Hwa Rang Kwan Martial Arts Center

Took my first beginner kickboxing class today and I am already looking forward to the next one. Yay ! More roundhouse kicks !! Awesome place and great instructors. Try avoiding the evening class though as it gets very crowded.

Took one class so far and everyone has been awesome. Very friendly, helpful and puts my noob insecurities to rest. Definitely coming back!

Just started taking classes here, but master Steve, staff, and all kick boxing classmates are wonderful! So welcoming! Master Steve is clear and moves quickly so you’re not bogged down with instruction (but covers a lot of ground!) and you still have tons of opportunity to punch and kick to your hearts content. Master Steve even remembered my name when I dropped in for the second class I took– which for the amount of new people every class is very impressive. He’s a very cool guy and great to chat with. I’m so happy to join HRK and learn all I can!

Excellent local business and master Steve and Melissa are great! Really work well with the kids teaching discipline and manners! So glad this place was introduced by another parent! Place is small but it’s a local business but very accommodating! They offer both kids and adult fitness classes!

Good beginner kickboxing class. Large, padded, airy, light-​filled space. Knowledgeable instructor.

awesome coaches, fun crowd, clean and bright gym, every day there is a new routine; highly recommended.

Great place for kids to take tae kwan do classes. Lots of good teachers and kids of all ages and skill. Good place for kids to learn discipline, get some exercise and enjoy being little martial art people. Very cute to watch the really little ones in their uniforms figuring out how to tae kwan do. Reminds me of tiny ballerinas in their tutus. The kids love it and it gives them a sense of pride accomplishing their lessons.

I have been coming here for sometime and have done both taekwondo and kickboxing. I did not have a particular interest in doing taekwondo but I came here looking for an alternative to the gym. It was close to my work and has a lot classes available to take so why not, I needed to loose some weight anyways. Fast forward six years later I did not loose any weight (chalk it to all the muscle mass I gain ;-)) in addition I gain so much more than muscle. This place is more than a martial art school or gym, it is a community. When you sign up you become part of that community of people across a wide spectrum of backgrounds with martial arts as the common thread.
To get to practicality of Hwa Rang Kwan, the instructors are incredibly knowledgable. The instructors and experience students will help you on your technique during the drills and will spend time after class to work with you. The workouts are amazing! You will sweat and get into shape. The routines are always challenging and are constantly challenging you. The school is great, clean and plenty of space to move around. If you are curious about martial arts, check the school out. If you are interest in signing up, do it! I cannot recommend this place enough! You will not regret it!

As a beginner to kickboxing, I’ve been going to Hwa Rang Kwan twice a week for several months and highly recommend it. The staff is friendly and helpful, the instruction is solid, and the classes are small enough that everyone gets personal attention. In my opinion, Hwa Rang Kwan strikes a careful balance that caters to a wide variety of skill levels without alienating anyone. That’s not easy!

Totally meant that review when I posted it. I mean it even more today, march, 2014. Actually, 5 stars is not enough!
Alfred Melo Marichal

I wanted to try kickboxing and found here in Unilocal.When I found ths, I had only a few months til I leave SF, so I didn’t register the monthly membership, but as you see the announcement on Unilocal,I tried the two lessons for $ 25.
I was a little afraid of going to the place because I wasn’t familiar with martial arts at all, but the staffs were very nice and taught me very kindly and seriously.
Thank you for giving me a great chance to experience exciting kickboxing! :)

Hwa Rang Kwan is amazing — I only had the chance to go twice before I left San Francisco, but I can’t remember a workout in which I pushed myself harder or enjoyed myself more.
I had never done any sort of martial arts before, so I first signed up for the intro class, which is honestly a great deal. It currently includes two intro classes, boxing gloves, and hand wraps. The intro class I went to only had one other girl (though the classes are structured in such a way that you are also in the same room as students in other levels, so every so often, the alarm goes off and everyone gets in a circle and does push-​ups, crunches, planks, etc.), so there was a lot of personal attention, and I learned much more than I expected to in the hour. The Lupe Fiasco and house music in the background made it all the merrier. I also took a private lesson with Master Steve, who was really funny and patient.
If you’re at all interested in trying kickboxing, I highly recommend Hwa Rang Kwan. If I ever return to San Francisco, you can trust that I’ll be back!

A truly wonderful facility with outstanding padded floors that are much easier on my troubled knees than hardwood or concrete. Excellent instruction, not only from the HRK staff but also from every black belt who trains here. Just an amazing atmosphere for learning a new skill, making friends and sweating my ass off.

If you want to learn muay thai — come over on Thursday and Sunday evenings. Kenya (Trainer) will teach you a true martial art ranging from the elbows strike combinations to a flying knee. The good thing about Kenya’s training sessions that a student gets a lot of attention from the master, On top of that there is no cardio, pushups, (waste of time and you can do it on your own). Kenya strictly teaches you how to fight and does it well

I have been to three martial art schools over the past couple of years and Hwa Rang Kwan is easily the best school I have been to thus far. The kickboxing classes has a nourishing mix of technical moves and cardio workouts. Master Steve and the team are attentive to detail, welcoming, and super friendly.

