East Coast School of Self Defense, Boca Raton

At Haastyle Martial Arts Academy, instructors focus on teaching their students safety and proper technique, while maintaining a positive, non-competitive environment. Their style of choice is the Counterpoint Tactical System—a discipline with roots in Filipino martial arts that covers armed and unarmed training, as well as kickboxing, grappling, and ground fighting. By demonstrating focused strikes, locks, and throws, the black belts on staff enable students to carry their lessons over from the classroom to the real world.

The academy offers sessions for students as young as 3 years old, among them are junior and adult programs that include a fitness element, channeling the resistance of bodyweight to tone muscle. As they progress through different class levels, students learn to fight with sticks and other weapons in addition to their fists and their pointiest elbow. The curriculum even includes a Doce Pares stick-fighting program, which draws from other styles such as Aikido and Judo.