Business & Tech
Resident Realizes Dream With Kickboxing Business
CKO Kickboxing is located on Route 17 south
Loula Karapiperis says she feels better now than she ever has.
That’s because the 11-year Paramus resident has just realized her dream: opening a 6,100 square-foot CKO Kickboxing location on Route 17 south in Paramus. Attendees, according to Karapiperis, “receive a full body workout mind, body and soul. What you do here in an hour, you’ll physically need to do three hours in a gym. And it doesn’t matter how young or old you are, you’ll see results in two weeks.”
After three days in business, CKO Kickboxing Paramus already had 30 members, thanks to Karapiperis' work marketing the business before it opened, doing pre-sales at a kiosk in . She's passionate about her new business.
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“CKO gave me a passion besides my children, gave me something to believe in,” said the former stay-at-home mom. Now, her children, Nikko, 10, and Eleni, 7, take part in the CKO Kids program.
“I love it,” said Danielle Carroll of Oakland, a former competitive swimmer, and a member of the Paramus “Champions,” as CKO members are called. She joined to get in better shape.
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“Loula said it would take two weeks," Carroll said. "I feel much better than I did two weeks ago.”
“A total body workout,” said Paramus resident Julie Schoonhen. “I know who she [Loula] is and know she’ll do a great job, too.”
Mary Ann LaBarbiera is an instructor at CKO Kickboxing Paramus. A 1989 graduate of Paramus High School, she’s been working out for years.
“There are great people here, and it’s a great workout from head to toe," she said.
Members of CKO Kickboxing Paramus do more than hit punching bags. Members can weight train and take classes as varied as the instructors. In addition to LaBarbiera, the rest of the Paramus staff includes instructors Oilicec Robbio (head trainer), Aneta Torbus, Nick Lamonaca, Norma Villafane and Susan Brentano.
“I love Paramus,” Karapiperis said. “I love everything about it. My kids go to school here, and I live just minutes from here.”
CKO Kickboxing Paramus, 385 Route 17 south, Paramus, (201) 261-2262, www.ckoparamus.com
