Giving back- Bobby Lashley at Paris Elementary

American Top Team Altitude is located in Aurora, CO., roughly 5 minutes from Century Theatres where less than 3 months ago a tragic event affected the community. 90% of our members live in the immediate vicinity. Bobby Lasley encourages his team to stay involved in the community. His gyms and promotions not only work to benefit Colorado as a whole, but his non-profit organization (Lashley Fitness Foundation) and community programs work to help Aurora youth.

Everyone in Colorado and the entire United States has been touched by the recent incident at Century Theatres in Aurora. Many are also familiar with the fact that the shooter had several explosives wired in his apartment with the intent to take out an entire floor and possibly the entire structure. The apartment complex is located right across the street from Paris Elementary. When Bobby and I visited the school we were shown his (now) boarded up window from a window in the school’s gym. This is too close for comfort for any student, parent, or faculty member; however Paris Elementary has chosen to move on.

After the devastation of the Century shootings, Aurora is working to rebuild the trust and safety we as a community once felt. Something as simple as catching a movie became something you had to consider heavily. When basic freedoms are threatened you feel…helpless. Children are resilient. Their young minds often don’t comprehend what is happening around them. When you were young you were fearless and made of rubber. You’d try anything once just to see what would happen. You were a daredevil. Trying to comprehend the events that took place is different for every child, but what the children do notice is the panic and fear from us as adults, their mentors. They notice their parents, teachers, mentors, siblings and more. They sense our terror and sadness. It’s like a dark cloud that descends over us all and no matter how much you try to smile in the face of such darkness, you can’t. This is why we need to bring ourselves and our children back to happier times. It’s important that we get our children back to being children.

CJ Cain from Paris Elementary, a thoughtful and extraordinary teacher, contacted Bobby Lashley directly with the intention of bringing him to the school for a fitness day. The focus of the entire event is to help the children have fun again while getting in shape. We want the kids to remember how fun exercise can be and help them put the entire situation behind them.

Bobby was beyond eager to contribute to such a positive event. It’s an opportunity to give back and spread the word about health and fitness to our youth. When we visited Paris the excitement of the student body was electric. The kids were so excited to see this WWE and MMA superstar in their school. The faculty was equally thrilled. Paris Elementary is a wonderful school that offers a top tier fitness and educational program to their students.

Bobby and his staff of trainers from American Top Team Altitude in Aurora will be on hand all day on September 7^th to put every student at Paris Elementary through various fitness stations. They will emphasize the focus on strength, agility, and speed while having fun.

American Top Team Altitude is a family fitness center located in Aurora. Bobby has made his belief in “family” fitness very clear. Bobby is a parent and a pillar to the children of Aurora. We look forward to working with the community of Aurora for a long time to come.

Youth Boxing and Fitness

The Youth Boxing and Fitness Program is created in a way to establish a strong understanding of the fundamentals of fitness and sport. The youth who participate in this program are exposed to the fundamental movements of various exercises such as the squat, lunge and push up. The proper techniques of these various movements are directed in a manner that is suitable for children and young adults to understand. The squat is described as sitting in a chair or on a ball, while the form associated with the squat is delivered in rhyme and goes as follows; "heads up 7 up, chest up, toes are pointed straight as we drive up." A strong emphasis on the proper movement is always expressed and encouraged.

 The fitness program is directed as a proper conditioning tool to transition into the sport aspect of our program. The sport aspect of our program is what we like to call the "Sweet Science" or in other words Boxing. Although squats and boxing are different concentrations of fitness, the emphasis and delivery of proper technique is consistent. The youth are exposed to the proper movements associated with boxing. The delivery of this information is also given in terms of proper understanding for the youth. The jab which is a valuable asset in boxing is one of the first punches our youth will learn. The delivery of this punch is described to the youth as "playing tag". As with any other sport there is a competition aspect, our program also offers a competition aspect aside from general fitness, so when describing the jab as "playing tag" we are coaching the youth to deliver the punch with speed and accuracy.

 While coaching our instructions, the program aims to influence participation in the competition aspect of our program; as with any other sport the role of competition allows a formal application and understanding of the fundamentals and technique associated with the sport. Therefore our youth are encouraged to participate in drills that involve offensive and defensive sparring as a part of training.

Our belief is that exercise and fitness are essential in our everyday activities and we encourage and promote this lifestyle to our youth. We strive to facilitate an environment that fosters growth and discipline through fitness. The Youth Boxing and Fitness Program is progressing strong and we look forward to the growth of our participants, we are going to utilize this site as a way to share and track our progression, so please feel free to comment or leave any suggestions...

Written by Phillip Roybal, Photograph by Phillip Roybal
Come down and have your children learn more about the fitness while learning the basics  of the "sweet science".

