My week in Martial Arts: May 22nd till May 26th

Hi All

After the run on Sunday I decided to take it easy as this week has been just capoeira and eskrima. We are hoping to return to both Steve Powell’s JKD Class and Karl Tanswell next week. Again for those who did not catch my last post about the great Manchester run please click here to read it.

Capoeira was great; I am now using the old Capoeira trickery against people whilst playing the game. For example stopping and distracting them to look somewhere else. My legs were still sore from the running but Capoeira actually loosened them up.

Lun and I planned to go to Steve’s and Karl’s on Wednesday but we decided to go to the gym and going through a few things we were going to teach on Fridays.

We decided to go through together what we need to do rather than randomly teach and take control of the class more. As there is an average of 2 people are classes are informal and we allow them to ask loads of different questions to get their input and we also partner the respective students.

However we are changing the way we teach so if there was say 4 or more people it will be more structured. We envisioned it to be more structured and have the students learn what they were doing rather than pausing and asking a question every 2 minutes.

The class obviously is still Warriors Eskrima. But we will be drilling them about keeping things moving/alive and making sure that the person blocking does not still after a block or disarms. For example if an attacker attacks you with a weapon after blocking the defender should counter attack and not just stand there. Even though the basic blocking and disarming just requires blocking and disarming.

I also want to do a jab/cross as much as possible at the end of the empty hand drills or kicking drills. Like a retreating punch combination just in case you miss first time or there are 2 attackers and one decides to rush you after you kicked his mate away. Sometimes it’s hard to drill scenarios like this but as I said in my weekly update I think it’s important to try and progress in an Art and make it adapt to our environments.


Friday came, it was Warriors Eskrima time, Gary attended and William came back. We had a great lesson. First of all Simon taught us some traditional Warriors stuff and we did some stick drills. We then split the class and Lun and I taught William and Gary. It was great Lun taught them the first four amara strikes. Amara are a series of strikes with sticks that helps with co-ordination and line familiarisation. Instead of doing it a few times in a stationary position, Lun had a formula that required the guys to do the amara normally and then in a lunge position.

We then taught them disarms but told them to throw in strikes after disarming their opponent. We linked this with amara as we told them to throw in amara strikes after disarming. We then went through some stick and dagger drills and then we went through the heaven six. Both guys did very well.


Finally we did one in the middle continuous disarms and did some stick sparring. A very enjoyable class indeed and the first class that I think really worked as Lun and I as teachers (with more than one student). I think Gary will be ready for his grading soon. But the main thing was that our game plan for making the class more structured paid off. We also hope to get down to Krishna Godhania as well to get additional skills and teaching tips.


Anyway thanks to the comments of LGM and
Chris , who is definitely doing a demo at the Holmes Place in Didsbury, Manchester on Sunday Morning. He was ill last week so he couldn’t do it. Also special shout out to my mate Colin Wong who is doing a charity skydive in aid of speed of sight this Bank Holiday Monday. Good Luck Colin



Thanks for reading and enjoy the pictures!

Great Manchester Run!

Awesome

All I can say that the Great Manchester Run was an awesome experience. Manchester is an excellent city full of great buildings and architecture. But Sunday May 21st Manchester showed that it is also full of great people.



It was raining race day. Gareth, Andy Timmins and I were wet and cold while waiting to run. We were in the pink wave which was the last wave to go at 11.15AM. In the mass huddle we noticed many people in fancy dress or crazy costumes. Once we got moving there was a huge cheer! However as we began running to the sounds of Nessun Dorma sang by an opera singer who was there especially it was just actually the 11AM wave leaving and our wave were just us moving up.DOH! Now!I really wanted to run now! At around 11.20AM we finally got running! At first Timmins, Gareth and I were running together but we soon split up I looked behind to see Gareth behind me and slowed down and asked him if he was alright he just told me to go ahead. So I proceeded to try and catch Timmins which was impossible as I couldn’t spot him in the sea of running vests and t-shirts.

I expected myself to stop and walk after the first 10 minutes but I carried on and only stopped to check my race chip was still strapped to my ankle. We were all giving these special chips that timed your run. The inspiration of the run was the thousands of runners running with me.

