Family fitness Click on photo for larger image

Family workouts keep whole crew in shape
By Jazmyn Martin/[email protected]
Monday, July 26, 2026

Saturday mornings are filled with more than cartoons and sugary cereals for the children and teens who attend Jong Park Tae Kwon Do Institute and Fitness Center.

The large, padded studio is filled to capacity on weekends with young adults and pre-teens literally kicking their way to fitness.

The North Tonawanda fitness center allows kids to bring their parents, grandparents and siblings for a day of martial arts.

Jing Wu Traditional Chinese Martial Arts School in Tonawanda also specializes in family and mixed age classes.

With childhood obesity numbers swelling and an increase in toys that require its user to press a few buttons, weekend workouts are becoming a popular alternative to the couch potato syndrome, said Jong Park owner and instructor David Teal.

“Kids don’t get the level of fitness they need in school,” Teal said. “I’ve been in this business for over 30 years and it seems that every 10 years the fitness level gets lower.”

Teal blames fast food, computers, television and video games for the overall lack of fitness among teens.

Nationally, 15 percent of all children between the ages of 6 to 19 are obese. That figure is expected to grow, according to 2000 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Teal said he comes across students as old as 70 accompanied by their adult children and grandchildren prepared to get fit.

In Tonawanda, the Jing Wu Tradition Chinese Martial Arts School welcomes family instruction.

Sifu Lee Morozowsky, master of the Jing Wu school, said studying the art teaches children a high level of discipline.

Morozowsky’s studio specializes in Kung Fu, which developed in China over 15,000 years ago and has grown in popularity throughout the United States.

Praying Mantis, the form Morozowsky teaches his students, is taken directly from the movements the praying mantis uses to disable its prey.

“It goes beyond the physical,” Morozowsky said. “You have the spiritual, the mental, as well, and helping kids to grow and feel good about themselves.”

At the same time, parents are given an exercise routine to help them tone-up and stay fit, he said.

Tae Kwon Do, a fighting style of martial arts which originated in Korea, is not just about fitness, Teal said. It also help student develop a sense of discipline and focus.

Robert Burg, a Jong Park Instructor, began studying martial arts after becoming a victim of bullying.

For Burg, now 20, studying the art of Tae Kwon Do led to a change in his personality.

These days Burg helps his students increase their level of concentration by supervising a series of complicated drills.

“We get all kinds of reports on how much a child’s discipline has improved since coming to the class,” Burg said. “But, it doesn’t happen over night.”

Contact Jazmyn Martinat (716) 693-1000, Ext. 114.
View Printable Story

Add a comment