My week in Martial Arts: April 22nd till April 29th

Ouch
Hi all my week started Saturday, I went to Chosin Kai Karate at Steve Powells Chinatown Martial Arts Academy. We basically did a lot of punching and pad work and it was a great. I really love the reverse punch but there is so much to it, I know a punch is a punch but the mechanics to really get the power is very important.

So much so I was really trying hard to get it right but punching the pad really hard has nothing to do with it as you need your bodyweight behind the power and get the WHOLE technique. Due to the crazy intensity of the punching the skin surrounding three of my knuckles began peeling off. I thought nothing of them at the time.

Sunday

I trained for my run to train for the Great Manchester Run. My good friend Andy Timmins ran with me, as well as running we discussed Martial Arts. We ran in this park called Brookdale in Manchester. We did 0.75 miles circuit about 5 times or so. We also attempted to do the 1 mile circuit but the explanation on the map led us to a track that suddenly disappeared onto a football field so we ran the 0.75 mile circuit some more. It was a good run work out. The skin on my knuckles was now flesh red.

Monday

On this morning when I went to work I noticed my knuckles were scarred. Ouch! I tried to hide them at work somehow but that was pretty hard working on PC’s. I explained to people I was punching a pad. “A pad?” was the usual reply. My response was “Yes”. It’s very interesting that there is such a large pool of Martial Artists at my work place we have one Aikido instructor, a TKD instructor and several TKD guys under him. Would I want to start a work Eskrima class? No not at the moment, my brother and I teach beginners in the Warriors Eskrima Salford branch under Simon Campion and if people are interested they can come to that one. Plus I like to separate my outside activities from my work activities. Later I went to the gym with Lun for a big heavy workout in the gym. Lun decided I should rest my hands (as in punching) and I agreed.

Tuesday

I went to Capoeira, it was extra cool as Chris and LGM Chris also attended and did quite well in their first lesson. (well LGM Chris did a bit before in the past). It’s great that the class has expanded from three regulars to around ten or eleven. Ken was also there and a one or two others who had Capoeira experience else where made it a great varied class.



Wednesday

I punched the pad to test my crazy scared knuckles “Oww” was my reply. Yup my fist was badly stinging so I had to give Steve Powell’s JKD class and Karl Tanswell’s a miss.
So my brother and I went to the gym and went through what we were going to teach on Friday and I did some running.

Thursday rest day,

Friday Warriors Eskrima day.

This time I took the warm up bit and my brother and I taught the beginners. We had a new guy called Paul who trains at Steve’s. It was cool he came as was enthusiastic to learn something different and it was cool he knew variations on things we were doing in class and he had a powerful jab (naturally being from Steve’s).

Gaz was there too and made good progress I partnered him so I could drill the siniwali/heaven six drills with him. There are 8 different combinations in this drill. Last week I taught him the first, today I taught him 3 more, which means he is picking up the art very quickly. Next week I am confident he will get the next 4 to complete the next 8 variations. We also got the guys doing the double handed kob-kob drills and some light stick sparring. John, Ray and Paul were also there. Simon taught me some advanced knife which was cool.

Teaching is fun, the coolest thing is seeing the improvement of people(I know I only been teaching 2 weeks and Gaz has had a few lessons prior) but knowing that you are teaching and seeing how well a student is listening and picking it up (which is totally due to the student’s dedication) is a great feeling.

Anyway thanks for reading and keep training!
Kit!

My week in Martial Arts: April 17th till April 21st

Friday 21st April: Lun and I are waiting patiently in the refreshments room of the Salford university gym along with our senior instructor Simon and fellow instructor Paul (pictured in a goofy action pose further down this post) and regular Ray. We had to wait there as the squash court we booked for our regular slot was double booked. Today was a different Warriors Eskrima lesson as my brother and I were going to teach the beginners. Only one problem no beginners seem to be coming through that door! We were all veterans!

As we were almost giving up hope a beginner called Gaz walks through the door! Whoohoo let the first Lok brother’s lesson begin…………..

But before I get to that I like to say what a great week I had on my return to Martial Arts.
Monday:
It was bank holiday here in the UK…so I didn’t do any training, but I watched some Krishna Godhania DVD’s for reference in regards to teaching on Friday,

Tuesday:
Capoeira. What can I say? Awesome! 8 people in the class and always growing. It marked the return of Ken Pudsey who is a capoeira veteran. It was awesome as we did some cartwheel kicking combos and several other kicking sequences. Everyone did really well which shows how well Danny Henry can teach.

Wednesday:
Straight Blast Gym and Steve Powell’s JKD Class
Lun and I went to the Stand Up fighting class. It was a brilliant workout. Karl Tanswell explained the aliveness training that we were doing as there were a lot of new beginners. My good friend Andy Timmins was there too.
Later on that night….

“There are a lot of beginners tonight so keeping it a bit basic tonight…” Steve explained to Lun and I. Yes it was packed over 20 people there, but it was still a great work out and it’s great to do focus mitt drills we haven't done in a while. Simon and Paul from Eskrima were there, as was Chris and LGM. Some the focus mitt drills are derived or based on panuntukan (Filipino boxing) drills. A great lesson and workout! Had some great talks with Chris over the MSN Messenger as well this week.


Thursday
I went to the gym, did some weights and ran on the treadmill. The run is looming now and I need to practice.


Friday
Lun did the warm up’s in the beginning. Simon than asked me to teach Gaz while the others went to drill over advanced stuff. So begins a new journey for me. The way I always wanted to teach beginners is instantly concentrate on the footwork and posture. Without a strong base or foundation a building will fall.

So I trained Gaz to have a good front stance position first and asked him to throw a jab and a cross. I talked to him about the mechanics of the jab and cross and the importance of retracting your hands back to a guard position protecting your face straight after the punch. Again we did this on the focus mitts, I asked him to find his form by doing 5 slow ones and then 10 power ones. After that we practiced the push forward and push backward steps, and incorporated boxing drills into this footwork. I then practiced focus y dagger drills with him this involved him punching the focus mitt and retracting back to guard before I can catch him with my training knife. After that I taught him the hook after the jab and cross. So we covered his basic punching quite extensively.

