REACT Defense Systems/Krav Maga of Phoenix

I signed up here a few years ago when they were still on 32^nd street and Greenway. It looks like their «practice» hasn’t changed much. At first I was excited to learn a new art (I have over 15 years of martial arts experience). But then after a few weeks realized that it’s just a money making scheme where they trickle in a few moves to make you think you are effective in a fight. They had the advanced class next to the beginners (my class) at the time, and just watching the advanced students practice made me realize I could seriously injure 90% of their students in a real fight as a beginner. Well, when I tried to get out of the contract I realized that I was locked in and was on the hook for the $ 1200 annual contract. Let me tell you that anyone that forces their students to stay locked In a contract is in it for the money not for trying to make people better. Long story short I made up some fake documents to pretend that I had moved to a different state and was able to cancel the contract after jumping through some hoops. Thank god. I’d never step in their gym again. If you find a true KM school, don’t hesitate as it is truly an effective fighting style.

Loved the training here, the instructors are wonderful (my personal favorite was Laura, she was very motivating). I learned so much from them and felt really good about my workouts and health. The reason I’m only giving this place 3 stars instead of 5 is because the customer service was HORRIBLE! First of all my first «trial» class costed me $ 20 (joys exact words) yet after I signed up everyone else seemed to have a free first class, got the feeling I was ripped off (of course didn’t realize it till I was locked into my contract). When I joined I was told for anyone you bring in that signs up for a term they would discount your rate at the time of renewal. Well as it turns out that wasn’t true, when I asked about this (my friend had signed up for a year per my recommendation) they said that I was at a rate they couldn’t discount… funny because I remember confirming more than once I would get a discount. Also my friend that signed up wanted out of her contract a couple months early, and wanted to see if she could work out an arrangement or see what her options were. she called several times with no return call from joy. It was like pulling teeth. I was surprised after spending all that money for a year that when your contract ends they literally do nothing… wouldn’t you think that people who are part of this would be the best ones to market? Nope apparently a phone call or email about renewing a contract or finding out how the experience was wasn’t even considered. Again the instructors here are wonderful and they really taught me so much. If this place would learn from their unhappy customers and change their customer service they would be getting 5 stars across the board.

Not worth the price. They will not let you break contract. You either have to move far away, break a bone or sustain permanent injury, or buy out your contract at ½ the price, which considering that it is like $ 1500 a year is still A LOT of money. I’m stuck paying for something that I don’t have the money to do anymore… Only do this if you’re seriously dedicated.

Love this place! Their desire to help everyone find confidence in self defense is so evident. This isn’t just a fitness for ‘show’ or a martial arts studio to earn a belt for your wall. This is the real deal where they teach everyone, regardless of your fitness level, experience level or self confidence level, how to protect themselves and their loved ones in real life situations.
Our whole family has enrolled and our family time now consists of comparing elbow strikes around the dinner table! Fitness, family time and self defense. Such a great combo!
Jay, Joy and Jenna helped make our enrollment process super easy and Lara, Josh, Josh and Zu make our classtimes real, understandable and practical. Each time we come, we leave with more strength in our minds and bodies and more tools at our disposal in case the dreaded attack comes to pass.

Great place to get in shape and learn self defense in a safe environment with talented experienced instructors! Would recommend this place highly!

A variety of great classes, high energy, knowledgeable instructors & multiple locations. If you get injured or sick they claim to pro-​rate which is inaccurate. You pay full price as they have little control of their third party billing company who is relentless. It’s worth the hefty tab if you go multiple times weekly, you will learn how to protect yourself, however use a cc in case of a dispute.

