If you’ve quit two gyms
and skipped the BJJ school because it was full of teenagers,
you already know what you’ve been looking for.
The gym is exercise without identity.
The yoga studio is close but not quite.
The local martial arts dojo is full of children with parents along the wall in folding chairs.
You wanted a serious adult practice. With other adults. In a room where everyone: women and men, professionals in their thirties, forties, and beyond, is here for the same reason you are.
That is what this is.
Built. Betrayed.
Rebuilt by four masters.
Sifu 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; Julliana is a 3× WEKAF National Champion, a two-time World Champion under GSBA and a Team USA competitor.
In 2016, the organization that gave the sport its only international structure betrayed the warriors it was supposed to serve.
In 2017, Edward and three other masters walked away at the top, and rebuilt from scratch, on their own terms, engineered against the exact failure modes they had collectively survived.
That organization is LSTA.
The academy you’re about to walk into runs on a curriculum, a rank system, and a standard built by people who know what an organization looks like when it stops protecting its warriors. We rebuilt this so you can walk onto an LSTA floor and know exactly what you’re getting: every floor, every academy, every time.
What the Academy Gives You That Video Cannot
Real Partners. Real Pressure.
Train with real partners under real instruction. Forms, drills, controlled sparring. The full martial arts experience that cannot be replicated through video. Pressure reveals what solo practice never will.
Earned. Not Assigned.
Earn your sash through demonstrated skill, discipline, and adherence to the Code of S.A.B.E.R. Evaluated by an LSTA instructor. The same standard at every LSTA academy worldwide, not a timer, not a calendar.
12 Traditions. One System.
Classical fencing, Chinese broadsword, historical European swordplay, Korean sword arts, Filipino Arnis, and seven more, synthesized into a single ranked combat curriculum. No other school on earth teaches this combination. That is not a marketing claim. It is the syllabus.
The Standard Is the Standard.
Every LSTA academy is run by a Commander who trained through the LSTA instructor chain. Quality is not optional. It is the requirement of the standard. Same art, same Code, same standard in every city.
The Temple Warrior Path,
Explained.
An LSTA academy. An LSTA instructor. Live sparring. Sash earned through demonstrated skill. What the in-person path actually looks like, on a real academy floor.
Built by Champions.
Taught by the People Who Built It.
The LSTA curriculum wasn't borrowed from another system. It was built from scratch by world champions, national titleholders, a military contractor, and a Hollywood stunt director. Then tested on LSTA's own academy floors before it was ever taught anywhere else.
Sifu Edward Armstrong
He didn't borrow a curriculum. He built one. From the ground up, tested at Norfolk before it ever spread elsewhere. What you learn in Form I is exactly what he designed. He still teaches it personally.
Sifu Julliana Armstrong
The U.S. military trusted her to train at Langley AFB and Fort Eustis. The precision she built into this curriculum is the same standard she holds active-duty personnel to.
Sijo Nathan Young
The footwork in Forms I–IV is his. When you learn to move under pressure and control tempo, you're executing patterns a two-time world champion spent years building into his body.
Sifu Nick Benseman
The combat choreography in this system looks the way it does because he reviewed it. His job on set is to decide what looks real. He signed off on this.
The Curriculum
The 9-Form Combat System
Each form ties to a sash rank. Each form draws from a different martial tradition. Together they build a complete, integrated combat art unlike anything taught anywhere else.
Foundation Strike
Guard stance, grip, footwork, and basic strikes. Where every warrior begins, moving with intention, striking with purpose.
Lightning Speed
Historical European techniques fused with Eastern martial arts. Rapid combinations, close-quarter transitions, tempo control. Speed as a weapon.
Master's Unity
All forms integrated into a personal combat style. Total offensive and defensive mastery. The pinnacle of the system.
Forms II through VIII. Flowing Defense, Circle of Power, Iron Will, Dual Harmony, Phoenix Rising, and Dragon's Breath, each draw from a distinct tradition.
View All 9 Forms in Full Detail →Three Levels. Nine Sashes.
Promotion requires demonstrated skill evaluated by an LSTA instructor, not time served. You move when you are ready. Not before.
Apprentice
WhiteForm I
YellowForm II
OrangeForm IIIStance, grip, footwork, defensive blade work, circular power generation. The foundation everything else is built on. Most students earn their first promotion within 4–8 weeks of consistent training.
Adept
GreenForm IV
BlueForm V
PurpleForm VIAthletic combat expression, rapid combination attacks, multi-weapon proficiency. Live sparring becomes a regular part of training at this level. You are no longer learning the art. You are beginning to own it.
Master
BrownForm VII
RedForm VIII
BlackForm IXAll forms integrated into a personal combat style. Tournament competition. Teaching methodology. Masters are eligible for the World Games competitive pathway, the pinnacle of the sport.
What Happens When
You Walk Through the Door
No experience required. No equipment required to start. Here is exactly what to expect so there are no surprises.
60–90 minutes. Structured from first minute to last: warm-up, form instruction, drilling, controlled sparring at your rank level.
Comfortable clothes and water. If you own a light sword, bring it. If not, loaners are available for your first session. Nothing else needed.
Students at every rank level. The culture is serious, but beginners are welcomed, not tested. You start at White Sash. So did everyone else in that room.
Most students are ready to test for Yellow Sash within 4–8 weeks of consistent training. Your instructor evaluates when you're ready, not a fixed schedule.
Most LSTA academies operate from rec centers or dedicated training spaces. Your local academy page has the exact location and schedule.
Every academy runs the same curriculum. The rank you earn at any location is recognized across the network. Same art. Same Code. Every city.
"I visited as a tourist in Norfolk. I stayed as a student. Sifu Armstrong is the real deal. This isn't cosplay, it's combat."
A rank earned at LSTA Norfolk is the same rank recognized at Saber Core CT, Axiom Denver, Saber Warriors LA, or any other LSTA academy in the world. Shadow Warrior rank transfers to Temple Warrior when an academy opens in your city. Your progress is never locked to one location.
This is not for you if...
There are good kids’ martial arts schools and good fitness studios. We are something else. Read this before you visit.
We are an adult practice. Our floor is for working adults. 13+ in policy; 25+ in practice. If your kids want a martial art, find them a kids’ school we’re happy to recommend.
We are training a martial art with a real rank. There is a curriculum. There are forms. There are tests. If you want a workout without commitment, this isn’t it.
Every warrior tests at our standard. No exceptions, regardless of background. Your previous experience will help you progress faster. It will not skip you ahead.
If any of those is you, we’ll do you a favor by saying no. The drop-in offer is for the people who recognize themselves in the gold column below, not the red one above.
One Class.
No Equipment. No Experience. Just Show Up.
Get in touch and we’ll connect you with the nearest LSTA academy and its current schedule. You don't need to be in shape. You don't need prior experience. You don't need your own saber yet.
The floor is one class. That is the only thing required of you. Everything else follows from that.
Find an instructor teaching Temple Warriors near you.
Every LSTA academy, Shadow Circle and Field Instructor is listed on Find a Floor. Your instructor sets the class schedule and the class price.
Find a Floor →No one near you yet?
Tell us your city. Floors open where the requests cluster, and the first people who asked are the first to hear.
Request a Floor →Teach Temple Warriors: the instructor path starts on sifuarmstrong.com.