No floor near you? This is where you start.
Train under a world champion. From your living room. Starting this week.
Shadow Warriors is a real light sword martial art, taught one video at a time. You film 30 seconds of your form. Within 72 hours a Shadow Council instructor, trained under a 2× World Champion, sends you a personal video back: what to fix, and how. Nine sashes, White to Black, earned on review. Never handed out.
Already near an academy or Circle? Find a Floor first →
$97 a month. Cancel any month. Your first form review inside your first week. Two minutes to register at Virtual Saber Academy, your membership portal.
LSTA dueling forms. This is the standard your sash is measured against. Watch it once and you will know whether you want this.
Trained with Sifu Edward or Sifu Julliana in person? Your rank carries. Nobody restarts at White Sash. Tell us your sash before you register and we place you where you left off.
Train at home. Earn your sash. Find your Circle. Compete. Belong.
One membership carries you the whole way. Nothing on this path asks you to teach, host or run anything. You train, and the path opens as you earn it.
Form I from the pre-recorded video library and its master demonstrations, 20 to 30 minutes a session, on your own floor.
Weekly form review, then the assessment. Your sash is mailed and your name goes on the LSTA Global Roster.
Local Shadow Circles for live sparring when you're ready. Find a floor near you, or train alone until one opens.
Your sash is your eligibility into the Federation's sanctioned events, beginning with the first regionals in 2027.
The Shadow Warriors room, the weekly live class for your sash, the weekly Council broadcast. Train alone. Belong somewhere.
LSTA academy floors, Norfolk and Virginia Beach. A Shadow Circle is this at neighborhood scale: a host, a floor, live sparring when you are ready. Every sash in these photos was earned on the same standard yours will be.
The kids are down. The saber is in your hand. Now what?
You know this hour. The house is finally quiet. You pick it up, the blade hums on, and for about four minutes it is the best feeling you own. Then you run the same five moves from the same three tutorials, and the feeling thins out. You are not training. You are swinging. Nobody is watching, so nothing is changing. By month three the saber spends more nights on the shelf than in your hand. Not because you stopped wanting it. Because there was nowhere for it to go.
Here is the other version of that hour. You run Lesson 3, the lower-line blocks, from the master demonstration. You prop your phone on a chair and film 40 seconds. You upload it and go to bed. Three days later there is a video waiting for you: an instructor, by name, saying your rear heel lifts on the low block and your elbow opens on the recovery, fix those two things and send it again. You do. Two weeks after that, Phase 1 is cleared and your name has a rank next to it.
Same saber. Same 9:40. One of those hours has a coach in it. That is the entire difference, and it is the one thing no tutorial can give you.
Nobody quits because they stopped loving the saber. They quit because nothing was changing.
No one has ever watched you move.
You correct what you can see in the mirror. The four things holding you back are the four things you cannot see: the heel that lifts, the elbow that opens, the drift, the half-beat you land late.
The tutorials end at drill five.
Every channel teaches the same openers. Not one of them can teach what comes after, because a video cannot see you. You have been at drill five for a long time.
You cannot say "I study under."
You own the weapon. You have no teacher, no rank and no standard. So when someone asks, you call it a hobby. You hate calling it that.
You do not need more videos to watch. You need one person to watch you.
The Shadow Warrior Debrief: the light sword as a martial art.
A real master watches your form. Every week. Through your phone.
This is the whole engine. Five minutes of your week to film and upload. Seventy-two hours later an instructor has watched you move and told you exactly what to fix. Do that every week and you cannot stay where you are.
TRAIN.
Log in to Virtual Saber Academy, follow the master demonstration for your lesson, drill it. Sessions run 20 to 30 minutes. No partner needed for Form I.
RECORD.
30 to 60 seconds on any phone, propped on a chair. Clear floor about eight feet by eight. No special hardware.
UPLOAD.
In Virtual Saber Academy. Your clip goes to your assigned Shadow Council instructor with your lesson and rank attached.
COACHED.
