More Photos from my Eskrima Class 28th October 2005

As promised here are more photos from my Eskrima class....thanks for visiting Kit!

Simon holding up Thai Pads for Lun to practice punches.

A photo that may or may not be used for an upcoming website.

Simon teaching some some empty hand techniques.

My week in Martial Arts: Oct 24th to October 28th

After recording a few pages he memorised word for word from a “Learning Conversational English” book into his new digital dictation machine that we got him for his 70th birthday, I was happy that my Dad seemed thrilled that we got him something “useful” this year. Of course my Mum was laughing as she listened to the recording on the dictation machine and it was a conversation about asking someone out on a date!
That was the events of Monday October 24th I didn’t go to Martial Arts or the gym that day as it was my Dads birthday.

As English not being his first language I was amazed that he could memorise every single word from several pages of a two way conversation. He told my brother and I that he just practiced and practiced. What does this have to do with Martial Arts? It proves that with practice you will be able to succeed and at my Dad’s age, it isn’t too late to learn anything.

So this week started with Capoeira on Tuesday, as you can see I have done a mid week update, I plan to these mini updates during the week. A great session again and we had a new member from Spain who fitted into the class almost immediately. Capoeira is a very show off type of Martial Art and therefore you are conscious of someone’s ego as soon as he steps through the door, but there were no problems! I don’t know if I said this but I shall say this again I am quite happy that I have yet to meet anyone with a huge ego for the past 4 years consistently training. I must be choosing the right classes..:)

For some reason I didn’t sleep too well that night and felt slightly faint the next day at work, it was a weird feeling and I was half way to Karl’s when I decided to go home and recover so I can train with my brother on Thursday. So I decided not to go to Karl Tanswell’s in fact because I didn’t go on Monday meant I missed a whole weeks worth!
However I am definitely there next week as I need to show more commitment and hopefully my brother will join me.

Thursday I recovered I must have been feeling faint due to lack of sleep. I went to the gym with my brother and my wrestling shoes had arrived. Lun ordered them over the internet. As well as a regular workout , we practiced our stick sparring techniques. The wrestling shoes are for Karl Tanswells stand up class.

Again missed Steve Powell’s classes, sometimes its quite hard to juggle so many on one perspective you feel good about yourself because you can fit a couple of classes in of different arts but then you are no showing a commitment to other arts so you feel bad. The advance classes we attend are also on later than our other classes and I am definitely waiting for my brother to join me in Steve Powell’s as he really enjoys doing the class with me.


Friday was Eskrima night, a great lesson mixing the intensity and the technique. We did some Hubud (this is pictured and an empty hand drill) and some grading things. Simon the Eskrima instructor was also taking photos for his upcoming website. Lun and I did some posing with sticks, knive and stick and knife. He then gave the camera to me so I can put the pictures onto my PC and use them on this blog. The first picture is one from Simon’s camera.


The key words for me today in this blog are commitment and practice. I have to show commitment to the instructors I could not see last week. Hopefully my brother will attend a few lessons as well. Practice is also a key word that must be noted; the more you practice the more something becomes 2nd nature.

Anyway thanks for visiting, enjoy the pictures!(p.s more pictures to be added tomorrow)

Kit!

Wednesday 26th October Quick Update:Capoeira!

A quick mini update!
As I said in earlier in previous posts I aim to do mini updates. Yesterday I went to Capoeira,I managed to take a photo with my camera phone,as you can see the quality isn't as good. Thats my instructor Danny doing a one handed kick during "the game". .
As the picture is so blurry, I have included another photo below of how it really looks like from an earlier shoot
Plus a shot of the game from an earlier lesson.









Keep Training
Kit!
A full update will be on the usual Friday/Saturday!

More photos from my Warriors Eskrima class.

Hi! just a quick update and more video captured photos.
Yup thats how I "take" the photos by actually filming most of the lesson and then cut and pasting shots from my video editing software on to the blog.

