We're back! (again)

We were massively proud to be awarded our next Dan blackbelt grades after pretty much another decade of continuous training! Terry received his 7th Dan blackbelt, and Tim his 6th Dan blackbelt. Also, at the same event held in Cheltenham on the 17 Feb, they both received a 'dedication award' at the coveted WUMA Hall of Fame, an event attended by instructors from as far as Saudi Arabi and Nepal. Lucky we only had to travel locally! ;) We're really proud of our growing blackbelt crew now too, and we can't wait to see you all continue your Dan journeys! It's a long trip, but worthwhile. After your physical grading for 3rd Dan, you get awarded your 4th Dan after 4 years of continuous training, and then a further 5 years of training will get you your 5th Dan. Yep, do the maths, it takes a long time! :) I know, we don't look that old ;)

If you’re a creature of habit like me, it can be the best thing ever, or your downfall. The key is to recognize your own habits and artificially create new positive ones. Consistency is the main thing that’ll get you where you want to be. Anyone and everyone who has ever failed on a fitness plan or on a diet plan has failed because they haven’t been consistent. Without consistency, any gains will be much much slower, and most people will quit early because they’re not seeing gains and not seeing any payback from their work. You probably need at least 3 weeks of a consistent habit before you’ll see any real difference. Most quit in that 3 weeks and convince themselves that it wasn’t working. It’s only the ones that get past that ‘quiet gains period’ that then suddenly rocket in motivation because they start to correlate the gains they can see with the work they are doing. They train harder, then eat better, and they reach their goals quicker. There’s nothing more motivational than knowing you were responsible for your own progress. Getting through that 3-4 weeks is hard, especially if you’ve picked all the wrong things to do – ie things you don’t necessarily enjoy or like doing. If you hate cardio, and a training programme or PT says “do more cardio”, you’ll give it a go for a while but your sub-conscious will do everything in it’s power to take you away from it. A few weeks or months down the line you won’t be doing more cardio and you won’t necessarily know why so you’ll mark it as a fail and you’ll feel crap. But it’ll simply be because you just don’t like cardio! Equally, if you love cardio – make sure your routine has enough of it so you continue to get your buzz from it. Mix it up, don’t let it go stale. Do anything and everything to keep that love of cardio. Same goes for weight training, stretching, bag work, etc etc. Try and do a bit of everything, and don’t be afraid to squeeze in a bit of something you don’t like – it’ll strengthen your mind to conquer things you don’t like. I used to hate burpees but forced myself to do them because I knew they’d feature in the blackbelt grading – oddly, I began to actually like them, and have continued to like them ever since! But as a rule, always steer more towards the stuff you actually do like – after all you’re doing this because you like it and because you want to, not because you’re an Olympic athlete whose livelihood depends on it or because someone else is telling you to do it. Training should be fun, and if it’s not, you’re simply doing it wrong. Hopefully we do it right.... give us 3 or 4 weeks of your consistent attention and then decide. You won't look back, promise. Below are some new habits to try and build on top of your current training routine. These are aimed at changing your mindset slightly, and pushing ‘training’ into your everyday life rather than just being a focus for a few solitary hours a week while you’re officially ‘working out’: > If you have a staircase that you climb several times a day (like at home, or at work), do it in slow steps like lunges . Probably 2 or 3 steps at a time, with a full standup motion on each step. Doing it slow stops you using the momentum of throwing your body upwards and it becomes a strength exercise, one that only lasts about 10 seconds, but you’ll do it several times a day and it’ll engage one of the biggest muscle groups in your body. Yes, you might look a bit weird at work though – choose your moments wisely! Your family already know you’re weird so they won’t stop you at home ;) > Take the stairs instead of a lift. And never stand still on an escalator – walk up it. > Do some workouts early in the morning before anyone else is out of bed . It’s strangely satisfying once you get over the shock of getting up in the dark. Knowing everyone else is asleep gives you a sense that ‘you’re ahead of the pack’ and also means there’s no guilt like when you want to have a workout but your kids want you to play with them instead. You’ll get a massive sense of self-belief and self-appreciation by getting up for a reason that is totally for you, instead of getting up for work or to sort the kids or whatever. It’s the most un-selfish selfish thing you can do for yourself! > Do 20 pushups and 20 squats every morning , or at lunchtime before you eat. It’ll take less than 2 minutes out of your day – but the kickstart it’ll do for your muscles and mobility is incredible after a few weeks. Stick with it, and think about increasing the habit to 20 in the morning and 20 in the afternoon. Then move it up slowly to 30. > Keep 2 reps in the bank . When weight training, some PTs will say ‘go to exhaustion’ or you might feel like you’re cheating yourself if you don’t push to failure. But, those last failure reps could be the ones that give you those horrific DOMS or even cause injury which means you need extra days before your next workout. If you leave 2 reps in the bank, you’ll definitely hit the next session on time and you’ll be feeling good about it. Two consecutive sessions on the right days with 2 reps in the bank, are always going to be better than one session which took you to failure but then delayed or limited the second session. Remember you’re not punishing yourself, you’re progressing yourself. > Don’t judge a calorie deficit by one day, judge it by the full week . Lots of people are in a deficit Monday to Friday and can’t work out why they aren’t losing weight. But they’re ignoring that the 2 weekend days are so far out of the deficit that they’re overshadowing the 5 good days. Look at the week in total and you’ll get a better view of reality. Habits will always be different on the weekend, that’s just life (doesn’t mean they need to be bad habits, but they’ll always be different). Judging from Saturday to Friday is often better than Monday to Sunday, because if you eat or drink like a lunatic at the weekend you’ve got the rest of the week to eat sensibly to recover. Whereas Monday to Sunday tracking means you’ll likely feel guilty for living a little at the weekend, and that’s not the goal right? > Close your kitchen cupboard with slow-motion kicks . Yep, it’s another crazy one, but good fun and works on your control and accuracy. Let me know how you get on! Tim