And so I ran....

The t-shirts that the other runners were wearing were all uplifting and kept me going. Several times I smiled because I felt lifted and inspired by the dedications on some T-Shirts dedicating to members of their family, some even had photo dedications printed on their t-shirts. I was running among like minded people doing it for a good cause, not for just one good cause but multiple charities. From every walk of life I saw people do their bit for their charity. Gareth, Timmins and I were running for the Marie Curie Cancer Care .

I always wanted to this too, drink a bottle of water that was handed out to me and chuck it on the pavement as I ran. Not like I would do that everyday (I always chuck my rubbish in the bin) but I always thought it was cool that runners always did it. Yup I chucked my bottle of water as I ran trying to catch my breath at the same time.

Once I hit about 8km I phoned (yes I kept my phone in my pocket!!!) Lun to see where he was he told me himself, Mum and Sister in Law were waiting for me under the bridge near the finish line. That was about a km and a half as I got there I slowed down to look for them but could not see them. Suddenly I saw the finish line so I just sprinted towards it doing a pretty decent impression of Road Runner (as in going really fast but not adding the “beep!beep!”). Unfortunately as I was told later, it was at this time, when my family were calling my name but I didn’t hear them!

We took some photos later after the race. I was a combination of sweat and rain as was Timmins and Gareth who both did tremendously well in the run. Timmins got 49 minutes! Gareth got 1hour 9minutes(which was awesome considering he only recently quit smoking) and I got 1 hour 2 minutes which I was pleasantly surprised at because I didn’t expect I would get back that quickly( I aimed for 1 hour 20/30 minutes!).

However Sunday 21st May it was the spirit of Manchester that stole the show. I feel great for everyone collectively who participated even though I didn’t know anyone else outside our group apart from one, our friend from University called Tricia Campbell who also ran but I didn’t see her (well done to you too!). Big thanks to my Mum(pictures with a very out of breath me), Lun and Susan for being there! Also big thanks to Dad came out for a meal later and big thanks to Elaine who gave me a good luck card the day before the event. (It worked:))
Check out Lun's blog for more photos and a different report.

I would like to thank everyone that donated online and offline.

Am I doing it again next year? DAMN RIGHT I AM!

Enjoy the great Manchester run photos(ok it was after the run but check out my brother's blog for the action photo's!)

Thank you Manchester
Awesome
Kit

My week in Martial Arts:May 15th till May 19th

This week I been training for my run, on the Sunday I ran a good 6.4 miles well walked some of the way back as it was a round trip to Manchester city centre and back to my house? All those years when I used to take a bus to my old college when I could have walked! I then did some light eskrima drills with Lun.

Monday, Lun and I went to the gym and did a heavy set of weights and went through some Eskrima stuff.


I couldn't really do any high impact stuff this week, so the only MA I went to was Capoeira. It was mostly hand stands and cartwheels so it was fun but I couldn't go full pelt when playing the game in fear of causing an injury to myself. Danny also told me of a future stage show that feature a load of contemporary dance and capoeira, I volunteered to be assistant capoeira choreographer (basically being the demo boy) But it would be a dream come true to choreograph a fight in a show or movie.

As that’s my other big passion, the latest craze in movies seems to be Keysi fighting method, as seen in Mission Impossible 3 and as seen or unseen(as the fight editing was silly) in the otherwise excellent Batman Begins. What do I think of Keysi? I really don't know as I have not practiced it and only seen snippets of it but its not overly exciting to watch on film (upward elbows, elbows and even more elbows so far) give me proper film martial arts (cool to watch even though it may not work) instead and leave the realistic stuff for us to practice outside! Plus I prefer a Thai elbow on film those are cool to watch. So I was not slating Keysi there I was just voicing an opinion of how it looks and portrayed so far on film.