Within 72 hours an instructor sends you a personal video reply naming exactly what to adjust. Weekly form checks are reviewed by an LSMA Field Instructor or a founding master. Rank assessments are graded by a Form 1 Certified Instructor or a founding master. Not a score. Not an algorithm. A coach, by name.
Reply within 72 hours, every week you submit.
When you are ready to test, submit your full form. Reviewed against the written standard used on every LSTA floor, reply within 7 days. Pass, and the sash is mailed to you and your name goes on the LSTA Global Roster.
A tutorial teaches the technique once. A review teaches you, every week, against the specific errors you make. That is the whole difference between a hobby and a martial art, and it is the part no video library can sell.
Sifu Julliana Armstrong, Shadow Council Lead Instructor, coaching service members in person at Joint Base Langley-Eustis. The same eyes review your clip.
Fourteen lessons to your first sash. Eight more sashes after that.
Shadow Warriors starts you on Form I, "Foundation Strike," the path to your White Sash. Four phases, each unlocked as your instructor clears the one before.
Phase 1Lessons 1 to 2
Foundation: introduction, guard, stance, grip, footwork.
Phase 2Lessons 3 to 5
Lower Line: lower blocks, attacks and combinations.
Phase 3Lessons 6 to 10
Mid and Upper: mid and upper blocks, attacks, combination drills, hanging blocks.
Phase 4Lessons 11 to 14
Diagonal and Evasive: diagonal angles, combination drills, evasive hand techniques, then the White Sash assessment.
WhiteForm I
YellowForm II
OrangeForm III
GreenForm IV
BlueForm V
PurpleForm VI
BrownForm VII
RedForm VIII
BlackForm IXNine forms drawn from twelve martial traditions. Promotion requires demonstrated skill on review, graded by a Form 1 Certified Instructor or a founding master, never a calendar.
A sash earned as a Shadow Warrior is the same sash earned on any LSTA academy floor. Rank earned in person carries into Shadow Warriors. Nobody restarts. If a licensed academy opens near you, your rank goes with you.
This is what your record looks like on the LSTA Global Roster once you pass. Every academy floor and every Shadow Warrior is on the same roster, held by LSTA Corporate. Nobody can buy a line on it. When a licensed floor opens near you, your rank goes with you and your membership converts to academy tuition.
Hear it from people who trained under the same standard.
These are LSTA academy students and active-duty service members, trained in person by the same instructors on the same curriculum you train from at home. Shadow Warriors has no graduate compilation yet. The one with Shadow Warriors in it is the one you are about to be in. Read why below.
Active-duty service members on what light sword combat training taught them. Coached on base by Sifu Julliana Armstrong, NASM-certified personal trainer, under the Langley AFB and Fort Eustis contracts.
LSTA academy students on what changed when they started training.
More students, more milestones, same standard.
Individual results vary. Testimonials are from students and service members trained in person; written consent on file.
You have probably never heard of us. Good. Check everything.
Every form review and every rank assessment traces back to four people. Their credentials are public. Look them up.
Sifu Edward Armstrong
Co-Founder, System ArchitectSifu Edward Armstrong and Sifu Julliana Armstrong founded the Light Sword Training Academy in Virginia Beach in 2015 and opened the Norfolk academy in 2019. Edward is an Entrepreneur of the Year, a Board-Certified Tai Chi Instructor and a published author.
Sifu Julliana Armstrong
Co-Founder, Shadow Council Lead InstructorSifu Edward Armstrong and Sifu Julliana Armstrong founded the Light Sword Training Academy in Virginia Beach in 2015 and opened the Norfolk academy in 2019. Julliana is a 3× WEKAF National Champion, a two-time World Champion under GSBA and a Team USA competitor.
Sijo Nathan Young
Founding Master, Technical DirectorTwo-time World Champion and Olympics performer. Lead designer of the technique progression. The form standard your sash is reviewed against comes from his work.
Sifu Nick Benseman
Founding Master, Technical DirectorStunt director on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Validates every combat form against real fight choreography.
Built in 2015 in Virginia Beach: 68 students in six months. Rebuilt in 2017 by four masters who had watched the organization they trusted stop coaching its own warriors. The weekly review exists because of that.