Anyway enjoy photos from this past Friday and some from a few weeks back!

As you can see I have experimented with film grain effect on some of the photos. I thought I would just mess with them a bit but don't worry I didn't apply the effect to them all!


Its fun filming the class, as you can review what you did almost straight after the technique. Please see this weeks entry and my article below.
My next full update is on Friday but I shall try and do some mini updates in between.
Thanks for viewing!
Kit!

My week in Martial Arts: Oct 17th to October 21st

“Any questions?” Karl asks the Vale Tudo guys before my lesson. Vale Tudo is basically the “anything goes” which features stand up fighting, ground and grappling techniques all thrown together. This is the advance class and those guys and girls can really move and train hard, but when Karl asks if there are any questions it means the class is nearing its end and ready for the class that I attend to start “Stand Up 101” class. However that’s not how my week started. But I am sure Vale Tudo will somehow end up in this blog as part of my routine.


Well after last week’s solitarily lesson I made a bit of a come back this week. I was determined to get fit again and into the routine. I went for a short session at the gym with my brother, Lun we practiced some stand up fighting drills and some Eskrima as my brother couldn’t make the last two weeks lessons due to his wife’s operation Susan (who Lun is taking care of at the moment) and in the little time he had to spare we did what we could.

Tuesday I did Capoeria again we did some crazy techniques, such as a cartwheel kick into a sweep and played the game. Prior to moving our new venue we used to play Capoeria music through the CD but once playing the game (freestyle non contact Capoeira sparring) the remaining guys play live instruments.

Although the main instrument used in Capoeira is the Berimbau (which is resembles a bow but is a string instrument) is currently at my house and it’s a little awkward to carry in the car. However we use the Panderio which is a modified tambourine and the A-Go-Go a modified cowbell. It’s great as the guys holding the instruments control the tempo of the game.

Wednesday I went to Karl Tanswell’s gym for an hour of stand up fighting 101 (beginners). I remember seeing the timetable for the very first time prior to starting a lesson at Karl’s and saying to myself “One hour?is that it?” After I tried it out first time, I told my brother what a great workout that was in only one hour! This is because part of the philosophy of the Straight Blast Gym (Karl’s gym) is that it advocates constant movement. I was training the shoot and sprawl, for the uninitiated the shoot is a takedown similar to American Football or rugby tackles. The sprawl is the defence against the shoot. We train different variations of the sprawl and it was tiring but fun. I hope I can make more than one class next week.

Thursday was the gym day again with my brother for a short session. I did more cardio work in the gym as I wanted to increase my stamina as I felt I got a bit tired too easily last night.






Friday, of course was Eskrima day. As you can see I have an explosion of new pictures to make up for last week. Again we did some stick and knife disarms some sparring and incorporating grappling into the mix.

I felt that my sparring improved today as the workouts in Karl’s gym seems to improve my general posture. This was also Lun’s first lesson in about 2 weeks and if you look at the pictures,he's somehow involved in all the Eskrima action shots! It was a great energetic lesson to end the week.
I didn’t manage to get down to Steve Powell’s, this is because I am actually waiting for my brother for this one as we enjoy training that together.


All in all though a great week, please enjoy the pictures and please check back next week as I plan to do short updates and one big update at the end of the week. Please read my article below on training partners!(yup I finally written it!)

Thanks!
Kit

Howdy Partner

“Can you just hold the pads a bit more tighter” said the guy I was holding pads for when I wasn’t holding them right for him while he was trying to elbow them and no that wasn’t several years ago when I was starting out, that was last month. Its not that I can’t hold pads, it’s just that I had to adjust the pads for my partner in Karl Tanswell’s Stand Up Fighting class.

I am writing this article about training partners, without a training partner many Martial Arts cannot be practiced as well as they could be. I have had countless training partners from various experiences. But what makes a good training partner?

I will discuss a good training partner in two categories; these are a partner with a higher skill level or those with the same.

