American Kickboxing Academy

I started taking boxing lessons at this gym a few months ago. At first, I wasn’t sure this would be the right place for me, as I am a gray haired guy in my 50s and most of the students are younger. I am glad I walked through the door. The instructors are excellent, and the students are genuinely interested in the martial arts. The are no big egos here, only people who are interested in improving their skills and sharing their knowledge. Given the quality of the training and instruction, I think the price is almost too good of a deal.

I brought my son to the gym to check it out. He was really wanting to study Jiu Jitsu. I checked out the website, and it seemed fine. Seeing as he’s only 9, bringing him into a «real» martial arts gym scared me a bit, as I studied in other dojo’s that were definitely more for a mature crowd. Being AKA, one of the top gyms for training stars in the UFC and other fighting orgs, I wasn’t sure how invested the instructors would be in training my slightly overweight, athletically challenged, but highly enthusiastic son. I was put at ease as soon as I met and spoke with the Head Instructor and GM, Alex K, a very decorated fighter with a ton of credentials. He doesn’t put on «airs» like most fighters do. Hes very down to earth, very patient and seems totally invested in helping kids of all skill levels, athletic abilities, body builds to not only make themselves better, but to show respect, and treat martial arts and the people around you with honor. Plus he just seems like a good dude. My son has been going for 6 weeks now, and hes already doing much better. The guys are easy to be around, and its great to see so many people focused on learning. Anthony is great too. So far it has been a positive experience and I would highly recommend AKA for kids and adults. Watching my son is bringing the itch back for me. Maybe Ill get back out there too. If I do, Anthony, Alex and the rest of the staff will do a great job with me, Im sure of it.

I was in CA just for two weeks, I live in Brooklyn, where I train at Tiger Schilmanns MMA. After reading great reviews on Unilocal,and after trying a couple other schools in the Silicon Valley (unsuccessfully), I decided to train at AKA Sunnyvale. Wow, what a great time I had. Mike is an AMAZING instructor. The team that he built there is amazing, too. Jerry (brown belt, teaches when Mike is not around), Sarah, Sunny, Chester… Everyone was helpful, patient, nice and technical. No offense to my team Tiger Schulmann’s which I love and will never leave, but here, in CA Mike’s team trains in kimonos (we do NoGi in New York City), they mix guys and girls. So out there on the mat it does not matter what gender you are, it only matters what you’ve got. I was sad to leave, and hope to come back and train next time I am here. Alex (boxing and kickboxing instructor) is amazing, too. Would love to see him and our sensei Nissim Levy in the ring:) Thank you guys.

I had to find a good training gym after moving back down to the South Bay from Oakland. I decided to check out AKA-​Sunnyvale since they were under 2 miles from my office. After walking through the doors, I was greeted by Alex who runs the gym. He was so receptive and helpful with going through the different programs they offer and breaking them down by price point. I decided on the boxing/​kickboxing combo and I’ve never been happier with my fitness routine.
The boxing instructor, John, is very kind, helpful and non-​intimidating. Anthony and Zack teach the kickboxing classes and they’ve also designed a similar environment to John’s boxing class. The environment at AKA and the skill-​set of the instructors is top-​notch and I could never see myself training anywhere else.
Thank you Alex, John, Anthony and Zack for all you do– working out has gone from being a chore to a hobby for me. I’d recommend AKA to anyone looking to take their training to the next level.

I experienced issues with promotion for the boys, thus contradicting the teaching of self confidence. I felt insulted on a few occasions but still kept my son there because there were no other MMA institutions. Now we will try out the new UFC spot on wolf rd in Sunnyvale, or AKA in San Jose. In all fairness my sons got a leg up on jujitsu moves. That is what Alex is good at teaching Most folks probably will not experience what I went through, I was out spoken and thought a MMA place should have more kicking. Later I realized this place is based on BJJ. And kicking is downed played, It was a hard way to find this out so I recommend this place only if your into the ground combat game. We got what we needed and now we wrestle with Fremont High School with some of the best coaches in the state. And guess what? after over 35 years in MMA I discovered you can get the best training from some places for FREE!, e.g. every Sunday at 9am to 11am 7 to 20 years old can train in wrestling by the Legend, coach Mr. Lawson, and other accredited coaches at fremont high school wrestling gym! for free! P. S. I get angry thinking about years later, now Alex of aka has his own new family, two kids, and I hope he meets an ass like himself. Ounce I sat in on one of the adult classes, he asked what I was doing there? I really felt uncomfortable, but my real beef with him is how he treated my son. My son could beat all of his kids yet he made us beg for the yellow belt we paid for. 6 years at $ 150 a month for two sons. WTF? My son lost face and never wore the yellow belt because it felt dishonorable. Yea Alex how ever your feeling reading this is how you made us feel.

