Why I Started

By Mike Pierce, yellow belt

My sole purpose for starting at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute at 55 is still now a mystery to me but one of the benefits has been weight loss.  Before CTI Taekwondo, cardiovascular exercise only took place  when I marched up the stairs and now it comes in the form of jumping jacks; a lot of jumping jacks.  The first time the warm ups started I thought that doing over 50 jumping jacks was sadistic but the number reached over 300 and I did not see a defibrillator nearby.  After about a month and a half I started to get the hang of it and noticed the benefits of increased stamina and a slimmer waist line.  I have now lost a total of 10 lbs. after 3 months of CTI Taekwondo and I am surprised at all the extra weight I had been concealing.

Going to CTI Taekwondo has been educational, humbling and exhausting but the benefits of getting to know some outstanding young and middle aged adults working in a disciplined environment has made the journey rewarding on many different levels.

Our Lakewood Taekwondo school will make you more confident!

I don’t know if you remember Tae Bo. Tae Bo was an aerobic exercise program that was created several years ago and it took some of the movements from Taekwondo and turned it into and exercise routine. Tae Bo was completely useless as a martial art but what you should notice about that is that there is no coincidence that there are multiple trainers from all over the world who are taking pieces of Taekwondo and putting it in their fitness routines!

Taekwondo is great for your health and if you are looking for a  martial arts school in the Green Mountain / Lakewood area that will help you get into shape then you have come to the right place! Our Green Mountain Taekwondo campus has many different benefits for your health. For example, taking Taekwondo will help you get lean, increase your cardiovascular abilities, and tone your muscles.

Our Green Mountain Taekwondo school will also help you learn to defend yourself like nowhere else in Colorado. Now hopefully you will never be in a position where you will need to use the Taekwondo skills you learn here but you never know when it could come in handy to either defend yourself or someone else.

You will also start to notice that you will become very aware of your surroundings. People who attack and mug other people are usually looking for people who are distracted or not really paying attention. They want the element of surprise. If you find yourself walking through a bad area but you are paying attention attackers and thugs will often leave you alone for someone who is less aware. Nothing is worse for a thug than drawing attention to what they are doing so they’ll leave you alone in most cases if they think they are going to have attention drawn to them or if they think they will get caught.

Once you join our Green Mountain Taekwondo school you will start to notice some other things happen that will surprise you. You reflexes will get faster and there will be times when the world seems to move slower.

For example when I first started martial arts I was standing in my kitchen. I was about 12 years old at the time and my mother reached above me to get something out of the cabinet that was in front of me. In the process she accidentally knocked the spaghetti out of the cupboard. Before the spaghetti had hit the counter I had caught it in my right hand! I was just as surprised as my mother was and I put it back into the cupboard feeling proud to know that my new martial arts practice was working! Understand that before martial arts I was not the kid who was a great athlete.

I loved my time training at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute.  I became coordinated, I got confident and my reflexes only got better. I even started to get better at sports. I used to flinch as a ball would fly toward me but once I started to do martial arts I got more confident. A ball is a lot easier to catch and not be afraid of when you are used to people throwing punches at your face.

Thoughts on the Big Picture

By: Lee Tomjack, Jeffco Middle School Teacher

The workouts at the Colorado Taekwondo Institute are not just about building up physical strength, coordination, and agility. It’s also about building up the mind of the person, as well as the body.  CTI students regularly practice positive thinking, making proper choices, planning ahead, strategizing, and helping others, both in their dojang and in their community at large.  CTI is trying to produce leaders who can help others in their learning and in the world at large as well.

Martial arts is not just about sparring and breaking boards.  It’s about making yourself into a better person who takes responsibility for their life and the well being of others.  We can fight, but we choose not to.  We could sit back and watch others struggle with their daily lives, but we choose to help others be more successful instead.  This can be by helping them with their training, improving their confidence and thinking skills, and helping them in their daily lives as well, through our food drives and other community outreach charity efforts as well.

The 40th CTI Superbowl!

The weather couldn't get us this year!  Last year we had to cancel our annual tournament, but this year the weather couldn't stop us!  Even with some heavy snow going into the weekend, our 40th CTI Superbowl was a huge success!

316 students and instructors from across the Colorado Taekwondo Institute Campuses and Clubs competed in Poomse, Sparring, First Point Wins!, Board Breaking, and Staff Poomse.  Green Mountain, Littleton, Westminster, Golden, Conifer, Craig, Red Rocks Elementary, Montessori Peaks Academy, Our Lady of Fatima, West Woods Elementary and Westridge Elementary were all represented.

