Stylist Kickboxing Blog - Fitness - Stylist Magazine

At first I jumped at the chance to take part and was actually sort of relieved I wouldn’t be doing a kickboxing warm-up. After all, how difficult can a few short bursts of activity (with rests in-between) be? It sounded like a breeze next to our usual kickboxing sessions, plus it's 20 minutes shorter.

How wrong I was. Tabata is exhausting. Totally physically draining. In fact I don’t think I’ve been so tired since my last kickboxing grading – and that almost finished me off. The reason why it’s 40 minutes not an hour is probably because most people wouldn’t last that long.

The idea of the class is that you do set exercises eight times in a row for 30 second blasts with 10 second breaks in-between. There's then a one minute break, followed by another exercise eight times in a row, and so on. There are six exercises in total.

It doesn’t sound that challenging I know, but in practise it was near-on impossible. Each exercise targets a different area - stomach, biceps, thighs etc. To begin with I was lulled into a false sense of security by the apparent simplicity of each move. High jump while swinging your arms up and down? No problem! Except after three bursts of this I was in pain and by the eighth round I could barely move either my arms or legs, let alone up or down. The same went for when we lay on the ground and held our arms and legs up in the air and our heads just off the ground. It woke up muscles in me that I never even knew existed.

By far the most difficult exercise was the last one, jumping push-ups. This is basically pulling your legs into your chest and out again from a push-up position. Again it doesn’t sound too bad, but it took all my strength to very slowly drag (no way I could jump) my legs in and out while staying upright.

The good news in all of this is that Tabata is incredibly good for you. There are different versions of it, but the gist is it tones and burns fat a lot more effectively than longer but moderate-level fitness activity (like jogging for an hour on a treadmill).

"With Tabata, you work extremely hard, at around 85% of your maximum aerobic capacity," Dax Moy, the personal trainer who recently advised the Stylist team on their Olympic challenges, explains. "The type of activity is not as important as the intensity.”

The upshot? Yes, Tabata is painful and leaves you a sweaty, exhausted mess – but as workouts go it’s quick and effective and definitely worth a shot, even for the exercise-shy (i.e. me). If I can summon up the courage, I’ll definitely try it again.

April 24

On Saturday I tried out a mixed ability class for the first time. Now that I’m officially “white 1” level (one up from complete beginners) it means I can join in with this weekly session, which is open to everyone apart from fresh starters.

To be honest I could have joined the class at any point since I got my white belt in early March, but working up the motivation to exercise at weekends is usually a bit of a losing battle. Every week, I tell myself I’ll go and then – well, I just don’t.

So I felt both a bit smug as, armed with my pink gloves and a healthy dose of Red Bull, I made it along to the weekend class at Springhealth Kickboxing. I couldn’t believe how many people were already there; the class was massively popular with over 30 kickboxees of all levels turning up for training. Clearly, they don’t share my ambiguity towards weekend exercise.

We started off with a punishing schedule of warm-ups: burpees, press-ups, lunges, squat jumps, star jumps and more. This was followed by an excruciating four-minute stomach work out. I’ve always wanted a more toned stomach, so was quite into this, in theory - it was just a shame I was so feeble about it. Probably with more practise it’ll get easier and it definitely helped doing it in a big group.

Above: A class in session at London's Springhealth Kickboxing gym

Onto the actual boxing and I was worried I might be paired with some black belt genius and come out with a broken nose or something. But of course it was nothing like that. Everyone was very friendly – and also in the same position of having to juggle set kick/punch routines with bursts of exercise.

This is something I’ve noticed coming into classes more and more as I move up a level: instead of just exercising at the beginning and end of classes, we do it throughout and in-between kickboxing. This was especially true of the weekend class, where we did a set kickboxing routine, followed by 100 straight punches, 10 burpees, another kickboxing routine – and so on. At the end I was literally exhausted. True devotees could choose to go on and attend the Tabata class just after kickboxing but I opted to gracefully quit while I was ahead (as in not on the floor).

I will definitely go to the weekend class again though. I really did feel much better afterwards and I even ended up doing a jog on Hampstead Heath the following day – a previously unheard of experience but one I was surprisingly up for given my earlier bout of exercise.