Aka Sunnyvale is awesome no doubt. Make sure you come here on what martial arts you want to learn because there’s a bunch taught over here.
Here are the Pros I likes so far:
The coaches here are really nice.
Gym has crossfit
But you have to pay extra for that.
Best place to for bjj.
Cons:
Gym is small
Little bit expensive

Trained here for over a year, one of the best place to learn and perfect kick boxing and for cross fit as well.
Alex the coach for kickboxing and the owner is a great person and is very professional. Michelle is a great trainer for cross fit.
I felt very fit and alive hitting this place 5 times a week, unfortunately due to crazy amount of work, I am not able to spend time to train anymore, but given a chance I really doubt I would train at any other place other than AKA!

I began training Jiu-​Jitsu on Maui and instantly fell in love with it. I come from a great team that’s like a family to me. So when my girlfriend needed to move for a job opportunity, it was very hard for me to have to leave the gym. It was harder for me to leave them, than to leave the beautiful weather and beaches on Maui. Since I follow the MMA world and knew about the big name American Kickboxing Academy, so we set our eyes on San Jose. We searched for a great area to live at around all 3 AKA gyms and found that Sunnyvale was a great area for us to live at. So I contacted Alex while still on Maui and he sounded very welcoming. In August of 2011 we made the move and the very next day I visited the gym for a Jiu-​Jitsu class. From this point I began to do the gi and nogi classes. The nogi classes at the time were taught my Mitch K, and let me tell you, these classes made my speed and wrestling skill increase vastly! Now let me tell you about the One World Jiu-​Jitsu program taught by coach Mike P, this program trains champions! Mike is very detailed in the way he teaches, and constantly pushes you to improve your skill level and cardio. He also has a great way of communicating with the team as a whole, to keep us motivated, to keep us driving to be the best team possible. I never thought that I could be part of another team that is so close like a family after leaving Maui. These guys instantly were all very welcoming and are a group I can now call my family. They drive me not only to be a great practitioner, but to also be a great team member. I made the right choice of joining AKA Sunnyvale.

AKA SV is a great gym to train in the martial arts of kickboxing and BJJ. For the more ambitious you can even get top notch MMA training and step into the cage. I have been coming to AKA SV for 18 months now and have met many fun and interesting people. The gym draws from all walks of life with a wide range of occupations, ages, men and women. All are treated with respect and encouraged to develop to their full potential. The coaches have a lot of experience in their fields and it shows in the quality of instruction here at AKA SV. Training is fun and if you start training consistently you will change your body, mind and life!

Came here by route of my Jiu Jitsu instructor, Mike Prudencio, taking on Sunnyvale as a 2^nd location (in addition to One World Jiu Jitsu in Union City, which is my home base).
Honestly, had my skepticism about the place given the stigma that comes with «MMA» gyms, where you wonder about the motivations and the environment … is it about the love of martial arts or is packed with people who just watched the UFC and decided this was their calling in life. I like to form my opinions on facts, so I went to an open mat on a Saturday and was instantly hooked. Have been a regular on Saturdays ever since and pop in on other days when I can. Feels like I am home, no different than when I am at Union City.
Hopefully that is interpreted as a complete compliment to the coaches and crew. The gym is usually buzzing from Jiu Jitsu to Kickboxing to Crossfit. .. you can feel it! It is definitely a family environment and you will absolutely be welcomed into the fold. All we ask is that you check your ego at the door.
Would highly recommend to all!