Nine months ago after my 59^th birthday I found my self-​overweight at 220 pounds, and on three medications.
I had high cholesterol, high bold pressure, and high blood sugar.
My weekly routine and diet was no different than my friends -, work no exercise, and meeting my friends twice a week for dinner eating pizza and Mexican food.
One Tuesday at our regular pizza night some of my friends started reminiscing about what good shape they were in back in the day. Everyone agreed that those days were behind us; alas we were all in our late fifties.
The next week I went shopping for a new health insurance policy and discovered that by following my doctors orders and taking the medications I was now considered either a high risk or uninsurable. The system I trusted and followed was now slowly killing me.
I knew all had to change, so I sat down at my computer and searched the Internet for a health and exercise solution, but what would I do? Lifting weights was out of the question, it was boring and it made my shoulders’ hurt, I tried the Insanity work out video but after eight weeks I was bored silly.
After viewing your website and noting that your location wasn’t too far I decided to give REACT Defense a try.
One week later I was hooked. The workouts were intense and the degree of difficulty was up to me.
How much I improved depended upon how much effort I was willing to put out.
One month later one of your instructors, Laura challenged me (as she still does to this day God Bless her) and asked why I wasn’t also taking Tactical Black, and I started the next day.
Thanks to you and your entire staff nine months later I now weigh 195 pounds. I am no longer on any medication, my blood sugar and cholesterol are low, my blood pressure is normal, and my resting heartbeat is 61 BPM.
I now follow your diet recommendations which means I eat right I do not starve myself and I feel great.
In nine months I have never done the same workout, your staff always keeps things fresh, your facilities are top notch and everything is kept safe.
It shows how much Jay, Josh and all of your instructors truly care about our progress and believe in Krav Maga as the best defense system as I do.
Unlike going to the gym, every time I get in my truck to come to class I get excited, and can’t wait to start.

Couldn’t have experience worse customer service. Any martial art or self-​defense system should have humility and a focus on people and passion for learning & teaching at heart. Instead, after walking in hoping to continue to pick up where my previous training in grad-​school left off, I was told that they weren’t «interested» once they found out I am a strength & conditioning coach. I simply told the woman, that I am there to learn, not to coach & she then stated that they don’t want people «stealing their methods» as if I was going to teach the baseball, football and high-​school athletes I worked with Krav Maga at a performance training facility focused on speed, power and agility.
Two more co-​workers went in, including my girlfriend and it was the same song but different verse. Disappointed that there are «teachers» out there that are so self conscious that they think not opening their doors to everyone willing to learn will somehow preserve and grow their business.
Side note* their pricing is also ridiculous. Locked in contracts that are clearly focused on money and forced retention.

Awesome awesome place and the instructors are amazing! I love the confidence I feel walking out of class, like I am ready to take on the world!

Love this place! I’ve trained in all locations! Instructors are professional and knowledgeable. Great for all levels of training. I’m always sad when class is over. Highly recommend!

Fantastic place to learn Krav Maga and workout. My two sons have been going to React Defense Systems, RDS, for years and they finally convinced me to go. I love it and it’s too bad I didn’t go earlier!
The instructors and facility are top notch. As a beginner, the instructors made me feel welcome and motivated even though my skills were untrained. After two weeks, I can feel, see, and hear the difference. I love smacking the bag with sweaty fists and feet and seeing the sweat fly.
If you are looking for intense conditioning, then RDS is the place. If you are looking for life saving skills, then RDS is still the place. Learn a great life skill, become fitter, and have fun.
I agree with AZ Central: RDS is the best boxing/​martial art facility in Arizona.
In closing, I’d recommend RDS to anyone and I apologize to everyone for not being creative enough to think of something funny or flippant.
Oh did I mention this is one of the few places in the world where parents and their kids can legally beat on each other and enjoy it?! When was the last time your son hit you? ;-)

