Lun's new blog

My brother Lun has a great new look to his blog and an article on a local karate club.

A new direction

I realise I still get 500 hits per month on a blog I stopped 3 years ago!This was the time I stopped Martial Arts but I still keep in touch with my peers and have facebooked almost all my instructors. Therefore I am going to try and post new content soon and take this blog in a new direction! Watch this space!

Rising up again?

I wrote an epilogue to the Martial Arts Journal in February 2010, however something has rekindled my interest again which might lure me back.

1) My brother rejoined Steve Powell's JKD class last week

2) In addition to that my brother and I have been trying out the Tabata training method in the gym.

This Tabata training consists of
1) warm up
2) 20 seconds work
3) 10 seconds rest
4) repeat 7 more times

I read a lot of MMA and combat training guys do this conditioning training but I am doing it to get back into condition again! Being a team leader at work(although I do a lot of walking around) you do tend to ensure you have a nice meal every night to replenish the energy spent sorting stuff out. However with my brother Lun going back to JKD and this Tabata training being very enjoyable who knows?

I might start kicking some pads again......

Epilogue

My last blog entry was 9th June 2008, today is 7^th Feb 2010, a year and almost 8 months since I last posted, which is a very long time. Lots of things have happened during the last year and 8 months as not all was Martial Art related which meant I couldn’t possibly write this blog on a weekly basis. I would say that my Martial Arts Journey is officially over for now. The last class my brother and I held as instructors of Warriors Eskrima was back in July 2009.

Why did we stop? Well my brother Lun, had to have an operation on his hands but more importantly celebrated the arrival of a beautiful baby girl in November. I got married in August plus having to concentrate on my career as a team leader at a telecoms company I work at. Greater things have taken priority at this moment in our lives. With my brother and sister in law celebrating the birth of their child and Elaine and I getting married it was a great year for the brothers Lok.

I admit it this blog began when I was at my lowest ebb professionally at work and I used to write this every week because along with the Martial Arts I was doing at the time I felt like I was achieving something. However it was something I really enjoyed doing on a weekly basis. Ever since work picked up again I didn’t go back to write the blog every week in fact I thought I would leave it out altogether after the June 2008 blog.

However 2009 wasn't totally Martial Arts free, we attended two seminars that we hosted for Krishna Godhania in which we had a great time stick sparring and learning stick sparring techniques. We also attended a handful of JKD lessons at Steve Powell’s which was also great fun as we learnt different stick techniques. For us though the highlight of last years Martial Art calendar was Dennis Martin’s combatives seminar that was hosted by Greg Hall.

This seminar just put everything I have been training for into perspective. This seminar first made me think “What the hell is he sitting us down for and going off power point slides” and then got me thinking “That was the most intense 3 hours of training I have ever done!”

Based on WW2 combative concepts so you can use something as soon as you get out of the seminar, the two objectives where as follows:

1. Whatever we learn on the course, we should be able to use straight away.

2. Whatever you learn should stick with you for life. These objectives were emphasised throughout the course

You can read on my brothers take on this day here

The whole seminar was amazing and to top it off you fight the bullet man. A six foot man in a bulletman suit which made him around 6ft 5inches. It wasn’t just about fighting him however, after 3 hours of combative training which included 3 sets of ten reps of 10 exercises each and then intense pad work and some grappling, each of us was asked to spar with him individually.

Now here’s the catch as we were all asked individually to spar with the bulletman we didn’t know what we were getting into. I won’t spoil it for you but it’s intense and fun. More can be read on the seminar here Dennis Martin article as his website seems to be down at time of writing.

So no regrets everything that I have done in Martial Arts I am proud of, everything I tried out I have learnt from. I talk fondly of how it helped me out in crappy times and I will always train now and then with Lun. I made lots of friends, met new people, even famous people through Martial Arts. Thanks goes to Mark, Gaz and John who were our last students.

I thank everyone who visited this blog over the last few years and apologise to those who visited for the last year and 8 months expecting an update! Thank you for all your kind comments. The great thing I liked about the blog is the photos that we took. I have deliberately featured two of my favourites on this blog.

So here is the final picture for now. It features the pad we used at Steve Powell’s where it all began in 1983, the sticks I used for Warriors Eskrima which began in 2002,the t-shirt I purchased and wore at the Minnesota Kali group summer camp in 2002 under Rick Faye, the boxing glove I used in the stand up classes at the Karl Tanswell’s straight blast gym in which I trained in from 2005 to 2006 and the berimbau that my Capoeira instructor Danny Henry gave me in which I trained from 2002 to 2006.

Good times, No regrets.

Grading Day

As the alarm went off on June 8th at 6.45am, I was wondering why would I set it that early on a Sunday and then quickly realised it was grading day for our students! I haven’t been updating the blog because mainly I wanted to get this day out of the way. Three weeks ago if you asked me to write my blog I would probably type a simple question mark and not write anything because that was my opinion of one of our students doing the grading.

Fast forward 3 weeks later the guy delivered and had a great grading along with our other student.

And I am really damn happy not only for him but both of our guys because they trained hard for it.

As we made our journey to Warwick, Lun prepped our students Gaz and Mike by giving them a couple of Filipino Martial Arts books to read. Both of the guys were about to do their level 1 grading which is tough in that it would be their first grading in Warriors Eskrima and there was a fair amount to know and do.

Having got to the venue we saw Johnny Cowan’s army of students ready to take the grading, one of those in particular was Keith who was grading for his level 6 which is the level in which you have to pass to become an apprentice instructor. However, Johnny had several other students taking their grading at varying levels.

We didn’t grade in the comfy surroundings of the school hall, but a boxing gym which was once owned by Jackie Turpin. The boxing gym was actually pretty cool and I hope we have future gradings there.
So after greeting Krishna Godhania
and introducing him to our students we were ready to grade.

Johnny was in charge of the grading with Krishna Godhania assessing whilst my brother Lun and I watched. It must have been quite intimidating with 4 people watching you grade but a few of Johnny’s guys have met Lun and I before (and also you may find that I don’t look intimidating at all)
However once we began everyone flowed, I was watching Mark and Gaz and they looked great and most importantly remembered everything. In fact everyone looked fluent, when everyone started their sumbrada drills(which is a stick flow drill) I saw varying degrees of speed but everyone doing it correctly.


Like I said earlier the guys did great and I am really proud that they train at our club. There were no mind blanks, no hesitation. Everything went exactly to plan. By far, the guy who had the toughest grading was Keith(sparring one on one,then two on one then it was three against Keith) he was doing his level 6 and really kicked some ass, well deserved and a great grading.


