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….

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…

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…

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,”…

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…

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….