Max Academy of Martial Arts

Fantastic experience: Max Academy is a great place for my boys. The Sensis and instructor are patient and kind. And it is such a fun welcoming place to go.

Fantastic experience: Kiddos had the best time for parents night out. A great community here at Max Academy.

Negative experience: We signed up our son in the Panda (evening) class. He attended 3 classes but unfortunately on the 4th class, he was hurt by the same kid THREE times and none of the instructors teaching the class paid attention or saw this. I had to call out to the instructor, who was supposed to be his mentor and was present, to tell her this kid was purposely hurting my child. In one of these incidents, he made my son bleed. The kid has been allowed to stay and Matt informed he he’d be talking to the parents and the kid. He said to him it didn’t appear intentional from the videos. Yet this kid made my son bleed, hurt him and ONLY him THREE times. Unfortunately my child, who just turned four, has refused to go back. Perhaps one of the first introductory lessons should be with the child and parents about respect and safety towards fellow classmates with zero tolerance for this behavior. The only positive thing here is to say thank you to Mr. Cristian who tried his best to support our son in an attempt to help him get back to class. You are a great teacher, kind, and friendly. You, by far, showed more empathy to my son and genuine care. You will make a great sensei one day. EDIT TO RESPOND TO OWNER'S COMMENT: the private lesson was with an assigned instructor which is why I gave Mr. Cristian the praise he deserved. Not with you. Let’s make the clear. You may not tolerate it but you justified it by stating the other student may be on the spectrum during our call. While I sympathized with the situation on our call, safety is never secondary. One of your solutions to this issue was suggesting we take my child out until he was ready to return instead of suggesting the other parent return when their child understood not to hurt other children. A review may not solve what already occurred but it draws attention and perhaps helps you do better in the future. These 3 incidents occurred with multiple instructors on the mat and not one paying attention to what happened until I called their attention. This alone was my biggest issue.

Fantastic experience: Son just started up and absolutely loving the classes, instructors are great with the kids

Fantastic experience: I love this place

Fantastic experience: This is my favorite business in Brentwood! The staff is incredible. I highly recommend MAX to anyone, especially parents of young children. They teach martial arts and also help build strong minds with mindset lessons ending each class. 10/10 rec

Fantastic experience: Very friendly staff! my daughter is 8 she goes about three times a week. She is loving it so far and I just really like how the instructors are very patient and good with the kids.

Fantastic experience: Had my first lesson there yesterday. I have zero martial arts experience. Very welcoming environment, great instructors. Adam and Gabe were both awesome in giving me some basics, and drilling in some motor skills. Looking forward to growing in my knowledge, and building relationships here.

Fantastic experience: We have been going here for a little over a year. We started with my son and a few weeks later my daughter joined as well. Plenty of the reviews mention the convenient schedule which is really great. My reason for the review is the absolute genuine care from everyone there. Both of my children are being mentored by instructors that I believe truly care about my kids. We are constantly impressed and love that our kids are a part of this family because it truly does feel like a family. There is humor, love, structure, and much more.

Fantastic experience: Max Academy turns my bad days into good ones! I was watching “The floor is lava” on Netflix and noticed my sensei, from when I was just a little girl, was a participant. Come to find out he opened up his own academy close to home, so one random Wednesday I gave them a call and suddenly i was signed up! They were welcoming, informative, and helpful from the jump! Adult martial arts and Krav have become my favorite part of my day. Over the past 2 months I have learned so many useful defenses, made many friends, and have become more confident in my self protection! Although I partake in adult classes, I can confidently say that the instructors do AMAZING work with children! They bring enthusiasm, positive energy, and teach the children not only self defense but other important life lessons! Paying for self defense classes but getting much more out of it is why Max Academy deserves 5 stars! I would recommend to my family,friends and anybody around me in a heartbeat! Renshi Matt has truly created an amazing, welcoming and very family friendly environment! So I thank him and the team tremendously for that!

