Taekwondo Life Magazine's Podcast

Cheryl Lewis Trains Hard; that is her simple, winning philosophy. Cheryl is a professional stunt woman, dancer, actor, aerialist, puppeteer and more. Cheryl is a unique, multi-discipline performer. Because of her desire to learn and master new skills, Cheryl has performed in modern dance companies, in musicals, on cruise ships & live stage shows. She has performed as an aerialist/in-line skater/tu...

Dan Mason is Taekwondo's Strongman. He is a Taekwondo Black Belt, Muay Thai practitioner, BJJ purple belt, and competitive Kickboxer. Dan's martial arts pursuits culminated in a 4-0 kickboxing and a 9-2 MMA career. Once he retired from competitive martial arts he found passion in CrossFit and opened CrossFit Thrive. He next progressed into Strongman Competition and Powerlifting. He currently coach...

Wadi Jones is a martial artist, professional dancer, stunt person, and instructor at the International Stunt School . As a younger man he studied Taekwondo, wrestling, and Jiu-Jitsu. For such a young man, at the infancy of his career, he has a great understanding of the integration of mind and body. He talks with Marc Zirogiannis of Taekwondo Life about the parallels between martial arts and dance...

Chuck Johnson is a Michigan born Taekwondo Master, international action film actor, and stunt man based in Tokyo, Japan. He is a 2-time state and 2 time (non-Olympic) national champion, is one of the official martial arts instructors of the US Embassy in Tokyo, and also holds ranks in Capoeira, Karate, Kobudo, and Judo. He also has experience in boxing, kickboxing, wing chun kung fu, krav maga, ha...

T aegeuk is a set of Poomsae , or defined pattern of defense-and-attack forms, used to teach Taekwondo . It is the predominant set of forms used around the globe by Dojangs studying under the authority of the Kukkiwon . In this informative episode Taekwondo Life Magazine's Editor-in-Chief, Marc Zirogiannis , gives a brief overview of the form-set. He breaks down the progression of each of the eigh...

Sherri LaShomb is the NCTA 's Medical Director. She is a Doctor of Chiropractic Medicine and a Certified Athletic Trainer. Her training and passion for sports makes her uniquely qualified to work with high level, competitive athletes such as Team USA's Taekwondo practitioners. Dr. LaShomb talks with Marc Zirogiannis , Editor-in-Chief of Taekwondo Life Magazine, about her representation of the USA...

Legends Sport Taekwondo Seminar Part 2 will take place in Whitestone, NY on Saturday January 19, 2020. This seminar is the brain child of Master Joseph Lupo, Jr. and Coach Peter Bardatsos of the New York Black Belt Center . Coach Bardatsos is an 8x US National Team member, former Olympic Candidate, and former US National Team Coach. The seminar features 2012 US Olympic Bronze Medalist, Terrence Je...

2019 was a phenomenal year for Taekwondo Life Magazine.   We launched this podcast in March 2019 to supplement our print and digital magazine.  Every Monday we release new content we hope will educate and entertain our audience.   In 2019 our guests ranged from high performing USAT Taekwondo Athletes to martial arts action stars.  We featured Taekwondo practitioners in the mixed martial arts arena...

Cynthia Correa Nazario is the face of Taekwondo practitioners in their 20's in the United States. She is an accomplished Taekwondo black belt. She began training at her father's Dojang in Queens, NY, New Beginning Taekwondo , at an early age. She became a highly ranked National Sparring competitor and has earned numerous medals and accolades in local, National, and USA Taekwondo competitions. She...

Taekwondo Life Magazine's Marc Zirogiannis attended the 2019 PFLMMA Championship Press Conference held on Friday December 27, 2019 at Madison Square Garden . This Press Conference is part of the final segment of the 2019 season for the PFL and the opening of the New Year's Eve Championship bout. In attendance were the PFL officials, including CEO Peter Murray and Head of Fighter Operations, Ray Se...

In November 2019, Taekwondo practitioner and martial arts action star Michael Jai White assumed the mantle of The Black Dragon in New York City at the opening ceremonies for the 2019 Urban Action Showcase . This episode contains highlights from Marc Zirogiannis' interviews and recordings from the evening. At a formal ceremony attended by 100’s of martial artists, martial arts film makers, fans, an...

Taekwondo is a Gift!. This is the essential message of Master Chan Lee , second generation Taekwondo practitioner, and 6th Dan Master. Master Lee started the pursuit of martial arts at the age of 5 and he his been not only perfecting his technique, but also elevating the profession of Taekwondo Instruction ever since. After earning a degree in Communications from the University of Wisconsin he ass...