What's the difference?? Saying “I’m gonna get fit” or “I’m gonna win a tournament” is a great goal but it’s exactly the kind of new year's resolution that you’ll fail. Sorry. Instead, you need to plan and commit to the actual actions that will get you to that goal. Something like “I’m gonna train twice a week” or “I’m gonna spar in every session” is better because it's more achievable. Consistency is the key and that means you have to create habits that you can stick to. You won’t notice the improvement after one or two times of doing it, but if you believe the habit is good and worthwhile then you’ll keep at it and when you look back over a consistent timescale you will definitely see the improvements and how far you’ve come. That is a really great feeling. Finding an activity that you love means you’ll start creating habits without it feeling like a chore. A good bunch of like-minded people mixed with a consistent routine is a great way to start smashing your goals. Come and give it a go! Booking link: https://bookwhen.com/cirenkickboxing £5.99 per session, pay as you go (no direct debits) 7pm Tuesday - Deer Park Gym 7pm Thursday - Bingham Hall Dance Studio

Here's Tim's thoughts on coming back to group training after lockdown. What will change? How will you 'own it'?

So, seriously, how you doing? Are you keeping your sanity during lockdown? To be honest I really enjoyed the first few weeks - the challenge to adapt and find new daily routines. It felt like life had slowed down and there was less pressure to rush about doing this that and the other. But now, now we’re in week 101 or whatever it is, I’m like “Stick a f**kin fork in me”. I’m done. I’m bored with groundhog day, I really miss seeing people and the general banter of life that you don’t get on video calls. I’m seeing changes in my thought processes and in my kids behaviour too, some are good changes and some not so good. I hate when my mind starts going dark and I lose my spark, so, this week I’ve done what I always do. When I notice the dark side approaching I go slightly Jedi and I force myself into a good consistent routines. It’s hard at first but soon becomes natural again. I’m getting up early, walking the dog at sunrise, then having a 30 minute workout. Me time. The kids are still asleep and I’m ‘up’ for me, not for work or any other reason, just me (and maybe the dog). I feel like I’m being good to myself. I’m alive again. So, by 9am when it’s time to start the long commute along the corridor to my home-working office (takes about 10 seconds), I do it with a clear mind, no pressure, no complications. I want to do it. And coffee helps. I’m lucky that I can do my day job 99% from home, fully supported by a good company. There’s lots of video calls and online interaction, but, I am starting to hate the confined space of a home office. Cabin fever. The kids absolutely love being home-schooled by Lou downstairs so they've only gatecrashed a few of my video calls. When my work day is done, I need to quickly detach my brain from work, so I blast out some tunes and have a funky dance while nobody’s watching. My 10 second commute ‘home’ is then much easier, and I’m ready for homelife and family time. Our online training sessions have been great because they tell me what day of the week it is. Every Tuesday & Thursday I know I'm gonna see some smiley faces, people who probably haven’t seen or spoken to many humans that day either. We all share an important hour of sweat and torture and we're all buzzing to be alive, desperate to punch each other in the face but knowing that kicking towards a screen full of faces will do for now. I’d give anything for a night of drinking multi-coloured shots, dancing like a bellend and attempting a human pyramid with you guys. It’s always been an awesome social network as well as an ass-kicking martial arts club. I know all the fun times will come again, but for now, everyone has to find their own balance and their own way of keeping the dark side at bay. Talk, share, and help each other however you can. Facebook and the media can be a negative son-of-a-bitch sometimes so you need to get your happy-fix from somewhere else. It’s usually already in you and you just need to tease it out sometimes. Don’t worry if you feel like you're changing a bit. We’re all changing, and all we can hope is that the new ‘normal’ at the end of the Coronacoaster is a world that's changed for the better. Keep smiling and be happy. Whisper a warning to your liver that it’s gonna take an absolute alcohol-kicking when this lockdown ends because we’re gonna party our asses off together. ;) Drop me an email or FB message to let me know your own lockdown thoughts or experiences - I’m genuinely interested to know how you’re doing, good or bad. Take care guys, stay safe. See you soon! Tim #bekind #staypostive #mentalhealthweek #lockdowndarkside