After the grading Krishna Godhania as always gave us an excellent mini lesson which involved knife defence. Later he told us he was happy with the standard of our students which is awesome! To top it all off we saw a Delorean parked at a service station the way home!(yup I am a Back to the Future fan)

Other than the grading these past few weeks Lun and I have been mainly concentrating on the grading stuff in our lessons. We also went to Steve Powell’s JKD Class a couple of times and some great lessons under Chris Sibbald and we will be coming back at some point. I also like to give a shout out to Lee who hurt his hand and will stop him from training for a while, get well dude.


Anyways this blog post is dedicated to everyone who passed their grading this weekend!

Learning to teach,teaching to learn part 2 of 2

I split this weeks post up as Lun and I as on Tuesday we taught the guys going for the grading for applied Eskrima from the Warriors System
and straight after went to Steve Powell’s JKD Class.

It turned out that one of our students out of the two grading turned up. Not because of lack of dedication because he had a bad back and Lun and I wish him a speedy recovery. It turned Gaz (the one who turn up) had a good session as we went through all the different grading criteria. As well as the grading criteria we did some sparring techniques on focus mitts and also general awareness of the knife. I do prefer the defence/awareness/avoiding the knife type drills to the attacking with the knife drills but that’s my opinion on it.

After the hour and twenty minute class with Gaz, Lun and I travelled ten minutes into the centre of Manchester to go to Steve Powell’s JKD Class. It was a good feeling going back to the class. Mostly work and other commitments have contributed somewhat in the lack of going to any Martial Art classes. But the lesson itself was great we saw Steve Powell himself and Chris Sibbald who has become an instructor as well.

We did some focus mitt work into take downs and into some grappling techniques. It was a great lesson and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Like the title of the post says learning to teach, teaching to learn, Lun and I are still constantly learning.

My hands were aching the next day as Lun and I were using cheapo focus mitts that we got from a well known catalogue store here in the UK and the mitts are quite hard. It was also the fact that Lun and I were not wearing gloves when punching on this occasion, which in some cases makes a lot of sense as the old saying goes “They don’t wear gloves in pubs”(you have to say it in an English Northern accent to get the full comedic effect).

Anyway thanks for reading
Kit

Learning to teach teaching to learn part 1 of 2 for this week

Hi All

Another week of Martial Arts although this one will be short as I plan to update again midweek.
Lun and I finally got our venue back for teaching. We did some intense grading training with our grading student which was cool. However not being to train for a couple of weeks made them a bit rusty in some parts, however I am sure they will pull through on the day. In fact they have no choice in the matter, they will succeed on the day. In addition we taught them feinting techniques for their stick sparring. This ensures they just don’t keep beating the living hell out of each other everytime they spar! In fact it was great to see them both incorporate feinting techniques when they did spar as they thought about it more.

Today Lun and I went through some stick work and some pad work. Lun told me about the combatives class he is currently training in private lessons under Greg Hall and its something I would definitely like to try in the future. Combatives is hand to hand combat utilised by the military and was used during the two World Wars taught to civilians who had to join the army. It had to be pretty effective if it was used during wartime so its something I am interested in doing at some point. Anyways I provide a picture of some ancient weapons used in China. The picture is from the British Museum and the swords were used during warfare in Ancient China. Now those look damn effective too!

Anyway I shall write some more mid week
Thanks for reading!
Kit

Learning to teach, teaching to learn: A hiatus

Learning to teach, teaching to learn: A hiatus

I have had two week break from teaching while renovation work is carried out at the venue where Lun and I teach applied eskrima from the Warriors system. Its give me an opportunity to reflect about our teaching style and plan/think about the next lesson.
This was posted Blackbeltat50 http://www.bbat50.com/ on my second to last post.
“Learning to teach....struck a chord with me. I spend my days looking at how to teach (not martial arts, i have an online educational service) and my evenings learning in the dojo. I wonder sometimes if we learn efficiently since my school leans towards lots of repetition to build muscle memory and lots of encouragement. They correct us less than I'd like so often, after months of an exercise, I realize that I'm doing it wrong and have been for months.

I would like to hear more about your thoughts on how to best teach balancing instruction, encouragement, correction, and "once right>ten time wrong"”


I answered:
“Thanks for the comment this is my first response for a while and I am happy that you read it and it’s a kind of comment that has inspired me to start blogging again. In fact I will go into more depth into teaching in my next post. All I can say is that we have a mixed class of advanced, intermediate and beginners but the class is very small so it is nice to teach in.
I will go into depth more in the post but here are my responses (and apologise if they are brief) to your question.

As a balance we would do a few basics together and then split the class up. It is sometimes difficult to go from one skill level to the other but depends how long you have been teaching a particular level. Encouragement comes when someone really can't get a technique right but they are making an effort and when they make a real marked improvement on what they are doing. Correction is handled by observing what the student is doing again and breaking down what they are doing wrong. And the once right>ten times theory is something I have adapted from Steve Powell’s class. There are many classes that have their students doing 10-20 reps of one thing but because they are so many people there, sometimes your own technique is ignored. As our class is small it is easy to concentrate on individuals. So we can give them a foundation to get their basics right. I shall try and answer your questions in greater detail in my next post but thank you for getting my blogging back on track!”
In retrospect I think as Lun and I carry on teaching we are gradually refining our teaching style all the time. So in saying that we have to adapt to the depending on the size of the class. The biggest class we have had was about 8 students at one time. At the moment we are averaging 4-6 students, which is just right and we could manage if one of us was doing something else. It’s also easier to give attention to a particular student in a small class. I have been to classes(and these are University Martial Art classes) such as Jiu Jitsu and Tae Kwon Do when they have easily been 20+ people but looking round some people might not be getting the technique right and in some cases never right as the instructor may have not had the time to correct them.

Going forward with our own lessons we have lately been doing more live training and in the last one some circuit work to work on the cardio/fitness of the students. Our version of cardio is pad work and some sparring. But we will also make sure that the basic techniques are constantly drilled. Fundamental drills are so important such as how to stand, guarding and basic punching. Another technique that we will try and focus on is more scenario training.

Krishna Godhania showed us a bunch of videos people being attacked by just crazed people with knives. There were a few instances when they pre empted the attack but mostly unaware. This is because some of them were not trained in dealing or pre empting the attack. Such as letting a stranger in your space when talking to you is something you can’t do in my opinion. I read some bouncers have the wall technique where they stick their hands out to form an invisible wall between them and an aggressor. I think everyone should really be taught this technique not just people in Martial Arts because all too often you get some crazy idiot who doesn’t have a sense of space. It’s all well and good if we have a plan in our heads of “what to do” but it’s a matter of “when to do”. Like Greg Hall once taught and again taught my brother Lun recently is to train to degree that is a level of Unconscious competence. This means its all second nature which means the training is as such you don’t even think about it.

