Garage / Basement Dojo's ?

C.

There are a lot of really talented martial artists and good coaches out there who just can't be bothered to run a professional school. Some of them have great things to offer.

Some great things happen in garages.

Certain styles are so hardcore that the instructor has only a few students that stay with him. When a student becomes a Black Belt they see that it is impossible to attract enough students to break even to pay the rent. So, they never bother to open up a commercial school. Instead, they teach in the their garage or in their basement.

You're probably wondering how those schools paid the rent. Before the MMA craze, the instructor had to work at his regular day job to pay the rent of his school. So, it was a labor of love to be teaching a style that is too difficult for the average consumer. With the MMA craze, the schools that teach a hardcore style offer many different programs, programs that are more consumer friendly, so that students enrolled in the more consumer friendly martial arts pay the rent to allow the hardcore students to train.

If the art is taught in a garage or basement, it probably is hardcore. Since the instructor is not paying extra rent, it isn't necessary to make the art easier to encourage the student to stay. After all, he has garage or basement anyways. If you are looking for hardcore training, choose option C.

On the other hand, maybe the instructor just has a lot of free time on his hand, and he is offering free martial arts training to people to give back to his community. You won't know until you check it out.

Probably B

I have a dojo in my basement that I teach private lessons to the students in my classes. I have trained in basements/garages and have had some very good training.I have no prejudice about gym/grage dojos or even YMCA dojos. The only thing that would make me wonder is that it is "free" I would wonder about that at any location. As an instructor I put so much time and effort in to teaching and it is a very thankless job. I would say that it would not be worth my time and effort to teach for free.

If I had moved into a new area, away from my current school, I'd take option C. I'd want to see for myself. High price does not insure higher level training. The school I currently attend is non-profit. I pay $50/ month for unlimited classes. The fee just covers costs. Instructors are not paid. They teach as a way to give back, in gratitude for the training that they have received. We rent gym space at various local schools, so our costs are minimal, just hourly room rental and insurance.

Like any school it depends on the teacher.

But personally I have trained in 2 home schools and possibly received my best training there.

The reason some people do it at home is because of tradition or money issues.

Not everyone will charge their students $100 to pay for a school when they could just charge them $50 and teach them from their own home.

A good instructor can teach you anywhere and it shouldn't matter.

on a boat, on a mountain side, in a house, in a park or any open area really.

c - how else do you know if you can get good training or not?

From my experience some people pay hundreds of dollars for mcdojos that run from a business front and learn how to get killed in a self defence situation.

Well unlike many people in the world, i have an open mind. Mine has two top knotch muay thai fighters that both fought and trained in thailand.

Option C for sure.

I have taught in garages and basements.

I have been taught in garages and basements.

Check it out, it is the only way to know for sure what you would be missing.

C because one, it's free, two, it's close to me, and three, I want to learn more.