We then switched to sticks and I taught him the heaven six drill. Basically the heaven six is a series of double stick strikes performed six times (but there are six variants). Gaz picked it up very quickly. In fact his enthusiasm was great and helped ease my nerves of first time teaching. We then did stick disarms and then Lun went through some more pad work with Gaz. Lun’s drills were quite innovative.

I did a stick spar with Simon. The sparring was good as we did it slowly and crashing in when there was an opening. Afterwards I gave Gaz a list of things we covered in class, so he could take it home and practice. If we get 5-6 people with the same approach mindset like Gaz has, then it would be much easier and enjoyable to teach. When everyone was gone Lun went through the advanced stuff with me.

A great week!
Anyway thanks for reading and enjoy the pics.

Kit

Thanks Part 3: Family and Friends

This entry thanks is devoted to family and friends (who trained with or alongside me). Please read part 1 and 2 if you haven’t already.

Family
My parents
They have always supported me in everything I do. I love my parents and cannot thank them enough.

Lun
My brother is one of my biggest influences not only in Martial Arts but in life. Always there for me and encouraged me to keep on going when I wanted to give up. Lun is the best big brother anyone could have. He has practiced many arts over the years and a true inspiration, always pushing me to train more when I didn’t feel like it. I am very lucky to have a brother like Lun.

Sue
My sis in law because without her understanding and love for Lun then maybe we wouldn't train as much!

Friends (Martial Arts). These are friends that have trained with or alongside me and are in order of knowing them.

Paul Hinds
Paul is simply crazy (and he knows I call him this) but I admire that fact that he has always maintained an interest in Martial Arts since our college days.

Andrew Timmins
From the re-start he was there,introducing me to Capoeira, being part of the Warriors Eskrima group, went to JKD and finally settled at Karl Tanswell’s. Still keep in touch today which is cool

Paul Ratcliffe
Again someone there at my martial art re-start did capoeira for a while. Very good person and always interested in the martial artists and hope to see him back soon in the marital arts arena. Another I still keep in touch with.

Ken Pudsey
Capoeira player but very interesting of Martial Arts.

Chris Chris is an accomplished Martial Artist at such a young age. He trains in multiple arts but primarily a JKD man and qualified JKD instructor. His comments are one of the main reasons why this blog keeps going and has a great blog of his own.

LGM
Another great JKD Man. I have benefited from his posts. LGM Chris also has a great blog and I have been inspired by some of his posts on his blog as some entries are very philosophical. Again his comments help the blog going.

Warriors Eskrima

Johnny Cowan
Inspirational Eskrimidor. One of the first level 6 instructors to be graded after Rob and Simon in Manchester.
I also like to give thanks to
Mike, Ray, John, Kinder and everyone currently training or used to train at Warriors Eskrima Salford branch.


That’s all I like to thank at the moment I apologise if I left anybody out
Thanks
Kit

Thanks Part 2: Martial Artists.

This is dedicated thanks to the Martial Artists that I have met and influenced me during the course of my journey. Please read part 1: Instructors if you haven’t already. Most of the following are from seminars, some are from classes and one is from my former works place. Don’t worry Chris and LGM Chris you are in the Family and Friends dedication that I will post! Please check out Lun's blog as he has updated it!

Rick Young-JKD
I have had only a couple of seminars with him but the experiences were awesome and his stories are great.

Carlson Gracie Senior-BJJ
Another one who opened our eyes, although promoting BJJ through the seminar we attended, the late Carlson Gracie Senior told the attendees through his translator that “he loved all martial arts”.


Samuel Kwok-Wing Chun
Again only one seminar, but a big impact.

Greg Hall-JKD
Although he is currently inactive, when he took a class he was awesome. Always humble and kind every time we saw him on the door or in the gym.

Rick Lawrie-JKD
Again only had one class under him which was cool, but when we see him training alongside us in the JKD gym, he REALLY hits the pad.

Diana Rathbone-MKG
Very kindly gave my brother and I, a place to stay in Minnesota and living there gave us an insight of a 24/7 Martial Artist.

Mike Beckwith-Karate
This is a former work colleague who had a very humble attitude. I can’t remember his karate style but he was an instructor. He seemed to carry his Martial Art ethos into his work as he was dedicated to his role and always asked me on my progress.

Larry Hartsell-JKD
We attended a seminar of his once another big impression on my journey. It was amazing to train under such a renowned Martial Artist.

Wisconsin Summer Camp 2002-MKG
Everyone who attended!

Everyone who has ever partnered me in
JKD, Warriors Eskrima, Capoeira and the Straight Blast Gym, I have learnt something from you all.

Part 3 to follow tomorrow thanks for reading!
Kit

My Week in Martial Arts: April 10 to April 14th-Thanks Part 1: Instructors

Well I rested this week apart from Capoeira as I let my body heal. As I rested I decided to write a three part thank you to those have helped me in my journey to becoming an apprentice instructor in Warriors Eskrima.

Thanks Part 1: Instructors


This is to say thank you to all the people who have helped me on my journey of the martial arts so far. This is more about how they inspired and motivated me. This post can also be viewed as a follow up to this post I did in August. I have so many to thank. The first part is devoted to instructors. The second part tomorrow is devoted to Martial Artists and the third to family, friends and external inspirations.

In chronological order of being taught by them:

Steve Powell JKD/CHOSIN KAI instructor-1984
If my brother and I didn’t find Steve Powell we may have never been exposed to so many different arts. We were lucky; the Chosin Kai Karate club was based in the upstairs of a pub literally 2 minutes away from our takeaway/takeout. This wasn’t your ordinary karate club as well as the traditional stuff, there were elements of Wing Chun and Thai Boxing that were thrown in or at least acknowledged. This was way back in 1983/84 before Mixed Martial Arts were popularised in the media and practiced in gyms as MMA.
Although we can argue it wasn’t true MMA in the sense that there was no BJJ it was definitely the first steps in my experience of using what was useful.

After the local club closed down, we attended the main gym based in George Street Chinatown was used and lesson were taught by the chief instructor himself Steve Powell. Steve Powell has a wealth of experiences in different arts and all to a high level as well as real life experiences bouncing on the door. Steve knows what works and doesn’t work in Martial Arts, that’s the bottom line. His class later evolved into a JKD class (I guess it was inevitable with so many different arts involved). Although I literally attended a handful of lessons at the Portland Street gym and filmed a video there for a college project in 1994/95, my brother Lun however attended quite a few lessons. There were so many elements of different systems being used. It was here that Lun was first taught Eskrima and thus exposed to the art. The exposure of so many arts such Muay Thai, Silat, Eskrima and Wing Chun has taught me to appreciate and respect all Martial Arts. We restarted at Steve Powell’s in 2002 and still train there on a semi regular basis.

