PRESSURE CHANGES PEOPLE.
We train people to become stronger because of it.
Sabaki combines martial arts principles, practical psychology and real-world leadership experience to develop stronger, safer and more capable people.
Confidence | Leadership | Personal Safety | Executive Performance
Most Corporate Training is learned, Ours is experienced.
You can talk about confidence, you can read about resilience, you can watch a presentation about performing under pressure, or you can experience pressure in a controlled environment and discover how you actually respond.
We takes principles developed through martial arts and business experience and transform those learnings into a practical human-performance training.
Participants don't just study and learn, they move, they think, they experience, they adapt and they start finally taking action.
The lessons we experience are often the lessons we remember.
Salt Shark
“John has had such an incredible impact on Salt Shark, so I couldn’t recommend him as a mentor enough! Any other young entrepreneurs would be lucky to have him as a mentor.”
Our Programmes
Train for the moments that matter
Confidence Under Pressure
A practical martial arts inspired workshop designed to build confidence, resilience and mental strength in the workplace.
Confidence isn't developed by avoiding uncomfortable situations.
It is developed by learning that you are capable of handling them.
SABAKI STRONG™ takes participants outside the traditional training room and introduces them to practical principles used in martial arts to manage fear, pressure, uncertainty and adversity.
No martial arts experience or particular level of fitness is required.
Participants learn through discussion, controlled physical exercises, breathing, movement, pad work and personal challenges designed to demonstrate one powerful idea:
You are capable of more than you think.
Participants Learn To
Remain composed when pressure increases
Understand their physiological response to stress
Develop confident body language and presence
Act despite uncertainty and self doubt
Establish stronger personal boundaries
Recover faster from mistakes and setbacks
Become comfortable with being uncomfortable
Approach difficult situations with greater confidence
The Experience
1. Shoshin — The Beginner's Mind
Growth requires the willingness to be uncomfortable again.
Participants explore ego, vulnerability and the importance of approaching unfamiliar situations with curiosity rather than fear.
2. Maai — Own Your Space
Confidence starts with how we occupy space.
Participants learn how posture, positioning, eye contact, breathing and movement affect both how confident we feel and how others perceive us.
3. Ibuki — Control Under Pressure
Pressure changes our breathing, thinking and decision-making.
Participants experience controlled physical pressure and learn practical techniques for regaining composure.
4. Kumite — Enter the Challenge
Confidence isn't something we wait to feel before acting.
Through safe martial arts inspired exercises, participants experience uncertainty and learn to act despite it.
5. Tamashiwari — Break Through
Every participant identifies a personal barrier holding them back.
Fear, self doubt, perfectionism, imposter syndrome, conflict avoidance.
They then physically break through a board representing that barrier.
The lesson isn't about strength, the barrier often appears stronger before we commit to breaking through it.
6. Zanshin — Move Forward
Participants finish by identifying one situation in their professional or personal life where they will apply what they have learned.
Ideal For:
Leadership teams, emerging leaders, sales teams, graduate programmes, corporate wellbeing programmes, team development days, conferences and organisations experiencing significant change.
The Outcome
Participants don't leave having simply listened to another presentation about resilience, they leave having experienced themselves overcoming something difficult.
Don't wait to feel confident. Train yourself to become confident.
Confidence & Mental Strength
Build confidence, resilience and the ability to act despite uncertainty through practical martial-arts-inspired experiences.
Participants learn how to manage pressure, establish stronger boundaries, become comfortable with discomfort and discover what they are capable of.
The world is a difficult place sometimes, building your confidence and resistance can help
Personal Safety & Confidence
Practical skills, greater awareness and real confidence.
Most self-defence begins long before physical contact occurs.
SABAKI PROTECT™ teaches employees practical principles for recognising potential danger, establishing boundaries, managing confrontation and protecting themselves when avoidance is no longer possible.
The objective isn't to teach people how to fight.
It's to give people the awareness, confidence and practical skills to get themselves home safely.
The SABAKI PROTECT™ Framework
AWARE
Recognise changes in people, behaviour and environment before situations escalate.
POSITION
Understand distance, exits, obstacles, body position and environmental advantage.
COMMUNICATE
Use confident verbal and non-verbal communication to establish boundaries and reduce escalation.
DE-ESCALATE
Understand how behaviour escalates and learn strategies for avoiding unnecessary confrontation.
PROTECT
Learn simple defensive principles for protecting vulnerable areas and responding to common physical threats.
ESCAPE
Create space, disengage and move toward safety.
Practical Components Can Include
Situational awareness
Confident body language
Verbal boundaries
Managing personal space
Understanding reactionary distance
Basic protective positioning
Escaping common grabs
Protecting the head and body
Creating distance
Safe striking principles where appropriate
Getting safely back to your feet
Protecting another person
Escape and post-incident decision-making
Training is adapted to the risks, environment and requirements of each organisation.
Ideal For:
Frontline employees, healthcare teams, retail staff, real estate professionals, sales representatives, hospitality teams, lone workers, community organisations, travelling employees and organisations wanting to improve employee confidence and personal-safety awareness.
The SABAKI Philosophy
In martial arts, the smartest response isn't always to meet force with greater force, sabaki teaches us to recognise danger, position intelligently, remain composed and move decisively.
Avoid when possible, de-escalate where appropriate, protect when necessary and escape when able.