Those with a higher skill level and more experience should help his or her training partner where possible. These should be little hints and tips and not just reiterating what the instructor said. I feel a more experienced Martial Artist training with a lesser skilled benefits both parties.

For example little hints would be informing the lesser skilled person to “pace themselves” and “Don’t tense up when hitting a pad just relax and tense up at point of impact”. Yes I have been told both. The experienced Martial Artist can go through thoroughly what he practiced and if he aspires to be an instructor advising the more inexperienced Martial Artist will only help him or her in the future.

My ideal training partner is that on the same skill level as me. This is because at the same skill level, you can drill or spar at your own level and don’t have to tone it down or teach beginners (although there is nothing wrong with that) and know you can generally trust that partner. The training partner must also be on the same intensity level as me as well.


However a bad training partner is one that aims to hurt their partner. One who gives too much respect, if you think of someone who holds back punches and keeps asking you(on every technique) if he or she did well. A bad partner will employ different techniques and if he is of a higher grade he takes advantage of a beginner by kicking the crap out of them.

There are “awkward” partners but they are not necessarily bad. Take for example my next story:


“Not my fault you didn’t block” said a training partner from Eskrima, who caught me a bit with a stick while we were practicing a stick drill. I have known this guy for years and sometimes he seems to on “automatic” for example he will just carry on hitting hard when he doesn’t need too. Did I enjoy sparring with him? I hated every minute of sparring with him as I thought and still think his intensity level is cranked up to 11 when everyone is on 10 as were told to be on that level by the instructor. In fact people put a psycho or crazy in front of his first name and that pretty much sums up his intensity.

But as I matured I realise that sparring with him can make me think more and become more alive and aware of what he is trying to do. In fact I now enjoy sparring with him now because I know I have to be more aware when sparring against his resistance type attacks.


My favourite training partner though is my brother. This is because we have been training together for a long time and he has always been there for me. There is an 8 year gap between us so he had to wait a while before he could properly spar and train with me. It’s ideal really because he would train on the same intensity level as me and knows where exactly to hold pads for me. Plus we can have a post-lesson analysis of what we did at class and he has occasionally given me hints on how to make skills better

During our earlier days in Eskrima we felt like giving up on two separate occasions. I was the first to want to leave, however it was my brother who encouraged me to return. A few months later my brother felt the same way but I encouraged him to come back and we both haven’t looked back since.


Thanks
Kit.

My week in Martial Arts: Oct 9th to October 14th

I knew it would come to one of these weeks. This week I only had one lesson in Capoeria. After the exciting fully loaded week that was October 2nd to the 7th that gave me four lessons and a session in the gym. This week was a bit pathetic in comparison.

Once I am not training I am always itching to get back and feel guilty even though things were beyond my control. If I am itching then I can't imagine what my brother Lun is feeling as he hasn't trained in almost a fortnight due to Sue having the operation as reported in my last blog. I am happy to say that the operation was a success and she is now recovering at their home.

The one lesson I had was Capoeria with Danny Henry was an interesting one, as we were taught sweeps and as always had a good session of the game. The interesting thing was that Simon, who is also my Eskrima instructor mentioned in the class that the sweep also appeared in Eskrima, although not actually the same but very similar. It was interesting watching the two exchange ideas. I am quite lucky to have instructors who have no egos.




One great thing about practising Capoeria, after you had a 2 hour session you feel you had a great work out but you feel loosened up and ready for something else.



The next day I was ready for Karl Tanswell's class and Steve Powell's JKD class but unfortunately I had a pain at the back of my head later that day which I recognised was not good, as last time I was very ill with flu when the same pain occurred. I made a conscious decision not to go but it wasn't an easy decision to make. I thought to myself however, what if it was flu then I wouldn't want to infect anyone else, plus the pain in my head wasn't ideal if we were doing clinch work or sparring with head guards. I missed Eskrima as well this week just to make a full recovery so can hopefully take all my lessons next week.