Keysi is a relatively new Martial Art, which leads me to my next point..Tradition vs Evolution.
I am lucky to have trained in both traditional and modern martial arts

I know traditional Martial Artists who probably think the evolutionary side from what they read(as in stuff like MMA, JKD etc) doesn't embody what Martial Arts was all about. Check what I just said in my last sentence "WAS all about". We were once taught to do a crazy high kick in a TKD class to "kick someone off a horse". This was because Korean soldiers were once taught to this in ancient wars. When was the last time you went into the city centre and saw a group of hood rats or an unruly gang ride around on horses? In my opinion Martial Artists should always look to evolve themselves and learn new things and relate this with today’s environment, for we are not soldiers fighting an ancient war.

But before you say “Kit doesn’t respect the traditional arts” think again as I think they are great! Traditional arts formed the basis of the modern martial arts and were formed out of fighting necessity and many fighting arts are part of one country’s culture.

So what am I talking about, first I criticise a traditional art and then I praise it. That’s because I am an open minded person enjoys both sides and not prejudice against any of them. I can see what works and doesn’t work so I have arts to practice what works in self defence ( Eskrima,Steve Powell’s JKD Class and MMA) and arts that are more geared for cardio vascular stuff (Capoeira). I am criticising people who criticise Martial Arts that they have not actually tried, hence my reasoning for not criticising Keysi.

Sorry huge diversion!
Wednesday I did a quick run at the gym and then went to see my mate Gareth and taught him really basic punching drills to get him ready for the run. It was interesting to teach Gareth as he was very much a beginner although he did have a few lessons at Steve Powell’s JKD Class. He also saw a quick demo of my Eskrima and now thinks I am some kind of trained assassin. His girlfriend Gemma and himself said they would be interested in one day coming to our class.

Friday was Warriors Eskrima day. Lun and I taught again, Gaz was back after a 2 week hiatus. The guy was working late the last couple of Fridays therefore couldn’t make it. However he hasn’t lost it, he practiced at home with amazingly no sticks just the movements with his hands and got a perfect double stick heaven six drill going. I taught him the 2nd half of the drill. I then did some syllabus stuff with him. Lun was teaching a new guy called William who was really experienced in different Martial Arts. Lun taught him some strikes and locks. We then did some higher level stick and dagger drills which they both seem to enjoy.

Anyway my run is around the corner. Other than that be sure to make Chris’s demo at Holmes Place Disbury if you live in the Manchester as you will see both Chris and LGM.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics




Kit

Quick Update

A quick update
Hi everyone I though I do a quick update of things that have happened this week, will write up my week on Friday.I have been practicing for my run on Sunday mostly this week. I like to thank all those who have donated online and offline. I have had an awesome response. You can still donate as it's all going to Marie Curie Cancer Care.

Check Lun's blog who just tell's readers to be happy ,check it out!

Chris Sibbald who regularly comments on my blog, has a Demo to promote new Martial Arts Class coming up on Saturday at Holmes Palace Disbury for those in the Manchester area. He is graded at instructor level in Steve Powell's JKD and is a damn good Martial Artist. Unfortunatley I won't be able to make it but I wish Chris the best of luck. LGM Chris will be his demo partner check his blog too, very philosphical.

I cam across this awesome blog called Manchizzle which has a positive review.
This blog is about Manchester but written by an American freelance writer living over here. If you wondered what Manchester UK is like and want to read a bunch of other Manchester based blogs Manchizzle isn't a bad place to start!

Anyway I shall leave you with a number stick disarm picture showcase!
Thanks for reading!
Kit

My week in Martial Arts:May 8th till May 12th

Hi All

Another great week of exercise and martial arts. My initial plan of getting up early on Monday for a run was thwarted as I was feeling very lethargic. Add to the ingredients that I had a full day of Monday work ahead of me and then you get one Extra Lethargic Kit. However when I went to the gym with Lun I decided to run round the Salford campus before we hit the weights. It was a good session and we also went through a load of stuff that we plan to teach on Friday.

Tuesday I got up in time for a morning run. I went round the block twice at a moderate pace. Later I did Capoeira, I wanted to play the game but the class ran over so we didn't get the opportunity too. Great class though.

