Who we are
Practical Martial Arts has been part of the Corte Madera community since 1993. We're a family-run dojo built on one belief: martial arts should make you stronger in every part of your life, not just on the mat.
Mike and Karen Valentine opened Practical Martial Arts to do something most schools didn't. Instead of teaching one rigid style, they blended the most effective parts of many into a single, practical system, then wrapped it in the discipline, respect, and structure of traditional martial arts. More than thirty years later, that idea still defines us. We've trained two generations of Marin families, and many of the kids who started here are now adults who still walk through our doors.
Founder, Co-Owner, and Sensei
6th Degree Black Belt · 3rd Degree BJJ Black Belt
Mike is the architect of PMA's Freestyle MMA system and has shaped martial arts in Marin for over thirty years. He's as comfortable coaching a nervous four-year-old as he is a competitive adult, and that range is the heart of what makes this dojo work.
Co-Owner, Program Director, and Self-Defense Instructor
3rd Degree Black Belt
Karen runs the programs and leads our self-defense curriculum. If you've contacted PMA, you've probably met her first. She's the reason the dojo runs the way it does, and the reason it feels like a community rather than a gym.
Head Instructor
1st Degree Black Belt
Senior Instructor
3rd Degree Black Belt
Lead Instructor and Admin
1st Degree Black Belt
Lead Instructor and Admin
1st Degree Black Belt
Lead Instructor
1st Degree Black Belt · BJJ Black Belt
BJJ Instructor
BJJ Black Belt
Our style is Freestyle Mixed Martial Arts, a blend of Muay Thai kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, traditional boxing, wrestling, Judo, and street self-defense. The goal is two things at once: give every student real, usable self-defense skills, and offer an authentic, high-level martial arts experience for any age. We teach in traditionally structured classes with uniforms and etiquette, because the structure is part of the lesson. And woven through all of it are the functional life skills that students carry well beyond the mat.
The techniques are the same ones you'd find in any serious gym. What's different is the room. We teach “heart” as seriously as we teach technique, and the result is a community that genuinely supports each other, in class and out of it. Students who start as shy kids grow into mentors for the next group of beginners. Parents become friends. People stay for years, and that says more about this place than any belt ever could.
Hard training and safe training are not opposites. We build intensity carefully, so students are challenged without being put at risk, ever.
Everyone bows to the same standard. Every age, every background, and every starting point has a place on our mat.
The structure, the etiquette, the repetition. These are the tools that build the kind of focus students carry into school, work, and life.
We measure progress by who you become, not just what you can do. Confidence and resilience are the real belts.
None of it works if you dread showing up. We train hard and we genuinely enjoy it, and that's by design.
We're at 5768 Paradise Dr in Corte Madera, easy to reach from across Marin. Families train with us from Mill Valley, San Rafael, Sausalito, Larkspur, Tiburon, and beyond.
5768 Paradise Dr., Corte Madera, CA 94925(415) 927-0899info@pmadojo.comGet directionsThe best way to know if PMA is right for you is to come see it. Your first class is free, with no pressure and no commitment.
