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.

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.

Karate & Kickboxing Graduations

 I spent this weekend graduating for my martial arts which was a tiring affair to say the least. I got into martial arts 6 months ago, I needed a way to keep fit and going to the gym to work out just isn't my kind of thing. I had been taking my son to karate classes for the last 2 years so it just seemed natural that I join him on the mats and kill two birds with one stone, so to speak. I have been doing karate for 6 months and kick boxing for about 8 weeks.

I am a green belt in karate, working towards my blue. For the graduation I needed to complete my Pinan Yodan kata as well as all my previous katas and various techniques and combinations. Despite being nervous and making a couple of mistakes I still managed to get a blue stripe for my green belt, I just need to learn Pinan Godan now and that should earn me a blue belt next time I graduate.

My kick boxing graduation was far more physically intensive, in fact at one point I thought I was going to collapse. It was my first graduation for kick boxing and have to say as tiring as I found it, it was fun. It was non stop exercise for 30 minutes which included running, push ups, sit ups, skipping, techniques and combinations, bag work and sparring. I cant wait for the next graduation!