Wednesday I did a run but not in the morning, I plan to alternate my morning runs, this time I went round Salford Campus in the afternoon twice a good solid 25 minute run. Why just 25 minutes? Because I wanted to get to Straight Blast Gym class. Take one hot day, add a 25 minute run and then throw in one hour of Straight Blast stand up fighting training and you have one sweaty Kit Lok (Ok I will stop the cooking references now). The SBG training was cool we practiced single leg to double leg take downs. A lot of the lads here were at Seni and I was talking to one of them about the event.

Thursday my brother and I went to Steve Powell’s JKD Class. It was a cool class we learnt a load of filipino destruction techniques and did a lot of focus mitt work. We saw Chris and LGM and Paul B( the new guy in our class). Steve Powell spoke a load of Cantonese to Lun like "I like nice weather" and said in Cantonese “where are you going?" and then he answered in Cantonese "I am going out to the cinema!". Those were the tame words of course, all the rest were funny rude ones (which are the most fun words to learn in all languages)

Friday we went Warriors Eskrima.We did some cool Sayoc stuff with the knife this was an actually more of a preview of the stuff Simon, Paul H and Ray picked up from the Krishna Godhania seminars, if I wanted to learn more I will have to go to the Sayoc classes Krishna Godhaniaholds but it was cool nonetheless. We taught Paul B some of the Warriors Eskrima syllabus stuff. It was a good lesson as well I teaching we also learnt some new things but I guess teaching is a learning experience within itself.

Hopefully some of the original beginners will return and we will build up the beginner class, its actually ideal as if it is my brother and I teaching the beginners than if we have some on a higher skill level we can easily split the class.







Anyway going for a run in the morning to train for the run. Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading.
Kit

Seni 06

Seni 06

“Go on Timmins!” I shouted as he competed against his opponent in the Seni 06 Light weight competition. He put on a tremendous fight but ultimately lost.

That was the start of Seni 06. I must admit I didn’t enjoy it overall as much as the first time, but my brother and Paul Ratcliffe met and saw several big celebrities from the World of martial arts and got our photos taken with some of them.

But what I didn’t enjoy about it was the fact that my brother and I were late for the Krishna Godhania seminar and we couldn’t find where to register or sign up to do the seminar (doh!) but we said hello to Krishna Godhania and walked around instead. However it was cool my instructor Simon and Paul Hinds got in and it was good to see the 2 Jimmy's,a father and son combination of Martial Artists who train under Rob Campion in Warriors Eskrima.

Seni 06 seemed to be much smaller than last year. Up to now the highlight was seeing my mate Andrew Timmins in the BJJ tournament. I bought some new Eskrima sticks and shared the costs of some training DVD’s with my brother. We also got some new stick bags so we carried them around on our shoulders (not to look hard..honest). We walked past John Saxon of Enter the Dragon fame. Yes the guy who played Roper. He was signing autographs with a promotion called Red Lizard. Everyone on that stand was wearing bad guy Enter the dragon uniforms and even one dressed up like O’Hara (the guy Bruce Lee annihilates for killing his sister in the film). We didn’t ask John Saxon for an autograph however.

As we brushed or walked past a celebrity we thought we wouldn’t see another. But then as we walked past the Cage Rage stall, a little old man in a blue jacket and a walkie talkie was asking everyone to make way. The thoughts “What was his problem” and “Hey??” went through my mind then I saw an entourage and right in the middle was a big brute of a man with a Mohawk and a goatee. It was UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Chuck Liddell! Man he was huge, like a hybrid wolf man (I meant that in a nice way) and it would have been cool to get his autograph as I am a big fan, however the line of the queue stretched almost half the arena so we did the next best thing.

Dana White was also there and I recognised him from the Ultimate Fighter. He is the president of the UFC and he was very friendly and posed for photos with people. In fact so many people got his photo I think he should charge next year. But joking aside he was a great guy and said he appreciated I watched his show. Lun introduced himself and also got his picture with as did Paul. Hmm does Lun want to fight in the UFC for introducing himself???