ONE HONEST ADMISSION
Shadow Warriors has no graduate testimonial to show you yet. The program is new in this form, and the first hundred members are its first cohort. Everything on this page is what these instructors and this curriculum produced on academy floors and on a military base. The Shadow Warrior proof gets written by the people who register this year. The first sashes ever earned through a phone are being earned right now, and the names on them are the first names on a roster that will still exist in fifty years. Yours can be one of them.
Everything in the membership, for less than many people spent on the saber.
- The Virtual Saber Academy video training library.
Pre-recorded lessons with master demonstration videos, starting with Form I's 14 lessons, unlocked phase by phase and yours to rewatch as often as you need.
- Weekly personal form review.
Your clip, your assigned instructor, a video reply within 72 hours.
- Rank assessments.
Reviewed against the written LSTA standard within 7 days. Physical sash mailed. Name on the LSTA Global Roster.
- Weekly live class for your sash level.
One scheduled online class a week with your rank cohort.
- The Shadow Warriors room and the weekly Council broadcast.
Peers at your rank, the instructors on camera every week.
- Shadow Circle access, included.
Local Shadow Circles for live sparring when you're ready. Train alone. Belong somewhere. Find a floor near you.
- The Federation pathway.
Eligibility to enter LSMAF sanctioned events, beginning with the Federation's first regionals in 2027. Entry and membership priced by the Federation.
- The path to Black.
Forms II to IX open as you earn them, from the same instructors, at the same price.
WHERE IT ALL LIVES
Virtual Saber Academy is your membership portal. Registering there creates your login. The pre-recorded video training library, your form-review uploads and the instructor's reply, the live class link, the Shadow Warriors room and your sash record all live inside it, on phone, tablet or desktop. lightswordtrainingacademy.com is where you read about the path. Virtual Saber Academy is where you walk it.
Train for 60 days. Earn your Phase 1 milestone, or every dollar comes back and we keep coaching you for 30 more days.
Submit your weekly form checks and follow the lesson order for 60 days. If you have not earned Phase 1 of your White Sash assessment by day 60, we refund every dollar you paid, and we keep coaching you free for 30 more days while you decide what is next. No partial-month proration. No form to fill in. Email us and it is done. Read that again: we are betting the fee that our instructors can teach you through a phone.
Signed by the four founders of the Light Sword Training Academy: Sifu Edward Armstrong, Sifu Julliana Armstrong, Sijo Nathan Young, Sifu Nick Benseman. If the system did not teach you, that is on us, not on you.
What this is not. No fitness result, no income, no rank is promised. A sash is earned on review or not at all. Individual results vary. Cancel anytime, no contract, no commitment beyond the month you are in.
$97 a month. A master's eyes on your form every week. Cancel any month.
Or $970 a year, two months free.
One price. No tiers, no contracts, no games. Register tonight and your first drill is tonight. Upload this week and an instructor has watched you by the weekend.
Every month: the Virtual Saber Academy video training library, Form I and every form after it. A personal video review of your form each week. A live class for your sash level each week. Rank assessments, the sash mailed to your door, your name on the LSTA Global Roster. The Shadow Warriors room, the Council broadcast, Shadow Circle access. Nothing held back for a higher tier, because there is no higher tier.
Pass your Form I assessment and the White Sash ships to your door, and your name goes on the LSTA Global Roster. It is the first of nine, and no one can buy it. The Sifu Promise gives you 60 days to reach Phase 1.
Cancel any month · Protected by the Sifu Promise · Two minutes to register · First form review inside your first week
1,500+ warriors trained on this curriculum since 2015 · 60+ five-star reviews
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⊘ NOT FOR YOU IF
You want a rank for showing up. You want a 60-second tutorial app. You want a one-time purchase instead of a training relationship with an instructor.
⚡ FOR YOU IF
You have hit the ceiling of training alone and want someone to correct your form. You want a credential that carries to any LSTA floor. You take the discipline seriously: the saber is a martial arts weapon and you want to use it like a martial artist.
Not ready to register? Take the free 60-second Saber Fitting: the masters match you to your saber and send your first two training sessions. Don't have a saber yet? Saber Smugglers delivers the right blade to your door.
