-- Laura S., ZUSDS Mercer Island Dojo

I was impressed with how well the instructors dealt with students of varying abilities & experience levels. My son told me how proud he was of his accomplishments because he worked hard to achieve them. It's also a great way to expend that last burs of energy in the day! My son's self-confidence has really improved. He also has seen the importance of perseverance - if you stick with it and keep trying, eventually you will succeed.

-- Tamara H., ZUSDS Ballard Dojo

My son has been taking classes here since they openned. He is 7 and has mild autism making these kinds of activities challenging for him. The instructors are so calm, patient, and professional, he has loved it from his first class and has gained so much confidence from the experience! His balance, agility, and body awareness have also improved. Sensei Jennifer is such a great teacher and such an honorable person. She has built a wonderful learning environment. Obviously, I strongly recommend this place!

I wanted to let someone know how great the instructors are at the Mercer Island dojo! Sensei Ben and Sensei Meghan have been incredibly supportive of me and have called me every day we have class to encourage me to come! They are so kind and skilled in their instruction, and create a very positive environment. Going to karate is the highlight of my week- thanks to them! I wouldn't have continued if it hadn't been for them.

-- Sara W., ZUSDS Ballard Dojo

-- Anon, ZUSDS Ballard Dojo

Sensei Jennifer is a great teacher. The studio is a great place to learn and very clean. They have a great team of Sensei and the kids love them. Great place to learn Kempo! I would recommend this studio for everyone. My son Joshua is one of the first student to open the studio and he loves the place. He is very focus and wants to be a student teacher one day.

-- Joe V., ZUSDS Ballard Dojo

My step-son looks up to Sensei Bryan as a respectful teacher and has aspirations to become a martial arts teacher.

This is a great studio with fantastic teachers. They're so good that 3/4 of my family goes & would most likely prefer to be in class than at home. They work well with all ages - 4, 14, or 40. The kids are excited to learn and the adults seem motivated as well.

-- Anita W., ZUSDS Redmond Dojo

Sensei Bryan has also become somewhat of a big brother to my step-son, taking him under his wing. My step-son has grown both emotionally and physically, and Sensei Bryan has played a significant part in his progress.

-- Gary H., ZUSDS Kirkland Dojo

Kempo (a blend of Karate and Kung Fu) is Not for everyone! It's not for you if you are dead, a zombie, mean spirited, a bully, or particularly obnoxious. But, absent that, it will provide benefits too numerous to capture here and broaden horizons and potential in yourself that will astound you. Your chronological age is absolutely not a factor! And, Ultimate will meet you on your terms, and at your level of physical ability, as it supports your efforts if you give them an authentic chance. I've been attending the Kirkland, Washington Dojo location for a while now. Each lesson is a gift from the teachers (Senseis) and each class an opportunity to learn something about yourself and your journey on your own path.

There is a cliche that the definition of middle age is ten years older that what you are. It used to be that middle age started at 35 or 40 because we died around 75 or 80. Well, I'm half way there if I kick off at 120! You do the math. A couple of years ago, I had such a fearsome side-blade kick that it would terrorize any dachshund around since that was about as high as I could get it. My front ball kick? Not a munchkin could have withstood it! Both are better now and I see improvements as the weeks roll on. Knee pain, hip and shoulder aches, and myriad other complaints are much diminished and actually feel as though they are healing as scar tissue from my misspent youth dissipates and I slowly reshape my body.

I'm not saying that a little work is not required. But you just can't let fear, your own perception of your own age, or projection that you can't "compete" with the more youthful students, act as a deterrent if you have even the slightest interest in seeing what you just might be able to do for yourself in pursuing this Art. This approach to martial arts instruction is truly personalized by incredibly skilled and caring instructors. As I get older, I learn that my patience and gratitude is rewarded in a variety of ways. Why not get older on your own terms? Confidence, balance, stamina, self-defense, friendship. These attributes are present, in abundance, where I train. Growth, renewal, fitness and skill are all within reach. And, once more, mere chronological age is insignificant. Conquer your own fear. It's really, really, not a factor!