Pete Alonso is the 2019 Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year . He was also the 2019 MLB Home run Leader, the single-season leading home run leader by a NY Met, and the all time home run leader (53) in a rookie season in Major League Baseball history. While these facts may be known to baseball fans around the globe, what is less known about Pete Alonso is his love for Taekwondo and his history...

Samery Moras is a 4th Dan Black Belt in Taekwondo and former US Team competitor. She is a 6-time US Collegiate National Champion and Team Member in Olympic-style Sparring. She is also the owner of AMYS Martial Arts , which has two locations in Utah. Samery has one of the largest Taekwondo channels on YouTube where she shares her passion of Taekwondo through tutorials, training tips, and Taekwondo...

Justin Faiferlick is the inaugural head coach for the Iowa Central College Taekwondo program. Faiferlick led five Iowa Central students to state championships in the spring 2015 through Faiferlick Martial Arts before ICCC started their program. Faiferlick talks with Marc Zirogiannis about his over 32 years of Martial Arts experience and his work for the Iowa Air National Guard . Justin is a 6th de...

Jesse V. Johnson is a martial artist, writer, and Director. He is a " Triple Threat " of the the action-film genre. From competitive martial artist to Stuntman to filmmaker he has embarked on a journey to change the way people view martial arts action films. Together with Scott Adkins , Taekwondo action star, he has combined great scripts, solid stories, and beautiful cinematography with realistic...

Steven Lambert is one of the most famous stuntmen to have ever worked in movies. He never dreamt of being a Hollywood star when he grew up on streets of Brooklyn, NY in the 1950's. After moving to California it was his practice and training in the martial arts, first with Taekwondo, and then onto Kung-Fu, that paved the way for his Hollywood journey. In this episode he talks to Marc Zirogiannis ab...

Anastasija Zolotic is a rising star in the competitive Taekwondo landscape. She is one of the exciting young stars of the USA Taekwondo program. While her future is bright, and her career is just beginning, she has already amassed an impressive record. At just 17 years old she has already had a Gold medal winning performance at the Pan Am games. Her medal winning performance at her very first Seni...

November 2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of the release of the martial arts classic film, " Best of the Best ". This is the most influential Taekwondo movie ever made. The film was the passion project of second generation Taekwondo practitioners, Phillip and Simon Rhee . Phillip Rhee's 1980 representation of the United States' Taekwondo Team against the South Korean team in the championships of th...

Team-M is a world class Taekwondo demonstration team that started in San Jose, CA in 2004. They started out as a small group of athletes in a garage dojang. Since their inception they have become an international sensation, participating in over 300 events worldwide. Team-M was inducted into the Taekwondo Hall of Fame in 2007. The late, Grandmaster John Rhee , father of Taekwondo in the U.S., pers...

What drives Assemblyman Ron Kim ? Ron Kim is a Korean born immigrant who, when elected to the NYS Assembly in 2012, became the first and only Korean-American elected official in New York State. After working in his family's small business in Queens, NYC Ron went on to college and graduate school before entering the public service arena. He worked in government, behind the scenes, before running fo...

Age is just a number. This is the philosophy of 67 year old, 3rd Dan Black Belt, Angelo Bonilla. Bonilla, born and raised in New York City, went on to become a NYC bilingual education teacher with the NYC Public School system in 1986. It was not until Angelo turned 55 years old that his Taekwondo journey began. It was at that age that he turned from parent and grandparent of a Taekwondo student to...

Mastery and the Mindset to Succeed is the topic of this episode. Taekwondo Life Magazine's Marc Zirogiannis talks with Chandler Walker, the founder of Chan's Logic and Stone Age Fuel . Chandler studied Biology and Biochemistry at the University of Nevada Reno. Diving deep into the gut and brain connection, and Epigenetics, or why we think and feel the way we do, and how our lifetime interactions m...

Master Ali Ghafour is a 4 time Canadian National Taekwondo Team member, 2008 Olympic hopeful, entrepreneur, and CEO of 20/20 Armor.  After being in and around the competitive Taekwondo arena since the age of 13 Master Ghafour has now embarked on a journey to raise the level of credibility and visibility of competitive sparring.  Through the implementation of his "easy to use" electronic...

Step on the Mat is the new book by martial Artist, author, and family man, Ninja Nguyen (pronounced "Wynn"). Ninja joins Taekwondo Life's host, Marc Zirogiannis , for a discussion of his life and training, as well as his recent book release. Ninja Nguyen was born in Vietnam and fled to the United States during the height of the Vietnam Conflict. While he studied fighting it was not until the birth...