Founder & Head Instructor
Chris
Martell
Four black belts. Teaching credentials in eight martial arts. Twenty-plus arts studied since 1986. A master’s degree in how people actually learn. One published book. And a stated goal of helping you live your most joyful life.
1986
Training Since Age 6
4
Black Belts
8
Arts Credentialed to Teach
2012
BJJ Black Belt Under Harris
MS.Ed
Purdue University
Chris Martell is the founder and head instructor of Modern Self-Defense Center in Connecticut, which he opened in 2002. He holds a 4th degree black belt in Kenpo Karate (awarded 2001) under Professor Lee Lowery, a Lakan (black belt) in Modern Arnis (2001) under founder and Grandmaster Remy Presas, a black belt in Budoshin Ju-Jitsu (2011) under Professor George Kirby, and a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (2012) under Professor Roy Harris. He is a certified instructor and G1 under the International Krav Maga Federation, holds a Master of Science in Education in Curriculum & Instruction from Purdue University, and is the author of Knack Self-Defense for Women.
Three parts, roughly.
50% hippie
Drives a Prius, loves solar energy and broccoli. Thinks the world needs more love. Wants to help you live your most joyful life.
50% nerd
Falls asleep thinking about how to train next year’s new students more effectively than this year’s. Wakes up excited to test new approaches.
100% expert
Studied 20+ martial arts. Teaching credentials in eight. Black belts in four. Master’s degree in developing training experiences.
(please don’t check our math)
Background
Decades on the mat.
Chris Martell began his martial arts journey with Judo at 6 years old, in 1986. At age 8, he began training Kenpo Karate at the Middletown Kenpo Karate Studio, where he found his home for nearly 20 years. At 11 years old, he was accepted into an experimental program to train Assistant Instructors. He reached the rank of Black Belt at 16, while teaching nearly 20 hours each week under the direct guidance of his head instructor, Professor Lee Lowery — who also encouraged him to find and pursue his own personal specialty within the martial arts.
Chris followed that directive and has pursued the most effective, hands-on training methods for real-world self-defense. He has trained in over 20 martial arts styles, from the ultra-traditional to modern and nontraditional methods, and he continues to explore new directions, on a quest to always improve the value and benefit to his students.
Chris holds a 4th degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate, awarded in 2001 under Professor Lee Lowery; a Lakan rank (Black Belt) in Modern Arnis, awarded in 2001 under the late founder and Grandmaster Remy Presas — the final year of Presas’s life; a Black Belt in Budoshin Ju-Jitsu, awarded in 2011 under Professor George Kirby; a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, awarded in 2012 under Professor Roy Harris — ten years after restarting the art from white belt under him in 2002; and a Green Glove in Boxe Française Savate (French kickboxing), awarded in 2008 under Moniteur Armando Basulto of the Basulto Academy of Defense. Additionally, he is a Level 2 Jeet Kune Do instructor (2011), a Level 1 Filipino Martial Arts instructor (2011), and an Associate Level Instructor in gi and no-gi grappling (2006). In 2002 he completed Instructor Training in Krav Maga under Master Rhon Mizrachi of the Krav Maga Federation, and in 2023 he became a certified instructor and G1 (Graduate Level 1) under the International Krav Maga Federation — the original global Krav Maga organization, founded by the creator of Krav Maga himself. (Click here for a more complete list of Chris’ ranks and credentials.)
In May 2019 he completed a Master of Science in Education (MS.Ed) in Curriculum & Instruction, with a specialization in Learning Design and Technology, at Purdue University — a formal qualification in the design of learning experiences, applied directly to the way every lesson and course at MSDC is built. In November 2022 he added Level 2 certification in the Functional Movement Screen and certification in the Functional Capacity Screen through Functional Movement Systems, which shapes how training here develops skill without accumulating injuries.
He started over to get it right
- Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: began 1997. Restarted from white belt under Professor Roy Harris in 2002. Black belt 2012. Setting aside five years of hard-won progress to relearn an art from scratch under a stricter standard is not what a person does to get ranked quickly. It’s what they do when the standard matters more than the belt.
- Modern Arnis took ten years. Budoshin Ju-Jitsu nine. Jeet Kune Do and Filipino Martial Arts eight each. Nothing here was quick.
- Every rank, its award year, and its awarding teacher is published on the ranks and credentials page.
Someone once called Chris “the Leo Buscaglia of Self-Defense” and it’s a compliment he’ll treasure forever.
Teaching record
Hundreds and thousands of individuals.
As the head instructor of the Modern Self-Defense Center, Chris has taught hundreds and thousands of individuals to improve their personal safety. In addition to his own students, he has worked with numerous public, private, corporate, charity, government, and university-based groups to help their members become safer and better able to protect themselves.
