The practice of traditional martial arts is more than an activity we do a couple times per week, it is a lifestyle. This lifestyle rewards us in ways that benefit all ages.  We literally have participants in our association from age 4 through their late 80’s, and each age group has specific programs and activities that improve their lives. For example:

Children Ages 4 – 7:

Our youngest martial artists begin training in our fun Tiger Tots program.  They learn to direct their limitless energy in positive ways.  They develop skills to focus on a single task and see complex challenges through to completion.  This is accomplished through fun activities that also help them build physical strength and coordination at the same time they are learning about mental discipline.

Kids and Teens, Ages 8-18:

Older kids join our full Soo Bahk Do program, which expands upon the benefits of Tiger Tots by adding more complex challenges and more active self-defense, including bully prevention. We begin to study the mental benefits and character development aspects of martial arts more directly. It is at this stage that we frequently see our K-12 participants become leaders in their school and other activities. This is due to their ability to focus on complex tasks and assignments, and their confidence to take on challenges that more timid kids would be hesitant to try.

Adults:

Unfortunately, there is currently a social stigma against adults participating in traditional martial arts. This is a development over the last couple of decades, and it is very sad.  Adults can improve their lives from traditional martial arts training as well.  Those who ignore the stigma and choose to try martial arts, will find improvements in their health that they would have previously thought impossible.  This is due to 21st century lifestyles.  Adults believe that they “can’t do the things they used to” because they are “getting old”.  This is rarely true.  It is far more likely that sedentary lifestyle is harming their bodies, which they mistake for the advance of age.  Adults need to regularly exercise their full range of motion, which is something that almost no other form of exercise does, at least not to the intensity of martial arts training. I’m telling you, you do not need to live vicariously through your children.  Get out there and do something intense and mentally stimulating for yourself!

Seniors:

Seniors benefit from the same range of motion and muscle strengthening benefits as adults, they just perform these activities in a slightly different way to more fully protect joints and bones. Our association has an additional program for seniors called the “Silver Moo Do In” program. If you think about this at its simplest level, one of the main reason seniors have a medical emergency is simply because they fall!  The process of getting down onto the floor, and getting up again, can start to become a huge challenge for people as early as their forties.  When you see what our adults are capable of in comparison, you will understand that we are orders of magnitude more healthy and have a much higher quality of life than our peers who do not train in martial arts.