Tech. ni. cal. Really though, who comes up while you’re drilling and tells you to angle your foot in by such-​and-​such however many degrees? Master Rapport, that’s who. Though he commented way less on the rest of me, I did get the sense that his sharp eyes were monitoring my entire form, along with that of every other student. I should also mention that I did not feel «watched» to the point of being anxious over every move I made. Rather, I felt more comfortable knowing that someone was there who really cared about helping me through my mistakes.
It wasn’t just someone — it was several people. Some of the long-​term students advised me as well when I was paired with them for drills. Just like their master, the students were similarly patient and calm, no matter how many times I did the same funky movement or positioning. I thought the drill combos themselves were a good challenge for the mind as much as the body.
This is primarily a Taekwondo facility, so its Muay Thai or Kickboxing trappings are comparatively sparse. They still have Thai pads and black pads, and I saw just a few heavy bags in the corner, though we didn’t use them. Because it’s a Taekwondo place, there was a ballet-​style bar along the far wall to help with flexibility = kicking higher = taking your foe’s head off and yes I just said that. Speaking of which, I don’t want to know who kicked or punched the cracks into the mirrors along the front of the class.
Aside from different equipment and different styles and all that, the calisthenics segments are killer. Or at least my arms and chest felt killed from the mix of push-​ups that appeared.
Overall, I like what’s going on here. The equipment setup for Muay Thai or Kickboxing (the things I was there to do) I’d put between 2 and 3, yet the instruction is insightful despite the lack of materials. For those mostly into Muay Thai, I’d select somewhere else as a main place to practice; if your base is Taekwondo, I bet this is a handy school for widening your background in ways of self-​defense /​martial arts.

This place is amazing! I really like how there are multiple teachers there who have different techniques so you get so much variety. The teachers are great and really friendly, not the scary macho guys I was expecting (they are however proper ninjas!)
I would recommend doing both tae Kwon do and kick boxing because they are really different and work different parts of your body.
Before coming here I lifted weights all the time and so I was very surprised how much muscle tone I got from martial arts. I’m in the best shape of my life thanks to hwa rang.
Steve has done a fantastic job pulling this together. Most students have been coming to this place for several years which tells you a lot in itself.
I highly recommend this place to anyone. It caters to the complete beginner all the way to black belt and is very welcoming to new students.

I have been taking Kickboxing classes at HRK for almost 2 years now, and I feel like it’s finally to give back some love in the form of a review.
My background: As a small-​framed kid who always played too many fighting video games and was entranced by movies such as ‘Kickboxer’, ‘Bloodsport’, and ‘Ong-​Bak’, I never thought I would ever train in a martial art. I’m not a big guy, y’know? Afraid of being massacred during an epic training sequence or pitted with guys 2−3x my bodyweight, I decided to leave it for the other, bigger dudes. It wasn’t until browsing Youtube one night that I saw kids half my age training in Thailand with lightning fast kicks and punches that I decided to reconsider. After doing some homework, I decided to try out Hwa Rang Kwan, and I’ve never regretted that decision.
From the very beginning, Master Steve and the gang were very welcoming and patient. From someone who had never taken a martial art in his life until the age of 27, I will tell you that it is probably some of the most challenging and rewarding training you’ll ever get. The beginning can be brutal, and I remember quite a few points of frustration during the beginning months. I remember asking Gabriel (another kickboxing instructor), «How long until you start mastering those punch combinations?» He dropped a little bit of Zen on me with: «You never do». Even at your 2 year point, you’ll find that there is still plenty to work on and you’ll still be refining and developing your own technique.
New to martial arts? Hwa Rang Kwan is one of the most welcoming and amazing places to workout (and it’s fun!)
Been around for a while? Try some of the more advanced classes with Anuj, Pete, Master Steve or seek out help from some of the more advanced students!

There are times you realize you made the right decision. Coming to HRK was one of them. Wandering in because of its proximity to Caltrain and needing a stress reliever, I took the trial class. That was several months ago, and I’ve gone regularly since.
«The friendly place to condition your mind, body & soul» is the tag line in its advertising, and it is. It’s also one of the larger and better maintained martial arts schools in the City. As others have noted, there’s a pleasing absence of any pretension within. And speaking of those reviews, though a few are somewhat old at this point, go read the kickboxing reviews. I agree with all the ones over two stars.
It almost seems like a moot point to throw up yet another five star review, but, it deserves it, and there’s two points I don’t see.
First, it’s incredibly easy to get there. The above mentioned Caltrain is nearby, parking’s a breeze, the 27 and 47 bus stop nearby, Powell station’s within walking distance, and HRK is a bike-​friendly place.
Second, and more importantly, I like that it’s primarily a Tae Kwon Do dojang; the kicks aren’t just an afterthought in the kickboxing. The hybrid class on Fridays is always great and a perfect end to a work week.

I am having a great time learning Tea Kwon Do in Hwa Rang Kwan. As a beginner, it is an awesome place to be, because everyone is very friendly and helping, you don’t feel left out, and classes are really fun.
I’m definitely getting strong and toned. I couldn’t do even one push up before, now I can do 30 in a minute! :-) I recommend Hwa Rang Kwan to all of my friends and co workers!
Two thumbs up!!!