Fantastic experience: I’m so happy we found this dojo. We first found Max Academy of Martial Arts by enrolling my two young sons in classes at the Oakley community center. We were introduced to Mr. Gabe and my husband and I were immediately impressed with how well he interacted with the kids with his energetic and positive attitude and his authentic love for his craft. You can clearly see he loves teaching martial arts. We decided to join the main dojo and everyone that works there welcomed us in. Max is known for providing a family environment and I can confirm that with our experience there. Every single instructor is so good with the kids I decided to try it myself. I highly recommend taking the Max Fit classes if you’re looking to get out of the house and punch things legally. It’s equivalent to taking a CrossFit class incorporating kickboxing. I personally find it therapeutic to help manage my regular stresses of everyday life. I can’t praise this facility enough with all the wonderful instructors employed here. Thank you Renshi Matt for providing a safe and enjoyable environment for me and my family.

Fantastic experience: As a person who goes to this place as a student, I can personally say that this is one of the best places I am going to in my life because of the family that has been built around the company, I don't feel shy when there and there is so much positive energy I fly! Thank you instructors and volunteers and thank you Renshi Matt for this.

Negative experience: Though my son loved the school when he first started and I truly did too it really took a turn when Covid restrictions kicked in. I understand they have policies they need to enforce but I’m just so disappointed in their poor communication and lack of professionalism. Mid last month they were no longer allowing parents in and requiring children 12 and over to be vaccinated. It’s their business and their choice and that is fine. But I decided to pull my son from the program. I emailed and left a voicemail THAT day to cancel our membership and I never heard back after that. I emailed THREE separate times between mid September and October and NEVER received anything back! October comes and they charge me for the month of October though I canceled with more than enough time! It’s been impossible to get ahold of them their mailbox is full and THEY DO NOT RESPOND TO EMAILS. It’s extremely infuriating when you do everything you need to and you get zero response. Highly disappointed!!! In response to the owner below, you guys literally JUST responded after I posted this review. So please do not make it seem as if I am in the wrong here. It’s very frustrating that I had to take it to this level to even receive a response.

Fantastic experience: Great staff, you can tell they love what they do, they put a lot of effort into making the kids have a good time as well as learn a skill , recommend 10/10

Fantastic experience: We absolutely love this school! Every instructor has been amazing, and I love everything they stand for and everything they teach. I also love that we have the option to go multiple times a week, which makes you feel like you truly get your money's worth.

Fantastic experience: Matt and his team have created such a supportive atmosphere and an incredible program for both karate and Krav. Health and safety is a priority so during this pandemic they have offered virtual, outdoor, and recently small indoor classes. Having those classes to look forward to has been the bright spot during these stressful times. I highly recommend them!

Fantastic experience: Very good staff, my son had a great time!

Fantastic experience: Have known the owner since before he started on his own. He has really invested in my kids to the point of training the oldest two to helping as instructors and working on number three. Finally, started Now we parents are doing Krav Maga and Kickboxing and loving it.

Fantastic experience: Great place! Would highly recommend! Great and friendly staff... Been going for about a year now to the Krav Maga class

Fantastic experience: My son loves it here. The best martial arts place. I definitely recommend this to anyone who's looking to put their child in karate and they are all wonderful and have a flexible schedule for the crazy everyday lives we parents have!

Fantastic experience: My son had a wonderful experience there. The staff is extremely friendly knowledgeable. Great for all age groups and family-friendly. Matt is awesome and easy to learn from. Thank you.

Fantastic experience: Great instructors. Not sure if they do this for all ages, but for my young kids (6 and 5) they get 5 or so minutes of discussion on a weekly topic such as respect or focus. I love how that helps to bring the heart of the art as well as the physical motions.

Fantastic experience: We have been with Sensei Matt for five years now, and we love Max Martial Arts. This is a great karate school with fantastic instructors who are patient with the smaller students, and motivational for the older students. One of the things I like the most about this is school is that they teach not just martial arts, but also how to be a good person. At the end of each class Sensei Matt and Sensei Nick talk to the students about respect, confidence, focus, and other character traits that build the inner child. I would highly recommend Max Martial Arts!