Julio Anta the co-owner along with his wife Elena and Master Instructor of Anta’s Fitness and Self Defense one of South Florida’s most successful martial arts/fitness centers was born in Cuba in 1957. He arrived in the USA with his parents in 1962. As a sick, small and weak child he loved watching Tarzan, Hercules and Swashbuckler movies. At the tender age of 7 years old he told his father who had boxed in Cuba that he was going to be a martial artist and a bodybuilder when he grew up. His father supported the idea 100%, even though no one else could ever believe that this sick, shy and weak boy could ever accomplish this. As a boy walking to a relative’s house he picked up from the street some photos of bodybuilders and told his father that he wanted to look like that when he grew up. One day watching the Tom and Jerry cartoons he saw a mouse wearing a white pajama looking outfit flip the cat. He asked his dad if that was possible. His father replied yes if you learn Judo. Later Bruce Lee in the Green Hornet inspired him. Yet, in the 70’s after seeing the Kung Fu TV series and the Bruce Lee movies he knew that he had to do Kung Fu. Anta has been a practitioner of the martial arts since 1972 and began serious bodybuilding in 1975. Julio's first martial art training began with Judo at the Florida Judo Kai in Hialeah under the tutelage of Cuban Judo champion Montpellier. Anta a competitive bodybuilder in the eighties who was a runner up in the Jr. Mr. Florida and Mr. Miami still stays in excellent training with kettlebells and Indian clubs. He is featured in the bodybuilding web site Muscle Memory Bodybuilder Search, the Internet Bodybuilding Database that preserves the history of bodybuilding.

He later studied Karate under different instructors. In 1974 he witnessed his first Kung Fu class and began training under Hung Gar's first non-Chinese Master Mario Perez. Perez returned to NY and Anta trained in numerous styles of Karate Japanese, Okinawan and Tae Kwon Do. Yet, his true love was the reality based style of Hung Gar Kung Fu. In the early nineties Anta found Master Perez and began training in Kung Fu until he earned his Black Sash and began teaching. Today he owns one of South Florida's most successful martial arts and fitness centers fulfilling his childhood dreams.

Anta’s interest in Kettlebell started in 2003 when he saw a photo of a kettlebell practitioner in a magazine. He remembers that as a kid all the barbell/dumbbell sets that sold in the muscle magazines brought handles to convert the dumbbells to kettlebells. He also remembered the photos in the old Strength and Health magazines of the old time strongmen lifting kettlebells. After getting certified as a Pilates instructor in 1999 his interest for old style functional training grew. In 2003 EZ Defense instructor Kathy Marlor from Clearwater FL asked Julio to assist her in a self defense class at the ECA World Fitness Conference in Miami Beach. When he checked the web site to learn about the conference he was amazed to read that one of the presenters was Dave Ganulin of Kettlebell Concepts. Anta took the class which he considered the hardest fitness class he had ever taken and met the Kettlebell Concepts crew. At the conference he bought 2 kettlebells yet feeling that his technique was off they gathered dust for a year. He kept in contact with Dave and finally they were able to do the first kettlebell certification in South Florida at Anta’s Fitness and Self Defense. Anta was certified and started the first group kettlebell and Indian Club Swinging class in Miami Dade County which he calls XFT (Xtreme Functional Training) Challenge. In less than a month this class was full. Julio has also trained and hosted a Mike Mahler Kettlebell Workshop at this center. Mahler is one of seven Senior RKC instructors under Pavel Tsatsouline who popularized kettlebells in America.

Anta is a Southern Shaolin Kung Fu Master He is directly under Mario Perez, Head of the Southern Shaolin, Hung Gar system in Florida. Julio is also fully certified in the Israeli Special Forces discipline of Haganah F.I.G.H.T. (Fierce Israeli Guerrilla Hand to hand Tactics.) He has cross trained in Boxing, Kickboxing, Tai Chi and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. His Boxing and Kickboxing instructor Eufracio Gonzalez is currently the trainer of numerous professional World Boxing champions. Anta is currently NAPMA's (National Association of Professional Martial Artist) NSSN (National School Support Network) representative for the state of Florida. NAPMA is the world's largest professional martial arts association. He is also the World Martial Arts Union Florida Representative and on their Board of Directors.

