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Meet the Matteson Family!

Dear Grand Master Hafner,

I wanted to write and let you know of the unexpected benefits I have experienced since starting at “Keith Hafner’s Karate” last January.  First of all, I have spent the last eight years trying all sorts of diet and exercise programs to lose the weight I gained after having my 6th child, undergoing surgery and then working in a desk job.

While I have not yet attained my ideal weight, I have lost 23 pounds just through coming to karate twice a week!  No dieting or other exercise have been used.  My husband, family, and friends are all starting to notice my more fit and shapelier appearance. I had figured karate would help my flexibility, balance, and coordination as well as muscle tone but had no idea of the weight I could lose and am still losing.

Secondly, I have been on two medications for borderline hypertension over the past four years.  Since coming to karate I have my blood pressure under control and am only on one medication that will also soon be discontinued.  My doctor is extremely happy with this situation and so am I.

The third benefit has been the rapid improvement of my back muscle problems.  While I still cannot do push ups and can feel my back tense on occasion, I no longer have the problems getting out of bed in the morning or bending over to pick something up.

I also notice that if I do have a back spasm it goes away in about one minute instead of lasting hours or a whole day as it did before I started karate.

I expect within the next 6 months to experience even more improvement.  I had been told by doctors that my back muscle tension would never improve — I guess they never thought about what joining “Keith Hafner’s Karate” might do!

Finally, I want to tell you unequivocally that “Keith Hafner’s Karate” is FUN!!  While the noon classes my daughter and I attend can be physically demanding (especially when approaching 50 years of age), the camaraderie of the other students, the encouragement of students and instructors and, of course, Professor Hafner’s great understanding of each student and what they need, all combine to make coming to “Keith Hafner’s Karate” a very enjoyable experience that I just can’t miss each week!

Every time I sit in the audience while my youngest two are in their karate class, I try to talk to the parents there who are not in karate and encourage them to join in.  If I were you, I would tell the parents that they are missing out on a lot of fun and missing the very valuable self-defense techniques  that you can learn as an adult.

As of yesterday, five members of my family are now enrolled at “Keith Hafner’s Karate” and we hope to increase that to include my adult son and teenage son in the very near future.

Thanks for all you and your instructors do for my family!

Best,
Valerie Matteson, age 51,
Ann Arbor