Thanks for reading enjoy the pics

Learning to teach, teaching to learn again.....

Hi All!

Its been a long time, I have obscured myself from the blog World as all I have been doing lately is working and teaching once a week until the past month, as I have been hitting the gym and managed to attend a seminar and instructors lesson!

Work has been hectic but satisfying, in my previous role at the place I work in, I never felt fulfilled and was partly the reason I did a weekly blog (as well as keeping motivated). I also intended this post http://kittomainia.blogspot.com/2006/11/my-weekend-in-martial-arts-november.html to be my last. However I carried on a bit , stopped and now I’m back because I thought I was becoming a sell out and not really caring about the hobby and art I have done for the last 20 odd years (on and off). I would say on the hobbies and sporting front apart from teaching Warriors Eskrima I have been lost for the last 6 months. I even played five a side football or soccer (for my overseas readers!) with workmates…that’s how lost I was.

But now I’m coming back to a higher conscious of my own training as well as teaching. I have been trying to get as fit as possible this month by hitting the gym and working on the weights and cardio. In addition we are prepping two of our best students for a grading. We got the date set we just to have work towards it. Lun and I are also combining our own experiences to work out the best parts from each Martial Art to see what works for us. In addition we attended two great seminars this week.

March in Wigan is freezing but it was freezing all over England after recovering from some Easter snow. However the room was hot with activity as the sounds of sticks and knives were clanging each other as Lun and I reached Mel Corrigan’s Kali Group gym. We never been to Wigan before but we greeted with smiles and handshakes from Mel Corrigan and Rick Faye! It was great to see Rick again, we went through some stick and knife work( in which I used the sticks Elaine got me as a present), pantukan (Filipino boxing) and some great focus mitt work. Rick laced the seminar with his usual great humour and knowledge. It’s always interesting to hear a story from Rick Faye. In fact I would say when I am teaching I am most influenced by Steve Powell and Rick Faye, in terms of the humour and knowledge they have as they know when to be serious but also keep the tone light. Lun and I do try and train our students hard but also keep the tone light but not constantly if there are serious matters to talk about such as situational training etc… speaking of which.

“Do you do any pressure training?” asked my MMA colleague work (whose going for his first pro fight soon so good luck to him) “What’s that?” I replied
“Real life scenarios”
“Yeah” But my “Yeah” wasn’t convincing because I couldn’t think of any examples that we did(even though Lun and I have done recently with a blunt Stanley knife) and we call it “Live” training anyway..sigh I am really sick of these different connotations for training techniques not because it all should be called the same thing but I personally get caught out when people from other Arts ask me stuff. Like when someone once asked me “Do you breath in or breath out when you get punched?” sigh…..I don’t think I could help my breathing if someone punched me in the back of the head but to be honest I have never been trained in that(so I can't pass fair comment) and I don’t think I could be patient enough. I have been in only 3 real life situations in my life. The only thing I was thinking in all situations was to defend myself.

I am trained in to keep a constant guard up or parrying/blocking/destroying an attack by attacking the attacker. Of course in real life you will never know what the attacker will do there’s no way on Earth he’s going to stand there and throw the straightest punch ever for you to block or wait there until you to put him in a lock. So I am all for Live or pressure testing. We live in probably a crazy world more then ever, I say train one on one or two on one situation with constant moving. But before that beginners have to learn all the techniques necessary to garner the knowledge to defend themselves.

Moving on…………………

In contrast to the wet, windy and cold day in Wigan, it was a wonderfully sunny day in Warwick. It had been exactly a year to the day since Lun and I had attended an instructor’s class and what a great class Krishna Godhania taught us. We had stick sparing techniques and knife techniques. A good thing that was emphasised was how dangerous a knifeman could be with his empty hand. It was great to stick spar with guys I haven’t trained with before and each of the instructors there were really friendly. These classes are held monthly and Lun and I shall try and get there as much as possible this year.

Other than that I am going to try and find a regular Martial Art to do. I was considering MMA with my colleague. But I had a think about it and the only person that I could properly train with is my brother Lun who had been having a bad time as of late with stress but is slowly but surely is getting better.. so I am going to try and organise something with my bro.
Anyway that’s all, I shall answer a comment from my last post in my next one which should be soon!
Thanks for reading

Learning to teach,teaching to learn.

Where in the World have I been?

Well Canada but unfortunately not for the last few months since I last wrote this blog. Since then Lun and I have been just teaching and going to the gym ever so often. The class is going fine it’s a small class and that’s fine with us. It gives us more opportunity to analyse their individual strengths and weaknesses. In addition it’s a class I find teaching a learning curve as you have to look at things from the students’ perspective. What may be basic to Lun and I may not be basic to the beginner. We take for example punching such as a jab and cross, although these are primarily basic punches for someone who has done boxing and some Martial Art it might be difficult for one beginner to form a fist and/or get their body mechanics right.

It’s only when teaching beginners as in total beginners with no prior Martial Art experience that you start to have a broader perspective of how well you are teaching. For example I would say that some students are exceeding faster than others and therefore it could be argued that those exceeding are practicing what we teach, however it can be debated whether those not picking up as quickly may need to be taught differently so they can “take in the information”. In my mind repetition is the key but first they got to learn the technique and get it right. As Steve Powell’s JKD Class always use to say when we would do reps in class “Doing one good punch is better than doing ten crap ones”. In addition to this the student has to apply their own mind to figure things out as well, so as Bob Melia said to me recently “Never ever stop learning". In fact I said this in a previous post that I am so grateful and humbled to have trained or attended seminar under so many great instructors throughout the years. As they have changed the way of my thinking in the Martial Arts on so many levels and given me such good advice. Also we are lucky enough to have a fellow instructor Johnny Cowan training with us along with his student Keith.

