Fifty/50 Martial Arts Academy

Fifty/50 is hands down one of our favorite schools in the world. Whenever we are in the Falls Church, Va area — or the Washington D.C. area, for that matter — we make a point of training at fifty/50.

The school is owned by Ryan Hall. Yes, that Ryan Hall. The Ryan Hall who has difficulty getting UFC fights because no one wants to get in the ring with him. The Ryan Hall who snatched BJ Penn’s leg with a variation of the Imanari Roll people now just call the Ryan Hall Roll.

Ok, but how’s the school?

Who teaches?

First thing’s first: you’re probably not going to be taught by the man himself, although we do often see him training when we visit, and he’s incredibly nice and welcoming — the second time we visited he remembered us and thanked us for coming to his school. More likely, class will be taught by one of his black belts or other higher belts. Most of the classes we’ve taken have been taught by Adam Benayoun, who has a very strong, technical approach. Every technique or sequence I’ve learned at fifty/50 I have been able to use some or all of in my next rolls away from their school, with great success.

What is the class structure?

Class structure is the usual: class is an hour on the schedule, but ran long on every Saturday I was there. Warmup is short, but intense (lots of jogging around a VERY large room, at a brisk pace). They generally get the heart beating pretty quickly, and then get right into technique. Usually, there are 2-3 sequences taught, building on one another, with drilling in between, followed by live rolls. Rolls have generally been 3 minutes when we have visited, but this varies.

What kind of game do they have?

Most of the people I’ve rolled with are no-nonsense, heavy pressure, with an old school feeling. That’s not to say they don’t play a new school game, obviously, but many of the students are law enforcement, military, or otherwise in the business of putting belligerent people down on the street, and as such the general vibe is that you’re in a slowly tightening vice. If you’re looking for a school where people sit down, invert, and play panda, you’ll find one or two, but this might not be the place for you. If you’re looking to be on the bottom of a knee ride for a full round, you’ve found the right spot!

Everyone has been very safe and collaborative. That said, they’re all straight killers who don’t mess around. This goes for the women as well as the men.

In a word, their game is: OPPRESSIVE.

What is the gym like?

The space itself is huge. Sometimes they divide it into two sections. These are still both bigger than our home school. There are showers on site. This school is serious about hygiene. You take your shoes off at the front of the school so there are no shoes anywhere near the mats and you aren’t ever walking barefoot where other people’s shoes have been. They also have flip flops in the changing rooms by the bathroom so you never have to walk barefoot by toilets.

What is the culture?

More hierarchical and militaristic than our home school (which is on the far opposite end of the spectrum). You line up by rank at the beginning and end of class, in formation, but you do not bow to pictures of Helio Gracie. I’m generally reluctant to invite higher belts to roll there, with the exception of those I’ve already developed a relationship with. But, higher belts will often ask to roll with lower belts, so you don’t need to worry too much about being stuck as a wallflower if you are a white belt.

How’s their open mat?

Every time we’ve been, it’s been well attended, with a good mix of ranks.

What’s the verdict?

100% OSS. If you are anywhere near the Washington D.C. area, it is absolutely worth the drop in fee (Details available here). We recommend a week pass if you are planning on taking more than 2 classes or 2 classes and an open mat.