Today we’d like to introduce you to Adam Mora.
Hi Adam, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I started my journey in Krav Maga in 2011 while living in Norther Virginia. I am born in raised in Orange County, California, but had taken a promotion that required me to relocate to NOVA, where I did not know anyone. In pursuit of meeting people outside the office where I worked, I decided to give a local Krav Maga studio a try. So I walked in to First Defense Krav Maga, owned by lead instructor Nick Masi, and tried a class. It was a good experience, and it had its intended result. I was meeting new people, and since the studio had some events outside of training, I was able to have a friend group outside of the folks I knew at the office. It was nice to have some separation.
As time went on, a few years had gone by I had gained a rank of Practitioner Level 3, completed my GIC 1, and gained certificates in surviving a home invasion, and fighting tactics. Then kind of out of nowhere I was given the opportunity to move back to Southern California and lead a team. I was extremely happy, but it kind of hit me out of nowhere, that it could potentially be the end of my training in Krav. I was actually a little shocked how sad that made me. So, I started looking to see if there were any studios back home. To be honest I didn’t have high hopes, because I am very familiar with the area we were moving to, as I had grown up there. Low and behold, a Krav Maga Studio, who trained in the same system as I do had opened up around the corner from where we would be living.
I contacted the owner there and discussed my situation, and he totally invited me with open arms into his studio. So, I was able to come home and be closer to my family, and keep this newly found passion going in a good direction.
In California I trained at Krav Maga XD in Costa Mesa, California under lead instructor Joey Karam. In my time there I gained the rank of Graduate Level 3, and gained certificates in Anti Carjacking, and Tactical Shooting. I also gained certification to be an instructor.
I trained and taught in Costa Mesa from 2013 to 2020, and then the pandemic shut down the studio, and my wife and I made the decision to move to the Central Coast, Grover Beach to be exact.
Not having the opportunity to train left a really big void in my life, and couple that with the pandemic, which I believe had its own mental health effects on everyone I knew I had to do something. So, I started training my wife. (I am pretty sure she started as a way to help give me an outlet) Within a year we were teaching in a park near our house for free and had a few people coming out to learn. We then purchase our home in Paso Robles, and it became more difficult to teach at parks because the weather was more extreme than it was in 5 Cities.
So I did some research and found that I could become a vendor at Parks & Rec in Paso Robles and they would give me a climate controlled room to teach in, for a percentage of the signups.
Since I couldn’t afford a lease payment, and didn’t really know if anyone would actually pay, I thought this was a great deal. So we shot our shot, and I created a fundamentals Krav Maga Class at Parks & Recreation.
We actually got signups!
We ran that fundamentals class, and added a intermediate class out of Parks & Rec for a little over a year, and then we were able to sublease a space from a strength and conditioning gym named Clarky’s in Atascadero, California in 2023 and we continue that relationship til this day. We have expanded and contracted over the years with members, but I now have 3 instructors that I have groomed and continue to develop through my Instructor Development program, and we have recently launched a women’s class back where we started at Parks & Rec in Paso Robles. That class is taught by one of my instructors.
So overall our studio was born out of the pandemic, so that I would not go bonkers, and started as a passion project that now is a hair more than that. We hold classes at our Atascadero location at Adobe Plaza on Monday and Wednesday Evenings at 5:40 pm and 6:30 pm, and a women’s class at Centennial Park in Paso Robles, on Tuesday & Thursday at 10:30 am.
I also give private lessons a few Thursday and Friday evenings that can be booked through my website. I also have a Development program for those who wish to become instructors, and I keep up on my training by attending events with Krav Maga Global, with the most recent being a 6 day training camp in Italy with Eyal Yanilov and other high level instructors.
We absolutely love being part of this community, participating in events like SafetyFest at Paso Robles put on by PasoSafe, National Night Out in Atascadero, which is an event that helps bridge the gap between Emergency Services, Police and the public, and putting on 2 free events a year for the community. One is a Women’s Self Defense Seminar in March to celebrate Women’s History Month, and the other being a Men’s Krav Maga Seminar to recognize Men’s Mental Health Month.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Lol, as smooth as cobblestone. It’s been a very rewarding road but it does have its struggles. Alot of it is just the straight on the job learning, and the fact that for a few years it was only me. I taught all of the classes, wrote all of the class structure, building websites and all social media. Broke all of the websites and Social Media, and then I was the IT Dept. that had to fix all of the websites and Social Media.
Then all of the Admin work, Marketing, accounting, sales, etc. All of this while working full time, and oh yeah being a husband and a dog parent. Every hour spent on the business is an hour away from my wife, family, and honestly sometimes my own health & fitness. I think all of these things are pretty normal, but they do take a toll. Even now since we are in a little bit of a contraction of members, we are making our monthly rent, buuuut that’s about it.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am actually an accountant by trade with a degree in Finance, and have spent most of my working career in the Technology Space, doing budget and forecasting. Going into the contact combat business was kinda never the plan. Since I have started the studio, I have also become a STEAM Instructor for the DoD at Camp San Luis Obispo, for the 5fth grade level.
This allows me to run the studio in the evenings, where I hope I am most well known for giving people the skills to protect themselves if they ever find themselves in a violent attack. I also believe that learning Krav Maga gives people confidence, helps them to use the proper amount of aggression effectively, and how to solve hard problems under stress.
My approach to teaching is to break things down so that you learn it conceptually so that you have the ability to use these tools wherever they can be used, rather that just give you something to regurgitate just because you know it is the right answer for a specific situation.
Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
really I have learned to believe in myself and my ability to add value to others, and something really hard for me to believe is that they know that they are getting value from me. (even enough to pay for what I have to offer). I think I have learned that entrepreneurship is a weird cross between thinking your not good enough, and knowing you have a superior product. it’s what keeps you believing you can sell your thing, but also keeps you answering every phone call and working long hours.
Pricing:
- monthly membership $118
- 12 Class Fundamentals $177
- 60 Minute Private Lesson $99
- 90 Minute Private Lesson $129
Contact Info:
- Website: https://krav-maga-xdslo-county.gymdesk.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kravmagaxd_sloco/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PR93446