-- Carol B., ZUSDS Redmond Dojo

My name is Carol and I am soon to be 62 years old. Aug 2004 I felt so physically incapacitated I swallowed 3 handfuls of pills. I was living with chronic pain, no sleep, and multiple autoimmune diseases including Fibromyalgia. I was taking pain pills, sleeping pills, and muscle relaxants. I’ve had two back surgeries, have a herniated disc, cardiac stent and arthritis.

October 2006 my son encouraged me to take a self defense course at Z-Ultimate Self Defense Studios. I thoroughly enjoyed the course. I liked the environment. Everyone was warm, friendly and inviting. I liked the instructor. He was strong, direct and I felt safe that I would not be injured. At the completion of the class I “timidly” signed for six months of lessons with the guarantee that I would be able to quit if I felt I could not handle the requirements.

Today I will receive my purple belt in Kempo Kung Fu. I take no pain pills, no sleeping aides, and no muscle relaxants. I no longer have chronic pain. I can ride bikes, ski, hike, walk stairs. I feel better today than I have in 20 years. I can do more than I ever thought I could. I am expected to work at my own pace. I set my own limits. I still feel safe, warm and accepted.

-- Robert P., ZUSDS Ballard Dojo

A friend in Denver had recommended Z-Ultimate to me because of her favorable experience with them. I began my martial arts instruction here a year ago at the somewhat advanced age of 59. I thought that I was in good physical condition for a man of my age, as I hike, bicycle, ski and backpack frequently, though with some lack of flexibility, and with most of my muscular fitness in my lower body.

I have been astounded at the level of improvement of my overall physical fitness, including weight loss, increased buffness, lower resting heart rate, improved strength and increased flexibility. All of this, plus a growing ability to defend myself in physical confrontations, which I hope that I never have to employ.

I heartily recommend Z-Ultimate Self Defense Studios, especially the Ballard Dojo, for anyone, including middle-aged or young senior citizens who desire to lose weight, improve their physical conditioning, increase self-confidence, and pick up some self-defense skills. I plan to earn my Black Belt here, and I am well on my way!

-- Lisa H., ZUSDS Kirkland Dojo

I’ve never had anything turn out so differently than what I expected. I started martial arts training expecting to improve my coordination, flexibility, and stamina – which did happen. What I didn’t expect, was that martial arts would change me so much in other ways. Every day, I find myself using things I have learned in martial arts [pushing myself, focusing, not giving up, adjusting my approach to fit the situation, patience, trusting myself] to make my life work better. I used to avoid things that I was afraid of, and learning to face fear and move forward in spite of it, has had a huge positive impact in every aspect of my life. I’ve always been an anxious and shy person, but I have a lot more confidence now. I’m getting better performance reviews at work because I because I have become a better trainer, do more effective presentations, and speak up more at meetings. I find myself working on and improving things about myself that I had pretty much given up on ever changing.

I tried martial arts once before, and quit after only a few months. I see now that I picked the wrong program. The environment was not supportive, the training was not at all individualized, and after 4 months, the Sensei could not have told you my name. This experience has been completely different! This time, I’ve been training for almost five years, and plan to continue for many more.

Continued.....

Six years ago, give or take a couple of weeks, I was told that I only had a few days left to live.

I needed help to walk the ten or so steps between my hospital bed and the bathroom, my lungs were filling with fluid and plans were being put into place to get me onto a heart transplant list. My heart condition was diagnosed as dilated cardiomyopathy, the "no identifiable cause" variety. I had not had a heart attack, my arteries impressed my doctors with their lack of plaque buildup. It was just an unknown "something" that had caused a very slow degeneration of my heart muscle. It truly was a surreal experience. I'd come into the emergency room the previous evening with a heartrate around 140 bpm and trouble breathing. I'd been told it was probably pneumonia and after several tests I'd been tucked into bed, just to be awakened what seemed like a few minutes later to find myself in a television medical drama. The elderly doctor with white hair and beard talking to an attentive pack of teenagers in white coats about the 49 year old female patient who had been admitted for pneumonia like symptoms but who in fact was in end stage congestive heart failure, cause unknown.

