Self Defence classes in Vancouver

Almost nobody in Vancouver expects you to pay for your first martial-arts class - Lions MMA gives you a full week free, DCS and KFitness hand out free trial classes, and Rumble's first heavy-bag class is free, so you can sample four or five gyms before spending anything.

The genuinely budget route is the Park Board: the same I Liq Chuan instructor who charges $200-300 a month at his own school teaches a beginners course at the Roundhouse for $72 for four sessions, or $22 to drop in.

Eastside Boxing Club and Diaz Combat Sports sit three blocks apart around Keefer and Pender, and between them they cover free youth classes, free frontline-worker classes, self-serve free trials and $25 drop-ins.

Eastside Boxing is a not-for-profit with an explicit focus on youth, women and LGBTQ+ members and runs a Volunteer Exchange for anyone facing financial barriers, though the volunteer spots are currently full.

If a mixed gym feels like too much, Arise runs a Friday women/femme/GNC class capped at six people with 25% off your first visit, and Eastside runs a Women's Beginner Boxing class open to all female-identifying folk.

Watch for one-off free workshops rather than assuming you have to buy in - Vancouver Rape Relief runs free Wenlido workshops for women, and the Chinese Community Policing Centre's Project Shield has run free sessions taught out of a Chinatown combat-sports gym.