Quite a few answers to this.
If you aren’t interested in a particular type of martial art and are doing it for fitness reasons initially, I would recommend that you support your local gym. Not only will it be easiest for you, but supporting your local gym might make the different to him, to keep running.
Remember that some martial arts focus on ground work such as Judo and Jujitsu, where as arts such as Taekwondo focus on kicking (to put it simply)
If you visit your local recreation centre or local gym, you might be surprised to see how much Martial Art activity goes on, with most instructors booking gym rooms out along side any premises they might have to reach a wider audience.
So what are you waiting for, go join a gym!
Posted by Ryan in General
Quick reminder that there are still tickets available for the MEN arena on the Saturday, March 27th.
To follow on from yesterday Muay Thai is a martial art, directly from Thailand. It is renowned for being a very fast paced, hardcore martial art and is Thailand’s national sport.
Muay Thai roughly translate to “the Art of Eight Limbs” Referring to the fact there are 8 points of contact involved in the sport. Fists, Knees, Elbows and Feet.
Posted by Ryan in General
If you are from the Manchester region, you may have noticed that local radio station XFM is doing a competition to give a way tickets to the Muay Thai Premier League. The competition is also giving away overnight tickets and spends for the Park Inn Hotel.
Fights including Liam Harrison, Michael Dicks, and Damien Trainor will be taking on a host of Prime masters from Thailand making the event a not to be missed for those into your martial arts.
If you want to try and win tickets, log on to the XFM Manchester site now and apply using the web form available. Either that or tune in for another chance to win more tickets.
Posted by Ryan in General
Thanks to the surge in MMA interest, the UK is seeing a record number of organised exhibitions and tournaments.
The interest in MMA is bringing keen gym enthusiasts out of the wood work and learning the Mixed martial arts, not jsut to keep fit, but to compete and hopefully go semi or fully professional.
Those that make it will enjoy a decent salary whilst doing what they enjoyed in life as a hobby.
The UK scene isn’t anywhere as big as the USA, however, there have been a number of successful Brits that have made it over there and are doing well amongst the heavier weights.
Why not go check out your local MMA gyms?
Posted by Ryan in General
Well you might be surprised to learn that the martial arts demonstrated in the movies are oftenly based on real martial arts, most commonly, arts such as, Karate, Tae Kwon Do and Jujitsu.
The cheorographers will oftenly be black belts in various arts and will then device new and amend various techniques to reflect the movie they are filming.
A good example is Star Wars, where the art of Kendo was modified, obviously a lot, to help actors get to grips with the fake light sabers they were supplied to film the various martial art based lightsaber fights.
Some films are more accurate than others. Modern Kung Fu films featuring famous faces such as Jackie Chan like Rush hour and Rush hour 2 contain a lot of real martial are techniques. However these techniques will be blown out of proportion with gravity defying moves slowed down for effect. 
Posted by Ryan in General
An 11 year old boy has become a Tae Kwon Do champion for the age group of 10 – 12. Daniel who has been active in martial arts since he was 5 uses kickboxing and hand and foot sparring techniques to beat his opponents.
After a fantastic weekend Daniel came out the victor beating many people older than him on the way. He did get injured at one point but brushed himself off and continued to victory.
Daniel had recently become a second degree black belt that involved him doing 10 minute sparring, 30 minute warm up, 15 minutes of star jumps and 150 press ups.
Daniel brought home the trophy after being seen by paramedics twice during the competition and fighting infront of 400 people.
Posted by Ryan in General
The Kickboxing association of Zimbabwe is to hold for the first time the National Martial Arts games.
The games that are held in December will feature Wrestling, KungFu, Judo, Taekwondo, Boxing, Karate and Kickboxing.
The games are being held to try and unify the different sports with events for men and women being held for the first time in the country. The competition will edicate people on the differences of the different types of martial arts which a lot of people cant tell the difference between.
Posted by Ryan in General
An increased number of women in Bangalore have started to become trained in martial arts.
The women are doing it because its a great way to keep fit but more importantly for them it is teaching them how they can react to certain situations and stay safe.
One lady commented that that martial arts had become a necessity for her as she now feel supremely confident in her day to day life because she knows she can walk down the street feeling safe that she can protect herself.
Violence in Bangalore against women has increased in recent times and with that there has been an increased awareness that women need to have martial arts training.
Posted by Ryan in keeping Safe
Jeffers Hill Elementary School in the USA is to start teaching martial arts to its students. They hope to teach valuable life skills as well as respect for them self and others. The workshops that are to be set up will develop skills in concentration, communication and non violent conflict resolution.
The initiative will also help the kids stay healthy and physically fit as well as helping their overall behaviour. The guidance will be given by a member of the schools PTA who is also the owner of a martial arts school. Sessions have been given in the past with overwhelming feedback from the students and the teachers.
Posted by Ryan in General
Amir Khan has beaten his latest opponent in a lightning 76 seconds to get his winning campaign back on track.
Dmitriy Salita his opponent was unbeaten in 31 fights before Khan knocked him to the ground with some devastating blows as soon as the fight started. His legs were buckling within a minute and the fight was over seconds later with Khan leaving the referee with no choice.
The fight took place in the Metro arena in Newcastle which meant it was a long trip for Salita who had flown over from the states to fight Khan. Khan himself is now flying to the states to train and help Manny Pacquiao take on the powerhouse that is Floyd Mayweather. While he is there he will be weighing up who to fight next.
Posted by Ryan in Boxing