The action began on Friday evening, March 7, at Alameda International High School in Lakewood, Colorado.  Friday night highlighted some of the black belt competitions, beginning with sparring, and continuing with staff, poomse and breaking.

On Saturday, March 8th, the action continued with a few black belt breaking competitions and was followed by all of the other divisions from white thru red belt.

Students of all ages and belt levels took part in the competitions from 2 to 67 years old!  This year, CTI Obstacle Sparring was featured in First Point Wins! divisions, and there also was a musical demonstration performed by the Black Belt Team at the CTI Superbowl Halftime.  Done to the song, "I Robot," by the Alan Parsons Project, the demo included poomse, basics, breaking and more!  The Superbowl was dedicated to the service members of the US and to our parents, familly members and friends.  Singer of our United States National Anthem this year was Michael Sandusky, 3rd dan, from the Golden Campus.

The CTI Superbowl is the only tournament of the year where under black belts vie for the the Grandchampionships.  Congratulations to Jennifer McKernan, Thomas Ma, Rob Sarche and Julianne Todd for capturing the Grandchampion Awards by placing the highest in their competitions.

40th CTI Superbowl RESULTS:

POOMSE

1st place
Abdu Kikhia            Hope Morgan        Andrew Madayag    Tyler Murphy  
Collin Kreutz            Holly Madayag        Lydia Lincke        Jennifer McKernan
Thomas Ma            Emily Artman         Ethan Kirschner        Ella Sidwell
Theo Lincke            Mike Dean         Ethan Trapp        Trish Nguyen
Casey Feagans            Brynn Konrad        Lauren Lundeen    Ryan Wyngarden
Zoe Dickerson            C.J,. Benton        Ben Kirschner        McKenzie Schneider
Sumay Potgeiter        Kayla Visnyei        Adolf Ordaz        Bill Schwartz
Ethan Miles            Akram Alghanmi    Isabel Shoe        Addy Milligan
Jarod Eller            Katie Dahle        Jonah Elstad        Abbey Salamera
Anya Trilk            Tatum Buenning    Taylor Allen        Julian Marine
Kylie Bickford            Lauren Dahlberg    Dillon Watson        Mitchell Oleszek
Jacob Hoenmans        Zayne Lineberger     William Maes        Sydney Brasseux
Nina Madayag            Owen Robertson    Graeme Wright        Evan Montoya
Hunter Bellegante          
         
2nd place
Kyle Feagans            Kai Wong        Zach Greaves        Michael Madayag
Erik Ondrejko            Brian Steward        Zuzanna Janowska    Dante Hulin
Charlie Smith            Keet Holdridge         Brendon Arink        Patrick Konrad
Grace Apodaca            Kenny Brancio        Elise Smith        Natasha McKernan
Jonah Sidwell            Shekina DeTienne    Rob Sarche        Rick Orton
Justin Nelson            Brecken Lusk        Lynne Dean        Race Sober
Aodhan Linehan        Daniel Nelson        Patrick O’Day        Lilly Minor
Mikael Zandin            Declan Gunther        Taryn Bilyeu        Alex Williams
Amelia Lewis            Phillip Hoenmans    Jake Seele        Gillian Boswell
Owen Martin            Mathias Bauer        Cody Jacobson        Sean Haverkamp
Alex Price            Wyatt Ayers        Jasmine Salamera    Ashton Price
Quinn Nesline            Nico Huggins         Sarah Habetler        Sean Huntley
Nathan Tate            Joshua Stencil        T.J. Tibbetts        Lance Schwartz
Braden Zack      

3rd place
Bridget Sautel            Thomas Sautel        Caleb Feagans        Jocelyn Wallen
Peyton Brauch            Don Johnson        Carl Gibbons        Marcy Feagnas
Nathaniel McKernan        Elizabeth Hawkins     Libby Girard        Taylor Dodge
Owen Hartmann        Conner Brauch        Dakota Jesse        James Healy
Sabrina Jameson        Evelyn LaMorgese    Sarah Luper        Gwen Gutierrez
Jovan Moore            Abbey Lundeen        Santi Huggins        J.J. Potgeiter
Evan Strickfaden        Shea Wright        Abrham Yehle        Andrew Smith
Alan Fernandez            Kaddie Williams    Ysabella Bellotti    Arthur LeFebure
Tessa Bries            Lindsey Boswell    Makawee Mitchell    Peyton Reynolds
Benson White            Grady Bahr        Jackson Anderson    Augusto Jerez
David Malik            Ronin Selko        Henry Bretz        Dean Gunther
Donovan Penrod        Grant Haverkamp     Kirk Otteson         Arianna Anderson  
Christian Lloyd            Tyler Gray        Mariah Cordova    Seamus Walsh  
Osso Sidwell      

