My girlfriend is interested in maybe taking a martial arts class, mainly because she wants to get in shape, lose a little wait and have an outlet to work out some… um, aggression.
The only catch is that she doesn’t want to do any tournaments or competition. She just wants to go to class and learn. Sparring is fine, but nothing official.
Do any kinds of MA classes offer it this way??
All kinds of MA classes offer it that way. Depending on the sport and gym she might experience some slight pressure to compete. Not because the gym desires any medals, but because competition is the best simulation of a real world fight. She shouldn’t have any problem deflecting this small pressure though.
If she’s looking for fitness google for [your location] fitness kickboxing. This will be an hour or long class of punching/kicking a heavy bag mixed with some calisthenics.
If she wants something useful for defending there are only two real combat martial arts: Thai Kickboxing and Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. These are usually offered at the same gym under the umbrella of MMA. This is a gross generalization but also pretty accurate.
Anything else like Karate or Wing Chun or anything like that is going to be learning moves that won’t work in a real fight. That’s perfectly fine if she that’s what she wants, but be aware.
Cool, thanks… the kickboxing sounds mostly like what she is wanting.
Shotokan karate is usually pretty light on the sparring, in both senses of the word: not much of it, and not much contact when they do. Lots and lots of basics, kata and practicing sparring or fighting techniques without actual competition or fighting.
The taekwondo studio I participated in for a few years in middle and high school is firmly non-tournament-focused. So they’re out there. If there’s a choice of schools, I’d ask at the introductory session what their policy on competitions and tournaments is.
I’ll add Krav Maga - great for channeling aggression and really great self-defense training (much better than anything else I’ve encountered), big emphasis on practical fast self-defense and good workouts/burnouts at the beginning and end of class
If you go the Muay Thai kickboxing fitness route:
I’d avoid BJJ, because:
thanks for all the info everyone. I’ll let her know what I found out.
Already found a martial arts school in her area neighborhood that offers kickboxing classes. The first class is free as well, so that helps.
If she wants something lower impact (mostly), go with Aikido.
Tai Chi
Great exercise. Improves balance and flexibility. You don’t have to hit anybody either.
In my opinion, the search for a good martial arts studio is much more fruitful if one goes to visit several studios and observe classes, and getting a feeling for the instructors and the class, rather than setting out with a firm wish of “I want to do X and that’s it.”
So, for example, aikido definitely is in the non-competitive side of things, but your girlfriend may not be into so much rolling and falls. Or maybe she is. Go and check out a lot of schools rather than trying to find the best aikido school is my suggestion.
But she must go watch or participate in a class before signing a contract – not doing so is a huge mistake.
I lucked into a group in my hometown that does karate (with options for kung fu and occasional weapons) out of several local church basements.
Rather laid back, very inexpensive, and so far they seem very not-at-all tournament focused (or even focused on advancing ranks, which I like). They remind me of the little studio I used to belong to ages ago in Indianapolis.
If I need to find another group in the future, I will definitely check out local churches.
Ha, I’m in Indy. My girlfriend lives in Broad Ripple. Any ideas besides Broad Ripple Martial Arts Academy. That one seems to be highly recommend and well liked by its students.
My club was in Beach Grove, 20 years ago. I don’t know if they are still active.
Ron Richards was sensei.
Ronda Rousey, Georges St. Pierre, Lyoto Machida and Stephen Thompson might disagree.
Georges St. Pierre - Black belt in BJJ
Lyoto Machida - Black belt in BJJ
Stephen Thompson - Purple belt in BJJ
Ronda Rousey is the only one that I can’t find a belt on but she’s cross trained in BJJ for a long time.
yes, bjj knowledge is necessary for MMA, no one disputes that
no, it is not in and of itself sufficient to ensure success in or out of the ring (the gracies don’t own the ring anymore and self defense is more than just rolling for a few minutes for an arm-bar)
yes, there are martial arts that work fine for self defense but not in the ring where rules are expressly created to limit injury, prolong the fight, and increase entertainment value
yes, there are lots of clubs that are more classical and stylistic, but there are plenty of clubs that have adapted to maintain relevancy in practical settings (lots of good karate and kung fu clubs out there and every club has a few people that take the training and practical street-implementation part very seriously)
no, no one style captures everything in and out of the ring (they are almost by definition mutually exclusive)
yes, we all just want to have fun, so good luck to the OP!
(emphasis mine)
Most martial arts teach patience 
Three. Krav Maga is basically “no-rules streetfighting : the formalized technique”.
It depends entirely on your school. I have seen some schools that were entirely non-competitive, and others that bordered on being Fight Club. I recommend that she does not stick with the first school she tries, but experiments with different schools before deciding which one she likes.