Austin Kung-Fu Academy

AKFA is not just our martial arts studio, they’re our family. My husband has trained with AFKA for 2 – 3 years, and we mentioned a year ago that we were getting married and that we wanted AFKA to do a lion dance at our wedding. Nisha and Santanu were so generous in offering to come to our wedding with Rick and Ariel and do an amazing performance for us.
I myself have attended Nisha’s kickboxing classes in the past and have always been impressed with the quality of workout that I get and the quality people that I meet. They are an incredible studio, incredible people, and an incredible part of our lives. Thank you so much, AKFA family!

I’ve enjoyed the cardio kickboxing classes so far. Rick is a great instructor and changes it up a little each time we meet with him (classes are Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday). They have two different rates: paying by the class which is 8 dollars per class and a 10 class pack for 60 dollars. The latter in my opinion is a better deal. In addition, you can choose the days you want to use the class for. Sometimes I can’t make it a certain week but it’s not counted against me (balla!).
Expect to get a good workout. Different techniques are taught so don’t expect to only learn kickboxing techniques. I felt like some of the exercises that we do in the beginning of class ties more with tai chi/​karate. Another plus? My classes have never exceeded three people. I do wish though more attention was paid on technique.
If you’re here to lose calories and have a good time, it’s worth checking this place out.

I have been training at AKFA for seven months now. I wanted to wait until I had some depth of experience before writing a review. This review is for the adults program. Based on my experience, I find the other positive reviews to be accurate, so I will try not to cover a lot of the same ground. I see that there is one very negative review on here, which predates my experience by about two years, so obviously I cannot speak to her experience. I can say that my experience has been extremely positive, the director is a really nice and laid back guy, and I anticipate continuing my study and practice with AKFA for a long time. There are several points I would like to address.
First, I never felt any pressure to join or to sign a contract; there was no hard sell at all. The price structure, as one might imagine, makes the six month contract appealing because it saves money, but the price difference is not huge and the non contract pricing is still a good value, IMO.
Second, the culture at AKFA is very open, respectful, and easygoing. To be sure, you are practicing martial arts so there is intensity, rigor, and hard work, but there is not a macho atmosphere at all. I think this is a very important point because martial arts can sometimes attract some immature and insecure guys who want to be bad a**es — that is definitely not the vibe at AKFA. Classes contain students of all ages, teens through mid-​forties. Everyone can learn at his/​her own pace and different folks are looking for different things from their practice. Importantly, no one wears their sashes (rank belts) in class so there is no obvious hierarchy in the room. One can quickly figure out who is more advanced, but there is ample opportunity to work with people of varying skill levels.
Third, the quality of instruction is excellent. There are three instructors: the owner/​director and two senior belt instructors. All three are talented and skilled martial artists with experience in other styles (Tae Kwon Do, Wing Chun, Wushu, etc.). The school sticks to traditional Choy Lay Fut, which is the main reason I chose this school. Each instructor has a different teaching style and different strengths. They are all patient, kind, and respectful. I learn a lot from each of them. Something that I really like is that they have all been willing to give me as much information as I care to seek out; they are not trying to withhold anything.
This is traditional Chinese Kung Fu and it is a very combat-​oriented style. There are forms but most of the class time is spent doing drills involving partners, gloves, and pads. There is sparring, but only light contact. There is a lot of striking and kicking pads and working on foot work, getting in and out, different angles of attack, and timing. Also, there is instruction in a variety of traditional Chinese weapons, which is a lot of fun. I don’t expect to be in any sword or fan fights, but it really is fun to learn how to use them, if you go in for that sort of thing.
Finally, the teaching lineage of the director is clear and verifiable. For some this may not be an issue (or they may not even understand the issue), but for others it will matter a great deal. For me, I wanted to study a bona fide traditional Chinese art with some degree of assurance that what I was being taught was genuine and not a mixture of different styles packaged under the name «kung fu.» AKFA is teaching real Choy Lay Fut and this direct link to the origins of the style adds another enjoyable dimension for me to what is already a very fun and engaging pursuit. I highly recommend this school.

We have been taking lessons since they first started and are so glad that Santanu now has a great location and another great teacher to work with him — Rick. My two sons, ages 10 and 7, both take classes and love it! It’s a great work out and they are also learning patience, focus and respect at the same time. It’s funny but my kids are very different and don’t like a lot of the same types of activities — one likes soccer and football, one likes musicals and pets — but they both LOVE Rick’s fun and challenging way of teaching and personality. This is our favorite of about three martial arts places we have looked at.

