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    Martial Arts.

    I am not sure whether there has been much discussion on here of martial arts whether as spectators or participants. After I stopped doing boot camps of interval training before my half-marathon, I realised that the running wasn't cutting it with stopping me looking 8 months pregnant. As I enjoyed the kickboxing/boxing element of the boot camps, I was half thinking of doing some boxing but a mate told me that he was doing a kick boxing class and I should give it a go.

    I have had some back problems that I needed sorting out so wasn't able to start it until last week. What I didn't realise was that it isn't just kick boxing, it is also Thai Boxing, Taekwondo, Kali, Jeet Kune Do. Jiu Jitsu and even a bit of Pilates in the stretches. Not only that but I have spent a bit more time getting punched in the stomach and on the nose than I thought I would. I assumed the initial weeks would be the martial arts version of shadow boxing or on a punch bag. No, it appears to be a fair amount of sparring albeit quite light. Having said all this, I am really enjoying it and the contact does actually feel central and important to it.

    Indeed, the only real problem I have had with it is that, in the first week, despite ample warming-up and warming-down, my back, arse and thighs were aching when I went to bed never mind the day after and, even worse the day after that. However, the second week, I didn't have an ache at all and realised that the aches the week before came from not warming up properly before the mile and half run down there.

    #2
    Martial Arts.

    I studied Taekwondo for a while. It's an art based around kicking to keep distance, so you can expect to have aching hips, legs and arse for a good while. It's a hell of a workout, though.

    Quick tip: when your instructor tells you not to kick against an elbow block, don't kick against an elbow block. I did, and snapped a toe, which is enough to put you on your arse, grasping your foot and whinging like a child.

    If your lessons are anything like mine, you'll get some self defence lessons too. I can still recall the trick to snap someone's arm, which I'm not entirely sure I could summon to mind in the middle of a fight but which is brutal nonetheless.

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      #3
      Martial Arts.

      We 'warm down' with self-defence but, in some ways, this is the most unnerving part. The first week was when I was shown how to dislodge someone's hand if they grabbed your arm which was OK but all the grabbing and then dislodging made my hands ache the next day.

      The second week was showing how to dislodge someone's hand if they grabbed your neck. This was unnerving and interesting as, not having my neck grabbed for a while, it isn't something that you know how to deal with and your first reaction is to want to punch the person. However, in this context, it was obviously as part of training and, secondly, the whole point about having a black belt teaching you and being the grabber (at least, initially) is that you know if you got angry and threw a punch or a kick whatever, they would not only defend themselves but, at the very least, be able to put you on your arse. So, in that respect, it teaches you not to get angry and to focus on the quite complicated moves that this entails.

      Last week, he showed me the move which probably leads to the move you were talking about which is basically, after someone grabs you or throws a punch, you get their arm into a position where they are pointing head down with no way of moving. Again, it can be a touch painful to be on the receiving end but, as my instructor said, "When it hurts to hold on to me, don't hold on to me. That's the point". You kind of get into a mindset that you have to keep doing the thing that they are trying to stop you from doing.

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        #4
        Martial Arts.

        I did karate for 10 years when I was a kid (and only stopped when my second shoulder dislocation meant I had to take a few months off it for physiotherapy right before I went to uni; I'll clarify that I never dislocated my shoulder at karate). I've only appreciated how fit it kept me since I stopped doing it, and whilst I don't sit at home at night thinking back to it, there are times when I miss it. It was great fun.

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          #5
          Martial Arts.

          I picked up judo as a teen and stopped at uni, where the club was just too intense. Aikido seems like a good alternative today, though I've yet to try it. It's one of the least practical martial arts out there in terms of self-defense but it seems to have an interesting fluid choreographic element.

          Kali with the sticks is fun, as is French savate which has that, using one longer stick, and kickboxing.

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            #6
            Martial Arts.

            There is an element to the stuff that we do that is very exact and choreographed and I enjoy that probably even more so than the contact side of it. I am not very good at it but I get the impression that once it goes into the muscle memory after much repetition it will become very fluid. You can see how Tai Chi becomes such an engrossing exercise for people blocking out other issues.

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              #7
              Martial Arts.

              I studied kick boxing with someone from The Matrix.

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