The provisional date for my Warriors Eskrima apprentice instructor grading could be February. Nothing has been set in stone but Simon emailed me to tell me that it could be the date. This means I got a target to train even harder and try and ensure I will be at my fittest for that time. So it would mean more stuff on my blog!
Thanks for reading again. I am going to go off and write that promised article now!
Thanks
Kit!

My week in Martial Arts: Oct 2nd to October 7th

Hi all!

Another busy week for me in the World of Martial Arts but also work, which meant I couldn't write that article I wanted to post but hopefully will write it this week. I may have to revert to writing on a more regular basis,as I feel summing up everything in a week might prove a bit difficult in the long term. As its not only the Martial Art lessons I attend that encompass my Martial Art related week but also the "little things" like discussing Martial Arts with people at work and even watching Martial Art films! These "little things" will be included in my blog as soon as possible.

This week started off differently as I was the last minute replacement for Simon's (My Eskrima instructor) brother Rob for a private lesson with Guro Krishna Godhania in Warwick. The night before I made sure I got some good sleep. I wasn't feeling well the night before but was determined to get fit for tomorrow as a cold tried to set into my system. Waking up feeling groggy from the medicine I took the previous night I didn't know if I could make it. But getting some good sleep and the journey towards Warwick made me feel better.

I can't tell you in detail what the private lesson entailed, however we did knife work and other cool stuff, it was very enjoyable and very relaxed. The lesson was 2 hours + of great technique training. I also bought some Filipino music to use on my training DVD's/VCD'S and safety goggles for Lun. Oh and my cold completely cleared.


Guro Krishna Godhania pictured here with myself

The next day I took two lessons in one day with Lun, as he won't be taking any Martial Art lessons for the time being as his wife my Sister in law, Sue was to enter the hospital for an operation. Sue has since had the operation and I hope she gets well and recovers soon! We did Karl Tanswell's stand up lesson and Steve Powell's JKD.

At Karl’s its all about the ALIVE approach to training. One of the aspects of ALIVE training means constant movement and no standing still while drilling moves. This gives us a great physical workout. My brother and I were caught moving in small steps while throwing our punches at each other by Karl, but he kindly explained that the philosophy of the gym was to keep constant movement.

We went to Steve Powell’s straight after a great work out at Karl’s. At first we felt like going home and training another day, as we were both tired from Karl’s and had long days at work. However in the end we felt that we were here (as both clubs are relatively close) and it is just an excuse not to go. Believe me I have made silly excuses not to go to Martial Arts in the past and always ended up with a guilty feeling.


Below Lun holding the pad we use.


Steve Powell's was great, unfortunately Steve wasn't teaching the class, so Rick Lawrie took over the class. Not been taught by Rick before, my brother and I didn't know what to expect. The class though was awesome; we simulated attacking multiple opponents as we trained in threes. This meant two people had to hold pads/kick shields and one attacked. It was great fun and I had two good partners training with me, as we encouraged each other and gave each other tips.

The next day was Capoeira, after some high impact Martial Arts the previous day it was good to practice in such a contrasting style. We practiced handstand variations and sequences with sweeps and kicks and of course the game. The instructor Danny Henry is working on a document outlining his style of Capoeira, he gave the document to me to format and edit. Having read it I feel lucky that I have an instructor that is so motivated.

On Wednesday I went to the gym to catch up with some weight training, my Eskrima instructor Simon was there, so I tried out his training routine. Simon concentrates on the more cardio aspects of weight training, it was quite varied and cool. However by the end of it I was tired!


Thursday was a rest day,on Friday it was Eskrima day. We went over what we did at Krishna's lesson and also concentrated a lot on grappling. We also did two on one scenario’s, with one person with a real stick against two with soft sticks and that person had to disarm his attackers. Soft sticks are typically made of light sticks with padding around it.

