Hello to you all,
I have been training since March this year and I'm loving it. I first entered into the martial arts world about 2 years ago after bumping into an old friend who was starting up his own beginers kickboxing class, and he suggested I attend. I knew that it was gonna be quite a challenge physically as I'd pretty much given up sport during uni in favour of beer, but it was getting to that now or never time. In short, I put in the work, got fit, got better, discovered a competative edge I'd all but forgotten about, I even entered a national tournament and lost in the final - dang 'n' blast it. There was something missing though which I couldn't put my finger on. There just didn't seem to be to much to it really, I wanted more.
Another close friend suggested I read Robert Twiggers book 'Angry White Pajamas' about his somewhat robust introduction to Aikido at the home of the Yoshinkan. I was hooked and haven't looked back since. I wandered into the Templegate dojo in Bristol - home of the NAF and signed up straight away. I had been warned that I might find it hard to pick up as the concepts involved are considerably more elusive than the cover up, hit them and don't get kicked in the head that I was used to. Whilst this is true, the size of the club means that there are enough students, and more importantly instructors, for each kyu syllabus to be taught as a discreet class, with the open classes on a Wednesday for all to attend.
It's great I just wish I could find a few more hours in my busy days to train. Have tried getting up for morning training before work but haven't progressed beyond resetting the alarm for 8.00 yet. I look forward to some interesting discussions.
Hello to you all.
