Elite is the Academy’s flagship: the entire curriculum in your hands on day one, every live class we run, private one-on-one coaching with Vince or a senior instructor, and in-person training on the Academy floor. It starts with a call, not a checkout.
By application · Live & in-person training · Limited by design
Most martial arts systems touch weapons defense for a few minutes, years in, at black belt — even the systems famous for it spend a fraction of their time on the weapon. This academy does nothing else, for hours, every single day. Elite is the closest thing there is to standing on our floor: the whole system, the founders themselves, and a straight path from first disarm to Associate Instructor.
Everything the lower tracks earn over months, delivered on day one — plus the one thing no other tier has: the founders, live, beside you.
All six levels — 24 courses, around 150 videos across knife, gun, and club. Nothing drips, nothing waits. Search “knife across the throat” and every video on it appears instantly; other members only see what their track has unlocked. You see everything, from your first login.
Five live Zoom classes a week right now: your weeknight classes Monday through Thursday plus the Friday Week-in-Review. Add the Saturday session — about three hours streamed live from the Academy floor. And as we add instructors, classes, and time zones, every new class is automatically yours too.
Six private one-hour Zoom calls, scheduled around your progress. We go over where you are, fix what’s stuck, and plan what’s next. This is the only tier with one-on-one access to Vince — his time is reserved for Elite, period.
Come train with us live in Bonita Springs, Florida: group classes or private sessions on the Academy floor, included with your membership. We’ll go over exactly how much and how it works on your call.
With everything unlocked and an instructor beside you every week, the pace is yours. Serious students with training behind them have what they need to complete the program in as little as three months.
Work through the six levels and you earn Weapons Defense Specialist certificates 1 through 6. Finish the program and you earn the Associate Instructor certificate — the first rung of the instructor path. Instructor, Master Instructor, and Chief Instructor come through continued live in-person training.
Viewers already treat these breakdowns as practical, credible, and worth practicing.
Love this stuff keep showing these little defensive moves over and over.
Most of the time I think videos like this are bullshit but I believe this guy could actually do this without getting killed.
Spent over forty years in martial arts and combatives, and I must say these are the best weapons defense vids on the internet. Salute and thanks for the knowledge.
You look so natural true to life as if you were born marcial arts fighter.
Awesome stuff, teaching and practicing with family... tough times ahead potentially.
Very informative and nicely displayed, thank you W.D.A.
Phenomenal video and teacher, this instructor relaxly clothed as a normal citizen explains the correct principle and strategy better than these traditional GI cladded wannabes that many times miss the point.
He takes time to explain what is the principle that makes the technique work and the general strategy. No foreign languages, no meaningless mysticism, no crazy salutes, no crazy clothing just pure knowledge.
It kind of reminds me of when a Tech genius billionaire called Steve Jobs showed up with a black T-shirt and jeans expertly explaining a masterpiece of creative technology, very relaxed, very casual, no fluff.
This Gentleman understand the concept or the principles. It's not just for train a bunch of random techniques; going deep inside the reason why we do things the way we do.
This type of knife defense if so important. And It's so easy once you practice the right technique.
Being a correctional officer for 25 years; True a good knife fighter won't attack you like that. However when you're in that position this technique work great. I use this particular technique all the time. Works every time. GREAT TECHNIQUE GUYS!!!!!!
Hello my friends, since I found you here on YT I have read the comments of some people, they are saying that your technike don't work but honestly don't care.
I'm a fighter, I am with fighter every day and we are having a lot of fun testing your way to do things. Like I said in another occasion: It works, purely! So thank you for sharing with us.
So awesome! I never considered taking a weapon class like this but will soon.
That was awesome and this method bears the ring of truth, in my experience.
I'm a musician by training among other things. Enjoyed seeing you get close to full speed here. But I see where your actions are tied to an internal Rhythm and I'm the beat that you decide to hit the drum you hit the drum and the gun is in your hand.
Bro this old man is str8 killer I love it teach me the ways your a OH.
I have seen a few videos these last few days and I am quite impressed. You take your time to explain the principle instead of showing random techniques, I come from the world that the principle is the main thing, the technique is an illustration of the principle.
Can you do a brief video on your background it seems quite solid, well learned. I see other instructors attacking techniques from other systems but they do not show them correctly that only shows that they do not understand the principle behind the technique.
Another great video. Thank you for breaking this down. Practice, practice, practice.
Keep it up. I like the pinky move. Not sure how secure I am with the right hand grab. I honestly don't know how loose a man's fists are when surprised. Either way... impressive techniques that I have never seen before, and that is rare.
As a Hapkido practitioner, I appreciate this and would like to see more of these detailed videos. Thank you.
Good stuff - keep'em coming!
Excellent techniques...I love it...
These posts and self defense techniques are enormously helpful and empowering. Please keep posting!
Great training video. It's so painful. Be careful with your partner. Don't break their wrist's.
So so so real! Not like all of these outerspace super commandos showing bullshit that will get you deleted! Thanks for this keep up the awesome work!
I really have to laugh-not at the video or the techniques being shown, but at the comments, most of which are from people who have zero training.
A lot of people have a bunch to criticize about these techniques but I'd like to hear what they have to say when their joints are being manipulated and their wishing their toes were just a bit longer to try and alleviate the pain.
