first poster, any school where the head instructor doesn't personally "train" his students I'd stay far away from.

Just an opinion.

you are a retard. his place is where i fight. i am a mere child and i get all the attention needed. dont bash this gym. they RE GREAT TEACHERS, and as for maunuels. he does teach, and he has other teachers who help yes, they may not be over the age of 25 but could kill anyone who messed with them. and as for there belt rankes there are 2 red belts and one broen belt. that is 2 and 3 belts of nine away. and that is very high! they have a lowere belt to help the white belt out. and they cant be to big or they cant show sweeps and takedowns. THE ACADEMY OF BRIAN JOHNSON IS THE BEST PLACE EVER. SO SHUT THE HELL UP!

Maybe that place can help you with your spelling Whitney. By the looks of your post it seems you have a very limited education. Most of the people who do this kind of thing are fucking morons anyways. People who will probably end up working behind the counter at a McDonalds chain or go to prison for beating someone up in a bar fight.
Idiot.

Oh, and for the record. They may be able to kick everyone's asses but can they do it with a 45 pointed in their face?

You have to be a brainless slug to do this sort of sport if thats what you want to call it.

Belt color means shit.

People buy their way to the top by passing tests and in the end they are never as tough as they think they are. I've seen shit loads of people move up to high belt rankings. People who are overweight, slow and pretty much mentally challenged..people who you KNOW you could kick their ass on the street if you had to.

And suv is right whitney, before calling someone a "retard" you should learn to spell correctly because it won't help your cause in the least.

I have known Brian Johnson for many years, he is a good man, dedicated father and husband and equally dedicated to his students and school. Call on a Friday night when everyone is out starting their weekend while Brian is with the kids doing a belt test. He goes well beyond the dedication that I see with most other instructors. My guess is that the person who started this thread lost some students to Brian Johnson's academy........

I've spent some time at Brian Johnson's academy and although the instructers were somewhat young, they did seem to know what they were doing and gave alot of personal attetion. Brian also roamed the gym personally attending to students and teaching the class. I would suggest taking the gym up on the offer of a free week and go see for yourself. I myself intend to join the gym, but I currently lack the time because of sports.

i may not have good spelling, but its only beacause i don't care. and i'm still in school. so why the hell does it matter. and obviously if you have to fight with a gun. your a pussy. plus they teach you gun defense. its way more of a sport than golf or volleyball. and for the other person. belt system is made for fat asses. it's not how well you fight it is the traditional stuff. and things like self defence. so that doesnt matter. and yes brian is a great teacher, father and friend. he helped me through some tough issues.

Fighting with a gun make you a pussy? I'd like to see your fat ass fight with a gun in Iraq and see who is the pussy you stupid ass.

And for the record kickboxing is a stupid sport if thats what you want to call it. I'd challange any kickboxer in the world to an endurance test vs Michael Phelps 400 meters anyday. Shit, most kickboxers couldn't even swim 25 meters without getting tired. lol

Kickboxing is an idiot sport. Standing there while somebody is trying to hit you in face takes complete and utter stupidity and is only for those people who could not (or will not) ever make it real sports.

If the person who started this thread has a problem with the Brian Johnson academy who are you to tell them different? Maybe he is nice to you but a prick to someone else.

Just an opinion.

For all of you bashing the Academy, why don't you go ahead and give it a try and make a real educated opinion about it. Who cares if it isn't a "real" sport. I would rather have my children involved in something active that makes them feel good about themselves, than sitting at home playing video games. Why are we even bringing guns into this conversation??? At least those who are involved in karate, kickboxing, or MMA are passionate about something, which is more than I can say for most people.
After all is said and done I will probably get criticized for this post and none of it will really matter anyway.

This forum is completely random! I also attended this gym a few years ago, It is a good place to train and the entire staff is knowledgeable and very dedicated.