4th place  
Terry Copper            Coghan Spery        Alyssa Copper        Kathleen Sautel
Chris Wallace            Andy McDaniel        Calvin Jensen        Derek Simpson
Ian Wilson            Merrick Oleszek     Maryn Probasco    Cole Reseigh
Addie Spery            Kameron Evans        Makayla Trapp        Allyse Nothstine
Alejandro Deppmeier        Ethan Priced        Bruce Dean        Raymond Bellotti
Liam Donovan            Uriah Hernandez    Tearny Kinnevy     Glen LaNear  
Arkhip Saratovtsev        Jaden Wood        George Linehan        Jason Stencil
Carson Ayers            Allie Warnick        Matthew Ordaz        Joanna Nowak
BrandonDills            Carter Reyes        Campbell Copt        Malaki McRant
Lucas Nomany            Rachel Kirschner     Jason Stencil, Jr.    Cris Fresquez
Mia Rubio            Margqux Gilbert    Sierra Buzick        Rusty Martino  
Eva Carreon            Colin Schweich     Peyton Beard        Nick Tibbetts
Sophia Lachenmayer        Zachary Allen      
     

TIGER POOMSE

1st place
Xavier McRant            Mayci Beck        Eden Valerux        Halston Kueper
David Orton            Evalin Dickerson    Emerson Reseigh    Trenton Wheat
Jack Gittelman            Lily Strickland        Gaven DiNunzio    Amadeo Sandoval
Kyle Janowski            Joseph Stano        Tyler Odom        Caleb Thompson
Ayden Lewis            Sulivan Gesso        Quynn Cotner        Jaxson Wheat
Colston Yoder  

SPARRING

1st place
Michael Sandusky        Thomas Sautel        Alyssa Copper        Michael Madayag
Kai Wong            Zach Greaves        Kathleen Sautel        Shekina DeTienne
Rob Sarche            Sam LaMorgese    Brynn Konrad         Cole Reseigh
Dakota Jesse            Jennifer McKernan    Merrick Oleszek    Thomas Ma
Julianne Todd            Ryan Wyngarden    Emily Artman        Elizabeth Hawkins
Charlie Smith            Shea Wright        Brandon Dills        Ethan Miles  
Peyton Reynolds         Kylie Bickford        Grady Bahr        Owen Martin  
Amelia Lewis            Miette Jandreau        Susan Bergstiner    Akrham Alghanmi
Zoe Dickerson            Jason Stencil        Jaden Wood        Jack Eller
Aodhan Linehan        Matthew Ordaz        Campbell Copt        Ashton Price  
Taylor Allen            Donovan Penrod    Tyler Gray        Sean Huntley  
Anya Trilk            Evan Montoya         Eva Carreon        Rusty Martino
Grant Haverkamp

2nd place
Lexi Johannes            Kyle Feagans        Coghan Spery        Nate Watkins
Hope Morgan            Erik Ondrejko        Abdu Kikhia        Devon Bagley  
Elise Smith            Zuzanna Janowska        Joshua Miller         Sean Havercamp
Lauren Lundeen        Dante Hulin        Jonah Sidwell        Karen Carreon
Connor Brauch            Sabrina Jameson        Mark Scott        James Healy
Kelsey Smith            Evan Strickfaden        Declan Gunther        Alan Fernandez  
Daniel Nelson             Mariah Cordova        William Maes        Braden Zack
Andrew Smith            Aspen Hawkins        Patrick O’Day        Lindsey Boswell
Ysabella Bellotti        Sumay Potgeiter        Tessa Bries        Jarrod Eller  
Jake Seele            Lucas Stolka        Dean Gunther        Mathias Bauer  
Karly Cockrum            Kirk Otteson        Dylan Tracy        Joshua Stencil  
Julian Marine            Osso Sidwell        Lauren Dahlberg    Cody Jacobson
Taylor Dodge                Kenny Brancio
 
