Seattle Shaolin Kungfu Academy — Local services in Bellevue

My wife and I signed up for 6 months/1 class per week as adults. Here are some notes on our experience:

Community - the best part of our experience by far was the people. Gui, Felipe and Ryan are excellent instructors and make class generally fun. We will miss them as well as those who we were in class with.

Unfortunately, our experience was a bit soured by a few other factors, which have contributed to our decision not to continue.

Plan Structure: when we joined, there was no way to go month to month. We were tied into a 6 month contract. We could only commit to one day a week due to other hobbies, so we went with that. Unfortunately, between 3 weeks of the gym being CLOSED (Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year) as well as injury from class, one cold that we both got (presumably also from class) and a couple of work trips, we have a lot of unused classes. This has driven the cost per class to a point that is unreasonable to us.

Classes and Belt Testing: we mostly went on Tuesdays. Classes were generally the exact same warm up and cool down. While these have benefited my hip mobility, we at this point have them memorized and they provide little value as far as instruction. Then, class is typically working on forms, which are a memorized sequence of moves. Occasionally, there is self defense but that is rare. Also, courses are taught by black belts - we saw Shifu around once a month.

As for belt tests, be aware that this is an additional cost. They only occur once per month, on a weekend. If you are unavailable on that weekend, you have to wait another month. Unfortunately, that also means that classes repeat the same things over and over and add little incremental value until you can make it to the next belt test the following month.

Lack of flexibility: when I was injured in class, and had already paid for a belt test, I requested a refund at least for the belt test and asked whether my wife could use my unused classes. My text is yet to be answered, and we were told we are done at the end of 6 months regardless of classes used (or not)

Overall, we had fun but...

I have been a student here since August of 2024 under the Primary instruction of Master Zhou and his coaches Ryan (Head Coach) and his assistants. All of which have been nothing but helpful since I started. Although I have been a Kung fu practitioner since the early 2000’s on and off due to my military service I have chosen this school since I am unable to practice consistently at my original school based in New York.

The warm ups are usually the same with some slight variations depending on the course of instruction. But these warm ups are just that. Warm ups designed to get your heart rate up, loosen your body and warm up your muscles. As this is common in just about all the martial arts schools I have attended varying from Ishin Ryu Karate, Takwondo, Judo amd Ju Jit Su. Anyone not experienced in martial arts may feel different.

The ranking system is common and fair. Its only true purpose is to allow instructors to evaluate one’s progress as there is no ranking system in Shaolin King Fu. Learn at your own pace and push yourself as much as you like.

A contract must be signed upon joining of which pricing, attendance and cost is clearly defined and worked out by Master Zhou. Any issues that may arise should be clearly communicated to him to avoid any issues.

Overall this is a great place to learn Kung fun and workout. The talent produced from here is high quality as proven by the success in annual tournaments like the recent 2025 Golden State Wuahu competition in California.

“Obtaining a Black Belt is only the beginning to a much longer journey and the key to a...

This is a fantastic place for kids to learn a martial art. I took my child in for a "free trial" lesson as offered on their web site. They were greeted warmly and asked to simply get in line with the other kids and try to follow their movements.

If my child struggled, got shy, or didn't know how to follow along, the instructor would take time to give specific instruction to them without missing a beat instructing the rest of the class. The trial lesson concluded with my child breaking a board with their hand - a HUGE confidence boost - and they couldn't wait for another lesson.

This dynamic type of instruction has continued through their first few lessons and it is really helping my child build skills individually, yet feel like they are part of a team and group accomplishing something together.

The beginner class has a range of kids from ages 3 - 7, and a nice mix of boys and girls. The class is also mixed in experience levels, so relatively new students get to watch how their work builds into something bigger as they advance through belt ranks.

So...