I have a membership at this place and I happened to look it up while on Unilocal for other things. I think Dominick’s review is unfair. If he was escorted out, yeah … that kinda sucks but is his review really indicative of the typical experience? Probably not. So I think it’s really a shame to have the star ratings for the place impacted by such a review.
Here’s what the place is really like: intense, real-​life, the best training I’ve ever received (and like Dominick I’ve studied many martial arts, though I’m not a trainer), and … very expensive.
I had a good amount of jiu-​jitsu muscle memory from former training and the first thing pointed out to me is «throwing a guy to the ground in a fight is just a bad idea». Honestly, I didn’t really buy it at first, but the fact is that they’re right. There are a number of things along these lines that got my self-​defense training out of the theoretical realm and into the real world. That’s what react-​defense is good at… TRULY real world self defense tactics.
They’re also very good at an intense workout if that’s what you’re looking for, but … though I really enjoy the place you can probably get a better deal elsewhere for that. The prices are really are built for those looking to train for self-​defense IMHO.
They choose to not disclose pricing until after an introductory class is given so I will respect that but I’ll say it ain’t cheap and you shouldn’t expect it will be.
Also, I’ve heard other students complain that not only are the dues high but you need to continually spend other money as well. They also try to sell you stuff constantly, though it’s not a hard sell. I think those are fair statements. Fact is your dues are only one part of your monetary commitment. After dues, you need to wear the Krav t-​shirts if you continue to attend Krav classes. Once you are proficient you are invited to join the tactical black program (which is awesome!) at an even higher monthly price. Seminars cost money and they are required if you wish to move up in the tactical levels — but the semiars are f’ing amazing. Gear is required for tactical classes and will cost you money. So… it sounds expensive because it is but with the exception of krav t-​shirts those expenses are choices that you as a customer choose to take on after joining.
The good news about the expenses is that your fellow students will be very, very good people. I’ve been to too many dojos where fools run their mouths, kick your a** to show how tough they are and are people you think will probably steal your wallet when you’re not looking. This is *not* such a place. Everyone here is a professional.
React Defense has the best training, the best people and the most locations to attend. It’s great for beginners and also experienced martial artists. If you want to make a commitment (both financial and personal) to learning truly practical self defense and are willing to WORK. This place is for you.
At least that’s my opinion…

So I’ve been going now for 2 months and figured I’d give a little bit of an update.
The GOOD that I mentioned earliar is still all there… I am enjoying Krav very much and have recently started doing a bit of Bag and Core classes also. I am not a huge fan of Core classes as they remind me of Gym classes which are boring and dont keep me engaged. The bag class is really fun because you are punching and kicking the whole time. The Krav class is amazing… but I got to admit that going 2 – 3 times a week… I’ve started to learn everything they have to teach in this beginer class. What does this mean you ask? I’m glad you asked.
This means I need to move into the more Advanced class like Fight or Tactical Black. Here is the issue with this… it costs more money. Now I’m not a cheapskate by any means but since I’m already paying $ 120/​mo for basic Krav… going to $ 160/​mo is just a little brutal for what you get in return. I mean the only thing that $ 40/​mo extra is paying for is the ability to move up a class… you have to buy the equipment yourself so its not like you are getting equipment they have to pay for or anything. Kinda sucks.
Obviously this leads me to the BAD/​UGLY I mentioned before. It very much a money driven orginization. I was cornered after about a month and told that I needed to sign up for a year if I wanted my 3 month membership to apply towards the year. I never knew I only had 1 month to decide… I thought I could play out the 3 months and then decide… but I guess I missed the fine print.
The equipment you can buy there is also marked up big time, as I found the same equipment I bought for cheaper elsewhere.
Anyway, overall I still rate this place ⁵⁄₅ and am having a great time and met some really cool people here and still try to recruit my co-​workers to join… I just wish FIGHT and Tactical Black was all part of the same package… I dont agree with charging more for taking a different class… bleh.

I have been doing Martial Arts for years now and have had the pleasure to work with many great trainers. I have studied Tae Kwon Do, Chuan Fa Kenpo, Krav Maga, Jiu Jitsu, Judo, Aikido. In all my expreiences I have never been so offended and dissapointed with a school. I recentlly moved to AZ back in June and have been looking for a place to train. I visited REACT with one of my peers who was also very interested. Upon arrival we were impressed. The location is clean, great size class rooms, equipment well maintained. We were greeted by a young man who collected our personal information and gave us a tour. During the tour my friend mentioned that we were personal trainers. Instantly our tour was stopped an we were escorted to the door.
First, Krav Maga is a very simplified and very affective system for self defense. It’s not rocket science and doesn’t take years to learn. REACT is not any different from any other school.
Second, we weren’t there as trainers we were there as potential clients. We do very well and don’t need to fight with other trainers or studios for work.
Third, any quality school or instructor teaches because the live an breath there discipline. They do it because it’s there passion. They exchange that knowledge with others because they want to share. They care about their students like family. This school is obviously focused on the commercial side. The only thing they really care about is your money!
I can’t say anything about the quality of training because we were never even given the opportunity.