Mr. Anta was inducted in the Florida Martial Arts Hall of Fame in Orlando in 2003 as the Instructor of the Year. He was also awarded the County Commissioner Jose “Pepe” Diaz, Miami Dade County Award for Martial Arts Excellence in 2004. Anta was awarded the EFC Black Belt School’s “Hero Award” for service to his students and the martial arts and the “Outstanding Martial Arts School Award” in 2005. In 2005, The City of Doral Proclaimed October 15, as “Anta’s Fitness and Self Defense, National Martial Arts Day.”

Julio has been certified in Kardio Kickboxing and by NAPMA in Fitness Kickboxing. He is also the only instructor in South Florida fully certified by Dr. Terrence Webster-Doyle as Martial Arts for Peace Bully Buster instructor. Mr. Anta is a National Security Agency certified Child Safety Agent and a Steal Proof Master (Anti Child Abduction and Safety) instructor. He is an ACMA (American Council of Martial Arts) certified Martial Arts Instructor by the Copper Institute. Anta served as a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps Reserves. He served ten years as a Florida State Department of Corrections Officer and was a certified FDLE (Florida Department of Law Enforcement) Instructor. He is also a certified ISSA Fitness Instructor, Kettlebell Instructor by Kettlebell Concepts, ICS Fitness and Nutrition Instructor and certified in Pilates by the Physical Minds Institute and All American Pilates.

In 2004 Julio Anta hosted Aleph TeVe's Self Defense Tip on Pax TV. He has conducted demonstrations and seminars at numerous schools, churches, festivals, Boy Scouts of America, Parrot Jungle, Southern Command, movie theaters and Pro-Player Stadium, From South Florida to North Carolina. Anta is a speaker at the annual NAPMA World Martial Arts Conference. Mr. Anta was also a speaker at the 2003 ECA World Fitness Conference in Miami assisting in EZ Defense. He has been featured in numerous local, national and international newspapers and magazines. Julio has also been a guest on Univision’s Control, Despierta America, Noticias 23, Al Amanecer, Primer Impacto, mun2 Fuzion, CBS 4 News, WPLG TV 10 News on ABC. Channel 7 Fox News, NBC 6 Today in South Florida, Telemundo’s News, TVC's Una Hora Contigo, Ch 41 America TeVe News and shows, Pax's Aleph TeVe, TBN Joy in our Town and on UMTV News. Mr. Anta currently writes a column for the Doral Tribune. His articles have been published in the Doral Planet, Martial Arts Professional and the Trumpeter Magazines. You can also read some of Anta’s articles in his blog martialartsandfitness.typepad.com.

Julio Anta New York 1964	With Mike Mentzer Mr. Universe and creator of the Heavy Duty System 1980
Julio Anta 1983 2 nd Runner Up Junior Florida Bodybuilding Championships	With Mr. Olympia Franco Columbo 1985
Training with Billy Blanks in 1999	Training with Matt Furey in 2002 a the NAPMA World Conference
2003 Florida Martial Arts Hall of Fame Instructor of the Year	With Adam and Michelle Khai-Cronin at Kettlebell concepts certification training 2004
with Mike Lee Kanereck Haganah F.I.G.H.T. certification 2004	With Master Mario Perez after Red Sash promotion 2004
Training with World Champion Boxing Trainer Eufracio (Franco) Gonzalez 2006.	With Mike Mahler at Kettlebell Workshop 12-10-05
Julio Anta 49 Years Old; 2006	Julio Anta with Frantz and Yoana Snideman