Yellow belts - Kicboxing

My son and I both attended the kickboxing graduations for our yellows belts today. We have been training for a good few months now and find the training far more intense than karate. Whereas karate tends to focus more on technique, kickboxing seems to be more about fitness.
I found today's graduation particularly difficult, indeed at one point I began to feel a little sick. The graduations began with 30 sets of press ups, sit ups and star jumps followed by a 30 second sprint. This was proceed by another 15 sets of each exorcise before going straight into 10 minutes of combinations of kicks and punches with reps of press ups and sit up in between.
By now I was sweating like a pig on its way to slaughter and so was relieved when we were moved to the punch bags, however there was no let up in the intensity of the graduation and were constantly being encouraged to push ourselves.
Skipping for 5 minutes proceeded the bag work followed by 3 rounds of sparring with different partners. My second sparring partner happened to be my son and once again he managed to almost break my big toe with one of his blocks. Its still hurts now as I am writing this.
Thankfully my third sparring partner wasn't too aggressive so I was able to use my weaker leg for kicks. At the end of the sparring we were treated to yet more sit ups, press ups, mountain climbers and sprinting. Despite my best efforts my legs refused to sprint, a slightly quickened jog was all they could manage. Thankfully this was the end of the graduation and we both were awarded with our yellow belts. Tomorrow is our karate graduations, Joseph if hoping to get his Pre-Dan and I will be aiming for my blue belt, I just hope I have the energy left to get though it and that my big toe does not give me too much hassle.

New Guitar Ordered

Today I took the plunge after many weeks of thought and bought myself a new guitar. I love my current guitar which is a Schecter Omen Extreme 6 with a Floyd Rose bridge. It has been a joy to play but buying the guitar with a Floyd Rose was a mistake. Don't get me wrong, it has been fun messing about with it but to be frank I hardly ever use the tremolo system. This in itself isn't a huge issue but having a Floyd Rose bridge means I have never tried different tunings on the guitar as it would be too much messing about.

With all the above in mind I have chosen to buy myself a nice hard tail guitar, the bigger and more

versatile brother to my current guitar. I have decided get myself the Schecter Damien Elite 6 which is not only stunning in looks but offers much more versatility in its tones.
It is fitted with active EMG pick ups which I do actually like the sound of after watching many YouTube reviews and have no issue with them not been passive.

The guitar I currently use will be sadly sold as I just cannot afford the space to keep it which is a shame as I have truly loved playing it. Hopefully it will find an owner that will make use of its Floyd Rose bridge and play it better than I ever could.

The Chuldow Championships 2016

Today can and went much faster than I expected. I didn't sleep too well last night, a mixture of nerves

and anxiousness took a while to abate. The Chuldow Championships was a fantastic event and was extremely well organised. Every instructor and volunteer that made the event happen should be proud of what they have a achieved today, a well organised competition with an amazing atmosphere.

I am pleased to say both my son and I came first place in the karate point stop fights and I even managed to pick up 3rd place in the kick boxing competition. I would like to thank all the instructors at Chuldow Rothwell for all the support and training they have given my son and I. I would also like to thank students from the club that came to show their support even though they were not competing themselves, what a great club!

Anyway, below are some of the fights my son and I took part in. To avoid any confusion I am in the shorts with white shinguards.


This is my first Karate fight, the guy was incredibly strong, one of his kicks winded me, I think will spot the kick as it makes me stumble back slightly.

This was my final fight against a lad I train with every week, Anthony Firth, This fight went well for me gave me 1st place in the championship.

Joseph's Karate final. So proud of my son, He overcame his fear and won every fight with the maximum number of points possible. I look to dominate each of his fights with simple tactics and earned himself a well deserved 1st place.

Okay so the fights that I was most anxious about, kickboxing continuous sparring. This was my first fight which went pretty well. I felt bad for the lad as he seemed nervous and I somehow knocked him down or he tripped.

