Student Profiles

How Has Kempo Training Benefited My Life?

Physically: Faster, Stronger, Lighter!

It has been around a year now, and the benefits have been remarkable. Firstly, and most notably, I’ve lost a *lot* of weight. Quickly. Fifteen pounds so far. Looking slimmer, old clothes now fit, I can shop one size down. Good news all around. This stands in stark contrast with  my experience with other exercise regimes. I used to go to the gym regularly, watch what I eat, etc. But I’ve never had the type of results I’ve seen with Kempo. I’m still trying to work out what the difference is, as I’m pretty sure I worked just as hard before (at least it seemed that way).

My best guess is that it’s the nature of the challenge. Going to the gym, aside from being relatively dull, doesn’t really offer the same opportunity to test your limits. To truly stretch yourself and find that you’re capable of more than you thought. This, I think, is what makes the difference. And Kempo offers that opportunity on a continuing basis. There are always more ways to push yourself, and the instructors seem to understand that a key part of their mission is to find those challenges, and to constantly push you just that little bit further than you thought you could go.

Aside from weight loss, all the other benefits of martial arts (balance, coordination, flexibility, endurance) have all arrived as promised. My posture is better, I get less tired when traveling or working, and I’ve noticed a quantum increase in my overall energy level.

Mentally: Relaxed, Alert, Resilient!

Related to the physical challenges noted above, Kempo has strengthened my ability to “go that extra mile.” To face new challenges and opportunities undaunted. And to relax and concentrate deeply on the task at hand. This is not only about pushing yourself and discovering that you are capable of more than you think. It’s also about feeling comfortable in being able to take a hit.  Part of life is learning that, no matter how good we are, we all take hits. The challenge is learning how best to take that hit and get back up. Kempo provides a direct physical analogy to that challenge, which carries over into our broader lives. We get hit. It hurts. But the world doesn’t end. We carry on, and if we’re paying attention, we may learn something. In my own recent experience, this lesson has come forward most clearly in dealing with a knee injury. I worried about sparring without being able to rely on my legs. It seemed unfair. I’d get hit a lot. But at some point, I realized that I actually wanted to learn how to spar without my legs (which may not always serve me well as I get older and older). Sure I get hit. Sure I feel like a beginner. But in the context of Kempo, getting hit is safe. And ultimately, as I’ve gotten better, the prospect of getting hit is not something I worry about any more. Accepting that I’ll get hit, and that this will help me learn, has enabled me to relax and push on. It’s a slow process, but I find myself enjoying the journey rather than fearing it.

Looking forward: More cool stuff!!

The rewarding part of Kempo is that the challenges never end. Having reached one goal, there is always the opportunity to focus and strive toward the next one. And as outlined above, the benefits of stretching yourself carry over into both your physical and mental well being. Personally, I’m looking forward to exploring some of the richer aspects and traditions of Shaolin Kempo, including in particular the aspects of the different animal fighting styles. I’ve enjoyed Master’s Club tremendously; watching the Black Belts demonstrate the different styles and thinking “Cool! When do I get to learn that?” The opportunities seem boundless, and I know it’ll be fun.

Andrew

Martial Artist and Economist

Four years ago, kempo wasn’t even on Jessica’s radar. And as far as she was concerned, it was going to stay that way. Other than team sports in high school and lifeguarding during college, fitness and Jessica’s life, let’s just say, didn’t really cross paths.

 

Jessica, 36, worked as an auditor at Marriott’s headquarters in Bethesda, Md., and back in 2009, she spent 95 percent of her time on the road. She was charged with visiting 47 Ritz-Carlton hotels each year, and she usually worked 12-

hour days. “By the time you’re done, you’re going to your hotel room, eating something – how could I not be eating great food at the Ritz Carlton – and going to sleep,” she says. She did have a gym membership for maybe three or four years, and she used it… maybe three or four times.

But at a holiday party in 2009, Jessica ran into one of her colleagues – a lawyer named Bhavana. “She got there late, her hair was wet, and I asked her what was going on,” Jessica says. Bhavana told her she had just finished her green belt test in kempo, and she suggested Jessica join her for class sometime.

“I just smiled and nodded my head and said yes,” Jessica says. “You know how people say things and don’t really mean them? I thought she would forget all about it.”

But then the next week Bhavana showed up to hand Jessica a note with the address of the dojo. When Jessica argued that she was leaving town for the holidays, Bhavana came back with, “Good, after Christmas.”

“I kept trying to get out of it,” Jessica says. “She was not going to let me off the hook. And then I finally showed up, and I loved it.”