Steve Powell is and still remains a big inspiration.

It was in 1995 my journey stopped for my studies, I attended a handful of WTF Tae Kwon Do lessons and a jiu jitsu lesson but other than that it was quiet….

Khalid Iqbal ITF Tae Kwon Do-2001

Little do I mention my ITF Tae Kwon Do days in my blog but I learnt a valuable lesson at Mr Khalid Iqbal’s TKD class. Mr Iqbal is of average height but his TKD skills are awesome and he is very friendly and humble. The classes were and still held at Salford University ironically I joined the classes with Lun after I left University. In one session I was sparring with one of Lun’s work colleague’s who previously studied in a style of Kung Fu.

Letting my ego take over I just threw out the TKD stuff I had just learnt and proceeded to use “everything” I know against him as used his Kung Fu. We totally disbanded and disrespected TKD by using different arts in the Do-Jang (training hall). Mr Iqbal took us aside and told us to empty our cups (as in our existing knowledge) and learn what was being taught in the class.

From then on I had no problems in the class and had learnt that you need to be humble and respectful if you are new to a class, no matter what other skills other have learnt in the past. I trained there for 6 months and used it to keep me flexible and my fitness up.

Bob Melia Warriors Eskrima 2002
Maybe I should have put Bob earlier in my list because I recognised him when I was a kid as every year we would watch the Lion Dance to celebrate Chinese New Year and he was one of the drummers.

However it was in 2002 that we got to really know Bob. Assisting him was Simon and Rob Campion like Lun and I are brothers who with Bob all used to train under Master Chu in Chu Gar Kung Fu. I shall write a section on them. Bob used to tell Lun and I some great stories about his days in Kung Fu but most importantly he is a good teacher and our first teacher in the Warriors Eskrima system.

Again Bob has tons of experience and was quite inspirational during his teachings. He moves fast for his size and is very powerful. He puts his quickness and skill all down to training and drilling his techniques as I remember him telling us that once. As the class averaged 6 to 7 students I guess it was easier to communicate with Bob although he was always approachable. Bob is not involved in the Warriors Eskrima system now he is now following the path of Sun Shi Martial Arts and is very much there for any mentoring advice. His latest blog gives a great account of his recent trip to Beijing.

Danny Henry 2002 Capoeira

He is my Capoeira teacher and his endless devotion and passion to his art is a big inspiration. He is truly a politics free Martial Artist. No association governs what he does and I know he has been subject to criticism by a known “official” Capoeira group. I know this because former students of the other Capoeria group have told me that the instructor/mestre always discourages students to go to Danny (which doesn’t make sense since they are not training at Danny’s in the first place). But Danny persevered by improving his art and has his own group which is expanding. This is why I respect Danny so much because he puts up with the crap from the other group (who are making far more money than Danny) by showing his students what he can do.

Rick Faye 2002 (MKG Kali Group, Wisconsin Summer Camp and Various Seminars)

Training with Rick Faye in the states for a couple of weeks was very inspiring. There was huge emphasis on footwork and because at that time brother and I restarted the stick drills (combined with the footwork) were hard to follow. However these drills helped us on coordination. Rick is very inspirational with his words I remember one seminar that he said something on the lines of this: “Why live just for 2 days of your life when you can find what you want to do and live for 7?” He meant about people just looking forward to weekends because they didn’t enjoy what they did weekdays.

Rob Campion 2002 Warriors Eskrima
Rob is the older brother of Simon. His power and Eskrima skills are awesome. He helped assist Bob during our early days of Warriors Eskrima. He is one of two representatives of Warriors Eskrima in Manchester the other being Simon.

Simon Campion 2002 Warriors Eskrima
When Bob left the classes to Rob and Simon, Rob taught a class in Wythenshawe and Simon carried on at Salford. During the first few months we could see Simon’s teaching method gradually evolve. As this was the first time he was teaching on his own with no real support it was initially difficult. Then over the months his confidence grew and after passing us on a grading the class became more structured and fun.

Simon like his brother never gave up his quest to study other Martial Arts, he even did Capoeira with me for a while. Simon’s skill also improved although there was nothing wrong with it in the first place, he seems more powerful and quicker than before. It’s such an inspiration to train under a first time instructor who is also evolving. He has coped well especially as he helped pass 4 apprentice instructors in the Warriors Eskrima system.

Pangulong Guro Krishna Godhania 2003 Warriors Eskrima

I have done seminars under Krishna and he has given us lessons at the end of gradings, however it was awe inspiring when Simon and I did a private lesson with him last year. Due to his extensive knowledge and experiences of Eskrima he showed us some great techniques with deadly precision. Along with his extensive background and having further read his book contributions and magazine articles, I feel very lucky to be graded under such a leading authority in Eskrima.

Karl Tanswell 2005 Straight Blast Gym.

A truly inspirational coach training us in the alive training concept (moving constantly), we joined the gym to learn stand up and BJJ. Although I have yet to formally begin BJJ training yet, I found his stand up lessons very useful to my own personal progress. I also find his style of teaching inspirational.

These are the instructors that I find most motivational and inspirational.
Thanks for reading and I shall post the 2nd part tomorrow!
Kit

Grading:PASSED!

There were 8 of us who just finished our various gradings (tests). We were asked to stand in two lines of four. I was listening to Pangulong Guro Krishna Godhania’s words but not looking up as I anticipated the results. He mentioned that everyone had strengths and weaknesses but then said that we all…passed.

My celebration was not the one I envisioned in my head as I was way too knackered after a very long grading (3 hours). But I smiled and was really happy, hugged Lun and congratulated everyone. Everyone walked around shaking each others hands and it was extra special for the level 6 guys.

We meet up at our instructors Simon Campion’s house and 8.10AM. Simon’s brother Rob has his own class of students and they were going to come along with us. We took 3 cars on a perilous trip to Warwick (actually it wasn’t perilous but because nothing much happened on the way there I thought I make it sound special!)


