Read Instructor Chuck's blog here!
Instructor Chuck Freiwald is both a student and instructor at the Academy of Heath and Martial Arts in Milford. By day he is an Engineer working for the Oracle Corporation in Nashua, New Hampshire. At night he pursues what has, over the years, become a passion for the martial arts.Instructor Chuck was first introduced to the martial arts in his late teens studying Tae-Kwando for a year between high school and college. When he went off to college his martial arts study stopped. His studies picked up again in his mid-twenties this time studying Kempo for a year while living in Colorado. A job change a forced move back to the east coast and his martial arts studies stopped again.Skip ahead sixteen very sedentary years. It was 2004, Instructor Chuck was 42 years old and 300 pounds with a litany of weight related health problems. Desperate for some kind of exercise that he could do regularly, he came to the Academy of Health and Martial Arts because he had heard they taught Tai Chi. After a couple of classes he was hooked. Within a couple of months Instructor Chuck was taking both Tai Chi and Bagwa Chung classes. It wasn’t long before the weight started to come off. About a year after Instructor Chuck joined the school he started Kung Fu classes. A year later with more weight coming off and feeling better than he had in years he joined the Kenpo classes. In 2006 Instructor Chuck decided to start training to become an Assistant Instructor. Being an assistant was important to him because it not only allowed him to sharpen and focus the lessons he’d learned from his instructors, it also allowed him to show others, first hand, the benefits of martial arts training.In September of 2007 Instructor Chuck tested for and received his Black belt in Kung Fu. In addition to being a Black belt in Kung Fu, he is currently a Green belt in Kenpo and Red Sash in the Internals classes. Instructor Chuck goal is to become a triple Black belt and to continue his studies in all three martial arts.Late in 2007 Instructor Chuck began teaching the Adult Beginner Kung Fu class at the Milford school. Teaching is important to Chuck for many reasons. First, in the short time he’s been teaching he’s been introduced to the incredible feeling of watching students grow and progress. Second, Chuck appreciates the opportunity to be able to pass his passion for the martial arts to his students the same way his instructors passed their passion for the martial arts to him.