When Jessica began kempo in January 2010, she felt at home right away. The other students were welcoming, the workout was satisfying, and she didn’t have that feeling of people staring at her because she was uncoordinated, like she always did in fitness classes at the gym. (Only water aerobics – where most of her body was hidden underwater – felt safe.)

“I never pictured myself doing martial arts,” she says. “It seems like the kind of thing for people who are mean – like tough guys – and that’s not me! I’m a lover, not a fighter,” she says, laughing. Jessica’s stereotype was shattered when she got to class and found everyone to be friendly – not a mean person in sight.

The physical side of kempo has been challenging, for sure, but Jessica says her memory has been tested even more. In one of her first classes, an instructor went through about 10 different steps and then expected Jessica to repeat them. She was incredulous. But in order to make progress, she needed to learn more about herself and the way she takes in new information – it helped, for example, to see the movement, then write it down, then practice it. Now, she finds that her mind has been trained to remember more.

 

Jessica is modest about her physical achievements. When she began, she couldn’t do one push-up; now she can do 20 before continuing push-ups on her knees. Pre-kempo, she lacked upper body strength; today, she can see definition in her arms. And her balance used to be terrible – she could do a flamingo stance for a second or two; now, she can do it to a count of 100.

These days, Jessica has a new job at Marriott, as a director of finance, so her travel and her Ritz-Carlton room delivery have been largely curtailed. Her normal routine involves driving – 45 minutes from Gaithersburg to Alexandria – to the dojo three days a week.

Most importantly, Jessica has learned new things about herself. “I really didn’t think I could commit to something like this,” she says. “But now I’ve learned that if I make a commitment, I can keep it. Knowing that I have the discipline to see something through means a lot to me.” This summer in China, Jessica and Bhavana will both test for their black belts, and Jessica is excited about the opportunity, as well as the celebration of the progress she has made. She feels more confident, motivated and stronger – in many ways. And she is even inspiring others – because of her enthusiasm about kempo, her 6-year-old nephew is now learning martial arts.

Every once in a while, Dany watches a martial arts movie.

“You see these guys jumping 20 feet in the air, and making it look easy,” he says. “In real life, you can’t do all those amazing things. But you can still protect other people and protect yourself.”

Since he started his kempo training four years ago, Dany has learned a repertoire of very cool moves, but his education transcends his physical skills.

“It’s made me stronger, more flexible and more relaxed, says Dany, 12. “And I was always very healthy, but it probably made me a little more careful about eating. If I saw a burger and a salad, I’d probably choose the salad.”

Dany, an only child, has grown up with healthy role models – his father is a runner, and his mother is a regular at the gym and in Pilates classes. But Dany only discovered martial arts as an option for his own physical fitness when he and his father walked by the dojo one day.

“I had played baseball for two years, and I’d stopped playing, so I wanted to find another activity,” Dany says. “I learned about kempo, took one class and really liked it. In many ways, it was different from any other sport I had participated in.”

Dany doesn’t remember all the details from his first class, only that it was among the biggest challenges of his life. “I was doing things I’d never done before, and I was sweating a lot by the end of the class.”

Nevertheless, Dany wanted more. He began taking individual and group classes, and he made a commitment to continue the training.

“From the beginning, he liked kempo more than other sports,” his mother Ivonne says. “Some nights, he was so tired, but he still wanted to go to kempo. It could be snowing or raining, and he still wanted to go.”

He began training almost every day of the week. Throughout one class, he remembers doing about 500 jumping jacks and 200 push-ups. Although Dany says he likes all the exercises, he isn’t crazy about burpees. His favorite is plank, which he can do for 10 minutes. The trick, he says, is learning to relax your body, focus your mind, and use your core muscles.

Speaking of relaxing, Dany says deep meditation and relaxation before each class has helped him become more relaxed in other aspects of life. “If I’m at school and have a big test, instead of automatically starting it and feeling nervous, I will take a moment to remember that I studied a lot, and that I know what I’m doing,” he says. “Then I’ll take the test and pass it. The kempo training has taught me to think ahead and relax.”

Ivonne notices that her son is calmer, and that he has made a big commitment to making kempo a big part of his life.

Over the years, Dany has advanced to his junior black belt, which he earned this fall. To prepare, he went to the dojo even more often, practiced as much as he could and in the end, just set out to do his best. He says he felt like the test was 20 hours long, even though it was closer to three.

“At his black belt test – oh, I was so proud,” Ivonne says. “I noticed a big, big difference. He had improved enormously.”