On a sad note one such instructor unfortunately passed away recently. It was a cold night on the 30th September 2003 when Lun and our friends Paul R and Paul H climbed the steps of a gym somewhere in North Manchester where we were to attend a seminar by Sifu Larry Hartsell. I remember for some reason being quite nervous attending as this would be the first time I have attended a seminar by a direct student of Bruce Lee. When he did come into the room there was an instant presence a kind of aura that’s hard to describe. He was softly spoken and didn’t look totally happy probably due to our English weather that night. But when he did start teaching it was awesome, we did a lot of stand up grappling and I will never forget when he made a point of keeping the left hand up protecting your jaw when you punch or you will get knocked out if you miss and the other guy hits you.
I know a basic detail but the way he said it in his softly spoken American accent for some reason stuck in my mind. At the end of the seminar he took the time to take photos with everyone and was very polite. It was an honour being in the presence of Sifu Larry Hartsell and I am pretty sure everyone else in the room felt that way too. Sifu Larry Hartsell Aug 15th 1942- Aug 20th 2007.


Canada was an awesome experience, along with Elaine and her sister Louisa we went on a scenic tour around the Canadian Rockies in Bannf and also saw Lake Louise and the Athabasca Glacier fields. We then stayed in the City with Elaine’s relatives in Burnaby. They were a very nice family and I can’t thank them enough for their kindness. So on this blog I like to thank Auntie Fatima, Uncle John, Chris and Edolyen and last but not least Elaine’s Grandma for their wonderful hospitality. Being in Burnaby was like being in a massive Chinese community in fact along with the Richmond area that’s exactly what it was and for some reason I felt very much at home. I spoke Cantonese for most of the time we were asking for things and restaurants. In addition things were cheap out there we went to a restaurant on Joyce Street that sold dim sum and plates of other food for $2 that at the current exchange rate is about £1!!!!! On the Martial Arts side of things I managed to take two photos of Martial Art centres, I didn’t attend either but those were only two among many Martial Art places in Vancouver out there I saw a Capoeria place, several TKD places, a MMA gym and also a place called Lok’s Hapkido in Richmond (unfortunately I didn’t have my camera ready for those gyms (as I was in a car or a bus) or I would be sure to take a picture. Another place I didn’t take a photo of however was Dragon’s Martial Art Supplies in Chinatown, the owner there was extremely kind and hospitable to us as we got some DVD’s and books from him. All in all Vancouver was a great place and a great experience.


Now I am back Lun and I wish to take our students to the next level. But we must work constantly ourselves to achieve this. I recently reapplied for my Warriors Eskrima licence and with Elaine moving up I shall look at my own training schedule (as well as teaching Elaine!). Exciting times ahead!….thanks for reading!

Kit

A Great Manchester Run! / A Great new beginning?

A great hue of anticipation surrounded the runners or cramped together near the starting line, everyone running for a cause, everyone wanting to run. Sunday 20th May Lun and I did the Great Manchester Run. This was Luns first time and my second time. This year 28,000 people participated in the UK’s most prestigious 10KM run. Lun commented on the atmosphere and to be among all those people running for so many causes is an absolute awesome feeling.

Well done to Lun who participated the run, he promises me that he will train for next year too, I am proud of you bro! I for one will participate every year as I enjoyed so much. But what I would like to do is thank everybody who sponsored me for the run. So far I have raised £242 online and raised £171 offline, the web page is open till 20th July 2007 so there is still time for you to keep on donating if you wish: http://www.justgiving.com/kitrunsagain
For all those who sponsored me thanks very much I really do appreciate it!

Hang on the blog says MARTIAL ARTS….where does it say GREAT RUN??, I hear you shout.
Well due to work and family illness’s ,Lun and I have only been teaching our regular classes once a week and have cut down on training. Lun and I just train ourselves when we can but we have for the time being stopped going to our own classes.

When I was first started this blog I was attending several Martial Art lesson which comprised of Eskrima,JKD,Capoeira and I was beginning MMA. Out of the four, Eskrima was the one that my brother Lun and I seemed to have progressed in the most. However in an earlier post I stated that one day I will just follow the path of one Martial Art. Now this is not including teaching and going to Warriors Eskrima seminars. So Capoeira, JKD or MMA? Well Capoeira is really a Martial Art/Dance so that is completely different from the training that JKD or an MMA class would offer. So JKD or MMA? You know I retract on the statement of following “paths” life’s too short, all things should be tried! But seriously once I do start again I should really concentrate on one art as I have already tried training everything above at almost the same time.

However the question is how come I have cut down on training?. External factors such as family illnesses and a crazy work schedule have affected what I do. But are they excuses? No, it just so happens that it falls on the days that the wrestling class is on or JKD is on. So if I do want to train why don’t I just find somewhere to train when I can? Which is my next step I am going to try and get some private lessons in or even train with people that in JKD,MMA etc at some point when it suits me. This is nothing to do with my ego but this is more to do with that fact that my situation has changed and it would make it impossible for me to train consistently with any class at the moment.

So what is the great new beginning heading on top of this post all about? Well I would say teaching and also trying to find a Martial Art I can consistently train in….thinking and writing about it has aided my descion.

The only thing that is consistent is the beginners Warrior Eskrima classes. This class is growing and it’s a new experience and Lun and I’s. The feedback we get is great! As I always ask how people enjoyed the lesson. We had three total beginners the other day so I asked them to practice partner drills in three’s. Of course anyone who had to practice in threes in a Martial Art lesson would know that its quite boring waiting for their go. So I showed the guy who was the odd one out the next move and then told that person to teach the others what I just shown them, while I check up and other people in the class. It worked and it looked like a lot of fun for them! Plus by showing people what you learn is another way of learning yourself. As well as the beginners we got Jon who is a veteran of our old classes and Richard who has stuck with us since day one coming down and also Gaz who was in also briefly with us when the class was on a Friday.

I also managed to teach Elaine some sticks and she took to it very well, I might even consider formally teaching her (if that what she wants..:)


I would also be the first to admit that if anyone asked me about other Martial Arts I would recommend the places I used to go. Like Steve Powell’s and SBG according to their preference. The reason being is that we I believe that anyone people we teach should broaden their horizons and find their own way. Everyone does.


Anyways I included a few pics of Lun and Jon training, highlights of the Manchester run, a bird of prey soaring through the sky which I am using as a metaphor for freedom of expression and also erm me at the bottom of a giant tree in Glastonbury which time of writing I am too tired to write the metaphor for it!

Thanks for reading!

My Month in the Martial Arts:Engagement!

Well it’s been a long time since my last entry and a lot of things have happened since.
The most important is that I got engaged to Elaine in April. It was one of the most important decisions of my life and the most important thing I have ever done. I am so happy that Elaine said yes as she has really been an inspiration to me since the day we met and I love her very much. It’s a great feeling I cannot describe. Included is a photo of us in the gardens of Warwick castle.