We got to the sports hall that the grading was held at 10.45am. After we paid our respective instructors are grading fee, we waited for Pangulong Guro Krishna. We didn’t wait too long as was on time, as we entered the sports hall I thought to myself “This is it!”

Ray was going for his level 1 and level 2 grading and Mark and Andy from Rob Campion’s class was doing level 2 and 4 respectively. I partnered Ray for his level 1 and 2 as we are a similar size and Simon thought it would be a good idea to pair us up. Later we had to mover rooms and into a squash court! Although the floor was newer in this court but it’s such a familiar surrounding as my current Eskrima and Capoeira class held in squash courts!

Ray did very well, as did Rob’s group, but when that was over it was time for Lun, Paul, Mike, Kinder (from Rob’s group) and myself to do our grading. Simon didn’t want to pair me and Lun in the sparring as we were brothers I think he might have thought we wouldn’t turn up the intensity (yes as Rick Faye once said we were the only brothers in the World that he knew that didn’t fight with each other and for the record we have never fought!). Rob however insisted we did spar as he planned for Kinder (my original opponent) to pair up with someone else first. When it was time, we did tear into each other and really smacked the crap out of each other with the sticks and I was taken down a couple of times! It’s the closest we ever got to a physical fight with my brother but obviously no tempers flared as it was the grading and we still remain as probably the 1% of brothers in the World who have never fought each other!

It was a very tiring grading as we sparred several times but we all made sure that rather than hitting each other with the sticks we showed techniques. Not only there was stick sparring but there was knife sparring and empty hand (which I really enjoyed). I did my empty hand sparring with Kinder from Rob’s group. It was pretty cool to spar with someone different as Kinder is a very skilled fighter.

Yes we were all knackered in the end but I thought the whole experience was fun and intense at the same time. I thought Lun did well despite his asthma and that he was away this week, Ray did well for his 2 levels, Paul also did well with two levels that he was graded on, Mike did well too in the sparring as did everyone else. My own assessment of my performance is that I thought I did some stuff well but others not as well as I wanted.

However Krishna told us that for all those who just finished level 6 apprentice instructor level…the “real” training begins!..........

I will be sent more pictures very soon(I didn't get chance to film/photograph anything today!) but in the meantime enjoy the current batch!

My next post will be a “thank you post” naming all those who have motivated, inspired and trained me and trained along side me leading up to the grading. This will be a long list!

Thanks for reading
Really Happy!
Kit!

Countdown to the Warriors Eskrima grading:Today!

Well I had a good night's sleep and now I am about to embark on the 2 hour or so journey to the grading picking up and meeting everyone on the way.
I am looking forward to it and have got my stuff packed. The stuff comprising of my Warriors Eskrima T shirt, jogging pants and all my sticks,knives, swords. I am bringing my DV camera as well to film everyones reaction.
This is it, whatever the outcome I shall write about it all tonight.
Thanks
Kit!

Countdown to the Warriors Eskrima grading:Entry 2

Another countdown no photos....

Apologies for spelling Choshin Kai wrong in my last entry, it’s a class that we should have gone to today. Lun really needed to go though some grading stuff for tomorrow to refine his techniques as he has been away so we decided to go and practice for a few hours.

Feeling tired today as I had to do all the usual Saturday stuff as well as training. I have multiple bruises on my arms and my body as a result of this week’s training. I know where they were caused but not know how, when and who.

Tomorrow I get up 6am to go and pick up my brother and Paul. We are going to Simon’s house and meet up with the rest of the lot and from there will travel down to Warwick in 2 or 3 cars. It will be good to meet members of Rob’s class again.

I am glad we trained today. Simon also happened to be in the gym so he came in and helped us out. We went through several of our past gradings and worked on sparring strategies.

Later we went home and watched a stick sparring video and practiced more techniques. I am feeling fine today and can’t wait for tomorrow. 4 years coming to a head. I like to say thanks to Lun, Chris, LGM Chris and instructor Simon for their comments and the luck.

Depending on what time I get up I might write a quick post tomorrow morning.

Thanks for reading
Kit

My Week in Martial Arts: April 1st to April 7th

Hi All!

This week has been all Warriors Eskrima. Trained Sunday, Tuesday ,Thursday and Friday. I was knackered all week but I needed to train and felt better for it. My brother Lun was working in Belfast this week but I am sure he is ready for the grading.

Although I am in preparation for the grading, my week in the Martial Arts actually started last Saturday as my brother and I attended Steve Powell’s Cho Sin Kai class which consisted of big pad punching. It was great fun and a great work out. Chris and LGM were also there and it was great to see them as well as Rick Lawrie who told me that was his favourite kind of training. The class was amazing full of "boom" techniques(boom as in punching the pad to make the boom sound!) and I got a few flashbacks from the old days regarding the exercises and techniques, although Lun remembered a whole lot more.

Later that day Steve Powell emailed us with some mind jazz as he called it, some very interesting Zen quotes such as “Fudoshin” and “Zanshin” reading up on the spiritual side of Martial Arts is something I like to do more of. The meanings behind them are very potent and inspirational and definitely relates to my preparation of the grading and all the Martial Arts that I practice. “Zanshin” is defined as “A state of complete, balanced, continuous and relaxed readiness, awareness and alertness, where you are "present in the moment."”. This relates to what I am trying to achieve in my mental state and what it needs to be at all times, rather than just for the grading.

Sunday we did some extra training in Warriors Eskrima, my arm and shoulder was knackered from the day before (due to the punching of the pad).


Monday I rested.

Tuesday it was more Warriors Eskrima but more on technique rather than sparring. As we train in the same building as my Capoeira class, I popped in and had a quick capoeira game after the Eskrima training finished.

Wednesday I rested.

Thursday I came late to Warriors Eskrima as I had to do something for my Dad but did managed to do some grappling moves. I also trained my fitness by doing a run on the treadmill and some shadow boxing.

Friday it was Warriors again and we did stick disarms and knife disarms. We also did free style stick sparring palakaw. In addition, I also went through level 1 and level 2 techniques with Ray in which he will be graded in on Sunday(even though he is grading for level 1 or 2 he can match us in sparring!). We also did some stick sparring and rather than a big crazy stick strike fest, we put a lot of techniques in the sparring influenced by our instructor Simon. I noticed the atmosphere was different as it seemed to have a serious aura to it. This meant we all seemed to be focused for Sunday which is a good thing.

