Please take time to browse our course descriptions. They will give you an overview of the breadth and depth of material available to an eager student, and they will help you to focus any questions that you might have for Master Kelly. Master Kelly has high standards and stresses quality; students progress through the various ranks at their own paces.
- Jr. Youth Martial Arts (Jr. YMA)
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This course was designed for the youngest of our students, ages 4–6. Due to the large range of physical and mental capabilities at this age, Master Kelly takes a flexible approach to skill development.
The Jr. YMA course features a variety of fun drills to increase coordination and to learn to follow specific instructions. The drills consist of blocks, kicks, rolls, and balance exercises. The environment fosters respect, determination, teamwork, and fun.
- Youth Martial Arts (YMA)
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This course is designed for older children, ages 7–12, of all abilities. The core curriculum is the same for all students, with individual exercises tailored to each student’s rank and ability. All students are provided with study guides showing detailed requirements for the next rank and giving parents an objective yardstick for their child’s progress.
The YMA course is a mixed martial arts program; Master Kelly draws on his broad-based knowledge of Judo, Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Jujitsu, Aikido, and Kung Fu. Your child will learn basic blocking and kicking skills, as well as techniques for falling safely. Then, your child will learn to escape various types of grabbing attacks, to defend him- or herself while on the ground, and eventually, to throw an attacker.
Long-term students of the YMA program develop the ability to defend themselves in a variety of real-life situations. They develop coordination and self-mastery, and they build real confidence and self-esteem. The YMA program also instills fundamental training principles of cooperation and mutual respect.
- Fighting For Fitness™ (FFF)
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Master Kelly trademarked the name “Fighting For Fitness” over ten years ago, long before the current “cardio kickboxing” fad. FFF draws on Master Kelly’s academic training in anatomy and physical education, as well as his experience as a certified personal fitness trainer helping individuals achieve their fitness goals for over ten years.
There are two primary distinctions between Master Kelly’s FFF and other typical kickboxing programs.
First, FFF teaches biomechanically correct exercises, ensuring that the course’s rigorous repetitive motions will not harm students’ joints or connective tissue. Unfortunately, poorly designed exercises are all too common in the fitness industry, and many avid students of other aerobics programs are unknowingly damaging their joints over time.
Second, unlike some other kickboxing programs in which the kicks and punches only serve to get your body moving, FFF teaches real martial arts techniques. You will learn the proper way to punch and kick effectively, practicing in the air and with punching bags. This means that while you are building cardiovascular endurance, muscular endurance, strength, balance, and flexibilty, you will also develop real self-defense skills.
We have lots of fun in FFF getting in shape and building our skills to high-energy music. Please come join us.
- Mountain Dragon Martial Arts (MDMA)
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This course is a mixed martial arts program, with wing chun at its core, supplemented by elements of aikido and jujitsu. The objective is reality-based self defense, preparing you for the near-infinite variety of conflict situations that can arise in real life.
With MDMA’s wing chun core, you will develop fast reflexes and learn to strike and kick in ways that debilitate your opponent. You will also learn aikido techniques for throwing an opponent using their own force against them, and you will learn falling and rolling techniques to keep yourself safe if you are thrown. MDMA will also teach you jujitsu techniques for defending yourself on the ground, after a fall or takedown.
As you advance, you will learn transitional techniques for defending yourself from standing to ground combat to escape. You will learn how to use and defend against knives, sticks, staffs, pistols, and swords. Your reality-based training will encompass empty-hand and weapons sparring, as well as wooden dummy work, making you a well-rounded and confident student of the martial arts.
MDMA is a principle-based program, meaning that it emphasizes general principles of footwork, fighting range, and power generation, rather than teaching rote memorization of sequences of moves. You will learn to draw on MDMA’s principles spontaneously, creating your own effective sequences as needed.
- Qigong
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Qigong (pronounced chee gong), is a Chinese system of exercises, breathing techniques, and meditations that teach you to control your body’s “life energy,” called qi by the Chinese and prana by East Indian Yogis. Since the Chinese word gong means “skill,” qigong literally means “life energy skill.” It is sometimes referred to as Chinese or Taoist yoga.
Taoist mountain hermits and healers created the mental and physical exercises of qigong more than 3000 years ago to balance the flow of qi in the body. In addition to general-purpose exercises, they also developed seasonal exercises, as well as those based on the natural movements of animals. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that energizing the blood with qi promotes health and vitality and increases longevity. Modern research has found that long-term practice tends to strengthen the immune system, prevent disease, protect joints and ligaments, and even promote happiness.
In qigong classes, you will learn movement exercises to practice regularly at home. In addition to the health benefits, you will share in one of humanity’s oldest physical traditions.
- Tai Chi
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We offer tai chi classes for any level from beginner to advanced. Our courses evolve from meditation, to movement practices, then “forms” practice (standard sequences of moves), “push hands” games, and weapons training. Emphasis can be placed on health and rejuvenation, practical martial applications, or both, depending on the student’s desire.
- Baguazhang
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Baguazhang was the exclusive method of Chinese body guards protecting the emperor. Today it is still the preferred martial art of the Chinese police. Executive protection experts who need to deal with multiple attackers often choose baguazhang as well.
Our course work begins with basic principles of footwork, hand gestures (“palms”), and linear walking. The student then progresses to circle walking and eventually application exercises as more palms are introduced.
Each palm has its own unique character, or “energy,” and is essentially its own martial art embedded within the baguazhang system. Sifu Martin Kelly has studied baguazhang with leading masters in the U.S. and China.