Since my last blog I have not been attending many lessons due to work commitments. In the last month or so I have attended a Steve Powell Eskrima lesson, one regular JKD lesson taken by Rick Lawrie, a seminar with Krishna Godhania, a wrestling class with Barry Scargill and also along with Lun I have been holding Warriors Eskrima lessons for beginners. Although in the last two weeks I have been mainly training for the Great Manchester Run which has consisted of 3 mile runs and treadmill madness.

Steve Powell’s Eskrima Class was great this is going back a few weeks ago, as I have been either travelling down to Glastonbury or had work commitments. There are so many double stick drills and innovative ways that drills are modified it would be difficult to list, but from Steve Powell’s collective experience in weapons, you can guarantee a different approach in all his stick lessons. So why would Lun (more so Lun who has been going almost every week) and I still attend an Eskrima lesson in a different system? Well it’s like this why would someone play five a side football (soccer) week in and week out even though that person knows how to play?...Cause it’s a different experience every time that person goes and it’s the same with Eskrima or any Martial Art. Lun has been going every week and always tells me how great the lessons have been, read here for more!

The JKD Classclass which Rick took (and apologies to Rick if he is reading as this was way back in early March) was awesome as well. Again work commitments took me away from continuing the classes on a weekly basis, however this month I should be able to make several JKD lessons. We basically were smashing pads with reverse punches and variants of. I still got some scars on my knuckles to prove it. I don’t want to sound “hard” or tough with a line like “I still got some scars on my knuckles to prove it” but I genuinely have and it hurt at the time!

In late March Lun and I went to an instructor’s seminar held by Krishna Godhaina. Simon and Paul also went, we were taught some great stuff including knife and focus mitt drills. I caught up with Russell an instructor from Weston Super Mare who Lun and I met at Dan Inosanto’s seminar. The most interesting aspect of the lesson was profiling students that may have knife attacking tendencies (e.g. psychos). This is due to the current spate of knife crime happening in the UK. In the Warriors system it is within the syllabus to teach knife techniques but I am trying to emphasise more on the defences against knife attacks. But more so if we profile the student correctly before he joins the club then they really shouldn’t be a problem however both instructor and student must understand its a massive responsibility if they are taught the knife.

In mid April Lun and I attended a wrestling class, it was tough! Out of the four techniques shown I probably got two as it was also very technical. The instructor Barry was great very tough but when teaching application he was very careful.

We switched our beginner’s Warriors Eskrima classes
from Friday to Thursday. This is so Simon doesn’t have to concentrate too much on teaching and train with Paul, Ray and Barry and also Lun and I when we get the chance. It was also an opportunity to see if Lun and I can teach a class on our own. At first it seemed the wrong move as we were getting an average of one person coming down. But last week there were five people so it is growing somewhat. We go through a lot of the basic warriors stuff and incorporate stuff that we picked up over the years. However this is the beginning of our teaching and we have a long road to travel as I try to symbolise with a picture from Lyme Park below!


Finally Elaine and I saw Danny the Capoeira instructor in town this past Saturday. I promised him once Elaine moves up with me we will attend his class. Please check out his section of the flowdrills website which Steve one of his students has brilliantly amended complete with gallery!

A very eventful month, enjoy the pics and thanks for reading!

A very happy Kit!

My week in Martial Arts:26th Feb to 3rd March

Hi All

This post should really be called "My day in the Martial Arts" as all I managed to do was one day teaching Eskrima along with my brother. We taught the single stick drill called Amarra and some double stick drills. Double stick drills are fun to do especially the heaven six eskrima drill which is a basic co-ordination and striking drill which consists of a right forehand strike,left back hand strike and then then a right backhand strike. However it can be sometimes hard for people to pick up if they are not familiar with using weapons and this applies to any Martial Artists who haven't handle weapons before. I remember Lun and I when we first started we were all over the place. This is because in the early days of Warriors Eskrima we first trained in several double stick drills, eventually we got it but with anything in life it took practice.

It's very interesting how our class operates, ever since several of us became apprentice instructors, we have taken different routes within our training. So if someone see's our class they will see not only Eskrima going on but probaly the more experienced guys training in what they know etc. Therefore it's safe to say that out class has a wealth of different experiences and this also includes the expertise of the students who have also trained in other Martial Artists, so its perfect for a beginner to come in and get different view points.

So why one lesson this week, because I been on call and working funny hours. I am actually enjoying work at the moment, in the last department I was in I don't think I quite fitted in because it was just so damn quiet! But now its fast moving and I feel more alive. In the past I only felt alive after working hours and weekends now its 24/7 (literally because I am on 24 hour callout some weeks) and therefore I feel like kicking ass (cliched and an eye rolling comment for sure, but that's how I feel right now).

Anyway this week I am not on call, so I can train more. I leave you with a picture of my brother Lun and I. As you can see I have my game face on (or serious face) while Lun smiles, maybe I should have mentioned I was trying to do a serious pose photo to Lun in our Warrior Eskrima shirts!

Thanks for reading

Kit

My month in the Martial Arts! Late Jan to Late Feb!

Hello All!

Well since the last time I posted I had only managed two lessons at Steve Powell’s and one Capoeira lesson but also been teaching new students at the Warriors Eskrima lesson.
The reason why it hasn’t taking me so long to post? Well I have been really busy at work, as I am now required to be on 24 hour call out 1 in 3 weeks and have been working odd hours. I am much happier working where I am now then say a year ago, the sacrifice though is that I don’t get to all the lessons I would like to attend or time to write my blog.

Capoeria! Yes I went back to Capoeria last year I left to try and get into BJJ but it didn’t work out, not like I didn’t like it but it was the timing wasn’t great and everything and I was more into the stand up aspect. So when I attended Danny greeted me as I have never left. It was hard to get back into it again but at the same time fun. I am so happy that his class is expanding too. It was at one point at average of one or two students when I first advised him to move to Salford now the classes seem to be between 6 and 10.