I have to keep this week’s entry relatively short as I am going to get some sleep. I am going to do another Warriors Eskrima grading countdown tomorrow. In addition I am going to write about the grading on Sunday night.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics (although I did not catch much as I was training for the grading!)

Kit

Countdown to the Warriors Eskrima grading:Entry 1

A break from the usual format…..no pictures... just words..

Come April 9th 2006, our Level 6 Warriors Eskrima grading (test) will take place in Warwick and we will be graded by Pangulong Guro Krishna Godhania. Usually countdown articles for some writers would normally be much earlier like weeks or even months before the event occurs, but I chose to write my countdown much closer to my event.

Why did I do this? Well I kind of mentioned the grading in previous posts but not one post is dedicated solely on the grading and I think it might interest the reader on what the hell is exactly going through my mind so close to the grading. Well the answer is that I am excited and nervous at the same time and I felt that I needed to write about it.

This combination of nerves and excitement can be compared to when you are cut off at the gate in a queue separating you from a bunch of people who are allowed onto a rollercoaster. This would leave you watching with great fear and anticipation waiting at the gate and up close you can see how huge the rollercoaster really is rising so many feet in the air and going so many miles per hour, you are nervous maybe scared but you really want to be on it and want to be on it fast.


This week (apart from a quick session of the Capoeira game) I have dedicated my Martial Arts to the grading. Not only am I trying to be physically focused but also mentally focused. My mind is on the grading constantly because I feel it is so important I get it right as does Lun and all our great fellow students taking the grading. The grading will contain a lot of sparring and some free style stick sparring. So physically as well as mentally I have to be aggressive, but careful and skilful enough to show techniques and not just smack the living crap out of the other guy.


I hope we call all step it up on that day.

Thanks
Kit!

My week in Martial Arts: March 26th to March 31st 06

Hi All

Another week of the Martial Arts although not officially finished as Lun and I go to Steve Powell’s Cho Sin Kai class which will feature some great pad workouts.

Cho Sin Kai was the karate style Steve Powell was teaching before he set up the JKD class (but some of the Cho Sin Kai elements still remain in his JKD class) and it was the first Martial Art my brother and I trained in. I am quite excited as my brother is to attend this special class tomorrow.

Although the excitement was for this class, the focus was on the grading for Warriors Eskrima under our chief instructor Krishna Godhania as this is taking place in just over a week. It’s going to be intense and I hope to get more lessons in and get myself in spar mode for the level 6 apprentice instructor grading.

Simon loaned us his fencing masks last Friday,so my brother and I did some stick sparring in the gym on Sunday. It was intense but we do have to step it up a bit more I think. We also practiced some Cho Sin Kai sparring drills on the focus mitts we were taught at Steve Powells's.

Monday my brother and I went to Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym. Glynn was teaching and we did some stand up grappling and take downs. It was a great class. Andrew Timmins was there and he was very skilful in his defence when I tried to take him down.

Tuesday I went to Capoeira. It was a great lesson, Steve from Eskrima showed up again and although the class was mainly beginners everyone did real well. Again I am chief demo boy for Capoeira..:) but it’s good experience for me if I want to eventually teach in an art.

Wednesday we had an extra grading session in Warriors Eskrima. My brother and I did some free style stick sparring; palakaw (although we couldn’t do any heavy sparring because Lun’s back wasn’t 100%) and Simon and Paul was practicing what they were taught at the Sayoc seminar! Yup my brother and I missed that one as I couldn’t afford it this month and my brother had to spend more time with his wife Susan, but I wish I had tried and found a way of getting there because Simon and Paul and later on Ray was telling me how great it was. Simon told me some very exciting news as well, but it all depends on the grading…watch this space for the news.

Thursday we planned to go to Steve Powell’s but I had to go back home for a certain time that night and Lun couldn’t make it due to work and recovering from his backache. So I trained for the charity run instead and ran on a treadmill for about 24 minutes. I find running on a treadmill boring and prefer the great outdoors but it was raining and windy. I have an online sponsorship form at Great Run but those who don’t wish to donate online and wish to donate can ask me for a sponsorship form, if you live locally to me!

Afterwards I practiced some stick drills and did some light weights.

Friday was Warriors Eskrima day!
As it was the grading will be about sparring we proceeded to beat the living crap out of each other!!! Actually that isn’t true we didn’t do that at all! I did some knife sparring with my brother and we did palakaw. My brother and I were then put in charge of the beginners and we did some stick disarms with one person in the middle who had to disarm oncoming attackers. Again it was cool to teach people.

We then did the stick sparring. It was awesome everyone’s game face was on. As I was filming it and shouting some tips from the outside I didn’t get as many goes as I would like to. However it was great watching the others and there is a Sunday session which my instructor Simon promised me more sparring.

I would like to thank my brother Lun and my sister in law Susan for their kind donations. Chris for his great support on his site for my run and his donation, please visit his site as it’s great with cool pictures and LGM whose comments I really appreciate on my blog and his views on life are very interesting to read on his great blog. Oh and congratulations to my mate Rob Dale who recently got engaged to his girlfriend Lou!It hasn't anything to do with Martial Arts but its great news!

Anyway enjoy the pictures and keep training.

Kit!

My week in Martial Arts: March 19th to March 24th 06

Hi All! Welcome to post number 50!

First of all congratulations to Chris for his sponsored 108 Sun Salutations and thanks for his and for LGM's comments on my previous post.

I also like to thank my family, my brother Lun for taking the time out to hang out with me this week and my parents who always support everything that I do and I love them dearly for their support.

On to what happened this week….

Finish Him!” shouted an idiot in the crowd watching the World Cage Fighting Championship event that I attended on Saturday 18th March. Yes along with my good friend Andy Timmins who trains at Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym and Pern from Warriors Eskrima we attended the first ever cage fighting event at the Manchester Evening Arena. Mike Tyson was to be special referee for one match, pride fighter Alistair Oveereem was fighting, Bas Rutten was the MC and from the boxing world Amir Khan and Joe Egan were among several other boxers sat in the crowd.

