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