Two half jokingly comments, but poignant comments were made by two of my colleagues. The first comment came from one pointing out that I was the only one “keeping it real” in the Martial Arts out of our department, he and another colleague was talking about Martial Arts and how they quit but wanted to start again(one of them has found a club since the chat). I thought about the comment but instantly thought about my brother and all the guys I know who attend all the classes that I go to on a regular basis that I go to who are a similar age and the other colleagues within my workplace who have carried on their Martial Arts, two of them being instructors. I thought it was a nice comment however but I know many more people more worthy of the tag “keeping it real”

Steve Powell demonstrated one more time to me the punching technique he shown as I got something wrong while doing it. There are so many variables to consider when doing the reverse punch at Steve Powell’s JKD, but it was such a great technique if you get it right and can really knock someone back. It was a great class we had in late January full of power strikes which I really enjoyed. I only managed along with Lun to attend one empty hand class since the last post, while Lun had been going down every Saturday to Steve Powell’s weapons class which is great for him. I have been going down to see my girlfriend Elaine or being on call on Saturday’s hence I have not been attending the Saturday class. However I made one rare Saturday last Saturday and we had a great class, my favourite bit of the class was smashing tyres with our sticks, totally awesome. I remember once we did a similar thing in Minnesota at Rick Fayes gym back in 02, although it wasn’t officially a lesson, Lun and I just did a six hit drill on some tyres in the open plan room adjacent to a class that was going on. I remember smashing those tyres but then only realised later that we weren’t meant too as there was a notice above asking people kindly not to hit the tyres while lesson was in progress, doh! The picture above is something I have published before but it’s me smashing the tyres when I wasn’t meant too!

However that Saturday was great we held the tyres up for each other and started hitting them with sticks and it felt great to hit something with the stick. We also did some cool stick locks a great lesson overall.

The Warriors classes have been going great also apart from this past Friday where due to work commitments I couldn’t make it, which leads me the other half jokingly comment that another colleague made but also Lun has said it in the pass. “You are letting work take over your life!” I thought about this comment and probably due to the nature of my work I can’t control it, due to the on call and some funny hours I have worked recently. But I can’t let it compromise my training and have to work round it.

Lun and I have been teaching the beginners that swelled up to 4 last week. It was great to go through the various techniques and always interesting to see how they are progressing. They are enjoying the lessons which are the most important thing for us as well. I would like to point out that our fellow instructor Jonny Cowan is also going well and that his branch is based at the United Estates of Wythenshawe gym in Manchester. Lun has visited several times and thinks it’s a great class with a great atmosphere.

Anyway I leave you with two “posing photos” of Lun and I, after we went through some techniques. I haven’t been taking too many photos of the classes lately due to the fact we are too busy teaching (the theme of today and word has been “busy”) but I am sure I will get time to take some next lesson and will try and post regularly again.

Thanks for reading and get busy training!
Kit

My two weeks in Martial Arts: 08/01/07 to 20/01/07

Hi All

2007 began with a boom literally. January 8th Lun and I went to Steve Powell’s JKD class and we did an awesome drill with Rick Larwie who took the class for the night. This was my first class at Steve Powell’s for a long time and what a class. The theme was aggression and the first drill was basically your training partner would get the pad/kick shield while you have your back towards him or her totally relaxed. Then your training partner will shout out the worse thing he can think of and barge right into you at a pace to piss you off you then turn around and “boom” hit the pad. That set the tone for several drills that we did.

I have said in the past I respect all martial arts and all aspects of it from the sport to the culture to philosophy, but when it comes down to it I do like to train for the aggression, for something that would aid me in the streets. Its not that I constantly talk of “ripping someone’s head off (and some people would hilariously add.. ) and spitting down their throat", but its good to know you have access that kind of training. As an old friend said a while ago.. “I hear some people do Martial Arts do “keep fit” that’s bullshit man, I do it for fighting!!!” Although I practice it to keep fit as well as also do it for situations that may arise. This is why Rick’s lesson was great as it was about applying certain techniques to situations.

On Wednesday Jan 10th I was shown some cool knife stuff. I enjoyed it but my opinion of knife fighting etc because my family and I were subject to a screwdriver attack over 10 years ago which I explained in an earlier post I am still a bit sensitive. All I can say is that I am more interested in the knife defence stuff rather than using the knife.

Friday 12th Jan, I didn’t go to Eskrima as work got in the way, it was a problem at 5 o’clock on a Friday. So I drove around a bit near my old high school and places where my old childhood friends used to live. Ironically I bumped into one of them, Barkery who was featured in a photo with me in an earlier post of us doing karate as kids. He is a great guy and genuine friend (well he was driving behind me trying to flag me down for ages!). He also read this blog so I like to say hello to him.

In the UK there has been a lot of talk about racism and ignorance stemming from a show that I absolutely hate with a vengeance but I thought it was worth having my take on racism. No one will understand racism or properly judge it unless directly experienced by them or knows someone close or a loved one who has experienced it. I scoff at people who haven’t been racially abused who try to tell me what racism is. I know what it is and it’s complicated. Being of Chinese descent I had some great illogical ignorant comments directed at us in the past such as “Go back to your own country!” and “English Chips!” as a bunch of English people(they may have not been) walked past our old Chip Shop. However ignorance is bliss as once a bunch of racist drunks came to our Chip Shop, shouting all kinds of crap, my dad got pissed off broke out the nunchucks and started waving them around in any shape or form possible i.e aimlessly as he really didn’t know how to use them, all the drunks ran off in fear of their lives with my triumphant Dad laughing at their sorry asses! However once a drunk pisshead came in to our Chippy, looking a total nobhead and slamming the door really hard, regular and racial expletive shooting from his mouth…instead of getting what he wanted he was greeted with Lun doing a perfect Nuchucka form in front of his nose and ended with the famous Enter the Dragon poster pose from Bruce Lee…the drunk must have shat his pants. In actual fact he left with a whimper.

Jam 14th we did some weights in the gym and Friday 19th we taught Richard in Eskrima. We now have a target to achieve as grading is coming up soon. It was good to teach again as I said in an earlier post practising the basics over and over again is such good practice not only for the student but for the instructor.
This was further backed up by Karl a Wing Chun Instructor from Glastonbury who I met with in Bath this past Saturday when Elaine and I met up with Elaine’s Sister Louisa and her boyfriend also called Karl (also Martial Artist) in Bath. Karl the Instructor is Louisa’s Sifu and was being helped by Louisa and Karl to find a venue in Bath. Elaine and I met up with them and Sifu Karl(as I will call him to avoid confusion) and I started talking. He was such a great guy and talked about similar stuff that he did in Wing Chun such as empty hand translations etc. He made reference to the Jet Li film Fearless, for those who haven’t seen Fearless, basically Jet Li is a badass cocky instructor who picks fights with people in the first half and then turns into someone who mellows out in the second half. He said the film reminded him of himself when he started out, cocky at first and then humble in later years which was interesting observation. Maybe something I have to watch out for in myself and fellow apprentice instructors.

Anyways enjoy my pics and thanks for reading!

Last one for the year!

My month and a bit in Martial Arts!