The way I understand it, (I'm not a doctor) the lower left chamber of a heart is supposed to be the powerhouse circulation muscle that fills with blood from the lungs and then with a powerful contraction squeezes the filled chamber, pushing all that oxygen rich blood into the circulatory system to spread throughout the body. Heart muscle strength is determined by measuring how much blood leaves the filled chamber during a ventricular contraction (Ejection Fraction). When a person's Ejection Fraction is around 45% they are considered to be in Heart Failure. I was told that 20% was generally considered to be the point of no return. My Ejection Fraction measured at 10%.

Well then, I obviously didn't live up to those doctor's expectations. Or would that be live down to them? Why did I survive when my doctor's had never seen anyone in my condition do so? Why did I not only survive, but actually get better? Those are questions that have haunted me almost every day of my life for the past six years. The doctors told me I was in heart failure, my first reaction was to ask, "well then, how do we fix this?" They told me that there was no fix, nothing could be done. I remember being quiet and reaching down into myself, curious as to what it felt like to be dying. This is so very hard to describe, but what I found was that "I" was just fine. That ball of energy that lived within me, that source of energy that had always sustained me in the past, that which was the "essence" of myself was as strong as ever. It was a contradiction, the doctors told me I was dying, but I knew that I was not.

I remember thinking then, that if I was not going to die, I needed my body healthier or my quality of life would be horrible. Anyways, be it the new modern medicines, prayers of friends and family, miracle from God, change of fate, my sheer stubborn determination (which I have always been told is considerable), or any combination of the above, I got better

After a month I was allowed to leave the hospital (in a wheel chair), a few months later I was able to use a push walker and could walk a little ways down the street with it's help. I used the walker for about a year and then a cane for another four. It took about four years to go from my wheelchair to being able to walk around the block by myself with only a cane. Around another year and I could walk a lap around the mall by myself and go for a long grocery shopping trip holding onto the push cart. Although I could walk farther, I still needed to use a cane for extended walks and someone to load and unload my groceries for me. I was permanently disabled and living off of social security, had no job, no home of my own, the cardiomyopathy was affecting my cognitive functioning, I was sliding into a deep depressive funk.

-- Renee S., ZUSDS Bellevue Dojo

Around this point in time, my son and daughter-in-law began taking lessons at Z-Ultimate in Bellevue with Sensei Jeriel Atterberry. I was in Spokane and my son James called me all excited about the martial arts program he and Andrea had just signed up for. He knew that I had always been interested in studying martial arts so it took very little persuasion to get me to try a free lesson.

My son had realized way before I did, that I had lost myself. I had become afraid of my own body. I had ignored that beautiful ball of energy within myself and it was withering. Thanks to James and Jeriel Sensei I have reconnected and am becoming stronger every day. I still have to fight my way through the occassional panic attack, but I never have to fight alone. My lack of stamina is slowing me down a bit, but it's not stopping me from learning, improving and having a heck of a lot of fun.

Jeriel Sensei was not what I was expecting. I was expecting some arm twisting, both figuratively and literally as well as mental manipulation and a fight over my checkbook. What I got instead was a man who looked into me, not "at" me, but into me. He wanted to know who I was, what I needed in my life, and how could he help me reach my goals. As we spoke, I realized that I had given up a lot of my dreams and goals and one of the most important had been my lifelong goal to study martial arts. We found that the five or so years of sedentary living had impacted my overall body strength. I couldn't do even one girlie pushup, but somehow I walked out of that first lesson believing that I wasn't "too old", it wasn't "too late", and that I wasn't "too sick".

My one wussy almost push-up has improved to where I can do twenty in a row now. Instead of using a cane and always taking the elevator, I can now climb three floors of stairs, I can even carry in several bags of groceries after a shopping trip. I am now confident that I have enough stamina to pass my yellow belt test. I want to be clear, I am not claiming that studying martial arts is a medical miracle cure-all. In fact, the damage is irreparable, my heart will never return to what it was and modern medicine is keeping me alive. However, the change in my quality of life and outlook for the future is priceless.