What people ask before they register.
If you have to ask, you are our person. The curriculum was built by a two-time World Champion, a 3x WEKAF National Champion who trained U.S. service members, and a Hollywood stunt director, and drawn from twelve martial traditions including classical fencing, Chinese broadsword, historical European swordplay, Korean sword arts and Filipino Arnis. Your sash is reviewed against the same written standard used on every LSTA floor. It is a real martial art that happens to use light swords.
Yes. A named Shadow Council instructor watches every clip and answers on video, by name. Not an algorithm, not a score, not a group critique. That is the product. It is also why the Sifu Promise exists: we are willing to bet the fee on it.
Weekly form checks are reviewed by an LSMA Field Instructor or one of the founding masters and come back within 72 hours with a personal video reply. Rank assessments are graded only by a Form 1 Certified Instructor or a founding master and come back within 7 days. A coach, by name. Never an algorithm.
Inside Virtual Saber Academy at virtualsaberacademy.com, your membership portal. Registering there creates your login. The Form I curriculum and demonstration videos, your form-review uploads and the instructor's reply, the live class link, the Shadow Warriors room and your sash record all live there, on phone, tablet or desktop.
Most members are 28 to 45. Sessions run 20 to 30 minutes. Recording and uploading takes about five minutes a week. You need no partner for Form I, no special hardware, and you do not need to be in shape to start. The system is built for the life you have.
Form I, the whole White Sash path, is solo work. Shadow Circles exist for live sparring when you want it, never as a requirement. Find a floor near you when you are ready.
You will, and so did every member before you. Your instructor has reviewed hundreds of awkward first clips from people who later earned their White Sash and their Yellow. Form review is not a performance. It is coaching. The awkward first clip is the entry fee, and everyone pays it.
Form II, "Flowing Defense," and the Yellow Sash open in the same membership, at the same price, with the same instructors. If a licensed LSTA academy opens near you, your rank transfers and you can train in person. Most members keep training from home either way.
It is the same sash earned at every LSTA academy, including the founding lineage. A White Sash earned as a Shadow Warrior is the White Sash. It is recognized across the LSTA academy network and it is your eligibility into the Federation's sanctioned events. It is not a badge in an app.
Honest answer: this is the objection we lose the most sleep over. Those programs gave you a workout. This gives you a rank and an instructor who notices when you stop submitting. "I missed three workouts" and "I have not earned my Yellow Sash yet" are different sentences. One is a routine. The other is an identity.
You register, train for a month, and cancel. You paid $97 and got 30 days of the curriculum and at least one personal form review. No contract, no commitment beyond the month you are in. And the Sifu Promise stands over all of it: Phase 1 in 60 days or every dollar back.
Two saber owners. Same saber. Same 9:40 pm.
The one who started.
White Sash earned on review. Yellow within reach. Says "I study under" in the matter-of-fact tone a black belt uses. Picks up the saber and the hands already know. His instructor knows his form by name. The thing he quietly wanted, the right to hold the object he already owned, he earned.
The one who scrolled past.
The saber is in the closet, same place since February. Same five drills. Same ceiling. Still training alone with a $400 saber and nobody watching. The window is still open. He still has not walked through it.
Pick the hour with a coach in it. Join the first cohort. The Federation's first sanctioned season opens in 2027, and the people who start now are the ones it measures everyone else against. Your first drill is tonight. Your first review is this week.
Cancel any month · Sifu Promise · Two minutes to register
Light Sword Training Academy is an independent martial arts organization. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by The Walt Disney Company, Lucasfilm Ltd., or any related entity. The training equipment used in our curriculum is purpose-built for fitness and martial arts training and is not a Star Wars-branded product. Shadow Warrior membership is a recurring $97 monthly subscription billed through Virtual Saber Academy, cancel anytime. Sashes are awarded on instructor review and are never guaranteed. Testimonials are from LSTA academy students and service members trained in person; individual results vary. Ages 13+, with a parent or guardian for members under 18. Refund terms per the Sifu Promise above and our Terms.