Aaron D.

Martial Arts as a way of life. I started my personal martial arts journey at the age of 5 in Isshin-Ryū Karate, and as a 2nd degree blackbelt I can say that MA has informed all aspects of life ever since. Combining physical aspects with mental principals is the fundamental approach of my mentorship. Mastering martial arts means mastering the self - inwardly and outwardly. Only a strong, confident and balanced inner self can translate energies into strong, effective and balanced outer attacks. The real fight of your life does not even happen outside of you - it happens in your own head. Once you master your inner self, there is absolutely nothing that you can't overcome.
I started teaching kids and youth classes at the age of 16 and later on, after completing my blackbelt exam, also taught adult classes. I have a wide range of experience when in comes to age, gender, and experience levels. My general fitness level allows me to tailor individual lesson plans to combine martial arts self defense tactics with fitness strategies - if a client so desires.
My training is aimed to prepare clients for real life situations that require self defense. Clients will learn defense techniques against punshes, kicks, joint locks etc. You will learn how to defend yourself in the quickest, most effective, efficient and safe way - against one or multiple defenders, in open or crammed spaces. Mastering a wide range of defense techniques requires disciplined and continuous training, but with me as a private teacher you will be impressed how quickly you can make progress - you have more potential than you think!
For children, my training mainly aims at teaching kids self-confidence to master situations that they might find them selves in at school, such as bullying, mobbing etc. The ability to defend yourself if necessary directly translates into confidence in all other areas in life and can completely change a child's outlook on life and their own abilities to master it.
For individuals that are interested in the philosophical aspects of martial arts such as meditation techniques, I am happy to incorporate these aspects into our training regiment. This is not obligatory for clients - if you want to focus on the physical aspects of self defense or fitness, that is totally fine. However, if you want to leverage martial arts as a way to become more balanced, focused and generally enthusiastic about life - then I am happy to combine physical and mental training. It is up to you!

At the age of 18, I became the youngest blackbelt ever at my Karate school of about 120 students (18 was the minimum age at this school to complete the blackbelt exam). I have more than 4 years of experience teaching children and adults at varying skill levels. I was awarded the second degree blackbelt as a recognition not only of my self defense skills and Kata knowledge but also as a award for my excellent teaching skills.
My concrete martial arts experience includes Isshin-Ryū Karate (origin), Kung Fu, Krav Maga, Judo and some Tai Chi.
I have trained/taught martial arts in Germany, Israel, New York and now in DFW, Texas.
As I see martial arts as a life philosophy, I also attribute my 'master personality' for my excellent achievements in other areas of life, mainly my studies and accompanying job experiences. I hold an honors political science degree from Germany's #1 university for politics (FU Berlin), and have interned at prestigious institutions such as the United Nations in New York, and the World Bank in Washington.

My training sessions are individually tailored. They take different variables into account (age, skills level, client's wishes etc.) into account and I will work with you to create a program that works best for you! I will take your interests and then create a precise curriculum with individual goals and according specific strategies for you to grow as a self-defense champion.
Depending on your interests my training will include following components: self defense techniques (vs. punshes, kicks, pushes, joint locks, some weapons, etc.); counter-attacking techniques (how to harness your full body to create the most powerful counter attacks - punshes, kicks, throws etc.); general body principles (e.g. how to align your feet and hips with shoulders to always be in balance, how to speed up your counter attacks, how to be unpredictable to you opponent, how to harness you opponents energy against them); meditation (optional); fitness (optional; I have experience in teaching clients to become faster, stronger, more balanced through intelligent work out components)