April 18 – 100 days to go

With under four months to go to the Olympics – and meeting my challenge of getting a red belt – I thought I’d list what techniques I’ve learnt so far (in my own, slightly non-technical terms). Here goes…

Punches

One-two (corking punches with alternate arms from your face and towards your opponent's face)

Hook (bending your arm and hooking it across the body, swivelling your shoulder so it’s facing your opponent)

Cross (corking your arm forward and across at head level)

Jab (like a straight punch but quicker and not as extended in movement)

Upper cut (thrown from squat position, moving upwards towards your opponent’s chin)

Spinning back fist (jumping round 180 degrees and extending your arm out to hit your opponent with the back of your hand)

Kicks

Roundhouse (tilting your body to the side, bending leg on knee and extending pointed toe towards your opponent’s side)

Front kick (bending your leg at the knee and moving upwards and forwards, hitting your opponent square-on with the flat of your foot in one fluid motion)

Jumping front kick (as above, but with an added jump on other leg at beginning to add impact to the kick)

Side kick (tilting your body to the side and pulling knee into chest to kick out and behind you, towards opponent)

Side kick touch (as above, but touching the ground with your foot in-between kicks to build up momentum)

Flying roundhouse (like a roundhouse kick but carrying on through, with your leg spinning up and over in a rainbow arch)

Axe kick (extending leg upwards and forwards from the knee – like a roundhouse – then pulling sharply down in a straight line)

The most important thing with any of these moves in learning how to engineer your body to give them momentum. So nearly all will involve moving your shoulders and hips forwards or backwards to push through on a particular kick/punch . The same applies when you are blocking specific punches/kicks – especially when you duck and swivel around on a lower level. I have quite a bit of work to do on this front as I'm so busy concentrating, I’m apt to be quite ridged and am constantly being told to move my body with the moves (my trainer actually compared it to Salsa dancing at one point in an attempt to make me move smoothly!)

In an actual fight situation, people would move around as they threw their moves – and this is something we’re starting to work on now, either moving diagonally as we throw particular punches or kicks, or taking it to a different level (swivelling down and back up again). Doing this on top of remembering the particular kick/punch sequence usually plays havoc with my coordination so I still have some way to go on this as well – although it will be crucial when it comes to red belt grading!

April 10 - Flying roundhouse

Yesterday we tried out a flying roundhouse kick - an absolute killer of a move which involves kicking your leg up in the air and spinning round at the same time. The way our teacher, Alan, described it was a bit like doing a header in football (something I've never really mastered, but hey). The idea is you just throw yourself into it with lots of energy and conviction, without really pausing for thought.

However there is quite a lot of technique involved as well. You have to tilt on one side, lift your leg up and bend at the knee - then kick upwards and outwards with pointed toe and pull round and over, so you end up facing the opposite direction. Apparently, the quicker you do this the easier it is - although it inevitably ended up with me spinning round in giddy circles and staggering all over the place. Not quite the slick moves I was hoping for , perhaps, but I enjoyed it all the same.

I had a look for photos on the net that might accurately show this kick and this is the closest I got. Needless to say I wasn't smiling as much in my own attempts...

April 2 - the gloves are on

I don't know whether it's a deliberate move on behalf of our kickboxing trainers but every session at the moment seems to bring with it an ever more sadistic form of circuits - or as I see it, exercise hell.

Last night saw us puffing and sweating like crazy (yes, it was a beautiful sight) as we attempted to punch high in the air from a kneeling position for 30 seconds before holding the plank position for 30 seconds - but while moving our arms up and down. We then punched high again for 30 seconds before doing press-ups for 30 seconds. And so on.

Embarrassingly, I was the only person in our group who couldn't do the plank bit while moving my arms - I just don't seem to have the muscle to pull myself up, especially when I'm wearing gloves. So instead, I floundered around awkwardly on the ground for a bit not really doing much of anything before resuming punching.

In yet another sad moment, I found out the press-ups I've been doing all this time barely scatch the surface of what an actual press-up is. I always wondered why I always found them fairly painless - and it turns out, I've been doing them all wrong. My chest is anywhere near the ground and my arms aren't placed wide enough. Yesterday I did them properly for the first time ever and finally felt some pain in my biceps - a sure sign I was on the right track.

