Kaizen Academy
The Full Story
Classes
We offer Shotokan Karate and Kickboxing/Muay Thai sessions. While both are considered striking arts they both have elements of grappling and also have distinct differences in the their methods, philosophies and applications. The differences they have compliment each other well however, and we believe the two arts together create a well rounded understanding of striking and how it can interact with standing grappling.
Karate
"The Ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of it's participants." - Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan Karate.
Shotokan Karate was the first style of Karate to be adopted in mainland japan and is the most widely practiced style of Karate across the world.
Karate was originally developed as a martial art to help practitioners defend themselves against one or multiple attackers. It utilizes a wide variety of strikes, sweeps and locks to subdue an attacker as quickly as possible. As the art grew and developed the sporting element was introduced. But like many combat sports safety protocols had to be adhered to, removing a lot of what made karate effective in the first place.
Our classes predominantly focus on traditional, self-defence training, following a structured programme designed to progressively develop effective techniques that can be used quickly and under pressure.
This does not mean we do not value the sporting/competitive side of karate (Sensei Tom is highly accomplished in this regard winning medals at national, european and world championships) we just see the need to differentiate between the two and know that not everybody is looking to compete and so offer a separate class for competition karate.
Kickboxing & Muay Thai
At Kaizen Academy we use the term Kickboxing as an umbrella term for combat sports that mainly focus on kicking and punching. The two main rule sets we focus on in our sessions are K-1 and Muay Thai. Professional K-1 rules allow kicks, punches and knees to the legs, body and head and Muay Thai also allows elbows, clinching as well as sweeps and throws.
Classes are kept fun and light-hearted, members are encouraged to push themselves while also looking after their training partners.