Dany realizes that even though he has reached a new level, there is still much he doesn’t know. “When you get in deeper, it’s complex,” he says. “Things might seem simple on the outside, but it’s really complicated – there is always something to improve on.”

One of the things he practices at home is doing kempo movements with his eyes closed. “At the dojo, you are facing one direction,” he says. “But in a real fight, you might be confused about the angle the attacker is coming from. So by closing my eyes, I get to practice in all directions.”

He said his goal is to keep doing his best in the dojo and learn more about kempo.

But Ivonne says the most important thing has little to do with technique. “Most important,” she says, “is that he’s really enjoying it.

In 2010, Gary had been helping his wife with her photography business when he was introduced to Potomac Kempo. The couple had shot family portraits for Master Santillo, and when they were reviewing the photos, the conversation turned to Gary’s fitness level.

“We looked at my belly — and my belly had gotten pretty big,” Gary says. “Chris said to me, ‘We could work on that.’ He was not pushy at all. He just said if it’s something you ever want to do, let me know.”

At that time, Gary had recently moved to Alexandria from Blacksburg, Va., to be closer to his fiancée. But he’d left behind his friends and support crew, and he was feeling a little out-of-sorts in D.C. — not to mention bored and overweight.

But it was another year before he took Master Santillo up on his offer. And that’s only because an email arrived in  July 2011 that changed everything. It was a save-the-date message for his 25th high school reunion in Appomattox, Va.

“I realized I needed to go back and see my friends I grew up with in five months,” he says. But he also knew he was no longer the skinny kid his school friends called Gilligan, and he decided to do something about it. “I wanted to be in shape.”

Wasting no time, Gary got in touch with Master Santillo, who promptly set him up for his first class that same day. As Gary describes it, he was put through the ringer by his instructor. He had never heard of a Burpee; he managed to do 15 but thought it was going to kill him. “I had my butt handed to me,” he says. “And I joined on the spot.”

To be fair, the reunion wasn’t Gary’s only motivation. He and his fiancee had married, and she had soon afterwards been diagnosed with M.S. It happened suddenly — she woke up one morning with tingling that quickly led to a loss of fine motor skills. Today, she largely controls the disease with medication, but at the time, it was difficult and scary, and there were a lot of unknowns about her condition and future. Gary felt like there wasn’t anything he could do to help her. So he decided to get himself in shape.

“Health was really on our minds,” he says. “So I decidedif I could be in better shape, that would allow me to do something I could really take control of.”

So having never played sports or been a gym rat (he played chess and Dungeons & Dragons in high school), and having spent the previous 12 years sitting at a desk for work, Gary committed to Kempo. His only experience with martial arts — beyond photographing tournaments — was as a young boy. His brother, older by six years, practiced American Freestyle Karate and would come home and try out his moves on Gary. “I’d practice with his nun-chucks and throwing stars, and we’d spar and wrestle,” he says. “I always wanted to do whatever he did, and he was a big influence in my life.”

Understanding that it would take time to learn a brand new discipline, Gary knew that he was making a long-term commitment. “I knew it would be difficult to master, and I didn’t really expect that I’d be any good at it,” he says.

The first few weeks were the hardest. He got deep gashes on his toes, carpet burns and bruises. “I was constantly sore, and my brain felt like it could not hold any additional Kempos,” he says. Yet he kept returning to the dojo, even when he could barely stand or stay awake.

As a white belt, he practiced nearly every day, and it paid off. He was invited to join the Academy shortly after earning his purple belt. To him, being asked to teach the new skills he’d learned was an incredible honor.

Three years later, Gary, 47, can do 40 pushups “in a heartbeat.” His upper body strength has improved, he’s lost 30 pounds, and he had to buy new clothes to accommodate his slimmer waistline.

He still works at home, as a consultant for an electrical engineering firm, mostly making phone calls. He also works part-time for Potomac Kempo, handling perspective student inquiries and managing much of the dojo’s social media and photography.

Gary has found that his fellow students have become family. He’s developed a nice network of friends and enjoys seeing them outside of classes. He says he has also been honored to photograph some of the students, including family portraits and the wedding of one couple he trains with.

 

In the fall of 2013, Gary talked to Master Santillo about going to China to train with the Shaolin Monks and test for his Black Belt. As the staff photographer, he had seen countless belt tests for other students, and he knew what to expect — in the dojo. But testing at the Shaolin Temple was a big unknown, so he began to train even harder. He started doing daily push-ups, increased his running and added extra sets during class. He even accepted the challenge of Sensei Dyer to run in a Tough Mudder race outside of Richmond, successfully running through 10 miles of mud and tackling obstacles.

