Life as a martial art

Keith Winkle has been in town barely a day, and already his reputation precedes him.

“I’ve been involved with martial arts for a while and nobody has the same ability to inspire, to find meaning,” said Paul Garcia, manager of Winkle’s new studio. “It’s like looking at a white Mr. Miyagi.”

To instructor Susan Gross, Winkle is even more.

“He’s my hero,” she said. “He has a knack for showing you and helping you get to exactly where you want to be.”

Winkle on Monday opened Martial Arts World of Burbank, which offers classes in Korean mixed martial arts, with strikes, blocks, takedowns, grappling, joint manipulation and self-improvement.

While most martial arts focus on physical self-defense, Winkle said, the program aims to prepare its students to fight the rest of life’s recurring troubles — the economy, self-doubt, fear and uncertainty — by employing five kinds of fitness: physical, for strength of body; mental, for wisdom of mind; moral, for peace of heart; financial, for cash in hand; and life, for leadership in life.

It also teaches students how to become wealthy.

The studio’s stimulus package not only provides free lessons to those out of a job, it also helps people find work by tapping into a large network of professionals nationwide.

“We’re here to help people overcome obstacles in their lives,” he said.

Gross, before getting involved in Martial Arts World, weighed 250 pounds, was unhappy and ready to get divorced, she said. After shedding half the weight in one year, she was renewed, and even managed to get her children involved.

“They are now third-degree black belts,” said Gross, who is in town to help open the Burbank center. She now runs her own facility in Richmond, Va.

When Winkle first met Garcia, he was without direction, broke and living in his car. He went on to become a manager of one of the top mixed martial arts schools in the country and a prolific public speaker.

And Winkle, who grew up in a Florida foster home, became the No. 1 student of Grandmater Y. K. Kim, the founder of Martial Arts World.

“The old American dream was, ‘Work hard and get rich,’” he said. “But there are complications to the dream. Sixty-seven million Americans are obese, 11 million children. Taxpayers, corporations, are spending millions and millions of dollars because of unhealthy lifestyles.”

The new American dream, Winkle said, is health, wealth and success. He begins by asking students what is most important to them.

“Businessmen say money, but you can lose money and gain it back,” he said. “Actors say fame, but you can lose fame and regain it, a comeback. Politicians say power, but power can be recouped. And teenagers say love, but we can lose love and get it back.

“The one thing we cannot get back is our body. We feel if you love your family, you will keep yourself healthy and your body healthy.”

With curriculum established by Kim in his books, “Are you Crazy like a Bulldog or Lazy like a Fox?” and “U.S. National Exercise,” the program is a combination of martial arts training and philosophy.

While most martial arts schools focus on attracting a core of teenagers and twentysomething men, which Garcia estimates as 10% of the population, the school is different in that it seeks out and recruits the other 90%, he said. Martial Arts World runs a program called Corporate Leadership Seminars, which helps motivate adults through improved health.

Each class at Martial Arts World lasts one hour, with sessions beginning at 6:30 a.m. and ending by 9:30 p.m. However, when things pick up, Winkle hopes to keep the doors open 24 hours.

“We want to kill any excuse,” he said.