The action itself was good (not great but good). But as good as the in cage fighting was it was marred I thought by some of the thugs in the audience. I would say 40% of the audience understood what was going on (we were watching a sport that involved athletes and a certain degree of skill) and 60% were just blood thirsty thugs looking for death and gore (they were watching what some newspapers has portrayed it as and probably what they perceived it as after a few beers). One guy was hilariously booing everything that moved (the fighters, ring girls, announcers, probably even himself), Timmins believed that the only word in his vocabulary was “Booooo” and hence him “Booing” everything.

Moving on to Sunday, Lun and I went to a Sunday sparring session for Warriors Eskrima. It was a good session; we did a lot of drills and sparring of course. It’s good to get as many sessions as possible in before the grading although Lun and I know we have to do more.

As I was off work for a week, I was helping out my parents with a few things and tried to relax. Lun had some days off Wednesday and Thursday so that was cool. I hope I can plan my holidays better in the future, hopefully in the summer I will take my parents somewhere for a good sight seeing walk as they don't get out as much as they use to.

So the days I was training this week were Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. We couldn’t make it to Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym or Steve Powell’s JKD class this week as there were things to sort out at home. Hopefully we will be back for some good sessions next week, as I really enjoyed them both classes in the previous week.

Saying that it wasn’t a bad week in Martial Arts, Tuesday I went for a run for about 2 miles. I then went to Capoeira and we had several newcomers. I was used as demo-boy but I was also supervising some of the new people so that was cool.
“There is an Eskrima class here on Friday you know” I told one of the newcomers Steve, who told me he did a load of other Martial Arts. He told me he knew as he worked/studied in the same building as Simon Campion which was quite a cool coincidence.

Thursday another run this time I targeted to get to a certain distance. The goal is to increase the mileage to .5 or 1 every time I set out. I ran for 3.4 Miles and therefore overshot the goal but was really happy I did it because then I can hopefully progress faster. In fact it got to a point that now I enjoy running. Later that day my brother and I went to the gym and had a quick work out working back, shoulders and arms and some stick sparring.

Friday was an interesting day. We went to Warriors Eskrima it was a good lesson. We had two newcomers one of which was Steve who was at Capoeira. We did some Palakaw (free style stick sparring), stick disarms and locks and then Simon said to me “Do you intend to teach after you graded?”
I said “Sure” So I taught the two new guys 5 of our basic strikes from the Numerada.
Basically I got them to imagine there was person in front of them and use the strike as if they were striking them well I stood in front of them so their strikes don’t go all over the place. I then taught them to disarm and Simon asked to make sure they incorporate some strikes after disarming. I also showed them to keep a guard at all times as well. It was cool to teach and it was a good experience.

Towards the end of the lesson we did some full contact sparring. It was cool as each person sparred with each other for a minute. Before one sparring session Paul advised me to “Just throw in the caveman shots like me”. A caveman shot is basically a big clubbing strike to the head. After seeing him carry on striking at Lun after the minute was up (which to be fair he probably couldn’t hear the minute was up..maybe) on the last sparring session. I kind of thought: “I’ll give you more than a caveman shot!" Of course I snapped on Paul but in a good way as I threw in a lot of strikes and took him down. It’s what Simon wanted to see anyway a bit more aggression. Yup it was all positive that I can spar that way but I need to refine the skills and control it more. At the end of the day no one wants to hurt anyone but for the next 2 weeks I need to have more of an aggressive streak in sparring. I am looking forward to training next week and attending the Cho Sin Kai lessons next Saturday.

Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics!
Kit.

My week in Martial Arts: March 13th to March 17th 06

“We shall go to JKD tonight” Lun said on Monday morning and that we did to kick off a big training week. I would say I am now 100% better so I had a lot of “catch up” to do.
For some reason on Monday I felt like smashing something. Anyone who knows me will tell you I am not aggressive person. Maybe it was that I was psyching myself up because I was feeling better or maybe someone inadvertently said something to piss me off at work, although I think it was the combination of the two. Later that day I was able to let out the aggression.

Anyway my brother and I went to the gym and did a fast workout. After some food we went to Steve Powell’s JKD class. We saw Chris , LGM (also called Chris) and Greg Hall and Rick Lowry there and it was packed class. Chris and LGM spoke to us and we had a good conversation.

“Get the hook and jab pads” Steve told the class. Cool I thought. It was time to let out the aggression and it worked! We did a load of punching combinations and I made sure I was hitting them right. Of course it’s about technique and putting your hip in but if you also put all you emotions into the punches then you add something to it. It was cool to let out some steam. Steve told us the punching techniques, which were alternating jab, hooks, crosses, uppercuts and overhand punches, that were doing was a variation of Eskrima stick drills as we were punching high, low, high etc. It was great training lesson.


Tuesday went to Capoeira. I had a good session very energetic as always. The two new girls Pat and Kim attended although Kim couldn’t participate. Pat was cool because when she first came to the class she couldn’t do many moves especially cartwheels which were important as a defensive escape in the game. But on Tuesday she was doing them easily and a lot of other moves in the game.
Kim was coming along too, but has been hampered by injury although she had done a lot of exercise before and she could do some of the moves easily in the game from what I have seen so far. I think it’s testament to Danny’s teaching but also a testament to these two newcomers for adapting so quickly.
I asked Danny to get me a T-Shirt from Mestre Bamba and got this, Danny was asked to go to Brazil to train and get graded under their system.

Wednesday I went to the gym with Lun and we did quite a good session. We did some weights and then some stick sparring. My brother and I used these soft sticks. First of all we did some simple moves one attacking and one blocking and countering but fast which is what we call “crashing in”. After a few goes it turned into a fully fledged stick spar and we had a great spar! I was knackered from this and from the previous days and because Lun said he couldn’t make it to Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym because of work commitments. I thought about this and because I only slept five hours previous night and was knackered I proceeded to drive home or so I thought.


So on the way back I put on some “relaxing” music but instead of Stevie Wonder the sounds emitting from my car CD player sounded strangely like Pantera (sorry Lgm!) and next I thing I knew I was in Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym and had a great work out. We were taught how to position/move ourselves in the stand up fighting stance and did some hand/head grappling. It was another energetic lesson.