I trained at Austin Kung-​Fu Academy for more than two years, as part of director Santanu Rahman’s first class of Austin students. While I had a strong athletic background, I had never practiced martial arts prior to attending Santanu’s classes. As with many potential students, I was looking for a challenge, both physically and spiritually, and I wanted to immerse myself in the culture and practice of Kung Fu.
At AKFA, I found that every student was empowered by Santanu to embrace their own relaxed power, their own pace, and their own understanding of what Kung Fu meant to them. You learn about the physical form, as well as what it means, its origin, and the philosophy behind the form. Some students like myself enjoyed sparring and physical contact, while others preferred to master the myriad demonstration forms of Choy Lay Fut. Regardless, everyone was afforded the respect, patience, and attention they needed to further their goals and exceed their prior limitations. In short, every student of any shape, size, or physical ability was allowed to blossom in the art of Kung Fu under Santanu’s guidance.
Classes were demanding, both physically and mentally, and, as the term Kung Fu literally represents, it took practice, practice, and more practice to master the forms and movements of Choy Lay Fut. However, this was never a grind, as Si Fu Santanu would always strive to keep a lighthearted, fun atmosphere within which students could feel comfortable to challenge themselves, try and fail, and eventually find that moment of achievement on their own.
Santanu is an exceptional teacher and embodies such a deep virtue and patience that you cannot help but grow as an individual in his presence. In fact, in my own role as a baseball coach for select high school players, I find myself referring to and «paying tribute/​stealing» his teaching philosophies when I work with my students. He is equally adept at working with children as adults, and it truly doesn’t matter your skill level or confidence — you will find a comfort level that suits your needs and empowers you to truly challenge yourself. I can’t speak on the other teachers at AFKA, but I trust that they’re just as competent and proficient if they’re in Santanu’s facility.
In summary, I highly recommend Austin Kung Fu Academy, and encourage anyone to visit and try out a class. Maybe I’ll see you there, when I get back to train for my black belt!

I’ve been here 11 months, and I have to say that my experience at AFKA has been life changing. As a girl, there’s nothing more empowering than being able to spar and ground-​fight with the guys. I never had upper body strength, and now when I fly on planes, I have little trouble lifting my 40 lb bag into the overhead bin. I feel safer when walking alone. I know self-​defense skills, and I have the strength to back it up.
I was upset by reading Lauren’s review, and I recall the day she tried our class. I’m not going to go on a tl;dr tirade, but basically, martial arts is not for everyone. It’s a contact sport, and the conditioning for your body is different than other sports. Yes we do sit-​ups. Yes we do light contact sparring. Yes we do groundfighting, and you may just groundfight someone twice your size! We are very combat focused. If you can’t handle lots of abwork, then try one of the many other fitness options offered in Austin.
Each of our instructors have years of experience in various martial arts. I have complete faith in them. They are in tune with what is correct and proper technique. Training goes nowhere if you are injured. However, I stress that martial arts training is different from other sports you may have tried.

