Coach Joe brings more than 50 years in martial arts, a 4th-degree Krav Maga black belt under GM Itay Gil, and decades of real-world protection and defensive-tactics experience to the training floor.
Joseph Edmondson built the Krav Maga program at Next Level around one idea: self-defense has to actually work when it counts. Everything about how the classes are taught comes back to that.
Those credentials matter because they shape what gets taught, how pressure is introduced, and the standard students are held to.
Earned directly under Grandmaster Itay Gil in 2021. The system taught here comes through a real lineage with defined level standards.
Coach Joe started on the mat as a young kid in Tae Kwon Do and never stopped. He has trained more than 10,000 students.
Real protection work, not theory. It is why awareness, positioning, and judgment are part of every class.
Certified defensive tactics instructor and an NRA and USCCA firearms instructor.
Formal training in how people actually perceive, decide, and move under stress, which shapes how pressure is scaled in class.
Arizona Representative for the Federation of Israeli Martial Arts (FIMA) and Western Regional Director of Operations for P.T.I.A. and ALEX.
8th-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, 2nd Dan in Hapkido, and a brown belt in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu under Master Royler Gracie and Professor Quan Phu.
World Champion martial artist, 12-time Martial Arts Hall of Fame inductee, and featured on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX, Good Morning America, and ESPN+.
Why this background changed how the school teaches.
I earned my 4th-degree Krav Maga black belt directly under Grandmaster Itay Gil in 2021, after decades of training and teaching self-defense. A rank through a real lineage means the techniques have been tested, refined, and passed down with a standard behind them, and it means I keep developing as an instructor, not just teaching what I learned once.
The protection work changed the teaching more than anything. When you have spent years responsible for other people's safety, you learn that awareness comes before force, that pressure has to be scaled so the skill actually builds, that you train the problems people really face, and that judgment matters more than choreography. Those four things are the standard in every class here.
Fifty-plus years in, I am still on the mat. You will usually find me training right alongside you, holding myself to the same standard I ask of every student.
Recognizing trouble early and getting out is the first skill taught, because it is the one you will use most.
You learn the movement first. Resistance increases as your technique and composure improve, never before.
Techniques are chosen for problems people actually face, and advanced students train the decision, not just the move.
The academy itself has served the Valley since 1993. That track record is how you verify the culture: read the reviews, then come stand in the room for two weeks.
Training value based on the current month-to-month membership rate.
Two weeks is enough time to experience the coaching, the pace, and the culture without a long-term decision first.
Krav Elite and Krav Accelerated begin with a qualification call. Private Training has its own first-lesson offer.
Two weeks. Fourteen dollars. Learn from a coach with a real lineage and a real reason for teaching what he teaches.
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