Very detailed. Thank you. Greetings from Hurth near Cologne, Germany.
Outstanding.
I'm practising navaja Style Fight since the early 80's and have still the opinion that you better don't fight a person with a knife even if you have also one. If you can better leave but sometimes you can not leave the situation so you have to fight against a knife.
I'm thankful and proud we have someone like you, teaching us great methods to protect us from mayor injuries, so thank you. I'm a big follower.
This is great. You'll get the comments saying this never happens in a real fight' etc. But if you look at real footage of situations, this is Exactly the sort of thing that happens, being threatened with a blade at odd angles. Love it.
This guy I love him. He's one of the real gems. Thanks for being so darn candid! It so much fake stuff on the tube and every where. How can I become a student?
Excellent and thank you from the U.K where knife crimes are predominant. I will practice with my 27 years and older sons using ONLY A SAFE NON HARMFUL stage knife. Cheers guys.
Your membership works in the members app for iPhone and Android — and in any browser. Watch a breakdown on your lunch break, drill it with a partner that night, and pick up exactly where you left off. Every video, every course, every certificate travels with you.
Four chief instructors. A combined 200+ years of martial arts experience. All focused on one thing.
Chief Instructor & Founder
A 10th-degree black belt with over 25 years focused specifically on defending against armed attackers. He trained in Shanghai, founded the Weapons Defense Academy, and was named Grand Master of the Year — and he's taught these exact disarms to an audience of over 1,000,000.
His method strips self-defense down to what actually works under the worst-case pressure of a knife, gun, or club — no decade of martial arts required.
Chief Instructor & Founder
A 10th-degree black belt with over 25 years focused specifically on defending against armed attackers. He trained in Shanghai, founded the Weapons Defense Academy, and was named Grand Master of the Year — and he's taught these exact disarms to an audience of over 1,000,000.
His method strips self-defense down to what actually works under the worst-case pressure of a knife, gun, or club — no decade of martial arts required.
Chief Instructor & Co-Founder
Co-founder of the Weapons Defense Academy and one of the most decorated jujitsu masters alive. Prof. Castoldi spent 60+ years developing a system of street self-defense by adding weapons defense to Wally Jay's Small Circle Jujitsu — and his fingerprints are on every technique we teach.
When Prof. Castoldi demonstrates a disarm, the biggest men in the room become believers in about three seconds.
Chief Instructor & Co-Founder
Soke (founder) of Sanshin-Ryu Jujitsu — a curriculum now recognized in 67 countries — and a former world champion competitor with a professional record of 35-5-1 with 17 knockouts. Prof. Stines brings a rare combination: academic martial arts depth and real competitive fire.
He fought in Chuck Norris' World Combat League and still teaches with that same intensity.
Chief Instructor & Co-Founder
If you ever doubted that size doesn't matter — one round with Randy will end that debate. At 5'6" and 150 lbs, he is the living proof of every principle this system is built on. He is also the engine behind the Academy's weapons library: constantly finding, testing, and memorializing new defenses.
He will kick ass on the biggest guys out there and teach you how to do the same thing.
Not ready for the flagship? Start with the $97 Accelerated Track — the same curriculum with live weekly coaching.
Elite is built around my time and my instructors’ time, and that doesn’t scale — so we keep it small and we make sure it fits. On the call we’ll talk about where you are, what you want, and exactly what’s included. If Elite isn’t the right move for you, I’ll tell you that too, and point you to the track that is.
— Vince
The lower tracks are the curriculum — self-paced at $27, twice as fast with live weekly coaching at $97. Elite is the Academy itself: everything unlocked on day one, every live class we run, six private one-on-one calls, and in-person training at the school. One-on-one time with Vince exists in this tier and nowhere else.
It’s a conversation, not a checkout page. We talk about your background, what you want out of the program, and whether Elite is the right fit — and we go over the details of the in-person training and how the program works. If it’s not right for you, we’ll point you to the track that is.
As fast as you can earn it. Everything is unlocked from day one, so nothing is gating you but the quality of your reps. Students who come in with training behind them and put in the hours have what they need to complete all six levels in as little as three months.
No. If you already train — 20, 30, 40 years in, or a professional — this bolts directly onto what you know and fills the one gap almost every system leaves open. If you have zero training, that’s fine too, sometimes easier: we start you at the top, weapon defense first, and everything else falls into place below it.
Complete the six levels and you earn Weapons Defense Specialist certificates 1–6 plus the Associate Instructor certificate. From there, the ranks of Instructor, Master Instructor, and Chief Instructor are earned through continued live in-person training with us at the Academy.
At the Weapons Defense Academy in Bonita Springs, Florida. Group classes or private sessions on the Academy floor are included with Elite — we’ll walk through exactly how that works on your call.
A 10th-degree black belt with more than fifty years in martial arts — the last twenty-five spent developing a single specialty: disarming an attacker when the weapon is already on you. He trained in Shanghai, founded the Weapons Defense Academy, was named Grand Master of the Year, and teaches these exact disarms to an audience of over a million followers. In Elite, he’s not a video library — he’s your coach.
We spend hours a day, every day, on the moment the weapon is already on you — and Elite puts you on the floor with the people who built it. The next step is a conversation.