However I had a feeling that one of the soft sticks we were using was broken inside as we could hear rattling inside. When it was my turn to disarm my attackers, one of the guys, Mike, gave me a strike which I blocked but the casing at the end of the soft stick popped open and part of a snapped stick popped out almost catching me! The snapped stick resembled a stake. It would make a really cool weapon but I was lucky it didn't impale me like a vampire!


Mike the vampire slayer!

Of course Simon ended the lesson with conditioning exercises ending another interesting week of Martial Arts.

Thanks for reading
Kit!<

My week in Martial Arts: Sept 26th to Sept 30th

Hi All

The tapping of 20 to 30 keyboards on my office floor, the human silence that further amplifies the sound of tapping and the clock telling you there are ten minutes left till work is over on a Monday morning.

Will there be another problem ten minutes before end of work like as they have been so many times before? Fortunately no, Monday went without a hitch. So after work I was off to the gym.

I did a lot of cardio and conditioning in the gym and felt much better afterwards. Although training was good last week I was having lethargic and tired days in between training due to lack of sleep. However starting the week off with some gym work and sleeping at reasonable times made my week less lethargic and more alert.


Tuesday we were back in Capoeria ,yes! It was my first in about three weeks and was great fun. Our Capoeira class recently moved from a local community centre to the University of Salford and therefore we actually train as the same place as I do Eskrima. What I love about Capoeria is that the instructor Danny Henry encourages you to practice moves that you have never done or appear difficult.

For example I wasn’t a big fan of handstands but with Danny’s help I can now do them.Handstands are great to strengthen the back, arms and shoulders. Danny also taught as a few other techniques and then we played the game,the non contact sparring we do at the end. I always try to incorporate what I have learned in the lesson in the game.

Wednesday I went to Karl Tanwell’s straight blast gym and it was another great training session. Unfortunately Lun was in London, so I did not have a partner. In the past I used to be apprehensive about training without my brother. This is because I know 100% I can trust my brother as a training partner and its fun training with him. However over the years I learned to be more reciprocal which means if I am more relaxed about training and train/spar with someone the way I would like to then nine times out of ten your new partner will return the same mentality. This is not to say they have the train the way I have to train but more to do with the safety aspects and to ensure we are not kicking the crap out of each other and forgetting all about technique.

My training partner was this new guy called Charlie, he was a good partner very relaxed and controlled in his punching. However he was a big guy and when it came to takedowns he was quite hard to take down but I eventually took him down. I really enjoyed the session and there was a good atmosphere in the place. Karl likes to concentrate on form and what is refreshing is that the class I took which was called Stand Up Fighting 101, had several people from the more advanced classes there mixing it with the newer guys. I felt really good after that lesson; sometimes lessons do that to me. I felt more energetic and alert after the lesson. The feeling is as if its kick starting your whole body and mind.



Having rested on Thursday, I went to Eskrima on Friday. This lesson was not a heavy sparring session like the previous weeks, but rather technique based. As our instructor Simon is heavily into conditioning we did several conditioning exercises at the beginning of the lesson.

The lesson was a break down of techniques involving stick and some knife work. As I mentioned before Simon is a relatively new instructor compared to the ones I trained with but his lessons are becoming more and more fun and varied. Also Lun was back for this lesson.

I hope one day I can write about all four lessons in a week. This week wasn’t bad though as it has been a very energetic few days.


So that ends another week, I posted photos from my latest Eskrima lesson and photos of an Danny Henry my Capoeria instructor and myself(in black) practicing capoeira with Danny Henry.

An article will follow shortly!

Thanks For reading!
Kit!

P.S My Eskrima instructor and Eskrima friends and I have set up a Martial Arts forum...please visit
http://www.flowdrills.com/forum/

My week in Martial Arts: Sept 19th to Sept 24th

"If we don't go tonight then I won't get to train for at least two weeks"Lun explained when we just finished a session in the gym.
Mondays is usually our heavy set in the gym day but as my brother had to go London with work this week we went to Karl Tanswell gym on Monday.
"Lead with your hip" we were practicing punching combinations and I wasn't leading with my hip while throwing my punches. Jab,hook,cross in different variations moving dynamically around the gym.