Personal Safety & Self-Defence
Practical personal-safety training designed to help employees recognise risk, establish boundaries, manage confrontation and protect themselves when necessary.
The goal isn't to win a fight.
It's to get home safely.
Leadership Under Pressure
Leadership isn't truly tested when everything is going according to plan, it is tested when circumstances change.
This is when pressure increases, when people disagree., when the answer isn't obvious or when something fails.
SABAKI LEAD™ is a leadership development programme based on principles developed through martial arts and applied to modern organisational leadership.
Rather than simply teaching leadership theory, participants experience the principles physically, psychologically and strategically.
Six Principles of the Black Belt Leader™
SHOSHIN — Beginners Mindset
Strong leaders don't need to have every answer.
Develop curiosity, humility and the ability to challenge your own assumptions.
MA-AI — Position Intelligently
Position determines options.
Learn when to engage, when to create distance and how to position yourself and your organisation before problems become crises.
IBUKI — Control Yourself First
You cannot lead others effectively when you cannot regulate yourself.
Develop composure, breathing and emotional control under pressure.
KUMITE — Become Comfortable With Pressure
Leadership inevitably involves uncertainty, confrontation and difficult decisions.
Learn to operate effectively despite discomfort.
SABAKI — Don't Fight Every Battle Head-On
Resistance doesn't always require greater force.
Learn to redirect opposition, adapt strategy and find opportunities within changing circumstances.
ZANSHIN — Remain Aware
The fight isn't over simply because the immediate challenge has passed.
Develop greater situational awareness, reflection and readiness for what comes next.
Leadership Is A Practice
Nobody receives a black belt after attending one karate class.
Leadership should be treated the same way.
SABAKI LEAD™ therefore combines experiential workshops, practical leadership challenges, reflection and application inside the workplace.
Participants don't simply learn how leaders should behave, they train to become better leaders.
Leadership Under Pressure
Leadership isn't truly tested when everything is going well.
SABAKI LEAD™ uses martial arts principles and experiential learning to develop leaders who remain composed, adaptable and decisive when conditions become difficult.
Develop yourself to become a better leader.
Behind every business is a founder making high-stakes decisions often alone. Sabaki offers Executive Performance Coaching designed to support not just business outcomes, but the individual responsible for them.
This is not motivational coaching. It is grounded, strategic, and practical support for executives navigating pressure, growth, and responsibility.
How We Help
Stress & Burnout Management
Executive burnout is rarely visible until it becomes damaging. We work proactively to stabilise workload, mental load, and recovery rhythms protecting long-term performance and decision quality.
Presence & Engagement in the Business
Many executives are physically present but mentally overloaded. We help you regain focus, improve prioritisation, and re-engage with the parts of the business that actually matter.
Stable, Independent Sounding Board
Executives need a place to think clearly without judgement or internal politics. This service provides a trusted, confidential space to pressure-test decisions, strategies, and concerns with someone commercially aligned but emotionally neutral.
Becoming the Best Version of Yourself
Business performance mirrors personal performance. Coaching focuses on physical energy, emotional regulation, and mental clarity ensuring you operate at a level that matches your ambition.
Who This Is For
Founders carrying decision fatigue
Business owners without a trusted advisor
Executives under sustained pressure
Leaders wanting longevity, not burnout
Cost
Weekly check ins with strategic plan and support $1,500 per month
Executive Performance Coaching
A confidential performance partnership for founders, executives and senior leaders carrying significant responsibility.
Begin to think clearly, lead confidently, perform sustainably.
What is Sabaki
Sabaki is a Japanese martial arts concept centred around positioning, timing, awareness and movement.
Instead of simply meeting force with greater force, Sabaki teaches us to understand what is happening, position intelligently and respond effectively.
We believe the same philosophy applies far beyond martial arts.
At work, in leadership, during conflict, under pressure and in life.
You cannot always control what comes toward you but you can train how you respond.
THIS ISN'T TEAM BUILDING.
And it isn't another seminar or course that your employees will forget by Monday.
Our Sabaki programmes are designed around actually experiencing the development.
Depending on the programme, participants may experience controlled pressure, movement, breathing techniques, pad work, personal-safety drills, decision-making exercises and physical challenges.
Every activity has a purpose, every experience connects back to the workplace and nobody needs previous martial arts experience to get the full benefits.
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SABAKI STRONG™ takes participants outside the traditional training room and introduces them to practical principles used in martial arts to manage fear, pressure, uncertainty and adversity.
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SABAKI PROTECT™ teaches employees practical principles for recognising potential danger, establishing boundaries, managing confrontation and protecting themselves when avoidance is no longer possible.
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SABAKI LEAD™ is an experiential leadership-development programme based on principles developed through martial arts and applied to modern organisational leadership.
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A confidential performance partnership for founders, executives and senior leaders carrying significant responsibility.
Martial Artist | Business Leader | Strategist | Coach.
John Roberts has spent his career operating in two environments where performance under pressure matters: martial arts and business.
His professional career has included building, leading and advising businesses across complex and highly regulated industries.
Alongside this, martial arts have been a constant throughout his life and Sabaki brings those worlds together.
This is not by turning martial arts into another business metaphor, but by using its principles to help people become more confident, capable and composed when the pressure arrives.
Our Founder
YOU DON'T RISE TO PRESSURE.
YOU FALL BACK ON WHAT YOU'VE TRAINED.
Give your people something worth training for