My second Kick Boxing fight seemed a much better match as the lad seemed much more confident. I actually though at the time that I won this fight but the decision went against me,

Championships tomorrow

Tomorrow is a big day for my Martial Arts club as it will be championships day held at Lightwaves in Wakefield. I have entered myself in for Karate point stop sparring and Kick Boxing continuous sparring. I am not a competitive person however I do enjoy sparring.
My only experience of competition in martial arts is when the club held a mini tournament last year and I managed to come first in the Karate Point stop sparring. This however was just a taster and I am told that the championships is a much larger event with many more competitors.
I am incredibly nervous, not of getting hurt but of my fitness levels and adrenaline getting the better of me, last years mini tournament almost killed me. I struggled for breath after each fight but I am hoping this wont be an issue this year as I should be much fitter than I was back then.
This will however be the first time I have fought competitively in a kick boxing event, I almost didn't sign up to the event due to nerves but deep inside I knew I would regret it tomorrow if I let the opportunity pass me by. I am 39 years old now and I imagine I don't have many more years left whereby I am going to be able to to fight competitively.
My son has also entered the karate point stop event as he too was quiet successful in last years mini and managed to come 3rd.
I will be taking my phone tomorrow with me so my wife can video the fights, I will post again either tomorrow of later on in the week with an update.

Photos are from last years mini tournament.

Supercell

So last night I received a phone call from my brother in law to inform me that Supercell, a local tribute band were playing at our favourite pub The Lion in Castleford. I had seen Supercell once before and was impressed the first time around. I ensured that this time I took my phone to take some video footage of this awesome trio. Hope you enjoy this video of them playing Voodoo Child by Jimi Hendrix.

Ironman

I thought that since my wife was working late tonight I would take advantage of the quiet house and play a little guitar. Not having to worry about progression since I am taking a break from formal tuition I thought I would go back to Ironman. I love this Black Sabbath song. I can honestly say that I think this was the first heavy metal song that I was introduced to. I think it was a cartoon called Ironman in the early 1980's and he went on a rampage killing people to Black Sabbaths anthem. I remember asking my mum why he was killing people and she told me to listen to the words of the song again and then explained that he had helped the people and then they had been nasty to him.

I have looked on you tube to try and find this video but I cannot see it.

Anyway, this still remains one of my favourite songs and is probably the reason why i chose to practise it tonight. I hope one day to be able to play it in full and without making any mistakes but I fear I am a long way off this yet. 

My Addiction

Since the age of 14 I have enjoyed a love/hate relationship with my smoking addiction. To the young reader you may be excused for regarding me as dumb or reckless. But, before passing judgement please try to consider that I was brought in a time when it was quite acceptable to smoke, my mum and dad smoked, my older sister smoked, it was quiet acceptable to smoke on buses, in shops, pubs, restaurants and in the workplace. Of course I was always advised by my parents that smoking was bad, unhealthy and cost a lot of money but how hypocritical of them I thought. When I began high school many of my friends began to smoke and of course my childhood heroes, Guns n Roses were always pictured looking cool and with cigarettes hanging out of their mouths, who could blame me for starting to smoke?

It was only a few years ago that my on/off relationship with my habit began. truth be told I have never found it too difficult to stop in the short term, I have stopped for up to a year at a time with only the occasional smoke in between. I came to learn that if I was going out for a cheeky pint or two to always buy 10 cigarettes beforehand. I have also found that stress at work is responsible for me taking cigarettes from co-workers occasionally.

Though I do not smoke often these days, probably between 5 and 10 per week and that is on a bad week, I have found that these occasional smokes make a huge difference in my ability to train in Karate and Kickboxing. A bad week of smoking leaves me breathless during training sessions, far more than I ever thought it would.

With all of the above in mind, today I bought myself a vape box to stop me buying cigarettes when I get the occasional urge. Whilst I do enjoy a cigarette, I would be lying if I said I didn't, I do not like the effect it now has on my health and more importantly I don't like having to explain my addiction to my son when he does occasionally see me with a cigarette. I have tried to hide my habit from him but that has not stopped him occasionally seeing me a smoke or smell it on me.