Then you have people bring up guns. Obviously you cannot defend yourself if you need a gun. And a soldier in Iraq carrying a gun is completely different than some random banger on the street who thinks their hard but has to carry a gun. I have been to Iraq twice not a fun place. You do what you have to in order to survive.

Many people train in martial arts for different reasons. Some are competitive and others as a workout or hobby. And you have someone saying a kickboxing isnt a sport is kind of funny to me! putting a kickboxer agains Michael Phelps in an endurance test. Wow real good comparison. Thats like saying put Michael Phelps agains Anderson Silva in a Mixed Martial Arts fight. Or maybe against Tiger Woods in a Golf Match. Not a very good comparison!

Oh and by the way, from the looks of the original post it seems that that person has never attended a class at the gym. He said things like " I have heard",'I wonder" or "More than Likely"

So before you post on here defending them and saying the gym is crap, kickboxing is not a sport or putting someone down because of their spelling you should do some research, try it out and see what its all about. But I hope you are all feeling good after putting people down and discracing a gyms reputation.

Have a nice day!

Please don't make ignorant comments about things you don't have first hand experience. I have been going to Brian for going on 7 years now and never once have I felt myself or anyone else seemed deprived of attention. Brian IS involved with the kids karate and the instructors are not low level students (3 black belts (Brian included), 2 brown belts, and 1 blue belt), all of whom have a very firm grasp of the art. The standards are very high for instructing and achieving (it takes about 6 years to get a black belt compared to 1 or 2 at some gyms). He has long term contracts for the people who are actually committed to the sport and if you unsure if the gym is the right outlet for you, he has much shorter contracts available as well, he even lets you try it out free for a week. The only people I tend to see leaving the gym without a positive experience are the ones who are lazy, uncommitted, and about four years old. Please, if you are looking into this school, come in and try it out, don't be disheartened by someone who does not have first hand experience.

I just want to clarify that Most of us are referring to the Academy of Brian Johnson in Lacey, Washington. Hopefully the original post was about one elsewhere. If it wasn't though, it is quite possible that it was created by a former employee of the gym who left in poor graces. I don't wish to go into details about the situation but given the date of the original post, it is possible that this employee is trying to hurt the gym's business in revenge. Just another to take into consideration when reading. Hope you come in and try it out!

Monk wrote:

I just want to clarify that Most of us are referring to the Academy of Brian Johnson in Lacey, Washington. Hopefully the original post was about one elsewhere. If it wasn't though, it is quite possible that it was created by a former employee of the gym who left in poor graces. I don't wish to go into details about the situation but given the date of the original post, it is possible that this employee is trying to hurt the gym's business in revenge. Just another to take into consideration when reading. Hope you come in and try it out!

I think that post may have been too early to be that guy, but still, I agree that none of the original post is true.
P.S.: please don't use MY nickname, I wouldn't want to have someone think it was me if you posted inaccurate info.

hello,
i have been attending aobj for almost 5 yrs now. and i just want to let every1 know that it is a wonderfull place for any1 at any age. i myself havr gone through the ranks. i quit the belt sytem at a pretty high rank, but continue to work in the regular class. no child is deprived of attention, and their are great expectations. its truly a wonderful place. try it uot thnx =]

Bullshit.

I've attended a number of times there before and can say it is true that some kids are neglected while some are not. It is also true that Brian usually does not train the younger kids himself and that responsibility lies with other teachers who have a much less belt ranking than Brains. For the money he charges for lessons you'd think that Brian would teach the children himself and not some hack from off the streets with a yellow belt. His facility is geared more torwards cardio kickboxing and grappling than it is karate. And what really sucks is that these "teachers" teach from a paper, sort of an outline for the days lesson plan so to speak. I would never pay someone for that kind of nonsense. Save your money and get a real instructer who spends one on one time with your kid as it will benefit them more.

And by the way, don't get suckered into signing a contract like many of these places have. If these institutes were so great they would not need to force people to sign their lives away like that.