As a third-degree brown belt, Gary traveled to China, his first ever overseas trip. He was surprised how difficult it was to climb the mountain with the other students. “The stone steps were designed as a defense mechanism, and there was no normal cadence going up,” he says. “You couldn’t just run up them. I found out quickly that I wasn’t in the shape I thought I was in.” He was also still tired from travel, and the previous two hours of kung fu. But he tested, and he earned the Black Belt for which he trained.

Then, at the bottom of the mountain, something magical happened. He was stretching and feeling very limber. He casually bent over at the hips and for the first time, he touched his toes. Two days after he returned from China, he said he was stiff as a board again, but now that he knows it’s possible, he will work harder to repeat the toe-touching. “I’m still working on the flexibility. People say that it’s a difficult goal for older males, so it will be hard to achieve,” he says.

He also realizes, now that he has his Black Belt, that more work lies ahead of him. “There is exponentially more to learn between Black Belt and Second-Degree Black Belt than between previous belts,” he says. “It’s like in music, when you have the chords and chord structure down, and then you can start putting it together to make music. I have the basic tools to make the art happen on my own without a step-by-step guide. The challenge now is putting it together myself.

When Gary returned from China, his wife – who has been a strong influence in pushing him along in his practice – had made a beautiful rack for his belts at her father’s woodworking shop. “When I got back, she had put all my belts on there, and one spot remains for a Black Belt. Rather than getting a second Black Belt to display, she said once I get my Second-Degree Black Belt, we will put the first one in the display case. She’s already expecting me to do more training.”

Gary says it felt great to put on the Black Belt. His first day wearing it inthe dojo, he was congratulated, and he swelled with pride. But as soon as he started practicing, he says the belt color didn’t matter – he was training just like he always had.

As for the reunion, he says, “I looked good!” But he stresses that he looks a whole lot better now. “I was confident, and I think that’s the bottom line. I felt like I could show up and smile and feel happy, and that’s because of the Kempo training.”

When Jordan first returned to the dojo after earning his adult Black Belt in 2013 — one of the youngest at Potomac Kempo to do so — he was on cloud nine. Passing the test was thrilling, but it even more, the experience was emotional.

“This was the goal ever since I started when I was a kid,” Jordan says. “I always thought Black Belt was the coolest thing. Attaining that goal was huge for me. It’s like, you have this dream for your sport, and you’ve finally done it. It’s a reality, yet it’s overwhelming.”

But it didn’t take long back at the dojo for a different reality to set in. One of Jordan’s fellow students told him that once a martial artist has his Black Belt, then the real learning can begin. “He said, ‘From white to black is just learning the basics, and then you really start understanding what you’re capable of as a martial artist when you get your Black Belt,’” Jordan remembers.

Although it might have somewhat dampened his celebratory mood, that comment didn’t necessarily come as a surprise to Jordan, because stopping after he earned his Black Belt was never a consideration. “I kind of accepted the fact that I have a lot more to go,” he says. “You don’t all of a sudden know everything when you’re a Black Belt.”

Jordan, 16, and a junior at Annandale High School, has been studying kempo since he was 5. He remembers going to a fair where Potomac Kempo had set up a tent. A promotional wheel allowed people to spin for free classes. “My dad had me spin the wheel, and I got a month of free lessons,” Jordan says.

At the beginning, Jordan remembers a class full of children in brand-new white uniforms and belts that were a little tricky to put on. He was skeptical, but it didn’t take long for him to learn some defensive maneuvers, which he would enthusiastically show off at home. “I come home and say, ‘Mom, look what I can do now!’ I just thought it was the coolest thing ever.”

Jordan’s family moved some furniture to the perimeter of the living room, giving him space to practice. Each time he tested for a new belt, he would worry about not getting it. “There was always this fear that you’d be the one person who didn’t advance,” Jordan says. “You go in and feel great about it, take the test with your friends, then you think you could be the one who doesn’t pass.” His parents always assured him that the instructors wouldn’t invite him to test if he weren’t ready for it.

Over the years, Jordan has taken several classes each week, occasionally needing to pause his practice for a week or two to catch up with homework or high school sports — he swims in the winter and is a saxophonist in the school band.

The discipline of martial arts training has helped Jordan’s endurance in swimming, but also his ability to focus and control his emotions and his body. “If you start feeling stressed out or freaked out, you can step back and relax for a minute,” he says.