Karate at ATT Altitude

ATT Altitude offers a wide range of family fitness and martial arts/combat sports options. We have launched our new Karate program

Sensei Joe Montalvo is now at ATT Altitude. Sensei Joe comes to us from the Bushido Academy. He is a 3rd dan black belt in Kyokushin-Karate. He will be teaching a varied style of Karate that includes elements of Kendo sword fighting. Sensei Joe teaches traditional full contact Karate with weapons.

Sensei Joe will be conducting kids Karate at 630 pm on Mon and Weds. He will have adult classes at 730pm

Sensei Joe Montalvo:

"As a fighter I have won numerous titles, but as a trainer I have created champions. I have been training both elite athletes as well as the general public for over 15 years. I am able to train any type of participant or learner from beginners to advance levels; character building, teamwork, and the fundamental skills. I am a former Golden Gloves champion, Professional International Kickboxer, Pancrase competitor and Jiu-Jitsu title holder. With over 20 years of martial arts training and experience I am responsible for numerous boxing, kickboxing, Judo, Jiu-Jitsu and Mixed Martial Arts athletes in Colorado. I also have extensive knowledge in hand to hand combat and weapons. I am bilingual; Spanish and English."

See Sensei Joe in action!

Fit kids ARE smarter!

I’m a very active person. With my first child, I didn’t consider how my fitness habits impacted him. I just exercised regularly and whether my son noticed or not…I really didn’t give it much thought. When he was coordinated enough to join sports, he did without hesitation, soccer, football, baseball, whatever. He was a very physically apt child.

This didn’t strike me as unique because when I was growing up, all kids were physical. We all loved to be outside with our friends wearing ourselves out for hours doing just about anything that required energy. The worse thing that could possibly happen to us was getting “grounded”. Nobody wanted that. Not being able to go outside and play with your friends was a death sentence.  This isn’t the case nowadays. Just take a drive around a few neighborhoods…where the heck are all the kids? Back in the day, you could bump into a group of kids every block playing sports, skating, biking, chasing each other, just moving. Kids aren’t out and about nowadays, they’re indoors, living a sedentary existence during the most crucial time of their lives. The time in which healthy active habits can be formed and carried through their entire lives. A time where balance and coordination is honed during awkward growth spurts.

When my son was in elementary school I learned that he didn’t have physical education class until sixth grade. This was never more evident then when my wife asked him to show us jumping jacks when he was ten…he couldn’t do them, didn’t have the coordination, was never taught. Are you serious? I was in P.E. in first grade and I worked hard to get my Presidential Physical Education patch every single year through all of elementary school.

I kept my son active in sports and soon we enrolled him in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kickboxing. This was just around the time his hormones were raging and so was he. It was in an effort to help him learn humility. What he got was so much more. My son is a baseball fanatic, he loves to play it, watch it, dream about it. He was always “okay” but never the best player. After ramping up his physical fitness to include martial arts, baseball, basketball, and even tennis, his skills on the field began to blossom. The last two years he made the all star team and this year he won every award for his league, best batting average, fastest runner, most bases stolen, fastest throw, and on and on. On top of all this, his grades increased to perfection. My son has maintained a 4.0 GPA from 6^th to 8^th grade and this earned him admission and a scholarship to Regis High School.

I never attempted to put it all together. The physical fitness he engaged in and his grades. I just thanked God for blessing me with such an intelligent and driven child. But after reading Fit kids are smarter in the Huffington Post by former Olympian Jeff Galloway, I started to understand the direct connection between my son’s physical prowess and intellectual achievements. I continued to read and found another article in the New York Times, and another on active.com.

When my second child, my little princess Janessa, came along. I started to realize that my fit lifestyle directly influenced my children. My daughter could barely stand on her own before she was trying to exercise like me. Just like my son, my daughter became physical the moment she was coordinated enough. Much to my wife’s dismay, Janessa took to boxing at the age of five. My wife wanted a gymnast, now she’s got a six-year-old girl who can throw crisp punch combinations and jump rope for five minutes straight. No joke.

I am a trainer myself and I train in cross fit, kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and anything else that gets my heart rate up. My entire family trains at one place…American Top Team Altitude. My daughter is part of the youth boxing program. My son and I compete regularly in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu competitions and we kickbox together.

Don’t let your children be part of the 17% that are currently obese, or the almost 30% that are completely sedentary. Make physical fitness a family affair. Come check out our Family fitness center and let’s get the entire family where they should be…happy and healthy!

Alive - Ultra Shake with Pea Protien

If you passed this whole food supplement shake the last time you were in Sprouts or Whole Foods and wondered if it was something you should consider picking, check out this video.

