A great place to learn martial arts regardless of age or if you want to learn for self defense or for just for more knowledge.

My son has been a student here for a few years through the Dragon program and now in the black belt club and I can't say enough positive things about the instructors and the classes. My son is learning the tools to protect himself and developing self confidence while not beginning aggressive or a bully. (I'm not affiliated with Elite, personal friends of the instructors, or anything else that would bias my review) read more

Great classes and great people instructing. Definitely enjoyed having my family there. We continue to have great experiences. Kids loved the summer outdoors camps! Only wish they had classes on Monday night classes now that school is back. read more

Elite Martial Arts - Martial Arts Near Me - Brentwood, Tennessee

I am in my 5th week of training with Elite. Incredible teaching style for real life scenarios. Highly recommend!!

Took knife and handgun self-defense courses for adults, and both were excellent. The pace was quick but the instruction was thorough and practical. Most surprising was how inviting and helpful both the instructors and participants were - it felt like a family, not a business. Clearly, these are people who enjoy what they do. Although the courses I took weren't for kids, I watched the end of a kids class before mine started, and it looked very well managed. The kids were extremely disciplined and appeared to have an excellent rapport with the instructors. read more

Elite Martial Arts is a top-tier martial arts academy! Instead of strictly adhering to one type of martial art, their dynamic curriculum incorporates elements of many different styles. This provides you, the student, with the best and most effective self-defense program possible. What's more, the self-defense they teach is applicable to any realm; you'll learn ground techniques from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and stand-up skills from Muay Thai and Krav Maga, among others. In addition to their unique curriculum, EMA has the absolute best personnel in the business! Mr. Daniel Klapheke aptly and effectively instructs with charisma and character. He is excellent with the children, keeping them actively engaged through fun games and skill-building activities. They also have an adult program geared toward building confidence in your self-defense through realistic drills and sparring. Elite Martial Arts is a family friendly, reality-based martial arts academy. They have given my entire family and I a newfound sense of confidence and pride. I wholeheartedly recommend Elite Martial Arts! read more

Love working out here, but I think it's time we expanded because our adult classes are getting bigger and bigger!

Awesome family-friendly place with knowledgable and caring instructors.

A superb place to exercise and learn self defense no matter what your age is or your fitness level. My son has been taking classes here for many years, but our entire family has taken classes here at one point and time. They have a great facility, a wonderful staff, and a well thought out program. read more

I have had the most amazing experience at Elite Martial Arts of Brentwood! I have lived all of the country and trained at several schools and this is by far the best! I have participated in group classes and I train privately with Alisha as well. This is the most warm and welcome environment that you will ever be in. It can be intimidating joining a new school and they really make you feel right at home! They are expert instructors and I love that they incorporate real life situations into their self defense training! I would highly recommend Elite to anyone at any age. Alisha and the team there have truly changed my life! read more

I am from a nearby martial arts school and thought it would be worthwhile to see what goes on at EMA for a few weeks. In a nutshell: their striking game isn't bad, but isn't good either, and consisted mostly of modified TKD and karate that the instructor passes off as Muay Thai or boxing. Seeing as that their is no one here with any high level BJJ/wrestling/judo, standup drilling is virtually non-existent here, thus, most of their students have horrendous TKD/TKD defense, which is only worsened by the fact students must start on their knees when grappling. As for the BJJ portion of their classes, the head instructor is only a blue belt (according to himself) and as such, the BJJ taught here consists of rather rudimentary, watered down submissions and positions. I only recently attained a blue belt in BJJ and wrestled back in my high school days, and although I readily admit I am no master, nearly all their students were exceptionally poor grapplers , including the ones that hold black belts under Mr. Klapheke. This is the one part which completely turned my off to this school: their are kids, some as young as 9 or 10 years old, walking around with brown belts, black belts, or even red belts around their waists! This is sadly a tell-tale sign of a McDojo, and it truly made me wonder why the instructor would devalue the prestige and dignity of a black belt by giving it to kids who aren't even in their teens yet! There were also several adults that were wearing black belts, and, as said earlier, their overall grappling skills are hardly that of even a 1 or 2 stripe white belt in BJJ. After attending a belt promotion, apparently typically held on the weekends, it is obvious that as long as students show up to the "evaluation", break a sweat or two, and pay the belt fee, they will most certainly get a promotion from the head instructor. With all this in mind, I'd rate EMA Brentwood a 3/10. It is a fine place to pay $100 per month to be extremely average at all aspects of fighting, but good in no particular area. If all you care about is getting a small sweat in, learn basic fighting moves, and not really care about competing/training under a reputable instructor, then EMA is good enough I suppose. If your goal is to compete and learn under an accredited instructor, there are much better schools than EMA in the Franklin/Nashville area worth training at such as Nashvile MMA, Brentwood BJJ, or Nemesis MMA in nearby Murfreesboro. read more