Michael Valenti - Head Instructor

Instructor Credentials

• Founder of Kenpo 360
• Certified:
• Instructor of Jeet Kune Do Concepts
• Associate Professor of Kenpo
• Senior Instructor in Wing Chun Kung Fu
• Level 1 Instructor in DDP Yoga
• 2-time Battle of the Midwest Gold Medalist
• 2020 Mu Lan International Kung Fu Gold Medalist
• IOMAC Gold Medalist
• 5th Degree Black Belt in Kenpo
• 2nd Degree Black Belt in Freestyle Judo
• Purple Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
• 25+ years of martial arts experience including Boxing, Kali, Judo, and Gracie Jiu Jitsu.

Instructor Biography

Michael Valenti started his martial arts journey in St. Louis Missouri when he was only 8 years old. Like so many children of his time, he was introduced to martial arts through watching Kung Fu movies and expressed to his father how much he would love to learn to fight like that. His father enrolled him in a Korean style of martial arts called Kuk Sool Won, which was a traditional system with a heavy focus on joint locks and takedowns. Around the age of 10 his parents moved to Mississippi, where he found another Kuk Sool Won school to continue his studies. Unfortunately, the instructor of this school was not very good at working with youth martial artists, and Michael eventually decided to leave.

As Michael moved into his adolescent years, he continued to practice what he had learned from Kuk Sool Won but also began to explore other martial arts systems. It was around the age of 14 that he was first introduced to Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune Do via a book his father bought him. Even at such a young age, Michael could clearly see how practical and effective this method of fighting could be and began to devote the majority of his training time to Bruce Lee’s art. In addition to Jeet Kune Do, he also began to study Judo, Kali, and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

By the time he was in his late teenage years, Michael had helped establish and began to partake in a No Holds Barred fight club with local martial artists called “The Armory”. By 2006 he was competing every week at The Armory and was sitting on top of a nearly four-year winning streak. While it was nice to have that kind of success, it frustrated Michael because he was looking for a challenge to help him grow and felt his fighting skills had grown beyond those who were fighting at The Armory.

In the Summer of 2006, Michael Valenti moved to Indiana for college and immediately began to search for both competition and a Jeet Kune Do based school to continue his studies. It was at a local Mixed Martial Arts school that he found the challenge he was looking for. One of the school's instructors agreed to spar with him and dominated Michael the whole time. Amazed at the effectiveness of this school’s techniques, Michael devoted himself to learning everything that school had to offer. For several years he attended every class the school offered, training 7 days a week, often for 5 hours each day. The school taught several systems of martial arts including Jeet Kune Do, Kenpo, Kali, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Boxing. By 2008 he had become a Black Belt in Kenpo and a Full Instructor in Jeet Kune Do Concepts. With his experience in grappling, the head instructor asked Michael to put together a ground fighting curriculum to incorporate into their Kenpo classes. It was this project that would eventually lead to the foundation of Kenpo 360.

Michael Valenti would later establish his own martial arts school in Indianapolis teaching Kenpo 360. The first classes were taught out of the back of a local arcade, but the school would eventually grow. However, running his own school did not get in the way of his continued studies. As time went on, he studied several more martial arts systems, earning a Black Belt in Judo and the rank of Senior Instructor in Wing Chun Kung Fu. He won the Gold Medal at the 2020 Mu Lan International, 2 gold medals at the 2022 Battle of the Midwest, and a IOMAC Gold Medal in 2023. All the while continuing his constant devotion to Jeet Kune Do and Kali by training several times a year with Guru Dan Inosanto (head Jeet Kune Do Instructor certified by Bruce Lee).

Michael Valenti has been teaching a variety of martial arts systems since 2008 and has a deep devotion to self-defense. He feels self-defense is the ultimate form of martial arts, because with self-defense there are no rules, therefore you have to use every tool you have. His school offers many systems of martial arts, but all of them are taught with practicality and self-protection in mind. The core system of his school, Kenpo 360, is one of the only fully developed and well-rounded martial arts classes that was built from the ground up for modern day self-defense situations.