Thursday after 3 days of Martial Arts I decided to stay in bed as I booked a week off but because Rocky 2 was on the previous night and I had a run to do in May I got up and went for a run. I proceeded to run in light snowfall for about a mile. Later on my brother and I went to Steve Powell’s JKD class. My legs were aching a bit as I have not ran for a while but we did some great focus mitt work based on the old Chosin-Kai style. We did some kicking against kicking and using mitts to block instantly and the kicks was aiming right to the face. This was a brilliant and hard work out. Steve Powell mentioned Hwang Jan Lee as we were doing the kicks, from the old school Gung Fu films (bad guy super kicker from Drunken Master and Snakes in the Eagle’s Shadow and countless of others) and mentioned how crap dubbing was in the old school stuff. But its cool he is such a fan of the old school Gung Fu films because they rock and my brother and I always chuckle when he throws in a random reference. Another awesome lesson.


Friday I went for a 2 mile run and then later on Warriors Eskrima with Lun. It was a great lesson! Simon had as work “stations” which comprises of different techniques in different parts of the court. For example one station was footwork, another was crashing in and another was some cardio exercises. We then did some free style palakaw and the higher graded ones including myself took turns in teaching Ray some drills. Although I accidentally taught him the wrong drill at first! Sorry Ray!




We did some disarms and locks. One guy was in the middle while the other guys attacked and the defending guy had to disarm or lock them. We then did some stick sparring which was cool.

So that was my big week in exercise and Martial Arts. I feel so much better for it, although knackered I am feeling great! Thanks for reading and enjoy the pics!

Kit

My week in Martial Arts: March 6th 06 to March 10th 06

Hi All

This week I only managed one lesson which was the Warriors Eskrima lesson on Friday.
However I enjoyed the blogs of my Lun, Chris and LGM Chris to keep me in the Martial Art world..virtually.

I have also noticed Steve Powell has updated his site too and it looks great.

My brother returned from Canada, he showed me some pressure point moves from a lesson he took while in Canada. You can read more by clicking on his link. I showed him some stuff from the Karl Tanswell lessons I learnt last week. It’s cool to have my brother back.

Well on my sick days off, I edited some of my DVD that I am doing for my Warriors Class. It looks rather cool if I say so myself..:-)! Actually I have a lot of footage of the guys sparring semi contact with us wearing fencing masks, a heck of a lot of techniques and other drills involving double stick, single stick and knife. I am considering putting commentary on it.

While watching some of the footage I was also trying to pick out some of my bad techniques during sparring (an advantage of filming) as sometimes you need another perspective on your performance. This is quite beneficial to the Martial Artist but then again if you have good instructors (which I do) then they can offer this perspective. However filming yourself practicing at home is useful when there is no one there to critique you.

It’s cool that one of the instructors responsible for re-kick starting my brother and mine’s Martial Arts interest, Bob Melia has joined the FlowDrills Forum . Anyone can join the FlowDrills Forum , it was created by our instructor Simon Campion and fellow Eskrima Martial Artist Mike and I helped build it. Although the intention to have anyone join and start talking has become a bit of private message board for Warriors Eskrima. However anyone free to come in and make a comment or post a topic. It is good to have someone like Bob Melia.

I recovered from my chest infection on Thursday (although not fully recovered) I returned to work.

On Friday I went to Warriors Eskrima class. my first Martial Art lesson for about a week. Simon laid out some sticks in the shape of a 2 sided triangle…just the diagonal sides if that makes sense! This was to practice foot work. I really do think good stance and footwork is so important in all Martial Arts, to have good technique you need a good strong base first. If I ever do become an instructor, I would emphasis a lot on footwork.

We also did free style stick sparring of palakaw varying the intensity. We practiced the crashing in but aimed shots to the head with the fencing masks and we sparred. I didn’t last too long in my sparring as my cough from my chest infection came back so I filmed the other guys spar instead but I got to teach some basic numerada strikes to a newer student although very briefly though, I also talk about a little history of eskrima sticks, the knowledge of this, courtesy all the great instruction I had over the years from all the instructors mentioned in my Martial Art links.

Again enjoy the pics as always and thanks for reading, its time for me to do some heavy training next week with hopefully a clean bill of health!

Kit

My week in Martial Arts: February 27th 06 to March 3rd 06

Sorry for the lateness of the Feb 27th till Mar 3rd blog entry due to illness I was unable to post on my regular Friday night slot.

My Mum was feeling better than last week, but my Dad wasn’t feeling great, however for a 70 year old man he is incredibly fit and still very strong. He encouraged me to go and workout though, when I phoned back to see how he was, so I did and by the end of the week he seemed to be better but I still need to keep my eyes open.

“Very impressive Kit, he was trying to take you down and you were not having any of it…” Cool words from Karl Tanswell as I was leaving his gym. That was to top off a really good Monday…inspired by the comments on my blog by Lun, Chris and LGM Chris and keeping my own promises I got up at 6.30 am and went for a jog and then followed a home routine of conditioning exercises while watching a Rick Faye training video.

After work I was choosing some pre-training music to get me fired up for training…I don't always employ the use of pre-training music to get me fired up but sometimes it gives me extra incentive. So I chose Pantera, although I am not a big Pantera fan, I do have a couple of friends who really like them. I did happen to have their live CD in my car so I popped it in and the songs “5 minutes alone” and “Cowboys from Hell” really got me going. I do prefer Rage against the Machine but Pantera did it for me. Although during training time I don’t mind if there is or isn’t any music, as regards to listening to metal during training Matt Furey has other views!

At Karl Tanswell’s Straight Blast Gym, we did shoots and the defence against the shoot, then defence against the shoot with a sprawl and then a sprawl with a cross face. I partnered up with a guy called Charles who told me he reads the blog which is pretty cool. Charles had pretty good technique on the shoot by the end of the lesson.

Tuesday I went for a run in the morning again. These are very short runs at the moment; the plan was to have short runs on weekdays and long runs on weekends. After work it was Capoeira time, yes again I was used as demo guy. The two girls who have been attending regularly are coming on really well. We did a cartwheel variation on one hand and a whole bunch of other techniques. Danny was excited that he was doing a workshop on Saturday and Sunday with in the Capoeria Mestre Bimba style from Brazil. Mestre Bimba was the creator of the more contemporary martial art style of Capoeira also known as Regional and Mestre Bamba was going to be there representing this school.

