Moment of madness talks Martial arts
I love Martial Arts.
I have always loved them. You know those cheesy Kung fu movies with badly dubbed English? Yep. I watch those. With the sound on. Don’t judge me. The one thing I have to say though – and I learn this every day. No matter how much you think you know, there is always space to learn more. And that’s why martial arts help in day to day life. And yes fellas – ladies love a guy who can protect her. Hint Hint.
Anyway – So I do a few martial arts. Taekwon-Do. – A Korean Martial Art which was created by a General in the South Korean Army called Choi Hong Hi. He could kick.
Hard.
I also attempt western boxing – but my boxing coach at Train Gym doesn’t seem to realise how bad I actually am at it. I’m serious. I look like a penguin with boxing gloves on chasing a sardine. It’s horrid. But I enjoy it. Sometimes after training I come to work with black eyes. Colleagues run. Colleagues laugh. Colleagues ask me why I am doing this to myself. Good question. I still maintain. Chicks dig guys with war wounds. Apparently. It’s not working out too well though… yet.
Recently Mark has begun to train me up in the art of Kung Fu Iron Fist training. It’s quite interesting- every morning I beat a potjie pot filled with sand and popcorn. Then I slap concrete. The joys..
I, every now and then roll with Lions Den instructor Dave Verster, A seriously talented and multiple champion grappler and skilled MMA instructor– His art of choice is Brazilian Jiu Jitsu ( BJJ). Rolling is what BJJ martial artists call grappling on the floor. It’s like hugging someone.
Who owes you money.
Lots of money.
His classes are always fun. I use that term loosely. Almost as loosely as my shoulder hangs after a class. The key is to use as little energy while utilizing the body of your opponent as much as possible to make him yelp. Well I don’t think that’s the exact meaning but it happens to me. Often. Dave has this one method where you think you are safe and every time you breath out he tightens his grip. And tightens. And tightens
Then you start seeing funny colours. It’s an amazing art and I think would be really effective in anti-rape situations. The boxing too. Mark tends to get quite excited at the prospect of a boxing bout and last weekend I entered my first amateur Dogboxing tournament. I didn’t win. In fact I had my donkey whipped! But I felt good. No,. not really. I was quite sore actually. But then again blocking with your nose and eye isn’t recommended.
Two of my friends - Jason Pretorius and Sizwe Mnikathi are MMA fighters. “Now hold on a second. MMA? Isn’t that like a brutal fighting style,” I hear you mutter. Yes it is a fighting style – and yes these guys go at it. But I have to say – two nicer guys I have not met. Calm, cool, humble and passionate. I have had the fortunate ( or unfortunate hahaha) luck of sparring with them ahead of their competitions and they mean business – but what gets me about their training is that it is so demanding. I mean I train my butt off to compete – but they rock up after training before then do their training with either Mark or Dave and still keep grinning. Like sweaty robots. But they are on the rise to MMA stardom and being lucky enough to know them is an honour. I can’t wait to see what they get up to this year.
I train in Pinetown at Stingers Taekwon-Do under a gentleman called Sean Cremer – a 4th dan international instructor and multiple national champion in Taekwon-Do. He is also my mentor. I have learnt so much from him in the many years under his leadership. And he is as crazy as hell to boot. He even has a stretch called child birth … it’s as painful as it sounds…He often flings himself down mountains on his bike just because its “something to do” – If I want something to do I eat Ice cream or if I am feeling dangerous – maybe crack a beer.
The bottom line is – I love martial arts. I get to meet people who are passionate about what they do and who they do it for, and besides – chicks dig martial artists. Apparently.
I want to know what martial art you do- Drop me a message on Twitter @jasonmccall01 or leave a comment here !
To find out more about where I train – drop me a mail [email protected] or look up train Gym on Facebook. You can also find the KwaZulu Natal Taekwondo page on Facebook too.
I think the world could be a lot calmer and less violent if kids learnt martial arts. The discipline is unparalleled. Also then perhaps I wouldn’t be the only one in the office walking around with a black eye at work. Which is fun for about two minutes.