Hi everyone sorry I haven’t posted in over a month. So what took me so long? Well my last post was intended to be the last, leaving it with the Dan Inosanto seminar would have been an apt conclusion through my journey in Martial Arts. After all he encompasses all the arts I am doing and pretty much carried on a legacy of training in different Martial Arts by Bruce Lee.

But I thought to myself I can’t just “end” like this, this isn’t a novel or a 2 hour film, it’s my life I am chronicling and it doesn’t just end. So what’s been going on? Well for the last 4 weeks I have been teaching in the Warriors Class, training with Lun, Simon
has also taught us some cool basic Sayoc knife drills.

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
How about the classes I attend I hear you ask? Well it was a matter of saving up for Christmas. I want to restart everything after Christmas but as I am saving up, Lun and I have been training a lot of stuff that we picked up from the years on our own.

If you miss of few Martial Art lessons you become lethargic and stiff and it could take you a while to get back into it. That’s why Lun and I have just been training as if we are in a lesson, making sure that we always get a great work out each time. You know when you had a great work out when you have sweated buckets and you feel great at the end.

We train the techniques we know and then our main bit of training consists of three sets of 20 reps of focus mitt drills before doing some weights at the gym. These are all the drills we picked up over the years mainly from Steve Powell’s JKD and the 20 reps idea came with Rick Faye’s 2002 Wisconsin camp. We have been motivating each other when training and it has worked very well. Do we need to go back to all our lessons after devising our own? The answer is yes to learn more techniques and train with different people. Over the past year I have been picked up great techniques and experiences from Steve Powell, Pangulong Guro Krishna and Karl Tanswell more than enough for Lun and I to train adequately on our own but we also need that class environment to guide us and help us train in something new, such as Simon teaching us the Sayoc Knife techniques which was something new.

TEACHING
Teaching has been great; however we have to balance the teaching and the training. The great thing about teaching beginners is that you are teaching them to have a strong base and therefore it gives you time to try and develop an even stronger base for yourself as it’s something you have to show and show well to the beginner, for E.G a basic guard or basic movement.

GO FOR THE KNEECAPS INIT?
My work place is littered with cool Martial Artists, from Aikido to Western Boxing to Tae Kwon Do and JKD. As it is necessary to sometimes carry out work in one particular room which seats about 6 people where various departments would work, it is easy to overhear conversations. For some reason two guys started talking about fighting, instantly you could tell who had the Martial Arts training and who didn't. I will transcript their conversation under Pepsi Challenge 1 and Pepsi Challenge 2 as a tribute to those Pepsi Challenge adverts(if only product placement existed in blogging!)
Pepsi Challenge 1: “Well you know if it came down to it man, I would go for the kneecaps first in-it?”
Pepsi Challenge 2: “Well you would actually try to find a way out first, if you really were in a situation”
And the winner is....
Pepsi Challenge 2, who was cool guy and talked to me after about JKD afterwards, Pepsi Challenge 1 continues to go for the kneecaps apparently.

GREAT CHRISTMAS
I have had a truly eventful Christmas, I spent two days in Dublin with my girlfriend (sorry for not looking you up John who writes the Running Uphill blog, but there was a lot to see in your cool city and I am sure to visit again soon) spent Christmas Eve with my family and then Christmas day with Elaine and her family, its been a very family orientated nice Christmas.

BUT BEFORE I GO..AN EXPLAINATION FOR THE PICTURE.
The picture is of a shattered Eskrima stick that my fellow eskrimadors blitzed when it was about to fall apart, there is no real symbolism to it, I just thought it looked cool. I wish everyone a great New Year and keep training as I am going to update this blog weekly again and start the New Year in my next post with a crazy picture filled special post!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Kit

My Weekend in Martial Arts: November 11th to November 12th 2006:Guro Dan Inosanto!

“Look Lun, it’s him!” I said to my brother excitedly as we came down for breakfast at a hotel in Edinburgh
“Erm Who?” Lun replied
“Dan Inosanto!!!!”

But before we even get to this part this was the trip that nearly wasn’t. It was most definitely a last moment thing and therefore I did not mention this trip on my previous blog. I also forgot to mention this to the students at the last Warriors Eskrima class but emailed them to tell them Lun and I wasn’t going to be teaching on Friday. There was no ulterior motive for not telling them where we were going, we sincerely didn’t know whether we were going or not due to the recent events regarding our Uncle. However Mum insisted we go in the end (as long as we could get back!).

We almost didn’t make the whole trip because the train in front of our train hit a cow which delayed us for about 2 hours to add to this surreal scenario a man in a chicken suit was walking up and down telling jokes (all for a good cause plus keeping the passengers amused while stuck on the train).

The surreal theme continued into the next day as we saw Guro Dan Inosanto getting some breakfast from the self service area of the hotel restaurant in which we were also staying in. I did joke with Lun the night before “Maybe he is staying the same hotel as us” and it turned out he did. He was sat with Rick Young who was the host and a man who turned out to be Guro Dan’s assistant called Joel Hart. We didn’t really want to disturb them eating their breakfast as we thought it might be rude to interrupt.

Eric his wife Amanda, Chris and Sahid all from Steve Powell’s JKD class picked us up from the hotel. As we were made our way to Leith Academy we saw Guro Dan, Rick and Joel get into a car, our first thought was to “FOLLOW THAT CAR” but decided against it because we had a Satellite Navigation in the car anyway and would have looked very suspicious.

AT THE SEMINAR

Lun and I approached Guro Inosanto as he was looking at his notes and when to say hello. He was extremely warm and friendly and thanked us for coming. He taught some cool stuff stick and dagger, stick, empty hand, I can’t really go into everything because there were a lot of drills. The thing that I also loved was listening to the history of the Philippines. The stories of how his father brought all the feuding Filipino Californian communities together which led to Dan Inosanto by so many different Eskrima instructors. The way Filipino’s were unjustly called “Warlike and Barbarian” by invaders just because they defended their country was also explained to us. I find all the history fascinating about Filipino Martial Arts, I could just sit in a seminar with Guro Dan just talking about the history and then one seminar just training. I love hearing history from a view point from somebody that experienced things first hand rather than the propaganda history that we are sometimes misled to believe. During the break we spotted someone with a Warriors Eskrima T Shirt on. His name was Russell and was an instructor from Weston Super Mare in Somerset, ironically near my girlfriend Elaine. It was cool to talk to him and he had nothing but good things to say about Krishna Godhania. We also recognised a few other Martial Artists attending.

Later that night Lun and I went with Steve Powell’s entire group to have a dinner. I go on record and say that Eric and Chris are two of the first English guys I have ever went to a restaurant with who knew what they are ordering (Roast Duck and Char Siu with rice) taught to them by Steve Powell himself of course. We spent the evening discussing the seminar and having good food at this restaurant in Edinburgh called the Great Wall.