Still, horrendous circuits aside I am still loving kickboxing training at Springhealth; and yesterday represented a small landmark as I brought my first ever pair of kickboxing gloves! I couldn't resist going for the pink pair (pictured above and below), although I am slightly alarmed by their size. Weighing in at 10oz and roughly twice the size of my head, they seem massively unwieldy. I can't imagine punching anyone accurately in them and last night confirmed my fears as I ended up throwing wild off-shots or coming dangerously close to smacking my opponent's face/stomach as I have no real control at all. It's not the most promising start but I cherish my gloves either way and they now have pride of place on my dining room table (slightly out of place but I'm proud of them)...

March 21: moving on up

Post-white belt and my kickboxing jaunts continue – and one level up, it’s definitely tougher.

We’re now learning how to throw punches and kicks at different levels and moving around at the same time, integrating basic techniques with tactical sparring. Most of the time I’m too busy trying to hold my leg up without wobbling, let alone notice where or how high I am. When we have to shadow box while moving around (as they do in actual kickboxing matches) I end up running around in circles with my partner and randomly throwing punches – which needless to say, is not the most elegant look.

But we’ve learnt some great new moves including the uppercut, which is apparently one of the most devastating techniques out there (although it’s far from that when I do it). It involves crouching down with your shoulder at an angle over the opposing knee and both fists by your head. You then swing one arm directly upwards in front of you, towards your partner’s chin or nose – which made for an interesting practise session with a few colourful near-misses. We’ve also tried one-on-one sparring with the trainers wearing hand pads, which is great because you get to put a bit of power into kicks and punches as they call out a series of moves.

The daily slog of lunges, press-ups and burpees continue in warm-ups - only now we have to hold the plank position while moving our arms up and down, which is pretty much as harsh as it sounds. Still, I’d better get used to it as this weekend, I’m planning to do a kickboxing session followed by 30-minute Tabata session. This high-intensity interval training has received quite a bit of media coverage recently and the method of bursts of activity followed by rest is claimed to be far more effective than say, a long session on a treadmill. Sunday Times magazine described it as a “brutally tough” form of exercise in a focus piece last weekend, which hardly fills me with encouragement...

March 9: white belt!

I am now the proud owner of a white belt - and officially licenced by WAKO (World All Styles And Kickboxing Orgs)!

My belt and grading book... woo hoo!

All v. exciting but not achieved without real pain... in fact I'm still struggling to make it up stairs after Wednesday night's marathon grading session and am not fully convinced I'll ever be able to walk properly again...

The trainers said they would intensify our usual workout by 10-15% for the test, but actually felt like 200%. For what felt like hours (but in fact was about 20 mins), we lunged, squatted, did endless star jumps and press-ups and TWO one-minute-long planks. I literally thought I was about to pass out... in a cruel twist we were told that each time we made a mistake, not only would we incur individual burpees but penalties for the entire group. Luckily this didn't happen but it was enough of a threat to push me way beyond my usual threshold for exercise torture.

After the first round of workout hell was over we went onto group sparring practising punches (one/two, left and right hooks, jabs, crosses) and kicks (front kick, side kick, back kick, roundhouse) in set routines that got progressively more difficult. Then just to top it all off we did a load more jumps and lunges - and just when we thought we were done, we all had to squat for a minute on tip-toes with our hands reaching upwards. Which doesn't sound that bad in writing but trust me, it was horrific and my thighs did not thank me for it.

Anyway, like many things in life the pain was worth it as we all got given our belts and moved up to the next level. It was only after we got all celebratory and euphoric that I realised how far I still have to go. If I struggled this much to get a white belt, getting a red belt by July will require some serious hard work. As the teachers pointed out, I still have various "coordination issues" (!) and will need to step it up in a big way if I'm to stand any chance of achieving my goal. This means attending all three classes a week if poss, cleaning up my (admittedly poor) diet, getting some personal training and also buying some gloves and bandages for my hands (the bit I'm most looking forward to, as I'm quite talented at shopping).

In the meantime, I want to celebrate this tiny milestone by thanking all the team at Springhealth Kickboxing. They truly are fantastic, especially Alan, who has run our beginners' class and is possibly the most patient person I've ever met - and Alex, who runs the whole show with massive enthusiasm and skill! Here's to the challenges ahead...

March 7: judgement day

Today marks my very first kickboxing grading session and frankly, I'm a little bit terrified... For some reason, the fact that we would be tested this week took me completely by surprise. We've been talking vaguely about grading in our group at Springhealth Kickboxing for some weeks now, but (perhaps in denial), I had it in my head that it was still some time away.