We ended the night with sparring, this was of course is a beginners class at Karl’s as my brother and I only recently started. "Switch bodies!” is the command whereby we have to change partners to spar. This was sparring punches towards the head with gloves and head guards. I haven't sparred like that in a while (only sparring with soft sticks and only the occasional head guard was required) My opponent could have taken my head off several times during the sparring but pulled his crosses and had great control, when I had him in the same predicament I did the same, as Rage Against The Machine's "Killing in the name" blazed through the background you think that the both of us would go all out guns a blazing but while we were intense in movement we were relaxed in control. In fact the whole use of music at Karl’s is great, a few jazzy numbers while doing our drills and then when it got more intense the music was cranked up to Rage Against the Machine. One of my favourite bands

"Tell Danny I can't book the court because its freshers week" said Simon my Eskrima instructor and fellow Capoeira player. Freshers week is the first week of University in the UK and therefore all of the squash courts have been booked by students. We practice Capoeira in these squash courts every Tuesday with our instructor Danny Henry. That’s the third week in a row that I have missed it

Wednesday I went to Karl Tanswell's without my brother who was in London. I saw a good friend of mine, Andrew Timmins (better known as Timmins) participate the Vale Tudo class before my class, it looked intense and very athletic.

It was mainly Thai pad drills tonight jab, hook, knee we then did a take down I haven't done before. I had a good partner who was guiding me how to to do it right.
The one thing I got to learn when sparring/partnering with someone new is to learn to relax sometimes I can be to tense/stiff and on more than one occasion I have been told to relax by training partners. I found relaxing the muscles benefited me more as it helps me with my form.)

Friday was Eskrima day. It was a jam packed lesson. In the early days Eskrima for us was based more on technique but now its all out sparring and very aerobic which is great. We did four on one disarms where one of us had to go in the middle while the others attacked.


Stick sparring into stick grappling and what I call the stick assault course where three to four of us are lined up with sticks while the remaining students had to get pass us.
As regards to stick grappling again when I feel relaxed I find I can get out of moves when I am in trouble,when I am tense I struggle against myself.
I filmed the whole thing and will compile another VCD for them.



Please check my new blog links below, in particular my brother’s great Blog which contains a history of what he practiced and A Martial Adventure in Suburbia a really good blog about a Martial Artist trying to balance between the training and home life!



I shall be writing another article soon but please check the blogsite next week for the regular journal. Oh and enjoy the pictures! I shall be posting more pictures soon and hopefully some classy black and white shots my sister in law was taking of us today!

Thanks again for reading Kit

My week in Martial Arts: Sept 12th to Sept 16th

I managed to do three classes with my brother this week.
Due to work commitments I couldn't make Capoeira which was a shame. I made up for it the next night though starting at 7pm at the Straight Blast Gym with Karl Tanswell.

"No,now you're fighting yourself" explained Karl Tanswell as I was trying to counter the neck tie clinch position. For people not familiar with the clinch it is when your opponent holds you tight in to the body with both of their hands tight round the neck. All I had to do was adjust my body to dropping my shoulder and so I can counter the position but I was too stiff and couldn't adjust my body properly which is why Karl told me I was "fighting" myself.

I found that when relaxed the body responds better than being tense in Martial Arts and because clinch fighting is new to me I didn't realise my body was tense. I finally got the counter though and the rest of the session was stand up sparring techniques consisting of several drills at Karl Tanswell's gym. These drills included intense punching and defending with gloves between sparring partners. It was a great workout and I learnt that I need to relax the body a bit more. It was an hour long workout and the constant movement really works you.