At the end of his sophomore year, for example, Jordan and his classmates were given final projects for each class — which meant coming home with as many as four different final projects due within the month. “When you come home and start working on it, you realize it’s a lot more than you thought,” Jordan says. “You start thinking about getting it all done, not messing up, trying to get a good grade, and it’s easy to freak out.” Once he took a moment to step back and put everything in perspective, he was able to return to the work calmly and take on one assignment at a time.

Jordan began taking adult kempo classes in 2012. He is now 5’8”, but he still feels outsized by a lot of other students. It’s one thing to defend yourself against other kids, he says, but now he understands the advantage that adults may have over him in size or strength. His advantage is speed. “I’m faster than a lot of the adults I face. I try to use speed to my advantage, trying to move around, go to the side, find an opening.”

He says now that he is a Black Belt, it’s important for him to find his own style, and speed works to his advantage. “You can’t just go straight into someone, especially if you don’t have the height and weight. You need a style that works for you to defend yourself.”

These days, Jordan finds that much of his training returns him to the basics, and he understands that even the most complex maneuvers won’t be successful unless the student has nailed all the elementary components. “Great technique, a straight back, looking forward in the stances… Those kinds of things you have to do right,” Jordan says. If you’re not, the instructors will point them out, and that will stay in your mind for the rest of class.”

When people ask Jordan if he remembers a time before karate, he says, with the exception of one or two memories, not really. “I can’t even imagine the type of person I’d be like if I wasn’t in karate,” he says. “It’s been my life for so long, and it was such a big part of my childhood.”

To a 5-year-old today, he would say simply, “Don’t stop.” He would tell that young martial artist that there will be times when it seems like it’s taking forever to get the next belt, and there will be times when it’s really hard to keep going. “But when you do keep going,” he says, “it pays off.”

José, a 52-year-old software engineer with a small company in Arlington, likes to compare martial arts to graduate work.

“I got a masters degree from George Mason, and this feels like the same major commitment of time and effort,” he says. “That’s why so many people start and don’t finish. But I don’t like quitting. Plus, it’s good for me. If I wasn’t doing karate, I would be at home watching TV.”

Among the older students at Potomac Kempo, José began taking classes five years ago, when his son Stephen Rubio – an instructor at the dojo – gave him and his wife each a week of classes as a gift. At the time, José had been working out at a local gym twice a week. He had never practiced martial arts and didn’t consider himself an athlete or jock. Furthermore, he was somewhat concerned about being one of the older students, being a slow learner and not be able to keep up. But José found almost immediately that he enjoyed the practice and soon began realizing its benefits.

“This is a big step up from my gym workout,” he says. “At first, you learn all the strikes and stances, and then you have to practice, practice, practice. It was a challenge at the beginning. But the students are nice, and the instructors are patient.” He says there are some students who can do hundreds of burpees and some who can’t do any. “I’m not the best and not the worst; I’m about in the middle.”

José says he is in much better shape today, with improved balance and more options in his self-defense toolbox – tools he hopes he never has to use. His chronic back and knee pain have all but gone dormant the last few years, after plaguing him on a regular basis – he used to throw his back out every six months. And Kempo has also benefited him psychologically.

“One of the reasons I started the classes was to help with anger management – stuff like road rage,” he says. “When I leave work, sometimes I’m angry at a lot of little things, and if I go right to a class, then I go home in a much better mood. It helps with my level of happiness.”

 

In April, José successfully completed a black belt test, which was held outside at a park in Alexandria. “It was a pretty intense test, on one of the first hot days of the season, and I had no trouble doing it,” he says. His overall physical conditioning, he adds, is what enabled him to make it through a grueling day of physical challenges in energy-sapping weather.

These days, José is at the dojo three times a week, working particularly on forms that involve good balance and coordination, such as spinning kicks. “Some guys get it quickly,” he says. “It takes me more time. I’m also a little slow in sparring, with my reaction time to my opponent. So people have time to punch me. I need to improve that.”

Unlike a graduate degree, in Kempo, there isn’t one final commencement day, when the student can put everything behind him. But that’s one of the things José likes so much about the practice.

“Once you know the basic curriculum, you learn the more subtle and advanced stuff,” he says. “Things like take-downs on your knees, or where you barely use one hand to flip the other person onto their back. I’m like, wow! How do I do that? The training is continuous. If you quit, you go back to being fat, slow and out of breath. So as long as I can, I’m sticking to it and trying to improve.”