What’s the cheapest martial art to learn?

When it comes to training martial arts, it can sometimes be quite expensive. From travel to equipment, uniform and gym membership – it’s fair to say that these bills add up. This is especially the case if you’re a student or you’re living on a budget. At the same time, just because a martial art is cheap, it doesn’t mean it’s worth learning.

The last thing that you want to do is to invest time into a worthless skill. Sadly, there are a few martial arts out there that are like this – as they lure people in with cheap prices but teach little in terms of practical skills. Without further delay, here’s a list of the cheapest martial arts to learn.

Judo

Since its inception, for some reason Judo has been one of the cheapest martial arts you can think of and has drop in prices for as little as $5 per session. Better yet, you can also find some Judo clubs that offer a monthly service for around $30-50 which is an incredible deal. The only thing that you will need to invest in is a Judo gi. These can be bought for around $30 brand new, or roughly half the price for a used one.

So, if throwing people around sounds like your thing then you’re in luck, as Judo is very cheap for what it offers. Thankfully, there are lots of Judo places to train. Practically every city or town around the world is guaranteed to have at least one Judo gym as it’s universally popular.

Boxing

Boxing is similar to Judo in terms of mass appeal and so due to simple supply and demand economics, it is very cheap. It has prices of under $5 per drop-in and a monthly membership costs roughly the same as Judo, being around $30-50. Again, you’ll have to keep an eye on equipment costs but these are more of a one-off purchase more than anything. Here, you’ll need hand wraps, a mouthguard, and boxing gloves. Protective head gear is optional.

Alternatively, lots of boxing gyms will also have used gear to buy or borrow which is very cheap. The cost of boxing gloves differs massively dependent on the brand. However, if you shop around well enough you can buy a good pair for under $30. This means that boxing is probably slightly more expensive than Judo in terms of start up costs, but after that is incredibly affordable.

Karate

Back in the 80s, Karate ballooned in popularity thanks to movies such as Karate Kid and others. What’s interesting about Karate is that there are also various styles too, with some suited towards youngsters – and some gyms will be better for older, slower practitioners. As mentioned prior, there’s an element of supply and demand for most of these martial arts that are listed. Basically, Karate is the king of popular martial arts and you can find dojos practically anywhere.

A word of warning though is that sadly, some Karate places will lack in quality and as there are so many of them around, you may get caught out. A Karate gi can be purchased new for under $20 and membership may cost under $50 per month. Just make sure you research the different types of Karate before jumping in. Further, Karate can also be trained alone through practicing Kata which is great if you can’t afford to train.

Wrestling

Sadly, wrestling can be hard to find outside of countries such as the USA, Iran, and Russia. In these countries though, wrestling is very cheap. Often, this doesn’t even need a uniform to train in (but you may need wrestling shoes to protect your toes) and you can just jump straight in. Further, if you’re in an education program in these countries such as college, you can probably train wrestling for free.

This is literally the cheapest martial art out there in this case and has great mental benefits too such as toughness and resistance. As said though, if you’re in a country where wrestling isn’t popular then you will have to pay and at that point, it probably won’t be as cheap.

Muay Thai

If you ever get the chance to train Muay Thai in Thailand then jump at it! It’s an amazing cultural experience but is also dirt cheap. As a result, some martial artists will even plan holidays around visiting Thailand to soak up training. Obviously, visiting a martial arts home country also has its benefits, where the teaching is less likely to be watered down.

One issue with Muay Thai though is that it’s not necessarily cheap outside of Thailand. In fact, as far as martial arts go – it’s probably somewhere in the middle or even towards the more expensive side. One benefit of training Muay Thai though is also in the gear. There’s very little involved and even if you do plan on buying the shorts and gloves, it’s still inexpensive.

Conclusion

These martial arts are all legitimate and come with fearsome reputations. If you want to learn how to fight, then there’s actually very few other martial arts that are worth learning compared to these. As a result, from the perspective of the customer, it’s win-win. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is supply and demand economics. The best example of this is with Karate, where it’s massively popular and so dojos will have to cut prices to compete.

With Karate gyms being abundant in most major cities, this means there’s competition – which pushes the price down to stay competitive. The second reason is due to the culture. An example of this is with Judo which is often surrounded by honor and integrity. Therefore, a lot of people who own Judo gyms will not charge much as they’re not in it for the money.

In summary, there’s enough good, cheap martial arts to choose from so even if you’re on a budget – you should be able to train.