DAY 2

Speed, the speed of Guro Dan Inosanto at 70 is phenomenal. The day before Guro Dan showing us a move that started off with a sweep and quickly into an arm bar. My jaw just dropped, if he is this fast at 70 he must have been more phenomenal at my age I thought to myself. Joel Clark was his tall teaching assistant who was very friendly and helped us out a lot. I noticed him Joel doing Capoiera moves as well during the breaks and we had a short discussion about that art. Joel is pictured below.


Again Guro Inosanto talked about the history and also showed us some awesome silat moves. The underlying theme of the whole seminar was finding what was best for the individual. It’s not the style that defines the use; it’s up to the individual. There are so many other things that happened at the seminar that Dan explained or shown, my only regret is not gathering our fellow instructors from my Warriors Class to go but like Guro Dan said “Its up to the individual to see what fits best for themselves…”

Special thanks to Eric and Amanda for giving Lun and I, a lift back to Manchester. I also like extend my thanks to my parents, Steve Powell who introduced us to JKD, Krishna Godhaina whose Warriors method kept our interest up in weapons and Lun who made it all possible. Below is a group picture with Guro Dan Inosanto

This weekend was a tremendous honour to meet Guro Dan Inosanto, one of my Martial Art dreams comes true.

Thanks for reading
Kit

My Week(end) In Martial Arts: Dan Inosanto!

Hi All
I am posting this from a hotel in Edinburgh! Lun and I finally made it to the Dan Inosanto seminar! This is day one of a two day seminar and so far its been interesting,such as we are staying at the same hotel as Guro Dan Inosanto,learnt a lot of Filipino history and their knife fighting culture,seen several well known Martial Artist's from all over England, a Warriors Eskrima instructor called Russell and most of all learning some great stuff. Shall post a more detailed updatate soon!
Keep Training!
Kit

My Week and a half in Martial Arts: 19/10/06 to 07/11/06

“Wow I just did it like it was natural” Richard said after blocking an Eskrima strike. Richard has been coming down to our Warriors Eskrima consistently for the last four weeks. Yeah that’s what you call subconscious competence I thought to myself. A term quite new to Lun and I, although this concept was what I called it 2nd nature or natural instinct in the past. Hang on, before I launch into another posting I must apologise for not updating in a while, I have been busy at work, Elaine came up for a week and I slowly getting my Martial Arts back together. Lessons? The past 3 weeks we only trained in one lesson as Lun and I have mainly been teaching the Eskrima class.

Friday October 20th we had an Eskrima lesson where I taught the double heaven six to the new guys Richard (who I mistakenly called Steve the previous week) and George. These guys were complete beginners in Eskrima (whilst our other beginners have a basic grasp on techniques as they have done Martial Arts), while Lun was teaching the more experienced beginners William and Stephen.

It was a challenge to teach complete novices. Everything is taken into consideration; co-ordination is the biggest factor dealing with weapon training. This involves footwork and getting the form right. There is a little trick I do to make sure the guy is striking properly with the stick which is just standing in front of them and using my body as a template for the strikes. I found this has helped the students (well 3 of them so far) but it’s difficult some times as I put myself in their shoes four years ago when I started in Eskrima, I can totally emphasise with them and I like to pass on little tricks I picked up so they can pick the skills easier. For people who have trained in a Martial Art previously I tend to teach them more stuff as they should be able to pick up stuff more easily. I also tell them the stories behind some of the moves and how it looks when it is applied, so they get a better idea.

I went to Glastonbury on Saturday 21st to see Elaine. On Sunday on the way to Bath to meet Elaine’s sister and her sister’s boyfriend Louisa and Carl who practice Wing Chun and Five Animal Kung Fu respectively, we stopped by Clifton suspension bridge in Bristol. I would say being a new instructor is like being a newly constructed bridge, bridges take a long time to construct and once it is built, it is ready for people to cross over to the other side; however people need to have confidence to cross the bridge first. Finally after being tried and tested many people can use the bridge to help them get across. That’s my analogy of it anyway and being of Chinese descent I have a right to be philosophical!..:)

On the 28th October I took my Mum to Birmingham and drove Elaine back to Glastonbury. I have done almost 20,000 miles in my car and I have only had it since December last year, in my last vehicle it took my five years to get to 31,000 miles!
On the way we went to Gloucester Cathedral as pictured and then Montacute House which reminded me of Wayne Manor from the Batman comics and films.


Friday 26th October we taught William and Richard some stick and empty hand stuff. One of the moves was a various jolt to the throat to rock the head back before finishing off an attacker/assailant with a few jab crosses to the throat William made an interesting point upon being shown this move “End up in jail, no?”. I told him that: “Well you don’t have to jab cross the throat in reality you can just jolt the throat and run, but he did have a valid point regarding the attack” In fact I think William is one of the most cautious people I have trained with and that’s a good thing. In fact all three of our beginners seem to understand that they can be taught something and not to maim or hurt someone with certain things they are taught. However as Krishna Godhania once told us we always have to train for the worst case scenario.

Thursday November 2nd Lun and I went to Steve Powell’s JKD class. Greg took the class and it was great to see Chris and LGM Chris there too. Greg is just an awesome teacher and as written earlier the stuff about subconscious competence is something that he told the class. Basically there are four stages, subconscious incompetence (you think you know it but your crap), conscious incompetence (you know you are crap but you are trying to fix it), conscious competence (you got the skills but need to think about it first) and subconscious competence (you are so good it becomes second nature). This concept or matrix is also used in business models but it’s a very interesting matrix to apply to Martial Arts.

Friday 3rd November Lun and I went through some basic drills with William, Stephen and Richard. As William and Stephen has had more lessons than Richard, I taught Richard some basics on his own and then finished with some focus mitt work.

Sunday 5th November: My Mum, Lun and I drive down to Birmingham to visit our Uncle who was recently diagnosed with Cancer. He was all smiles and showing a lot of vitality but my Mum always said that he is the kind of man who doesn’t want anyone to worry. It was there and then I decide that I am most definitely going to run for charity again next year, I am running for him and everyone of my family and friends who have somehow been effected by Cancer.

Monday 16th I went to the gym with Lun did weights. We then did some focus mitt sessions just doing 3 of 3 sets of 20 reps of various punching drills. It was a good and necessary work out.


Tuesday 7th November: I ran in the morning just once round the block…the running training has begun again.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures.

Kit