This review is for CrossFit ESV, run by Michelle. I was a regular for the latter portion of last year (signed up with a Groupon and officially signed up afterward), and Michelle is the nicest and most caring coach I have ever had. The space is small, but the workouts are intense and immensely rewarding.
I’m no longer attending due to relocation, but I highly, highly, highly recommend the CrossFit program here. This is a no-​brainer 5-​stars.

Warning, this review is quite long since it is reviewing my secondary home for the past three years.
This review is for the following aspects:
Kickboxing
Judo
Brazilian Jiu-​Jitsu (BJJ)
Crossfit
I started looking into martial arts to learn in 2010 and decided to drop by AKA-​SV for their free trial period. I was fairly active in college (some light weightlifting, completed P90x, danced, dragonboat, etc) so I thought I would be able to pick up the material and just go with it without breaking a sweat.
I was extremely wrong. When I first started, I only did Kickboxing. The cathartic feeling as your fists and shins connect with the pads are addictive. Classes consist of warmups, shadoboxing, jump roping, and drills. The instructors always demo the drills and are walking around correcting form and answering questions. Kickboxing will make you sweat and is a very fun form of cardio! Sparring on Fridays (and in the advanced classes) are also a blast.
I started doing Judo and BJJ (along with Kickboxing) a month in. I actually dropped Kickboxing 6 months later because I felt like I was overextending myself and wanted to focus on these two grappling arts.
Judo: Was under the instruction of Arkadiusz Zaczek but unfortunately due to low attendance, this program is no longer offered at this time (as of 3÷1÷2013).
BJJ: Has Mike Prudencio teaching Mon, Wed, and Sat (competition) classes and Alex Khanbabian teaching the Tues, Th Fundamentals classes. Due to my work schedule, I usually only got to go to the Fundamentals classes. These classes focus on positioning (knowing where your hands go, basic sweeps, escapes, attacks, etc). Classes start with a ~15 minute warmup followed by drills. Then there is usually around 20 minutes of review or new material and then 10 – 20 minutes of rolling (sparring).
Both Alex and Mike are very attentive, clearly enunciating and demonstrating the new moves several times before having the class practice. During the drills, they will also go around answering questions and correcting form as needed. When there are tournaments, they usually do their best to show up so they can coach you from the sidelines as well.
Crossfit is run by Michelle and it makes me want to cry (in a good way). When I did my first workout, I was all like «psht, I throw PEOPLE into the GROUND. I choke men out with my THIGHS. How hard can this be?» Halfway through my workout, these petite females were breezing past me, doing shoulder presses with more weight than I could even get up past my knees. I was extremely humbled and have had a blast since! I usually go to the 6:30 AM class which has a smaller but rather consistent group. Michelle is always there in the morning with a smile cheering us on and helping me correct my form whenever I start to waver.
Pros:
Friendly Staff
Excellent Instruction
Warm Environment
Welcoming to Newcomers (please check your Ego at the door. I did not and was severely humbled)
Cons:
Parking can be difficult during peak hours since it is right next to a large 24 hour fitness
Some of the evening classes can get cramped due to the large amount of participants and limited space
TL;DR — Excellent gym with great people and a great atmosphere no matter what activity you choose to sign up for.

I came here since they first opened. The BJJ and kickboxing class gets pretty crowded so there is no time for one on one wit the instructor. Great place to learn ground and stand up work. Alex is cool guy. I was sad that Bobby left but got a great instructor that replaced him.

Was traveling for the holidays and wanted to find a CrossFit facility. Found CrossFit East Sunnyvale. It’s part of AKA’s facility. At any rate, Coach Michelle was so warm and personable, the equipment was all very good and it’s fully equipped. The other CrossFitters were also very friendly. From what I can tell, most of the classes are relatively small which let you have plenty of space and allows the coaches to spend special attention to you. Most CrossFit boxes are pretty friendly but CFES really stood out. Very, very welcoming to out-​of-​towners and if I lived in the area, I could see this being my home «box.»

