KFMA is Ideal for Families to Train Together

Family Martial Arts training has been the specialty of KFMA in the NW Tampa area for over 30 years! With family life getting busier, and more schedules to manage as children get older and more involved in outside activities, it can be a true challenge to find quality time for parents and kids to spend together. That’s where training at KFMA comes into play!

In addition to learning age-appropriate self-defense techniques, our classes provide workouts that will help provide you with strength training, cardio fitness and practical life skills that include respect, courtesy, confidence, perseverance and integrity.

Martial Arts Training Together as a Family Provides a Shared Interest

As parents, teens and children train together in class, they are working towards similar goals while still learning and progressing as individuals. What comes easy for one member of the family may be more challenging for another. This allows families to work together to support and encourage each other, building family unity in the process.

Every Family Member Needs a Fitness Routine

When it comes to physical fitness, every member of the family needs regular exercise, but scheduling this individually for each member can be a challenge.

The Center for Disease Control recommends 150 minutes of moderate physical activity for adults every week, including 2 days of strength training. (https://www.cdc.gov/physical-activity-basics/guidelines/adults.html)  Two classes a week in our KFMA family classes will give you two hours of physical activity, consistent strength training drills (push-ups, sit-ups, leg strengthening, etc.), and it can all be done alongside your family members in a positive, supportive environment. Every KFMA Family class has a cardio element, every class works on developing strength in the core and to maintain/increase flexibility, and every class is taught by a Master Instructor. You’ll quickly notice that you feel more confident in your personal physical abilities and your martial arts skills, and this also gives your family quality time together.

KFMA Kids

KFMA’s students who are in elementary school will train in our family martial arts classes, and will be challenged more than our younger students in the Tiger program. At this level, students will enjoy longer workouts with more physical intensity, and they will learn to perform the Songahm Taekwondo forms on their own. These forms are ideal for developing “bilateral integration” in the brain and assist in developing long-term memory. (See this article for more information on the benefits for your brain: (https://teamkowkabany.com/a-workout-for-your-brain-from-taekwondo-forms/). At this point in their training, the self-defense techniques developed will make more use of the students’ increase in power and strength, and their fitness standards will begin to increase.

Children at this age also want to be more independent, and so more time is focused on the core life skills, particularly showing courtesy and respect to others, especially at home. As with all of our students, they will progress based on personal merit and individual development. The life skills of self-discipline, self-control and integrity are also developed at this stage, and reinforced on a regular basis in class.

KFMA Teens and Adults

Our KFMA teens and adults are training because they understand the value provided by the martial arts. And while they may share the family classes with younger family members, they typically work with other teens and adults to maximize their workouts and develop their strength. The self-defense techniques safely taught at this level are reality-based and learning them provides a tremendous boost in confidence. Our classes also provide much-needed stress relief, whether the stress comes from high-level academics or from a day spent in the office. For parents, this also gives them the opportunity to serve as role models for their kids, as they face the same challenges in learning techniques as our younger students. Kids learn first-hand how hard their parents work to stay in shape, and to work to the best of their abilities. The goals may be personal, but the encouragement is shared among everyone in the family.

Family Martial Arts Builds Family Unity

Sitting around the table for a shared dinner every night used to be the norm in our society, but now it’s becoming more difficult to schedule. So many wonderful conversations took place together as a family, and it’s hard to find a replacement. However, training together in our KFMA family martial arts classes provides that opportunity on a regular basis. Families can talk together on the way to and from class, and they also work together on the training floor. They will also develop opportunities to help each other succeed when one member is more challenged with the material, and they will be able to celebrate each other’s achievements. All of these quality moments add up to building unity as a family, as well as building up respect for fellow family members.

Experience the KFMA Family Martial Arts Difference

For over 30 years, Chief Masters Laura and David Kowkabany have been teaching family martial arts in the NW Tampa community, including many members from Westchase, Oldsmar and Odessa. Every class taught in our school is led by one (or both) of our Chief Masters!

Our goal at KFMA is to help every member of your family to discover their God-given talents, how to develop them, and how to share them with others. Our school is focused on allowing families to train together, as we generally offer two classes per day that allow kids, teens and adults to train side-by-side. We currently have many students who are legacies, as their parents were kids when they first started training with us many years ago.  Our school is a fairly-even mix of females and males, adults/teens and kids, and over 50% of our students train alongside other members of their family. Ages in our family martial arts classes range from age 6 up to the mid-50s.

If you would like more information regarding our family martial arts classes, just give us a call at 813-540-5528. KFMA is located at 13910 Monroes Business Park, just two doors down from the Tampa Bay Brewing Company off Racetrack Road.