Do you have any experience as a student of BJJ or Muay Thai or Kung Fu training in or around Atlanta?

I trained at Tiger Academy (intersection of 400 and 92). It offers BJJ, wing chun, and MMA (muay thai, bjj, wing chun, weapons) classes. The BJJ and private classes are outstanding for MMA athletes and anyone looking for hardcore training.

The other classes are good for newbs and non-MMA athletes. These classes are no joke, but clearly not as hardcore as the BJJ and private classes. However, students are able to sign up for whichever classes they want.

Either way, Tiger Academy has a strong sense of morality and principles...which promotes athletic character, dedication to learning techniques, and hard (but safe) training. These principles also create a fantastic environment for young kids to train in; thus TA has a terrific kids program.

The only other place I've heard of is Knuckle Up. It seems like an LA Fitness center customized specifically for MMA training. That way you can go to a class if you want, or just show up anytime and lift weights and hit the heavy bag.

See the thing about BJJ is that once you learn the moves and practiced them, then the only way to get better is to roll with many diffrent people. I currently train at a gym where only 10 to 20 people accuttally practice BJJ, its a nce down home feel but the only problem is that theres not a lot of people to train with.

You should find a place where there are a good amount of people but you have an instructor who will not just throw you in with the rest of the nameless people.

I train in both BJJ and KFSS (Kung Fu San Soo). I would simply suggest you join the Yahoo group for IKFSSA (International Kung Fu San Soo Association) to get the low down on one style of Kung Fu.

As far as BJJ goes simply check out the pedigree of the primary instructor and also get a feel for how much competitive experience he/she has. I prefer to train with an instructor who hasd fouhgt on many occasions and can assist me in the evolution of my game.

Enjoy the ride. I think you are looking into the correct three areas of training. All of them are challenging and fun.

Good luck.

I've trained in knuckle up fitness for 4 years. I've been doing kickboxing, muay thai and a few jiu-jitsu classes (I mostly work on my stand-up, my ground game will be next).

The classes are great, they also have boxing, there are many good fighters there so you know it's no joke. There are beginner and advanced muay thai classes depending on your level, on the advanced ones there's alot of sparring so you have to be prepared to trade leather, and injuries are not uncommon(same in boxing).

They teach gracie-barra jiu-jitsu, and they are masters of it, depending on the instructor they also have jiu-jitsu focused more on MMA, as some jiu-jitsu instructors are also professional MMA fighters.

I really don't know any places to avoid, I know there's also the tiger academy, and they also offer muay-thai and jiu-jitsu (under Jacare). I've never seen their muay thai fighters in action, but I've seen their MMA fighters and they are good, it's a comparable academy.