My Phasemates and me with our Day 6-7 instructor David Bluestein

I completed Phase C (Level 3 instructor training) last week at the Krav Maga Worldwide National Training Center in West LA. I was privileged to train with incredible people and absorbed so much, as you must in seven full days of total immersion! I learned many new things and many new ways of doing old things. I think we did more weapons training than anything else, which was an unexpected treat. I’m excited to share with everyone—right after I take a little time to organize my notes, decompress, and heal some dings and dents!

Big thanks to my most excellent Phasemates. If you ever find yourself in their parts of the world, be sure to check out their schools:

• Jean-Francois Frenett and Kyle Glenn from MMA Academy in San Diego, CA
• Dustin Hoffman from Krav Maga Training Centre Waterloo in Ontario, Canada
• Richard Randquist Chung from Dojo 3 in Renton, WA
• Lisa Rivera from Budo Ryu in San Luis Obispo, CA

Also a big thank-you to our instructors Kelly Campbell, AJ Draven, and David Bluestein. With such a small, talented group [and me ] to work with, the best of the best practically gave us a week-long private lesson. They genuinely wanted to help us improve in all aspects as Krav Maga instructors, and I undoubtedly feel stronger in my technical and teaching skills. And despite the lingering soreness, I’m honored to have been their demo dummy for the week!

Thanks certainly need also go to all those at the Academy who helped me train, especially Brian, Marc, and—of course—Danelle, who had to deal with spinning back kicks and my obsessing over programming for months on end! Only 282 days until Expert Series I!