3rd place
Brian Steward            Bridget Sautel        Sean Lawlor        Ian Randall
Damian Rupp            Julianne Todd        Tyler Murphy        Lydia Lincke  
Vinny Constantino        Casey Feagans        Devon Bilyeu        Jason Stencil
Marcy Feagans            Sean Konrad        Natasha McKernan    Devon Lewis  
Gwen Gutierrez            Addie Spery        Ian Wilson        Liam Donovan  
C.J. Benton            Race Sober        Abbey Salamera     R.J. Larson
MacKenzie Schneider        Isabel Shoe        Lynne Dean        Melvin Marine
Joanna Nowak            Franco Otero        J.J. Potgeiter        Abrham Yehle
Adolph Ordaz            Isaac Jensen        Luke Ball        Meryn Probasco
Henry Bretz             Zach Bickford        Augusto Jerez        Nico Huggins
Hunter Bellegante        Gabriel Dodge        Sarah Habetler        Lucas Nomany
Ella Sidwell            Mia Rubio                  

4th place
Don Johnson            Collin Kreutz        Caleb Feagans        Jocelyn Wallen
Tanner Copper            Robbie Crandell    Grace Apodaca        Evelyn LaMorgese
Keet Holdridge             Peyton Beard        Zachary Allen        Birk Strickfaden
Sarah Luper            Alejandro Deppmeier    Melodie Page        T.J. Gutierrez
Lydia Willis            Carl Gibbons        Blenness Quintanna    Arthur LeFebure
Justin Nelson            Jovan Moore        Gillian Boswell     Lance Schwartz  
George Linehan            Katie Dahle        Taryn Bilyeu        Bailey Hayes
Tearny Kinnevy            Mohale Mitchell    Jonah Elstad        Jacob Hoenmans
Malaki McRant            Libby Girard        Cris Fresquez         Noah Sisk
Mitchell Oleszek        Damon Bahr        Arianna Anderson    T.J. Tibbetts
Jasmine Salamera                  

FIRST POINT WINS!

1st place
Erik Ondrejko            Brian Steward        Hope Morgan        Peyton Brauch
Kai Wong            Zach Greaves        Lexi Johannes        Sam LaMorgese
Shekina DeTienne        RobSarche        Brynn Konrad         Cole Reseigh
Mike Dean            Jennifer McKernan    Merrick Oleszek    Thomas Ma
Lauren Lundeen        Joshua Miller        Zuzanna Janowska    Elise Smith
Ian Wilson            Jonah Elstad        Mohale Mitchell    Jarrod Eller
Peyton Reynolds         Kylie Bickford        R.J. Larson         Nico Huggins
Sumay Potgeiter        Miette Jandreau        Lindsey Boswell    Patrick O’Day
Natalie Lundeen        Andrew Smith        Franco Otero        Alan Fernandez
Abrham Yehle            Adolph Ordaz        Isaac Jensen        Zachary Allen
Taylor Allen            Donovan Penrod     Zach Bickford        Julianne Marine
Tyler Gray            Sean Huntley        Anya Trilk        T.J. Tibbetts
Ella Sidwell          Kenny Brancio        
     

2nd place
Tyler Murphy            Michael Sanduksy    Abbey Watkins        Michael Madayag
Zac Johannes            Don Johnson            Julianne Todd        Devan Bagley  
Makalya Trapp            Emily Artman        Ryan Wyngarden     Campbell Copt
Johnny Williams        Ethan Trapp            Casey Feagans        Sean Konrad
Karen Carreon            Sarah Luper            Ethan Price        Kelsey Smith
James Healy             Nina Madayag        William Maes        Zayne Lineberger
Shea Wright            Jake Seele            Ethan Miles        Abbey Salamera
MacKenzie Schneider        Makawee Mitchell    Lynne Dean        George Linehan
Adrianna Carreon        Jason Stencil            Jovan Moore        Raymond Bellotti
Arthur LeFebure        Evan Strickfaden    Jacob Hoenmans    Mathias Bauer
Libby Girard            Kirk Otteson         Dylan Tracy        Joshua Stencil  
Augusto Jerez            Rusty Martino        Eva Carreon        Evan Montoya
Taylor Dodge              
 

BREAKING

1st place
Michael Sandusky        Tyler Murphy        Kathleen Sautel        Zac Johannes
Terry Copper            Erik Ondrejko        Devon Lewis        Jonah Sidwell
Grace Apodaca            Sean Konrad         Jovan Moore        Isabel Shoe
Keet Holdridge            Rob Sarche        Thomas Ma        Karen Carreon
Julianne Todd            Ethan Trapp        Tessa Bries        Benjamin Kirschne
Shea Wright            Abbey Salamera     Kaddie Williams    Lynne Dean  

