What is Crazy Monkey
Crazy Monkey Defense is disrupting the modern martial art industry through challenging the status quo. Simply we are the counter culture movement to a modern martial art world which finds itself exclusively focused on hyper-competitiveness or reality based self-defence paranoia.
What makes us different to our competitors in the modern martial art world is the belief that simply focusing on competing or self-defence has a limited longterm benefit to a person’s life. Two facts remain, the vast majority of people will never compete, and a limited amount of people will ever be called upon to actually defend themselves. The competitive lifespan of a martial artist itself tends to be short, unless of course one is able to in rare instances progress to the professional leagues. Whilst self-defence training itself tends to be a short term pursuit for most people.
We believe it makes far more sense to ensure that what we coach our clients on the mat, will help them off the mat in every aspect of their life. Not just today, but for years to come. This way we add real value to our clients lives, by teaching them a skill set that will enable them to take on the martial arts of everyday life and win.
While very few people practicing modern martial arts today will ever compete or actually have to defend themselves, they WILL ALWAYS have to deal with conflict and disruptive elements in their life and career. This is where we believe the REAL self-defence takes place and why our clients are always open to exploring new ways to handle life’s conflicts more skilfully. This is what makes Crazy Monkey different to its modern counterparts in the world of martial arts.
Guiding Principles
Humans Evolved to Survive — we recognise the deep human need to secure personal safety. Training at Crazy Monkey then always honors the past, but moves with the present. Therefore we focus on the self-preservation of the whole person, not just their physical fighting abilities. Think of Crazy Monkey as Kevlar for your mind, body and warrior spirit.
More than just learning to fight — We believe that when survival needs are met, people naturally seek out opportunities for personal growth and mastery. Therefore what we coach on the mat, seeks to enhance a person’s life off it. We see personal mastery as a natural extension of knowing how to defend oneself.
Zero Meatheads Policy — anyone should be able to come to a Crazy Monkey studio, gym or garage and train. It shouldn’t just be for the tough, the elite or the mean Alpha Males. Toughness in our view is developed over time, through intelligent training, grounded in a progressive approach to performance gains. The goal of Crazy Monkey is to take you, our client, from where you are now, to where you really want and need to go. In other words, training is focused on your goals, and your needs. There are no ‘Masters’ in Crazy Monkey, only students of the art.
Chaos, Challenge and Play — Building off our Zero Meathead Policy, at Crazy Monkey we coach our students to be able to ride the chaos of performance training, especially its up and downs, through acceptance, commitment and mindful action. In Crazy Monkey success is measured by personal challenge, not by whom one can beat on the mat. Individual performance is built through the spirit of play, instead of hyper-competitiveness. Play allows for the freedom to explore and to take risk, two essential ingredients in achieving personal success on and off the mat (not to mention inspiring creativity and innovation, needed to achieve exceptional martial art performance).
Collective Tribal Mission — Crazy Monkey is ultimately more than just one person. It’s a Global Tribe, that share the view that modern martial arts training is and should be more than just about learning how to fight. Crazy Monkey Trainers serve to add value, in a socially conscious way both on and off the mat — whilst you, our clients — learn to use Crazy Monkey as an experiential ground for personal mastery not only on the mat, but in life.
Richard Piazza
CM White Gloves Trainer (Blue Gloves Rank)
Monkey Jits Trainer (Purple Belt)
In 2013, Richard joined the Crazy Monkey Program (A global modern martial arts program developed by Coach Rodney King - 4th Degree BJJ Black Belt under 8th Degree Coral Belt Rigan Machado). After three years of developing his skills and growing in the program, he became a licensed trainer. For sparing performance, Richard has been awarded his Blue Gloves rank. In the Monkey Jits Brazilian Jiu Jitsu program, Richard most recently was awarded his Purple Belt (3rd Stripe).