Passion Meets Purpose
For our Aplomb Martial Arts Kansas City instructors, teaching martial arts is not just a hobby or a job – it is their passion and full-time career. At the same time, they are also students, continuously striving to improve their skills and expand their knowledge. Our instructors constantly refine their teaching skills to make your martial arts training experience fun and exciting.
Starting with his first experience grappling at just 3 years old, Glen Bartlett has dedicated over 40 years to perfecting his prowess in any and every form of martial arts. Although he began his professional career in the business world, he found that he wanted to live his life doing what he loved—martial arts. He ultimately decided to play to his strengths in both business and martial arts by opening his first dojo, followed by many others. In 2020, he created Aplomb Martial Arts with his wife, Janell, as a martial arts franchise in Kansas City with a family-friendly environment where students and instructors can reach new heights with unrivaled support.
Glen plays a pivotal role in the franchise by constantly seeking and coordinating new opportunities for the Aplomb community to grow. He takes a hands-on approach to personal development, working closely with each and every dojo and leading regular training and tests. Even after all these years, sparring (and grappling) is still Glen’s favorite part of martial arts.
Janell Bartlett has spent almost 30 years cultivating her skills as a martial artist, coach, athlete, and leader. Her power and movement stem from her diverse background in athletics, including dancing and figure skating. Once she discovered martial arts, however, she leaped into the art form with full force and never looked back. After many years of practicing, teaching, and fighting, she and her husband Glen opened Aplomb Martial Arts in 2020 to create a close-knit community where students and instructors alike can hone their craft, celebrate their successes, and face their challenges head-on.
Armed with her education in business psychology, she uses her unique skills and insight to make strategic marketing and outreach decisions for Aplomb Martial Arts. She works alongside Glen to train and hire skilled instructors, run master seminars for students, and manage their dojos with passion, focus, and growth in mind. Her favorite thing to do in the dojo is partner work and her favorite move, in her words, is a classic “wicked side thrust kick.”
“The most important start to your martial arts journey begins when you open your mind to these new experiences, and you learn and develop patience with yourself. You will fail, and that’s okay. Failing is a normal part of experiencing new things. If you aren’t failing, you aren’t trying! Time and effort are all that you need to be a martial artist. Because each person’s martial arts journey is different, it’s not important whether you are physically capable of everything. Your journey is one of growth and self-improvement, that is what matters most!”
“I love teaching personal lessons. Group classes are awesome of course. But I love when I get to have that time to discuss with my students what their individual goals are, and then work through our personal training to achieve those goals as well as teaching them new material, body mechanics, and technique to further their rank advancement.”
“The culture at my dojo is fun, exciting, challenging, personal growth oriented, and full of movie quotes and 80’s music. Being part of Aplomb means having an entire team to workout with, support one another, and share ideas with. My favorite part about my job is making people laugh and enjoy their training. It’s AMA-zing to be able to instill confidence in my students and help them take the lessons they learn in the dojo into their lives.”
“We are here for you and will help you on their martial arts journey. We work with people from all walks of life, and it allows us to have a wide breadth of knowledge on how to work with you and your goals! Our art focuses on many skills that are beneficial to having a healthy and happy life. Some of those include how to work through stressful situations, confidence, physical fitness, flexibility, and more!”
We have a new instructor joining Aplomb Martial Arts.
“My favorite part of being an Aplomb instructor is getting to change student’s lives and make a difference. It is also great to have a job where I’m not at a desk all day! When it comes to the Aplomb system, I love the whole program from white and up; how each student gradually learns body mechanics, and how their movement, strength, and flexibility advances as they do.”