There probably aren’t too many grandmas out there who watch their grandchildren doing flying kicks and breaking wooden boards in half and think, “Maybe I can do that, too.”

Trevor Bullman, 13, his brother Ryan Bullman, 11, and their cousin McKenna Johnson, 7, served as the ultimate inspiration for their grandmother, Phyllis Munster, who had come for years to watch her grandchildren go through the paces and earn different belts in tae kwon do.

“I’ve always enjoyed watching the kids do it, and they said anybody could do it, so when they started a class for seniors, I said, ‘Why not?’ ” explained Munster, who at 70 has kicked it into high gear for her health. “I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease a few years back, and this has been very good for my balance, coordination and clarity. You have to think and coordinate your moves at the same time.”

Cort Johnson, 46, couldn’t be more proud of his mother, daughter and nephews. That’s because he’s also managed to kick it into high gear, and joined tae kwon do. The family affair doesn’t stop there either. His wife, D’Ann Johnson, 41, also joined when she saw how much fun everyone was having at High Desert Martial Arts in Bend.

“When I turned 40, I said, ‘I have to do this,’ ” D’Ann said. “It’s been great. If my mother-in-law can do this with Parkinson’s disease, then I should be able to do it, too. It has exceeded my expectation. If I didn’t do it, I would never see my family.”

‘The whole package’

Fifth-degree tae kwon do black belt master Dan Graff says he loves having families participate at his martial arts studio, which is why he started the senior class a year ago.

“This is absolutely a sport that you can grow old with. In Asia there are 90- and 100-year-olds doing different forms of martial arts, especially tai chi,” said Graff. “At first, my seniors were a little intimidated, but they don’t start doing flying kicks or anything like that.

“We start with stretching and basic moves. There’s cardio and muscle memorization; this is a form of exercise that’s the whole package.”

Another family with three generations practicing tae kwon do at Graff’s studio is the Wurth-Wagner family.

Her three grandchildren inspired 63-year-old Diane Wagner. Jaiden Wurth, 10, Nathan Wurth, 6, and their sister Camryn, 5, worked with their grandma so she could master the moves and kicks.

“Before I joined the senior tae kwon do class, I never took an exercise class, so I was a little scared at first,” confessed Wagner, watching her grandchildren going through their moves. “But this is actually more fun to learn than to watch. It’s given me confidence and better balance. We really need that balance at my age.”

Wagner’s daughter Dyana Wurth, 36, who recently had knee surgery, joined the family class, managing the moves she could with her rehabilitating knee.

Nearby, her husband, Matthew, 36, was working up a sweat as he went through some defensive blocks.

Family and history

While it may seem unusual to have two different families with three generations doing tae kwon do in a small studio in Bend, Graff said it’s something you would often see in places like China, Korea and Japan. That’s one of the reasons he started a Friday evening family class, where all the generations can come together to practice and have family time. He says he’d like to see more families join and exercise together.

Graff said all martial art forms originated from kung fu, which sprang up in China more than 5,000 years ago. Since then, Graff estimates, 100 forms of martial arts have spun off of kung fu, including tae kwon do, which is the national sport of South Korea. Because a martial art is an ancient sport in Asia, many generations have practiced it, and passed it down. But whether young or old, Graff said he sees the same joy in everyone’s faces.

“One of (the) things I love to see is that the seniors are as excited to earn a new belt as a 5-year-old,” Graff said. “You can see the glee in their eyes. Their faces light up, because they have achieved something new. They have mastered it.”

Martial arts in this country didn’t really catch on until the Bruce Lee movies of the 1970s, Graff said, adding that most of the people who started taking martial arts classes back then were adults. That is, until the first “Karate Kid” movie came out in 1984; after that, Graff said, many more studios had kids enrolling in the classes.

Graff was one of those kids. He said when he first started he was overweight and out of shape.

“I used to weigh 210 pounds, I was obese, and I knew that if I wanted to ski into my 90s, I better get in shape, and using martial arts has been my maintenance program,” confessed a trim and agile Graff. “With tae kwon do or jujitsu, I can do this for the rest of my life and stay in shape. You have to move. If you don’t use it, you lose it, and these seniors know it.”

A sense of achievement

The grunting grandmothers Munster and Wagner face the mirror and go through their forms, known as “poomses” in Korean, and do it as flowingly and effortlessly as their own children and grandchildren.

“To memorize the movements helps the brain’s capacity at any age. It’s like a puzzle, and it can be challenging for anybody, but it’s invigorating to learn new moves, and people can feel good about it, and feel good about themselves when they’ve mastered it,” Graff explained.

“For me, it’s been good to work both the right and the left side of my body. It has given me flexibility, strength and endurance,” said Munster, who’s hoping that she’ll be able to keep the Parkinson’s disease at bay by keeping healthy and fit.

While it hasn’t always been easy, Munster, a trim and tall woman, is glad she started a year ago and has stuck with it. A benefit she really enjoys is learning from her grandsons, and they seem to enjoy helping her, too.

“I like getting fit with her, and it’s fun to sometimes practice with her and go through the poomses with her,” said Trevor, who is planning to compete in a tae kwon do tournament later this year in Portland, with his brother and his uncle.

Munster and Wagner decided not to compete at this tournament, though Graff said he would encourage them to go to another tournament, perhaps next year. He thinks these two grannies could win medals.

“Phyllis and Diane, and all my seniors, are going to achieve,” Graff said with confidence. “I think it’s realistic taking them to black belt, in maybe six or seven years.”

You wouldn’t want to get in a fight or challenge these grandmothers because they could chop and kick with the best of them, Graff said.

These two grandmas say even though they’re in their golden years, they’re still getting a kick out of life.