Later that night we went to Steve Powells Jeet Kune Do gym,its a different kind of training to Karl’s. A lot of pad work is involved in Steve Powel’s,we were practicing punching techniques on pads and then practicing them in application. Again a high intensity work out from 8.30 to 10pm

The next day at work I felt great, I feel more energetic after a good workout and feel somewhat lethargic if I don't work out the night before.

Friday is Eskrima day, we did practiced sparring techniques with the stick and did some 4 on 1 disarm training, whereby one person would be in the middle four attackers would attack the person. The person in the middle must disarm each of the attackers. We also did some sparring techniques and sparring itself.


I gave a VCD I compiled of last weeks class(as I was filming last week) to each of the students,the instructor had already seen it and enjoyed it. The VCD was called class review and it had techniques and sparring.


Video analysis of your own techniques is great, I recommend anyone who does Martial Arts to film themselves as sometimes you need to see where you may have gone wrong or what you might improve upon.

Thanks Kit

My week in Martial Arts: Sept 5th to Sept 9th

Ironically this week I wrote an article on cross training and I only get to go to one class! I had a week off work this week dominated by weddings and relatives,I could not go to all my lessons.
This week I managed to get to the Warriors Eskrima class. We practiced various strikes,we did 2 on 1 scenarios(where the defender had to disarm opponents)we did some stick grappling,empty hand and finally some sparring.
I was filming the lesson and managed to get some screenshots!
More pictures below!

Me(grey) vs Lun my brother(red)

Lun blocking Simons attack during a 2 on 1 sparring session
Simon Campion showing us some empty hand take downs
Simon vs Ray

Cross Training

We never thought of cross training, we just wanted to do as much as possible.
This article is about our experience in cross training.
The main reason why my brother Lun and I cross train in different arts is because the fact that we could be repressive martial artists!

We started Martial Arts in 1983,it was a style called Choshin Kai Karate at the local pub across from our parents' fish and chip shop. It was the upstairs of that pub I can always remember the smell of beer and cigarettes as we made our way up the stairs.

Choshin Kai Karate, as well as having elements of traditional karate was very free as in had elements of many styles such as Wing Chun and on occasions invited Thai boxers to spar. Our instructor was a guy called Ian Hansen,who I think became a policeman. Choshin Kai however was graded by none other than Steve Powell,who runs the JKD in Manchester today!It was this grounding in our first experiences that led us to be exposed to different arts and therefore respecting all arts.

In a way we were lucky that this karate school happened to be across the road from us. From an early age we realised that there was a lot to explore. However the club closed after a couple of years or so after we started(but we carried on elsewhere) and my brother was studying and helping out more and more in our busy chip shop. We did dabble in Chinese Kick boxing but it didn't give the same vibe as our previous class. My brother when he went to University did several styles on and off however it was not as consistent as we do now.

It was when I finished my degree that I seriously took up Martial Arts again with my brother. Eskrima,JKD,Capoeira,Brazillian Jiu Jitsu and stand up fighting are our current arts. However in the past four years we dipped into ITF Tae Kwon Do,WTF Tae Kwon Do,Wing Chun and Goju Ryu Karate.

However some people have asked why do so many when you can just concerntrate on one.
Well the answer to that is that we find it fun!The classes I go to our relatively cheap and they are convenient for me. To me some classes offer more than others in fact they all do.

Capoeria offers aerobic exercises and keeps you generally flexible. It works a lot on strengthening on all parts of the body, such as arms and shoulders for acrobatic purposes. It also helps with awareness and alertness in sparring. It can also improve footwork as the whole point of sparring (or playing the game as it is known in Capoeira) is to evade and attack. It is truly an "art" in a literal sense as we practice to perform and we don't really concentrate on the martial applications.

Eskrima offers me more of a Martial application. Warriors Eskrima covers stick, double stick, knife, sword and empty hand. Therefore offers good grounding in weaponry. It is very much more technique based, but the instructor is putting a lot more conditioning into it as a build up to our next grading.