The fact that I've been away the last week in South Africa didn't help. Going on safari was amazing but unless you count hauling a rack sack around as exercise, it didn't do much for my fitness levels. So in my first kickboxing session back on Monday, it came as something of a shock to hear grading was just two days away...

I'm not even sure what this will entail, only that there'll be a set of people watching us as we go about our moves. As I have to do everything at least twice to get it right - and constantly muddle my steps, energetically spinning round the wrong way or ducking in the same direction as an incoming punch, this doesn't bode well.

We also have an intimidating-sounding "three minute circuit" at the end, which involves lots of lunge jumps and squats as well as holding the plank position (pic below says it all) for 30 seconds. This for me will be the most challenging part as I haven't yet got through it without hitting the floor. Maxitone sent me some protein shakes a few weeks back so I'm considering making one of these to see whether it helps - I've never tried one before but now may be the time to start...

In the meantime, I am just going to concentrate on swinging my hips and body behind my punches (which we're always reminded to do more) and hope that gets me through. Wish me luck!

February 16: on sidekicks and calories

One month into my kickboxing challenge and though I can still barely lift my leg above knee-height (let alone keep it straight or balanced), I’ve got to say it’s the most fun sport I’ve ever tried. Fun and sport are two things that have never gone together in my vocab before – but in kickboxing I burn calories without even noticing it. That’s not to say the endless squats, press-ups and burpees aren’t painful, just that they’re so mixed up with actual kickboxing moves that I don’t focus so much on that I-can’t-do-this moment that has invariably seen off all my previous attempts at exercise.

On the topic of calories, one kickboxing session is supposed to burn 830. Given how much we sweat through the whole burpees/sit-ups/star jumps regime - not to mention the actual kickboxing training - I can well believe that. Coupled with a healthy diet, it would definitely get you toned and trim over a period of time.

Anyway, last night we tried side kicks, which are tricky. You basically lift your leg at a 90 degrees side angle to your opponent and kick away and almost behind from yourself. It's difficult to explain in words, so I've found this video of third-degree blackbelt and kickboxing champion Linda Josefson demonstrating it. The words she uses vary a little, but the concept's the same...

February 9: the real deal

They say learning is like rowing upstream; unless you push yourself forward, you drop back. This is certainly the case with kickboxing and I find myself having to concentrate fiercely in order to take in all the moves, then practise them again and again - and every time I miss a class (there are three a week), I have to work doubly hard the next time round.

Sometimes, however, it helps to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. Having just perused YouTube, I found this video of Alex, the person who runs my gym, in a proper kickboxing match - with a referee and everything. He's the one in the red, basically kicking the ass of the other guy, whom he aptly refers to as a "poor lad."

Watching this reminds me just how powerful and amazing (and slightly scary) kickboxing can be. It all depends on a series of very quick, slick moves. Clearly it takes years and years of training to get to this level - and for someone who still can't touch their toes, I needn't concern myself with combat situations anytime soon.

But it's inspiring all the same - and an extra incentive next time we're told to do 50 hook punches followed by 10 burpees etc. etc.

February 5: moves and stuff

So far at Springhealth Kickboxing, I have learnt:

- Basic defence position (feet apart at shoulder’s length, legs bent with left foot in front of right, back heel up, fists by face)

- A one-two punch

- A left and right hook

- Running up cuts

- Roundhouse kick

- Front kick

- Blocking for all the above kicks/punches

For me the front kick is the easiest (you just lift your leg in front of you and push forward with a flat heel) and roundhouse kick (where you pivot round and kick at an angle, to the side of your opponent's body) the hardest. We also do this practise kick where you lift your leg at 90 degrees then kick it out from the knee again and again, tilting your upper body for balance. This is a very common martial arts move, apparently – we generally start off practising it with a bar for support, then hop forward and try to do it for 30 seconds stand-alone. This for me, is a near-on impossible task. I wobble all over the place and my thigh starts aching like mad; there’s no way I can continue kicking my leg properly, let alone do it with speed and any strength. Only the (hypothetical) thought of super-toned pins gets me through. At the moment my legs feel like lead rather than elastic, but who knows, with all this frenetic training, maybe one day they will do this... ?

February 2: stepping it up

Yesterday was my most hardcore kickboxing class to date. For one whole hour, I attempted to jab, cross and throw front, side and roundhouse kicks; all with regular spates of push-ups, burpees, squats and running up-cuts (where you basically run on the spot and punch upwards in circles as fast as you can) in-between. It was FULL ON.