He designed and taught a Self-Defense Course for Wesleyan University’s Athletics Department for several years, as their only non-faculty instructor. In 2011, Chris was a featured guest instructor at the New England Modern Arnis Camp. He is also the author of the book Knack Self-Defense for Women: Strategies, Moves & Everyday Tactics To Gain Confidence & Stay Safe, published by Globe Pequot in 2011 and available at bookstores everywhere.
For seven years, from 2005 to 2012, he taught a free self-defense class open to the community every Thursday night — roughly 350 sessions at no charge.
A partial list of institutional clients
- Wesleyan University Athletics & WesWell
- Trinity College
- Southern Connecticut State University
- University of Saint Joseph
- Mitchell College
- Suffield Academy
- South Windsor High School — National Honor Society
- Community Renewal Team, Inc.
- HYPE — Hartford Young Professionals & Entrepreneurs
- International Modern Arnis Federation — Annual Modern Arnis Camp
What you can learn from him
Eight credentialed arts. Four flagship programs.
Because the credentials span striking, grappling, weapons, and traditional systems, nothing in a lesson here is relayed secondhand.
Level 2 Instructor
Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee’s method as a framework for adaptability, certified under Professor Roy Harris.
IKMF Certified, G1
Krav Maga
Effective self-defense learned fast, trained safely, retained long. Certified 2023.
Black Belt
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Gi and no-gi, white belt through black belt, under Professor Roy Harris.
Lakan · Black Belt
Filipino Martial Arts
Modern Arnis under Grandmaster Remy Presas, Inosanto Blend of Kali, Kalis Ilustrisimo.
In his words
Why MSDC exists.
“The real goal, in my mind, is that we make healthy and sustainable choices that enrich our quality of life. Too often, we see people pursuing Martial Arts or Self-Defense training and learning it in a manner that either encouraged paranoia and aggressive behavior, or is utterly unrealistic for real-world conflict. The goal in opening MSDC was to find a sensible middle road: somewhere we could develop useful and effective skills, but in a pro-social community atmosphere.
It isn’t about earning belt after belt, nor about fighting to be the alpha dog, but instead about working cooperatively with your training partners — about helping everyone on board raise their own level of safety and awareness — so that your neighbors in the community benefit just as you do.
It’s a practice that is mentally healthy as much as physically healthy, and it has fostered a group of the nicest people you could imagine…and here they are, kickboxing, wrestling, disarming weapons, and more. We are joined by people of all ages, all walks of life, all income levels…all these members of our greater community coming together and helping each other to become safer and healthier. It became the best of all worlds.”
Chris Martell
About Chris
Common questions.
Who is Chris Martell?
Chris Martell is the founder and head instructor of Modern Self-Defense Center in Connecticut, which he opened in 2002. He began training martial arts in 1986 at age six, has studied more than twenty martial arts, holds black belt rank in four, and holds teaching credentials in eight. He holds a Master of Science in Education in Curriculum & Instruction from Purdue University and is the author of Knack Self-Defense for Women.
What rank is Chris Martell in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu?
Chris Martell holds a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, awarded in 2012 by Professor Roy Harris of Harris International — a 7th degree black belt widely known in BJJ as the “teacher’s teacher.” Martell began training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in 1997, then chose to restart from white belt under Professor Harris in 2002 and earned his black belt ten years later. He has taught BJJ in Connecticut since 2002. See the BJJ program page.
Who did Chris Martell train under?
His principal teachers are Professor Lee Lowery (Kenpo Karate), Grandmaster Remy Presas (Modern Arnis), Professor Roy Harris (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Jeet Kune Do, grappling, Filipino Martial Arts), Professor George Kirby (Budoshin Ju-Jitsu), Master Rhon Mizrachi and the International Krav Maga Federation (Krav Maga), and Moniteur Armando Basulto (Boxe Française Savate). He has also trained directly with Mang Romy Macapagal in Kalis Ilustrisimo. Every rank and its awarding teacher is listed on the ranks and credentials page.
Does Chris Martell have formal teaching qualifications?
Yes — unusually so for this field. Beyond instructor certifications in eight martial arts, he holds a Master of Science in Education in Curriculum & Instruction with a specialization in Learning Design and Technology from Purdue University (2019), and Level 2 certification in the Functional Movement Screen plus Functional Capacity Screen certification through Functional Movement Systems (2022).
Has Chris Martell written a book?
Yes. He is the author of Knack Self-Defense for Women: Strategies, Moves & Everyday Tactics To Gain Confidence & Stay Safe, published by Globe Pequot in 2011 in the Knack: Make It Easy series (ISBN 978-1-59921-956-1). 256 pages with over 400 full-color photographs, available at bookstores and online retailers. See Press & Publications.
Can I train with Chris Martell directly?
Yes — private and semi-private lessons are taught by Chris personally, at $120 per hour in central Connecticut, with no contract or membership. He also delivers seminars and workshops for organizations and travels for them. Request private training or request a seminar proposal.
Forty years of training,
one hour at a time.
No contract, no membership, no minimum. Just tell us what you want to be able to do.