Wednesday another run, I was happy I was keeping it up, up to this point. The one thing that makes it great to run early in the morning is that there is no one around. Went to Karl’s later that evening and had another cool class. This time we did some basic punching and kicking techniques and then onto some stand up grappling escaping from a front face headlock and then escaping a waist lock. Another great workout and I also put my name down for Karl’s STAB seminar on Sunday March 5th. STAB stands for Survival Tactics Against the Blade and is based on Karl’s experiences against knife attacks.

Thursday I gave myself a rest.

Friday got up feeling not so great so I didn’t go for a run. I felt slightly queasy at work and didn’t feel 100%. I had a feeling I was coming down with something, by the end of work I was coughing. I thought about not going to the Warriors Eskrima class. But then again I thought about sweating it out and if I stay at home I wouldn’t be much better off.


We did some footwork and some power strikes and some crashing in, it seemed to be working as I was feeling better. However near the end of the lesson I felt very weak and I didn’t participate in the sparring as my energy level was very low. I filmed Ray and Paul spar though and it’s great to make an observation…which was the fact that we needed groin guards as the guys were hitting pretty hard! I asked our instructor Simon if we could have more lessons leading up to the grading as well.

After I got home, now I was coming down with something. I couldn’t write my blog as I was so weak from whatever got me, so I more or less went straight to bed. On Saturday I wrote to Karl to tell him I wouldn’t be able to make his seminar on the Sunday. It was a real bummer as I also wanted to go to the Capoeira workshop on Saturday.

Today I am taking a day off work and I booked to see a doctor in 2 days (yes it’s a 2 day waiting process where I live) hopefully I will be better tomorrow and then I shall be able to cancel the doctor and get back to work In addition I shall be get back to sticking to my new training schedule. On a positive note my brother is back! So that means we will be going to Steve Powell’s JKD class again very soon!

Thanks and enjoy the pics
Kit.

My week in Martial Arts: February 20th 06 to February 24th 06

"The goal of the martial arts is not for the destruction of an opponent, but to be used as a tool for self-growth and self perfection. The practice of a martial art is the practice of love-the love for the preservation of life, the love for the preservation of your body, the love and preservation of your family and friends."

By Dan Inosanto from the book, Absorb What is Useful, Know Now Publishing Co., U.S. (1982)

Those words are very true and it's the kind of path that I hope I am following now.

Indeed this week I have been home in the evenings looking after my Mum. My Mum's health is on the mend but its still inconsistent. Hopefully it will be better this week and I have to be alert and assertive to anything she may need. Lun, thanks for the encouraging words you made in the comments of my last post. Chris and LGM Chris thanks very much for your words too. Hope to see you guys at Steve Powell’s JKD class soon.

I didn't train this week. I read the "Absorb What is Useful" by Dan Inosanto though. It's a very insightful and brilliant book. Within this book you find a reprint of Bruce Lee's 19 page term paper when he was at the University of Washington, theatrical martial arts illustrations,illustrations of classical and non classical techniques and some brilliantly written insight into Jeet Kune Do. I am not sure if this book is in print anymore but this particular copy is very special as it was signed by Dan Inosanto himself to my brother Lun when he went to a seminar in Edinburghburugh almost ten years ago.

After reading about Dan Inosanto and hearing stories from great instructors who trained under him such as Rick Faye and Rick Young, as well as how my brother mentioned how great the seminar was,I would very much like to attend a seminar when he comes to England this year.

I have been lucky enough to attend seminars(in order of meeting them) by Rick Faye, Krishna Godhania ,Samuel Kwok and Carlson Gracie Snr, Larry Hartsell and Rick Young. All have been amazing experiences. My brother has been to more seminars including the one by Dan Inosanto and one by Dan Lee. I will write more in depth about these seminars another time.

It is the love of the art that brought me to these seminars and the amount of Martial Arts I do. I don't do it because "I think wanna crack a few heads" (well living in Manchester UK you need to know to do that anyway!) I do it because of the love of the art as would people would do with their own hobbies and favourite sports.

It was the comments and blogs made by Lun, Chris and Chris LGM that made me think twice as to why I do Martial Arts,it's not the amount of classes I attend, martial arts is a whole way of life and how you can apply it in your daily living.

The grading for Warriors Eskrima is looming. I am going to manage my time next week and train at home and if I can, get some classes in. The picture is the insignia of Warriors Eskrima that I also have as my computer wallpaper at work to keep me motivated!

Thanks for reading
Kit

A lull

Hi All

As this blog is about Martial Arts life and the life of someone who happens to do Martial Arts I thought I write this piece.

Yes I hit a lull, I have not trained in any Martial Arts since Saturday morning(attending the excellent Rick Young seminar at Steve Powell's JKD Chinatown Martial Arts Academy)(Thanks for the additional photo's Steve!) and not exercised since Monday(it was only 25 minutes or so in the gym too). My Mum isn't feeling well, so I have been home most evenings starting from last Friday.

I am taking a day off work tomorrow to take my Mum to see a doctor, family and health is so much more important than work in my opinion. Family first,always first...

Work itself? Demotivating at the moment. Hopefully it will get better and these times of negativity will probably make me a stronger person mentally, so I have heard and read of people in similar situations. But work is also how I make it,so I need to keep fighting my corner and not switch off mentally.

I need to pick myself again,I know some people reading this think "but it was only last Saturday I trained" Well I should be training every day to be honest. My morning routine has stopped. I have broken my own self promise/goal of training every day which is pretty crappy really. I have missed about 5 lessons(potentially 6) in the last 5 days.

But dammit I got a grading in April 9th, I got a charity run in May and I have a new goal which is to attend a Guro Dan Inosanto seminar hopefully this year. Yes I got to train like a maniac for all these things. I need to re-start my own training routine and practice what I know at home. If I am not fit enough to look after my Mum and my Dad for that matter I won't be much use. Time management is key. I shall try and attend Warriors Eskrima on Friday if my Mum is feeling better but as I said family always first.

Lun is working in Canada at the moment please read his blog!

I leave you with a picture of me(pretending to be a tough guy..:)) at Rick Faye's Lake Owen Wisconsin Summer camp almost 4 years ago,one of the catalyst's that began my re-entry into Martial Arts and something to remind myself of a good time in my life.

Keep training all,I am going to restart at home tomorrow!

Feeling motivated after writing
Kit.