Heavyweight Flying Armbar

Flying armbars are rare to begin with. Flying armbars that actually land are even more elusive...but a flying armbar from a 6'7" Heavyweight fighter...is a Unicorn. ATT Altitude Coach and Trainer Alex Huddleston landed what he called a "semi" flying armbar. Whether he leapt into the skies or merely hopped, he landed the darn thing. This was at the last Fight to Win Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Tournament in Colorado Springs. Huddleston is a striking instructor at the fitness center, but he is one heavyweight who has not neglected his wrestling and BJJ. He trains with Bobby Lashley and BJJ professor Ethan Day honing his ground skills and has not missed a tournament since moving to the Colorado gym. The move and his overall performance for the day and the months prior earned Alex his Blue Belt.

ATT Altitude had 12 competitors in multiple divisions and took home 7 gold medals. This is only our second tournament as a team under Professor Ethan Day's BJJ program.

The flying armbar is a direct result of a seminar Professor Ethan set up at ATT Altitude with BJJ black belt Leonard Pecanha weeks prior to competition. On June 30th he has 4th degree black belt Renato Tavares conducting a seminar at ATT Altitude in Aurora, CO.

Professor Ethan is building one of the strongest and fastest growing BJJ programs in Aurora, possibly Colorado. Come down to the gym and try out our BJJ program. There is a kids program and an adult program.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is Mon - Fri 730pm til 830pm
No-Gi grappling is Mon, Wed, Fri 6pm til 730pm

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu at ATT Altitude

I’ve been training at American Top Team Altitude for almost two years now. In that time I’ve had the honor of training with some top-notch coaches. Coaches that would help me win multiple gold medals in competition. I started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu wanting to learn to defend myself and out of curiosity. Over the last twenty months I had been given tools, but I needed something/someone to help me put it all together so I could build the house my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu would live and grow in.

Several months back I was invited by one of my coaches, Deryck Ripley, to come in and spend a couple hours learning from his BJJ Professor, Ethan Day. In that short visit, I learned things that plugged some holes I didn’t even know I had. Soon after Ethan left, I learned that he was coming back to be take over the BJJ program at ATT Altitude. This was exciting because I hadn’t trained under a BJJ black belt for over a year. I had phenomenal coaches, but I really wanted to take my BJJ to the next level and start earning my belts. I take the progression of my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu game very serious.

Professor Ethan returned and he quickly integrated himself into the gym and carefully took us back to the basics and worked to build us up from scratch, to better us, to build our confidence in what we were learning. The first thing I learned was…pressure. The emphasis was on basic techniques, nothing flashy, meat and potatoes, but with “pressure”. It was a whole new world for me. I’d played my BJJ very loose, waiting for opponents to move instead of moving myself, but as I started to learn from Ethan, everything started to come together, the world of BJJ started to make sense. The excitement that I feel about the way my BJJ has progressed in a matter of months cannot be described. Had all this been given to me before, and I just didn’t listen? Or has Ethan brought that “next level” of BJJ that I was yearning for to help me build my house? I believe it’s the latter.

Ethan Day is now the full time Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu professor for American Top Team Altitude. He runs all the BJJ and No-Gi Grappling classes for the gym.

Ethan is a BJJ Black Belt under Renato Tavares and has competed at every belt level. He’s been training in BJJ for 12 years and says that he has just started to learn. Ethan has trained in Brazil and taught in Florida, Kansas City, and in Shanghai. He is world traveled and brings a unique knowledge of everything he’s learned into his classes.

Ethan believes that no matter where you are, BJJ can take you somewhere in life. It can take you to a career in fighting, provide you the ability to defend your family, or discover more about yourself as a person. BJJ can give you purpose and set you on a path to better health. Ethan feels we can find in BJJ a lifestyle that -with dedication- can take anyone on a positive journey.

Initially, Ethan came to ATT Altitude in Colorado because of an invitation from his longtime friend, Deryck Ripley. Ethan feels that Colorado is an active place, people respond very well to exercise, fitness, and nature. He wants to tap into the source of energy that’s here, build a big BJJ team, improve the technical development of the MMA program, and continue to develop opportunities for women and children to train.

We welcome Professor Ethan Day to Colorado and hope that everyone gets a chance to experience what he has to offer our great state.

If you have ever considered learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, or you currently train, but are looking for something more, or feel something may be missing. Then come down and try out the BJJ program at ATT Altitude. That goes for any type of athlete curious about any form of combat sports, boxing, MMA, or Muay Thai. If you are just looking to take your fitness to the next level, the strength and conditioning programs that are available at ATT Altitude are second to none.

ATT Altitude: 

American Top Team Altitude is a family martial arts center designed to meet the fitness needs of all audiences. Our new 20,000SF facility offers programs for kids and adults including boxing, brazilian jiu jitsu, cardio kickboxing, circuit training/CrossFit, mixed martial arts, muay thai, and wrestling! ATT Altitude is a one stop shop for fitness including for fighters looking to succeed in the cage/ring, kids who are in need of a structured, athletic environment, and adults looking to get in the shape of their lives! Amenities include full locker rooms, daycare (coming soon), supplement shop, nutrition support and more!