We walked around again and I must admit I didn’t search for the things I wanted to for some reason maybe I was tired from the driving.
However as we walked past the Combat Magazine stand, Lau Gar Fei or Gordon Lau/Liu from Kill Bill 1 and 2 and 36th Chamber of Shaolin was sat on some comfy seats signing autographs and getting photos with fans taken! Holy Crap!!!!! Return to the 36th Chamber was one of my favourites and this guy also stared in such cool films as Shaolin vs. Ninja, Legendary Weapons of China(when Kung fu films were Kung Fu films) and Tiger on the Beat. We got his photo taken with us and he signed our free copies of combat (Lun asked him to sign his copy in Chinese) it was really cool!!!


Walking around and totally star struck we then bumped into yet ANOTHER celebrity in Danny John Jules. Cat from Red Dwarf and was also in Blade 2. He was at his own stand with a few others promoting and independent Martial Arts film: Sucker Punch. As I just seen Gordon Liu there was no way I was going to be fazed by Danny John Jules, so I asked for his autographs and engaged in conversation with him. Well he began with me, as Lun was taking my photo with him he spotted Lun’s stick bag on the shoulder and he asked “What’s in the bag? what’s in the bag!” I explained to them they were sticks and he said that it must be dangerous for the hands. So I showed him my knuckles to which he replied “ooh!” and then I asked him if he did Martial Arts and he said “Yeah I did a bit for this film” and turned after a second he said “Wu Shu” I replied: “ahh Wu Shu”. Paul asked if a Red Dwarf movie was coming out anytime soon “Nah they keep pulling my plonkers on that one!” was the somewhat funny reply!

Anyway enjoy the pictures, my only regret is that we came home late on the way home so I missed my mate Paul Hinds’ birthday night out and by the time I got home I was knackered but I hope you had a good one Paul.

Seni 06 great exhibition but I not as good as the first time however the highlight was definitely Gordon Liu. Check out Lun's blog for some different pictures and perspective!
Thanks
Kit

My week in Martial Arts:May 1st till May 5th

Hey All!

No, I didn’t train in the mountains of China, but the scenery shown in the picture is the cheddar gorge a beautiful place in Somerset England. I was there Sunday and Bank Holiday Monday visiting my girlfriend Elaine. So did I take a break from training? well yes and no, we walked up the famous Glastonbury Tor and Jacob’s ladder in Cheddar which are two great walks. So I did inadvertently get some exercise. Although in almost every city in the UK you are guaranteed the generic stores and places such as Starbucks, McDonalds, Pizza Huts etc thus making every city virtually the same, Glastonbury was different. Leisurely walks, beautiful scenery this is the kind of jolly old England I have not seen much of growing up in a city. I had a really great time there with Elaine it was a great weekend!

Tuesday back to the training, I was at Capoeria and it was great! What started off as a humble little class of 2 to 3 people has now grown to around 12 to 13. We practiced kicks into cartwheels and lots and lots of kicks. We all played the game first slowly then quickly it was awesome to see Chris and LGM Chris from Steve Powell’s JKD there. As they treat it as an extended warm up to JKD. That’s not an insult by the way; it is because our style of Capoeira is very non contact therefore I think it’s a good martial art to compliment more physical ones.

Thursday I went for a run and did some knife stuff with my Eskrima instructor Simon. The stuff was cool as we learnt some strikes and disarms.

Friday was Warriors day. It was cool although Lun could not make it as he just got home from working in Belfast. But then again I only had one beginner (well not a beginner in Martial Arts) Paul who trained really well today. We did all the basic strikes, numerous stick drills, knife drills. Baz from the old days (as in when Warriors Eskrima was still being taught by Bob Melia ) was there and is an exceptional boxer and wrestler. He showed Ray and Paul Hinds some wrestling techniques as pictured demonstrating on Simon. A fellow level 6 guy Mike was also there and because I didn’t train with him and was too busy teaching the beginner Paul, I forgot he was actually there and questioned why he wasn’t there in the car park later!...I think I need more sleep!

Ok today I am keeping my weekly report short as I am going to the NEC Arena tomorrow for Seni 06. My friend Andrew Timmins is competing for Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym and I am going to be attending Pangulong Guro’s Krishna Godhania seminar while I am there and buying loads of stuff. It’s going to be awesome and yes I will do a write up with photos! (to make up for the lack of photos in this blog!)

Kit