The change in tempo came when Alex, founder of Springhealth Kickboxing, joined our regular beginners’ session, alongside our normal brilliant and super-patient instructor, Alan. Alex has spent 16 years in kickboxing – both as a trainer and instructor – and radiates high-level energy. When you watch someone of his calibre doing the moves, you suddenly realise what martial arts is about.

There’s a real technique and power behind every single punch and kick - all the more so if you’re on the receiving end of it. You move your body in perfect and calculated formation in order to attack and defend. And the speed and energy required is just incredible; you have to anticipate every move and think on your feet, constantly dodging, ducking and moving back and forth.

As far as practise sessions went, it was an eye-opener. At the moment, I’m still at the level where I’m randomly flailing my arms and legs around in some chaotic interpretation of what has just been demonstrated to us. And I’m also a bit self-conscious about practising my moves, which clearly is a no-go in the field of combat. I can hardly hope to devastate my opponent with a series of slick moves if I’m nervously giggling or apologizing half the time...

I end the session exhausted and exhilarated – although I’m nowhere near either getting a red belt or even touching my toes properly, I reckon I’m hooked to this whole kickboxing shebang…

February 1: I hate burpees

One kickboxing session down and I’ve suddenly discovered a whole new form of exercise torture: burpees. God knows why I haven’t heard of these before as everyone else I speak to seems to have – but I’m guessing my complete lack of familiarity with the inside of a gym might have something to do with it. Anyway, burpees (and why are they called that? because they make you want to burp?!) are a very effective form of full-body exercise, thus crucial to my mission. And they look like they should be easy (squat, jump down, jump back up! – come on kids, fun!) but require way more puff than my body has in it. By the time I finished randomly kicking my legs out 10 times in a row, I was sweating profusely and had gone a weird shade of reddish purple. A quick glance round my class confirmed no-one else was struggling… in fact they seemed to enjoy it. Scary.

Burpees aside, my second stab at kickboxing at London's Springhealth gym was as much of an adrenalin rush as the first one. We did more one-two punches. And kicks (although this one was tricky for me as I kept on trying to point my toe balletic-ally instead of bending my knee and pushing out, the way you’re supposed to). And even a right-hook! By the end we were able to do this whole routine in pairs, where we punched, kicked and ducked in formation – albeit with no force whatsoever on my part. But it still allowed me to practise back home on my boyfriend, who was simultaneously amused and alarmed by my boisterous re-enactment of what we’d learnt. Little does he know I may soon be a model of kickboxing: like the rather dapper chap pictured below…

January 25: let kickboxing commence

So finally, finally – I made it to my first kickboxing class on Monday night. And it was absolutely brilliant! I had no idea what to expect when I arrived at the Springhealth kickboxing gym in north London. I chose it because the person who runs it, Alex, assured me I could get a red belt in six months’ time and seemed remarkably unfazed by my complete lack of fitness/prior experience. First impressions were both reassuring and vaguely alarming: the gym was abuzz with super-fit looking individuals casually throwing a few dynamic moves and limbering up with the kind of confidence that suggests a lifetime of working out. There was also a photo of Morgan Freeman on the wall, being trained by the gym team on the set of one of his movies. I began to envisage a session where I was lingering at the back, hopelessly out of place amid a group of pros and movie stars. But luckily, when the time came, it was nothing like that… I was joined by four other women and a boy for my beginner’s class, all at exactly the same level as me – i.e. total amateurs. Our two trainers took us through a series of fitness exercises, all of which revolved around mini-punching and bouncing moves. They were friendly and patient, creating an atmosphere where anything seemed possible as long as we put our minds to it.