It had been a couple of years since I’ve really worked out. Yes, I run after the kiddos and take our hulking dog out for nightly walk/​jogs. That helps keep any extra poundage off, but doesn’t actually help me put an end to my jiggly parts. I have been wanting to get back into a workout routine, but it’s hard to make the time when you work full-​time and have a family to balance. Several months ago I started purchasing a bunch of deals where you can trial different places for about a month or so at a time. I was searching for the workout that I could connect with… that not only whipped my @ss back into shape, but kept me motivated and didn’t keep me in the gym for long hours at a time.
Enter AKA Sunnyvale. I came here on a referral from a very good friend for CrossFit.
The workouts are always intense and never boring. I both look forward to and dread when it’s time to head in. ;) Now, as hard as everything is, let me tell you… the people here are amazing. Friendly, knowledgeable, supportive, helpful… everything you hope for when starting out. They understand how to create a positive environment and keep it that way. There are no attitudes here.
I’ve worked with Coaches Atsushi, Nick and mostly Michelle. Their positivity always keeps me upbeat, even though there are times I’m ready to throw in the towel. I love that they continuously check my form & technique, and help me out with corrections when needed. Michelle pushes me each time and I never think I can keep going, or try for the heavier weight. In the end though, I make it through the work out having done more than I thought I could. It’s a great feeling, even though a part of me just wants to run outside and throw up! ;-D
Seriously though, Crossfit is tough $hit. But the hard work pays off, really! I feel better… stronger… faster. I may not be the 6 million dollar man, but I am definitely more Confident. That’s worth it’s weight in gold fo sho.
Next step is to add Kickboxing to my routine and if my friend has it his way… Jiu Jitsu too. Oh boy… here we go again with the pain… I will update my review once I find my balls and get rolling on that next chapter. ;)

Ive tried out San Jose Boxing on McKee, Academy of Self Defense in Santa Clara, and Fairtex in Mountain view… and i’m going to stick with my 2 stars «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» I came here for a free trial and a girl was working at the front desk. She didn’t have much knowledge of the place. i asked her questions like «how big do the classes get?» and she was very vague with her responses «uhm it gets a good amt». hmm doesn’t help me much. She also tried too hard on getting me to sign up. The last thing i wanted was to be put on the spot and to deal with sales people… i came to check out the class to see if it was right for me and that will determine my decision — not some sales pitches.
So after dealing with sales — i started my class. It was about 10 people — about 4 girls (including me). The facility isn’t very big — you had BJJ on one end, Boxing in the middle, then the Xfit class on the other end of the gym. Since the facility was so small, the warmup was kind of uncomfortable bc you had to share this small space. It was also distracting bc you were either next to BJJ or Xfit. Again — would be much better if the facility was bigger. Warmup consisted of shadowboxing, and over-​unders. We worked on combinations with some partners. I sensed a ego vibe from a lot of the guests. The instructor was quiet — so the students were quiet… which kind of killed my motivation. I ended up just going through the motions. Its a small class so i was hoping that the instructor paid attention to all of the students equally but he didn’t come by me very much to provide any feedback or even ask if i liked the class after. However he did pay a lot of attention to the veteran students. And they gotta air the place out some more… got very hot and humid in there.
Maybe i just happened to come on a day when everyone wasn’t feeling it but i don’t think i’ll be coming back to this gym. I was rooting for you AKA but ya let me down :(

