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November 2022 by ________
Can’t figure out how to take a class here. My voicemail and message via their website remain unanswered after 2 weeks. I even drove to the location during business hours but no one was there.Don’t think they’ve gone out of business because of a recent posting on their door.They must have enough students and don’t want new ones.
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July 2021 by Kathy C.
Very empowering session on women's self defense. My daughter and I will approach different scenarios in a new way. Not only did we learn self defense tips but also how to apply different techniques in various vulnerable situations. Thank you, Urban Combat, for offering this valuable course. Just in time for my daughter to go off on her own to college.
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May 2021 by Max L.
This review is for October 2018; I just never got around to writing it until now. Brian the instructor is more than qualified, and well-versed in a diverse number of styles. One thing I'll never forget is how his hammerfist hits like a truck when holding pads for him. It literally feels borderline superhuman. Similar to krav maga, these classes feature a variety of self-defense situations, including defense against weapons. So that's a good thing because the types of situations you can train in a month is probably more than you'd get at a typical martial arts gym. There is some pressure testing, not enough of it in my opinion, and doesn't happen every day, but at least it happens. One of the senior students seemed a bit frustrated whenever I beat him at something, perhaps because I look young and people assume I have little experience, but he was very kind and helpful and I actually looked forward to seeing him in class because he would take the initiative and spar with the techniques with real resistance even when Brian didn't explicitly instruct us to. That helped me a lot. One day I came to the gym and we had to train outside with a reduced curriculum because of the women's self-defense class. We then helped those students by simulating some resistance during their drills. I didn't mind this that much, but it did impact our training and it came as a surprise as we weren't told about it beforehand. To be fair, it's possible I just zoned out and missed the announcement, but at least one other student also seemed surprised. During this women's self-defense class, they learned how to fight against various scenarios such as being dragged through a doorway, etc. They also learned to get back up from the ground while we pushed them around with pads. After class, one of them made a remark to me which I initially didn't think much of, but gnawed at me later on. She said, "You're strong!" At the moment I just took the compliment in stride and credited my training, but when I got back to my car I realized it could be a problem with the self-defense class. I am actually very weak for a man. The reason she thought I was strong was because I gave the students a harder time and pushed them to their limits before letting them back up. We were all using only about 20% strength because the idea was to let the student finish the drill eventually with no losing condition. I think some of the students in the women's self-defense class may not be aware of how big the difference is between the drills they did versus a real attacker. In general it is actually a good class with interesting drills, but I think it could be improved by giving a short speech about how the simulation of resistance during the drills are not remotely close to a real aggressive attacker, or include a bit of real grappling sparring where they're able to "lose", to avoid giving students a false sense of confidence.
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August 2020 by Rebekah Daniels
Our family moved away from Menlo Park this past month, and I knew I needed to update my review to reflect my experience here. For 8 months I've trained at Urban Combat, and not only can I say that the instruction is stellar, but the people have become like family to me. Due to the small class size and the built-in mentality of mentorship from more advanced students, I felt like I was part of a community who not only cares about self-defense, but cares about building up the people who train here. For example, when a student has a competition coming up, or when I had a certification I was hoping to test for, the class learns the material alongside their classmate to help them prepare.As far as self-defense is concerned, the curriculum is thorough and engaging. Brian covers everything from home invasion, weapons defense, situational awareness, striking, multiple opponents, and everything in between. I loved that the class built in strength and conditioning as part of the program so that I was getting in a solid workout as well.As our family relocates, I will be looking for a new place to train, but the bar is high after my experience at Urban Combat. If you're looking for solid self-defense training and a great time, look no further.
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August 2020 by Jeremy Pollack
I've been training in different styles for more than 30 years, and these guys at Urban Combat know their stuff. In addition to the super practical and quite simple techniques, these are a great bunch of guys and gals. Head instructor Brian Strathadee and the crew of high level students are extremely personable and welcoming. Highly recommend Urban Combat for anyone looking to learn practical self-defense, get a great work out, have fun, and meet some nice people.
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August 2019 by Margo Feldman
These guys are amazing. They hosted a free 2hr women's self defense seminar at my local library and it was super helpful. No fluff, just the basic and intuitive things to keep in mind. I'm very thankful to them and highly recommend.
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August 2019 by Teri Lanier
Very concise, engaging, and immediately actionable. My favorite part was getting opportunities during the 2hr workshop to put it together in assault simulation, find my inner tiger, and fight back. I know I will not feel uncomfortable protecting my personal boundaries in the future.
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August 2017 by Laura Ellen
Seriously, ladies, take this class. Brian will teach you the basics that EVERY WOMAN NEEDS TO KNOW. We should have learned this stuff when we were five years old, but it's never too late. I took a class with some girl friends today and it's some of the best $ I've ever spent. Just $45 for two hours. Dirt cheap for the skills you will learn in 2 hours, that could save your life.
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August 2017 by Michael Shannahan
In a typical Urban Combat class, you will warm up for 30 minutes with a tabata or interval training, followed possibly by punching drills with thai pads and/or focus mitts with a partner. You'll then work on other drills such as take downs, ground grappling, grabs/holds with partners. In this respect, about half the class is similar to an MMA class. Where the style differs from boxing, wrestling, BJJ, MMA and other sports is that the techniques and training focus are on the study of real acts of violence- such as through review of security camera footage and law enforcement statistics- and application of practical defenses against those threats. This is why it's called Reality-Based Defense, they care about what really works vs. Hollywood or what traditional martial arts preach as dogma. An MMA gym teaches little about fighting off multiple attackers, knife fighting, gun fighting, club defense, use of pepper spray, fighting off car-jackers inside a vehicle, home invasion defense, combat psychology, legal aspects of use of force, trauma first aid, fighting in low light, and use of verbal commands to control violent accounters. Class size is reliably 7-15 students of varying skill levels, and is often more than 1/3 female. 2-hour women's defense seminars are held on or off-site, by appointment.
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August 2013 by Ursula Sanchez
A truely excellent dojo. They were neither to strict nor to loose with just the right amount of discipline. I would reccomend this dojo to anyone over the many other martial arts chioces in the area or any other place in the country for that matter!
