Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy

Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy Come and learn Hapkido - the Complete Martial Art of Self Defence. We are more than just a martial arts school. Change happens here.

The Upper Hutt Hapkido Academy offers regular adult, teen and child classes in the Korean martial Art of Hapkido. Hapkido equips its practictioners with life long self defence skills along with the heath and fitness benefits associated with traditional martial arts training. The Academy trains at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy (access off Lyster Lane). With over 300 m2 of floor area including

2 training areas, modern martial arts and fitness equipment and faclities, this owner-occupied facility is one of the most state of the art training facilities in the Wellington region.

29/08/2026

Last Thursday night Tracy passed another tab test in Hapkido Ground Combatives. She was tested on a number of submissions and also had to create a flow drill for each of them.

While the core Hapkido syllabus has some self-defence from the ground, it does not include many of the likely situations that people may find themselves in.

This is where Hapkido Ground Combatives comes in. It compliments our core Hapkido syllabus by helping students develop greater confidence in a ground situation as well as competence in other, common ground situations.

I know that there is a lot of interest in Hapkido Ground Combatives but it is difficult to cross train in this while people are still developing their core Hapkido skills.

We are working on ways to make it easier for Hapkiido students to also do a bit of cross training in Hapkido Ground Combatives.

Hapkido Ground Combatives is a martial art in its own right that you can earn a Black Belt in. So if people are interested only in training in Hapkido Ground Combatives then that is fine too.

So we will be finalising some options for either option soon!

Tonight's August gradings at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy were impacted by a wave of late Winter illnesses which ...
20/08/2026

Tonight's August gradings at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy were impacted by a wave of late Winter illnesses which are sweeping across New Zealand.

But we graded 5 Hapkido Tigers students tonight along with a couple of Hapkido students.

Hopefully we can grade the students who were ill over the next few weeks.

A good start to the week at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy.Tonight Aaron from KMA Hapkido visited the 6 pm Hapkido ...
03/08/2026

A good start to the week at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy.

Tonight Aaron from KMA Hapkido visited the 6 pm Hapkido class. He also recently completed the New Zealand Ju-Jitsu Federation C2 "Class Instructor" qualification. His lesson plan as part of the course was on the Hip Throw which is a core Hapkido technique and one of my favourites.

So I asked Aaron to run a session on Hip Throws which he delivered really well and was well received by the class.


30/07/2026

What happens if you end up on the ground in a self-defence situation?

That is the problem our Hapkido Ground Combatives class is designed to address.

Hapkido Ground Combatives is a specialist martial art developed by Grandmaster Fari Salievski, 9th Dan Hapkido and 3rd Dan Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ).

While we train many of the same areas you would associate with ground grappling, our focus is not on sport or competition. The objective is self-defence: learning how to deal with a bad position, escape, regain control and get back onto your feet.

When we started this class, we kept the entry requirements fairly strict. We were beginners ourselves and wanted to develop our skills and establish the right class culture before we looked at growing it.

We are now ready to expand.

We have four spots available for new students. Once those students are established, we will open another four and grow the class gradually from there.

The class is suitable for:

-- Anyone aged 13 or older who wants to learn how to defend themselves if they find themselves in a bad situation on the ground.

-- Martial artists from striking-based styles who want to broaden their skill set by developing practical ground self-defence skills.

-- People who would like to focus on a specialist martial art and work towards earning a Black Belt in the system. That is my own goal as well.

Many of us are a little older, so while we certainly roll, we are not interested in trying to wreck each other! We train for fitness and conditioning, but also to test our techniques against controlled resistance.

If you are interested, send us a message and we can arrange some trial classes.

Here Tristan, our Class Lead Instructor, demonstrates Hapkido Ground Combatives with Daryl Conchie.

I asked them to slow things down a little so you can see the flow and transitions between some of the core techniques.

It may have been the coldest day of the year here today with a -3 degree frost here this morning.Certainly it was one of...
27/07/2026

It may have been the coldest day of the year here today with a -3 degree frost here this morning.

Certainly it was one of our coldest training nights.

Despite that we had big classes at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy tonight.

The Hapkido Tigers Development Class in particular had 25 students and the 6 PM Hapkido class only a few less.

July/August are also typically our quieter months with more people away with Winter illnesses and Winter sports.

So I expect to see even bigger classes in a month or so when students who don't train over Winter start coming back.


25/07/2026

Our students in the 9 am Beginner Sword class at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy are doing really well.

So we decided to let them spar with steel swords as opposed to the wooden ones that they have been using up until now.

Their first few fights were against instructors who spar with them at slightly above their level.

Sky (who is also a senior student in the Hapkido Tigers class) surprised Rian with a move straight out of Fiore and moved straight into close play.

The class hasn't seen any Fiore as they have been training in English Longsword which fights mostly at distance.

Sky showed great innovation by applying his Hapkido skills in a different context.

This independent adaptability is something that I don't expect to see from a student of his age. So this was a very satisfying moment for me.

A busy night at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy. At the 6 pm Hapkido class we had a visit from Malcolm Wright (curre...
23/07/2026

A busy night at the Upper Hutt Martial Arts Academy. At the 6 pm Hapkido class we had a visit from Malcolm Wright (currently living in Auckland) who ran us through possible self defence applications of our Hapkido New Zealand (New Zealand Hapkido Federation) White Belt Pattern.

This was well received and it is great to see Malcolm back on the mats. The recent World Kido Federation/Hanminjok Hapkido Association Korea Trip has really fired him up!

(Malcolm and I were grading partners for our 2nd and 3rd Dan gradings.)


Martial X is on tomorrow night! This week we explore how simple tools, timing, and pure commitment create opportunities...
23/07/2026

Martial X is on tomorrow night! This week we explore how simple tools, timing, and pure commitment create opportunities for you.

See you tomorrow - 6pm to 7pm.

Our Hapkido Tigers Development Class is seeing good numbers over this Winter. We usually get 20 - 30 students per class ...
21/07/2026

Our Hapkido Tigers Development Class is seeing good numbers over this Winter. We usually get 20 - 30 students per class and we run them 3 times a week. Most students train twice a week.

They have all graduated from the Hapkido Tigers Foundation Class which also runs 3 times a week and is held immediately before the Development classes.

Most students take 12 to 18 months to move through the Foundation class and graduate to the Development class.

By the time they reach the Development class they are well versed in basic Hapkido/Martial Arts techniques and are capable of training independently without constant supervision. I treat them as adult students because of this maturity.

Over the last couple of months a fair number of Foundation students have graduated leaving the Foundation classes a bit smaller than usual. After Winter sports are finished this will change.

Now is a great time to get a head start for your child in the Hapkido Foundation class so please PM me if you are interested in your child trying out a few complementary orientation classes.


18/07/2026

For the last couple of months I've been covering Fiore's 'Zogho Sretto' in the 10 am Saturday Sword class.

These are the close plays of the Longsword. In the video Daryl executes a counter to Craig's high sword disarm.

Counters, counter-counters and independent adaptability reflects what we teach at 2nd and 3rd Dan in Hapkido. We use our Sword classes to teach the common principles that underpin all martial arts across time and across cultures.

For the Hapkido students in this class it helps them develop a greater appreciation of this.

Address

Top Floor, 18/22 Queen Street (access Off Lyster Lane)
Upper Hutt
5018

Opening Hours

Monday 4pm - 7:30pm
Tuesday 4pm - 8pm
Thursday 4:30pm - 7:30pm
Friday 9am - 10am
4pm - 5:45pm
Saturday 9am - 12pm

Telephone

+6421330989

Website

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