We then got started on some actual kickboxing techniques – something I wasn’t expecting from the first session. First up was a one-two punch, which basically involves throwing two punches quickly in succession while swinging your body at the same time to give it momentum. Posture is very important to the whole fighting shebang; you have to keep your legs a shoulder length apart with your back heel up, always bouncing instead of walking, and with your fists clenched at about chin level. It’s surprising how quickly just adopting that stance and jumping about a bit can make you feel like boxing pro. But of course there’s a lot more technique than that: you really have to concentrate on the movement of your body and the structure of the moves. Several times I was alerted to my “chicken arms” (yup, I’m all about glamour) as I unknowingly raised my biceps out instead of keeping them fixed by my body. We end the class by doing a (very loose and slightly unconvincing) one-two punch followed by a kick. An actual kick! And because we train in pairs, we also learn basic defence moves to fend off punches and kicks. Feeble I may have been, but I really felt great at the end of the session – like I was getting fit without even noticing it. Even the press-ups and sit-ups we finished off with didn’t seem too painful and I went away with a bit of a glow – my kickboxing adventure has begun…

January 20: the waiting game

Here I am, nine days into my challenge and admittedly, it’s not been a brilliant start. I was full of good intentions, I really was – but a bout of post-Christmas flu left me duvet-bound and gorging on Lemsip for the past week and a half… and now that I feel human again, I can’t quite believe the enormity of what lies ahead. Basically I’ve got from now until 27th July (just over six months) to transform myself from something of a bed slug into a kick-ass kickboxing champ. I’ve found a couple of agency snaps to illustrate just how gigantic a leap this is going to be (below) - and also as a rather genius way of further distracting myself from the task at hand.

Having finally made it back out of bed, I am now about to embark on my first exercise of the year: a session at my gym’s swimming pool. I know this is hardly the most momentous of starts but it’s meant to gently ease me into action ahead of my first real task, which will take place on Monday night – my first kickboxing class! I’m already several weeks behind everyone else on the course and no doubt my lack of practise will be transparent – but at least it will be a start. AT LAST. And you’ll be glad to know I’ve already worked out my soundtrack for working out. Britney, of course. Because you can’t beat a bit of Britters for sheer, get-down-with-it motivation. And my other gym tune staples, Black Eyed Peas’ Mas Que Nada and Basement Jaxx’s Do Your Thing. They’ve got exactly the right sort of oomph in the baseline to somehow inspire you to move. So that’s music sorted. Next stop: actual moving. Wish me luck for Monday…

January 11: mission impossible?

I may as well come clean on this from the beginning.

I chose kickboxing as my Olympics challenge sport not because of some latent skill for powering my legs or throwing my body into improbable positions at the drop of a hat. I chose it because it sounds cool. And it sounds hardcore. When you tell people you’re taking up kickboxing they immediately act impressed (or for those who know me better, bemused). It elicits a raised eyebrow or two, usually accompanied by a once-over appraisal as if to say, “I didn’t know you were capable of it…” Which of course, is the salient point. For although I’ve really enjoyed telling people I’m taking up kickboxing and musing it over – comfortably reassuring myself that this is my get-fit solution nailed for the New Year – I haven’t given much thought to actually doing it. Up until now, I’ve been content to daydream of the kickboxing pro I’ll miraculously morph into in six months’ time; only as this challenge begins in earnest has it dawned on me that I’ll physically have to put some effort in…

And what an effort it will be. A London-based kickboxing expert I spoke to last week assured me that getting a red belt by the Olympics was possible. Perhaps he wouldn’t have been quite so confident if he knew I was the least flexible, least sporty and least physically feisty person I know. This isn’t an exaggeration. For as long as I can remember, I have been unable to touch my toes and have been deeply envious of those people who can effortlessly shine in more combative sports (school games of hockey usually found me running away from the ball). I know that kickboxing is more to do with physical strength and discipline, but the fact that I’d put literally no money on myself in a fight situation surely doesn’t bode well either. So this is going to be a challenge for me in the biggest sense of the word. Theoretically I will work my way through two other belts before getting to the red one, will be tested on my technique and fitness (currently languishing in the below zero levels) and may even try my hand (or should that be legs?) in ominous-sounding “touch contact” situations.

What am I hoping to get out of it? Besides branding myself a pro at kickboxing (naturally), some kind of genuine ability to muster power from my body would be nice – plus, I’m hoping that the two weekly kickboxing classes I have planned on top of personal training will provide me with the kind of toned, lean physique I have always yearned after but never achieved in a lifetime of skipped gym classes and vast consumption of all things chocolate, pizza and red wine. Beyond the Olympics I may well go back to my life of complete physical ineffectualness and all-round laziness: but in the meantime watch this space - because one rather scared and completely inexperienced person is about to enter the high-calibre world of kickboxing. I’ll keep you updated with my progress, in all its humiliating detail, here…

Tags: sports, blog, Olympics, challenge

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