JKD offers more emphasis on self defence techniques and focus mitt drills. Again very condition based training and as it is based on concepts they are many different elements of various martial arts are picked up including Silat, Thai Boxing etc. We also do a lot of pad-work in JKD.

Standup fighting/Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. I banded these together as it is taught by the same instructor. Stand up fighting offers great drills on attacking and defence elements derived from kick boxing and boxing and from the clinch. BJJ offers a great work out and helps us with our groundwork.

So the importance of cross training is to have a knowledge of several arts, my original plan was to eventually concentrate on one. As my plan was to pick one art from several like someone goes to University picking their favourite subject to study and stay in that field. However instead of having one I now want to learn several, money and time permitting! But in all seriousness I believe each of the arts I do has something benifical and different to offer.


Please comment on your thoughts on cross training.
Thanks
Kit

My week in Martial Arts: 29th Aug-2nd Sept

Hi All
This is a new feature where I talk about my weekly lessons. Over time I shall try and write about the lessons in more depth but right now I am still experimenting with the format. Please feel free to make comments below!

A typical week would be at least one or more lessons of four disciplines per week.
This week I did Capoeira,Stand Up fighting at Karl Tanswell Defence Unlimited gym and Warriors Eskrima.

Following a mundane day at work, Tuesday was capoeira day,the instructor is called Danny Henry and is not affiliated with any Capoeria associations therefore free of politics. We practice the Regional (Martial Arts high flasy kicks) and Angolan style(slower more traditional ground based). There is a lot of conditioning in Capoeria and we work thoroughly on warm ups in the beginning of the lesson as there are lots of different moves that we do throughout. At the end of each capoeira lesson we play the "game" which is non contact Capoeria sparring. This is really the icing on the cake in Capoeira and what makes it a lot of fun. A new guy joined today and seemed to enjoy and pick it up very quickly.

Wednesday, my brother Lun and I took a trip to Karl Tanswell gym. We are currently studying stand up fighting and Brazilian jiu jitsu there. The stands up fighting class concentrates on stand up striking with elements of boxing and kickboxing and also clinch fighting. Stand up fighting 101(the beginner classes) was the class Lun and I took this past Wednesday and it was high energy workout. As it’s only an hour long class, there were a lot of drills but of three or four techniques so the beginner can remember what he/she has learnt on that day. The drills are constant movement rather remaining stationary we are required to move around for example, ducking jabs but moving your feet at the same time while your partner tries to catch you out. The philosophy of the gym is about physical movement and sweating. It’s a tiring and satisfying experience. We asked some of the guys there where we could get wrestling shoes, as they are not so easy to purchase here in the UK, although I could go online I prefer to try them on at a shop. There was one shop in Manchester that does them, if anyone else knows where we can get some please feel free to leave a comment below.

Friday was Eskrima day. Lun purchased some handguards, so we used them in training. We were practicing striking the stick and then the hand in several drills. The hand guards, designed by the late Punong Guro (Head Instructor) Edgar G. Sulite of Lameco Eskrima International work really well for our drills. Warriors Eskrima is typically more about the technique but since out last grading will consist of grappling and sparring it has concentrated more on conditioning.

We practiced some stick grappling and at the end of the lesson did some combat conditioning from Matt Furey's program, 100 Hindu squats, Hindu press ups and 30 minutes plus of various other conditioning exercises. I took our digital camera in to take photos but I forgot to charge the battery, luckily Simon Campion, our instructor had his camera phone and took some photos that I will publish on this site as soon as I get them.

So all in all it was a exhausting but fun week in my Martial Arts schedule.
Please check back next week for an article on cross training and another weekly martial arts journal entry.


Related Links:
Karl Tanswell
www.karltanswell.co.uk
Lameco Eskrima
http://www.lamecoeskrima.com
Hand guards
http://www.lamecoeskrima.com/armor.asp
Matt Furey
http://www.mattfurey.com/