I signed up with Alex around 2007. Liked this place very much for only two classes (more on that later). The class was smallish, around 8 – 10 mostly friendly students.
After my second BJJ class, the guy who had suggested this place to me wanted to roll. «OK» I said. He wanted to work on making stuff up. «No, I don’t want to; just want to work on drilling that move a little more.» He agreed to that, and so we started out that way.
Then he started doing some other stuff, probably «making stuff up», going 100%. I tapped. He kept going. I tapped again. He kept going. I said «tap» loud. He kept going.
He had me in a loose guard and so I stood up out of that and then he did something that is not BJJ at all. He kicked my right knee from the outside, hard. I heard three pops. Mind you, this was BJJ, not MMA free sparring. There aren’t any kicks in Jiu-​jitsu. All of that happened probably in under two minutes.
Alex, a brown belt at the time, was on the mat about 8 feet away. He apparently did not notice any of that.
My knee was so badly injured that I had to quit the school. I could not do normal activities like getting in and out of the car. I had no health insurance and went to a chiropractor and paid out of pocket. The chiropractor said that the meniscus cartilage seemed to be damaged and the MCL was probably sprained.
I limped for 6 months. The knee was loose, wobbly, inhibited, and clicking ever since. I moved back to SF, rehabbed myself using bicycle and weights and bought a Gi, intending to return to BJJ.
In 2010, I began parkour and in 2011, I returned to jiu-​jitsu at CCSF.
I reinjured that knee in 2011. I did have insurance so I got an MRI and confirmed a healed sprain on the MCL and a torn ACL.
I am now weeks out of ACL reconstructive surgery where meniscus cartilage was also sewn together. (I am not very happy with the result of that but that is another story).
I don’t blame Alex for the injury and I would train with Alex again, definitely.
I don’t mean to scare anyone away but I wish that somebody (like the guy I was rolling with) had been paying attention. So I give this place 3 stars, based on my two classes as a beginner.
Although it is not possible to watch everybody all the time, somewhat better awareness could have potentially helped avoid my lame knee problem.
I believe that if I had not had that initial injury, I would not have had a reinjury. I believe that the injury changed my life significantly.
The lesson I learned — take this with you — is to never roll with an aggressive beginner.
I will return to Jiu-​jitsu, pending successful rehab.

A year ago I weighed in at 330 pounds. Realizing that things were not going well I started a diet and working out. I lost some of the weight as most people do when dieting but I found my motivation lacking. I joined AKA on attended my first day in May of 2010. Since joining AKA I have been motivated to lose weight and excercise. Today I weigh 228 and well on my goal weight of 200 pounds, which is reasonable for someone who is 6 foot 4.
The workouts are intense but rewarding. Many times I have found my motivation lacking so I walked into the gym dressed ready to go and let the environment and the instructor motivate me. Only a few times did I have to do this, most days I look forward to my workout. In fact many days I am surprised when the hour is up and the work out is complete. Going to the gym is the most important part of any workout.
One of the great benefits of learning boxing or kick boxing is learning a skill and getting a workout at the same time. For me working out only for the intent of getting into shape is difficult as noticeable results sometimes take weeks. At AKA I work out to learn a skill, have fun, build self confidence, and push myself to be better in every way, getting into shape is secondary. I might not be able to see the results of my workout every day but I notice the results in my cardio, strength, and technique.
The instructors are great and always willing to help. My only wish is that I was younger so I could put the skills I am learning here to use in the cage. Even if you do not plan on fighting you will learn the skills used by the professional fighters.

Want to choke or knock someone out?
WELL THIS IS THE PLACE FOR YOU!
Great instructors and people. Learn how to do jiu-​jitsu or kickbox in the same day! The way they schedule the hours works perfectly for me so I can do some boxing then roll around with some sweaty men after my boxing class.
The instructors teach the classes really well so you do not have to worry about doing the gay tae bo billy banks workout. Expect to learn how to really punch, kick, choke people out and do it with the right form.
Hope to see you there!

I promised Alex a review, so here we go:
I trained at AKA for four weeks over winter break and found the place to be made entirely of awesomeness. First of all, they were very accommodating when they found out that I was only going to train for four weeks, since one generally has to sign a lengthy contract with these sorts of gyms. There was also no limit on the number of classes per week you could attend, unlike another place I looked at which had a limit of 2 class per week for the same price as AKA. They also waived the enrollment fee, so I was able to create a sort of «jiu jitsu boot camp» for two weeks for a very reasonable price. And while I was a bit disappointed that their automatic biller tried to bill me for the following month, this issue was quickly cleared up after I called them.
The training was of similar awesomeness. Not only do they have the biggest mat space I’ve ever seen in my life, but they have the coolest people ever! Everyone was super-​nice and worked well with my skill level (which has a lot of gaps). The instructor, Bobby, was very knowledgeable and presented everything simply, but was able and willing to answer most specific technical questions if they came up. Bobby was also really serious about my previous elbow injury and thoughtfully reminded everyone to stay away from it. Although there was no class over the week of New Year, they still had open mat during the week, which was a different sort of atmosphere, but still very cool, and people didn’t mind when I bothered them with questions. ^_​^
I’m definitely coming back here the next chance I get.