WARNING: This review is long. I am about to write a novel about the worst experience I’ve ever had with a business. If you want the meat, skip to the last 2 paragraphs. I will try to stick with only the facts (but it’s very difficult to critique a lesson without opinion), and I will not use any names. Here we go:
I have been physically active for a long time (swimming competitively since 7). I even used to work as a fitness instructor at a fitness center during college. I wanted to throw something new into the mix, so I decided on martial arts (I tried a few jiu jitsu classes once, but determined rolling on the ground wasn’t my thing). I brought this up to a friend and she recommended AKFA. I did a ton of research and decided Choy Lay Fut was a style I very interested in, so I proceeded to contact AKFA.
My Intro to AKFA was fairly positive, except for my uneasiness with the one instructor’s fitness knowledge and some other minor things. I really try to not be critical of other instructor’s classes (everyone does things differently), but during the core segment of the class, he proceeded to show the class how to do a certain variation of a crunch, and violated some very basic rules of crunch exercises. Never tuck in your chin (only in some instances is this OK), do not lead with your head, and if you are bending at the hips, you are definitely doing something wrong — you aren’t even working out the muscle group you are trying to target. After my first class, I was asked to sign up for a payment plan right then and there, but I was hesitant, because it’s a little difficult to trust someone to teach you physical training who does something as simple as a crunch so wrong. I concluded that I would like to go back to AKFA, but I decided to postpone my membership for a few months. I emailed the studio to let them know that I would be postponing my membership, and feeling like I was qualified to do so, I also addressed my concerns I had from my group class session. It only makes sense to discuss your concerns with a business before you decided to give them hundreds of dollars! The owner proceeded to respond saying that I could join a few months later, and then gave an explanation for the execution of the exercises, stating that there are vast differences between eastern and western fitness styles. OK, I’ve done yoga for years, and yes there is a difference between eastern and western training, but I don’t care what side of the world you’re on, If you aren’t working the muscle group you are trying to target — you’re doing it wrong. I even checked with several other martial artists & fitness instructors, just to make sure I wasn’t making things up, and they agreed that I was correct and that the instruction was wrong. But I honestly didn’t care that much, so I left it at that and wouldn’t think about AKFA for a few months.
Now here is where things go terribly wrong, and I apologize for how lame this is, because it involves Facebook. Yes, Facebook, but because this all happened on Facebook, as lame as it is, it is equally disturbing that the owener of a business, whom I have never met, attacked me on FB. Facebook, to me, is something private that I use to communicate with only my friends, and my settings are established to try to keep it as such. A few months after my intro to AKFA, a friend of mine posted on her Facebook page that she wanted to find a new place to workout because she couldn’t trust a gym where the instructor couldn’t do something as simple as a push-​up. I replied saying that I had similar feelings about AKFA. Really simple, nothing rude, and I was just relating my experience with MY friend. Well it turns out the OWNER of AKFA also happened to be Facebook friends with my friend, and after seeing my post, he proceeded to berate me in detail (using a slew of fabrications and assumptions), and repeatedly on her page. I felt that this was unwarranted. Those who also saw the diatribe agreed it was undeserved. The behavior that the owner of AKFA exhibited was not only beyond unacceptable from a customer service standpoint, but was just plain disrespectful. I have never been treated with such contempt in my life. His tirade was so crazy, it really freaked me out. I’ve blocked him, but he may still have my information from the studio, so this really freaks me out. What makes this man think he can speak to someone the way he did to me is beyond my comprehension. He needs to do some soul searching. Just because you’re a KungFu master, doesn’t mean you can treat people like dirt. I see what nice things other people have said about him, so maybe this guy just snapped? …But that still wouldn’t justify his behavior. He has since deleted his comments, so maybe he feels regret?
Oh well, he said he wasn’t trying to run a business (obviously), so I’m sure he won’t mind the money he has lost or the decrease in his Unilocal rating. I’m just happy I’m moving soon, so he will no longer have my addres

You could not find a better place to learn martial arts. Everything here is in perfect balance — you are pushed to learn more but not asked to give more than you can. You can go twice a week or almost every day. You can push to take a test and get a belt or you can take your time learning all the concepts.
The instructors have infinite patience and provide guidance and inspiration to all of their students.
Overall an excellent school!

If you are looking for a place to get in shape, learn a little about yourself or just want to learn the ARTS, PLEASE give this place a try! I’ve looked all over Austin and this is by far the best place for martial arts out there! Santanu is professional, honest and really takes the extra time to ensure you are getting what you need from his classes.
I’m only on my first week and I feel better than I have felt in years! I leave his classes feeling refreshed and invigorated!
Sign up now!
UPDATE: 5÷13÷2010
I’ve lost 8 pounds, my blood pressure droped from 140+/80 to ¹¹⁵⁄₇₅. I honestly feel the best I have felt since I was in my 20’s!

I’ve been taking tai chi classes at Austin Kung-​fu Academy for a year. Santanu Rahman is an instructor with infinite patience, brilliant teaching strategies, and good humor. Santanu challenges and supports all students’ growing abilities and always has a new idea for teaching that is individualized to each class and to each student. Santanu is a master of the martial arts and he is also a master of communicating steps to growing your own practice. In addition to regular class times, Santanu holds «office hours» to help students individually.
Santanu is one of the best teachers of any subject I’ve experienced, and I’ve experienced a lot of teaching in pursuit of my doctoral degree.
In classes for students new to tai chi, Santanu strips the tai chi moves from the overall form to give you a good gentle work out. After students are comfortable with the individual moves, Santanu puts the separate elements together into the first third of the Yang 37 form. Once students master the first part of the form, the workout beginers’ class splits into an advanced class that learns the whole form. As the advanced class learns the final moves of the Yang 37 form, Santanu introduces individual elements using a broadsword and gradually unites those moves into the broadsword form.
Finally, Santanu has created a series of videos that work with his teaching. If you look at a commercial tai chi video the instructor always faces you. When you try to move with the video instructor you have to move in the reverse direction to get into the correct positions. This mental reversal is confusing for beginners. To address this problem in Santanu’s videos he is facing away from the student and looking toward a mirror. In this composition the student watching the video is in the right alignment with the teacher and can see both his front and back.
Pros: Brilliant teacher who provides individual extra teaching and videos for outside practice.
Cons: None