STAFF POOMSE

1st place
Erik Ondrejko            Hope Morgan        Coghan Spery        Andrew Madyayag

2nd place
Peyton Brauch            Zach Greaves        Jack Eddy        Michael Sandusky

3rd place
Bridget Sautel            Alyssa Copper        Tyler Murphy        Kai Wong

Under Black Belt 40th CTI Super Bowl Grand Champions:   

Thomas Ma, Julianne Todd, Rob Sarche and Jennifer McKernan

9 Ways Taekwondo Classes can Improve Your Health

As people sit around their houses after work watching television their bodies are deteriorating. They gain weight, their arteries are clogging and their joints are getting stiffer. They begin to lose flexibility and over time their body loses strength.

It’s even worse if they are eating junk foods or smoking cigarettes. We all know that junk food is making us fat as a society and we also know that smoking is causing lung cancer. The impact on our bodies is tremendously bad and can shorten or even end our lives if these practices are done over years.

So what is a fun effective way to improve our life styles and our health?

Taekwondo classes!

Taekwondo classes, also known as Korean Karate, are an effective way to increase flexibility, improve cardiovascular health, and build muscle!

Let’s talk about a couple of different ways that Taekwondo can help improve your health.

1) Taekwondo classes can help control weight

At Colorado Taekwondo Institute you will learn a number of different ways to get your body moving. You will be practicing board breaks, forms and sparring. The various fighting patterns and sparing will increase help you maintain your weight by helping you burn calories. The nice thing is you can do a form or two whenever you want throughout the day.

The more intensely that you perform your forms the more calories you are going to burn and the more weight you can lose.

Even if you aren’t someone who needs to lose a few extra pounds Taekwondo will help you maintain your weight as you get older.

2) Taekwondo classes helps prevent diseases and health conditions

In Colorado Taekwondo Institute we workout hard. When you do a workout your body produces more “good Cholesterol” and it will help lower your bad triglycerides. This keeps your blood flowing smoothly and will decrease your chances of having cardiovascular problems later in life.

According to mayoclinic.com working out will help your body prevent several different problems such as stroke, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes and even some types of cancer. Make sure to get off of the couch!

3) Taekwondo classes can help improve your mood

After a bad day at work a Taekwondo class could be just the thing to get you feeling better. When you exercise you get several benefits to your mood through the release of various chemicals in your brain. These chemicals make you feel good. They are a sort of natural high.

In addition to the chemicals it always feels good after a bad day to punch a bag or break a board.

4) Lakewood Taekwondo practice boosts energy

Sometimes people get so out of shape that they get winded by everyday things. Things like carrying in the groceries or even just getting the mail can become chores that leave you out of breath. Taekwondo will help you to build muscles and you’ll see your endurance improving as well. 

The exercise will help more oxygen and nutrients get into your tissues and your cardiovascular system will begin to work better. When your cardiovascular system works better your energy levels will increase naturally and you won’t need the energy drinks or the coffee as often!

5) Taekwondo classes will help you get more sleep

When you are exercising regularly in your Taekwondo class your body will get to sleep more easily and you will find that your sleep is much better than it was before. Don’t practice your Taekwondo to close to your bedtime or you will find that you are unable to get to sleep because you have too much energy!

6) Taekwondo classes are fun

When you are in Taekwondo it isn’t like being at the gym. When you go to the gym you lift weights and get on tread mills. If you are like me you find those things tedious and boring. When you go to Taekwondo you are learning skills to keep yourself safe, you’re learning martial arts forms and sparring. I personally love to spar and I love to learn the forms.

For me Taekwondo is a lot more fun that moving my arm up and down over and over to inflict pain in my bicep to build muscle. Of course I am referring to lifting weights.

7) Taekwondo makes you look good too!

When you come to every class you will notice that your body really starts to get into shape. You will start to feel confident about the way you look and about the new things you’ll be able to do.

Taekwondo classes improve flexibility. If you are someone who has no chance of touching your toes then you might think that it is going to be impossible to throw a kick above your head. This is not true at all!

Through proper stretching exercises daily and through throwing kicks in your forms you too can be throwing kicks above your head in no time flat!

So the bottom line is that Taekwondo can really improve your life and the way you feel.