Frank Latella

About me in 1 paragraph:

Born in Florida and raised in New Jersey, I’ve always had a restless drive and a passion for doing things my own way. What started as a childhood hustle shoveling snow and flipping burgers evolved into a journey through martial arts, self-defense, and entrepreneurship. From earning my HaganaH black belt after a brutal multi-day test, to building my own gym, to launching a gun shop during the pandemic, my path has been anything but traditional — and that’s exactly how I like it. Along the way, I’ve learned two key lessons: never stop moving forward, and always be ready to pivot when the plan changes — because it will.

If you want to know it all, keep reading:

I was born in Boynton Beach, Florida in 1993. Two years later, my mom and I relocated to New Jersey to be closer to family. Growing up, I was always on the move — I couldn’t sit still and always had to be doing something. Some call it ADHD, but I consider it a superpower (once I learned how to channel it in the right direction).

As a young capitalist (or at least I thought I was), I wanted cool things — but there weren’t many handouts. I quickly realized that if I wanted something, I’d have to earn it. By the age of 12, I was shoveling driveways in the winter and mowing lawns in the summer to make money. At 14, I got my first W2 job working at McDonald’s.

High school wasn’t exactly a highlight. I wasn’t a good student — low grades, constantly getting in trouble, and not much to look forward to. I knew I needed something more, but I had no idea what that was... until I stumbled across Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ). 

After just one class, I was hooked. I trained every chance I got and started competing within months. From there, I branched out into Muay Thai and developed a basic, but well-rounded skill set. I also started working out in my garage to improve my strength and endurance so I could perform better.

Eventually, I came across a new class I hadn’t heard of before: HaganaH (Hebrew for “defense”). I decided to give it a shot, and it was a major shift from what I was used to. BJJ doesn’t allow striking, and Muay Thai limits the types of strikes you can use — but HaganaH was focused on real-world street fighting. The goal was to overwhelm your attacker with violence and not just survive, but thrive in chaotic situations with multiple attackers and potential weapons.

The HaganaH system includes five core modules:

1. Hand-to-hand combat

2. Gun and knife defenses

3. Tactical knife fighting

4. Combat shooting

5. Functional fitness

If you didn’t train in all five, you weren’t considered a complete HaganaH practitioner.

After a few months of training, I was invited to a seminar in Pennsylvania led by the founder of HaganaH himself — Mike Lee Kanarek (MLK), a former Israeli special forces soldier who served in the IDF Golani Brigade. I had heard stories about how intense and borderline insane he was — so to say I was intimidated is an understatement.

In a room full of 50+ people, MLK chose me to be the demo dummy — the guy he would perform all techniques on so everyone else could learn. For over five hours, I was punched (without gloves), thrown into walls, headbutted, and kicked — especially where it hurts most.

To make things worse, there’s an unwritten rule: if you’re the demo dummy, you don’t hit back. I was ready to walk out, but I had nowhere to go — and more importantly, I wasn't going to quit. That experience was painful, but what stuck with me most was how real the training was. It worked. I wanted more.

The problem was MLK only came up north a few times per year, and his headquarters was all the way back in Florida. I told my mom I wanted to move with her when she relocated to Florida — something she was already planning to do once I graduated high school. But she told me MLK’s gym was in Davie, and we’d be living in Boynton Beach — 40 miles away (about 75 minutes one way). That didn’t matter to me. I had already made up my mind: I was going to make that drive.

We moved back to Florida in 2011, and I started training six days a week. At HaganaH HQ, there was only one rank: black belt. Belts weren’t worn during class — they were symbolic, a sign that you had been through the “fire” and made it out the other side. Every year at the annual conference, I’d watch people test for their belts, never really believing I’d be one of them.

In the meantime, I worked whatever jobs I could find and enrolled at Palm Beach State College with plans to join the criminal justice program. But because of my poor high school record, I had to start with remedial classes like basic math and English. Needless to say, college didn’t last long — about six months. I dropped out and decided I wanted to work for myself.

In 2014, while still grinding through dead-end jobs, I got certified as a personal trainer. I started workng with clients out of my garage gym and would also travel to them.

I was hooked — doing what I love, helping people reach their goals, and actually getting paid for it. But it wasn’t enough income to do full-time.

Around this time, I started teaching HaganaH twice a week with another instructor at a Jiu-Jitsu gym in Boca Raton. Unfortunately, the schedule was tight and time slots were limited, so we put the program on hold to rework the plan.

Soon after, I found a Craigslist ad for an independent personal trainer. The interview was at 5 AM — a test, I later learned, to weed out trainers without discipline. I showed up and got the job. Now it was hustle time. I had to learn marketing, sales, and how to train people with different bodies, goals, and limitations. 

Eventually, the gym owner gave me permission to start teaching a HaganaH program — which reignited my passion. Within a year, I was fully self-employed.

In 2015, it was finally time to test for the HaganaH black belt. The test was back in West Chester, PA — ironically the same place I first met MLK. It was January, freezing, and there was snow on the ground — a major contrast to the Florida weather I was used to.

The test lasted three days. Yes — days. We had to sleep in the gym, with no heat. The first part of the test was a combat fitness qualifier — you had to pass this just to continue. Two people failed. Over the course of three brutal days, we had to demonstrate high-level proficiency in all five modules. The final test? Full-contact sparring with a current black belt. 

My opponent was my original instructor from New Jersey. During sparring, two rules: if you get knocked down, you have 3-seconds to get back up or you fail. If you get knocked out, you fail and cannot re-test. Through literal blood, sweat, and tears, I passed. I had earned my black belt.

Even with that milestone, I knew I still had more to learn — and more to build. My next goal: open a gym. 

In 2017, at age 24, I opened Strength 4 Combat with a business partner. It came with all the stress and pressure you’d expect — and then some. After one year, we got hit with a notice from the city inspector: the building wasn’t up to code, and the landlord refused to make the required alterations. With no budget to fix it ourselves, my partner and I decided to close up. Six months later, I opened a new facility on my own. For the next three years, business was thriving. I added firearms training and concealed weapons classes into the mix.

Then COVID hit.

Gyms were among the first businesses to be shut down. What started as “two weeks to flatten the curve” turned into several months. During the downtime, I started taking clients to the shooting range — which was considered an “essential business.” Wanting to future-proof myself in case of more shutdowns, I applied for my Federal Firearms License (FFL). That allowed me to legally sell firearms to clients who had taken my concealed carry classes. 

Word got out that I was a gun dealer, and demand quickly grew. I decided to go all-in and separate the two businesses. In 2023, I moved into a larger building and opened Boynton Guns.

And the crazy part is… I’m just getting started.

Key Lessons I Live By:

1. It’s okay to slow down — but you can’t stop pushing forward.

2. Be ready to pivot when your plan fails — because it will.

My Current Certifications & Qualifications:

• HaganaH Black Belt (3rd Degree)

• Law Enforcement Firearms Instructor (NRA)

• Florida Class 'K' Firearms Instructor

• Security Officer Instructor (Florida Class 'DI' License)

• Glock Certified Armorer

• Ground Survival Instructor

• Knife Fighting Instructor