How to Avoid Injuries When Training

As with any sport, kickboxing carries a risk of injury if you don't take the proper precautions and don't respect the sport. Most injuries occur if people haven't prepared properly for their training session or if they are not showing adequate respect towards the sport or their partner, and end up hitting too hard or hurting themselves by doing techniques inaccurately. There are a few simple ways to avoid injuries, to ensure that you can continue training safely.

1) Warm up properly
We really can't stress this enough - lauching straight into exercises without warming up properly (and stretching) is dangerous. In the best case scenario, you may just pull a muscle. In the worst case, you could ruin your joints for life. If you turn up for your training on time, you will be taken through a rigorous warm up and stretches, which help maintain your fitness levels as well as getting you ready for the techniques/sparring/working on the punch bags. If you happen to turn up late, your sensei will tell you to do a quick warm up before you join the class - it's imperative that you do this properly, or you risk injuring yourself.

2) Pay attention, and express techniques accurately
There are mistakes that a lot of beginners make, such as hitting with the wrong part of the foot. The techiques in kickboxing are designed to inflict damage to the opponent (if used at full strength) without hurting yourself. Work through techniques slowly at first to ensure that you are hitting with the right part of your body (your sensei will tell you to 'show your weapon' clearly to make sure you're doing this), and if you're unsure of how to do a particular technique then ask!

3) Show respect to your partner and those around you
This does not simply mean bowing and touching gloves. Showing respect to your partner also means not hitting too hard when sparring, not pushing too hard in partnered stretching and generally ensuring that you are not going to injure anybody around you. Good communication is key, but common sense should tell you when you are doing something dangerous. Try to be aware of what's going on around you to avoid falling on/over other people as well.

4) Don't push yourself too hard
As athletes, we often want to push harder than our bodies want to go in order to achieve results, and see muscle ache and mild discomfort as the price we pay. It's important to understand the difference between 'good, normal' pain (such as the dull ache you experience when stretching, or the muscle burn during intense workouts) and 'bad, damaging' pain. If you feel pain in your joints at any point, or sharp pains, ease off whatever you are doing and sit down if you feel the need to. Equally, if you are asthmatic and feel short of breath, don't be afraid to sit down and recharge.

We've recently put up some new punchbags, and it's great to see students really pushing themselves on them. When you first start punching and kicking at full-speed and strength, it's recommended that you wear wrist wraps and build up instead of simply throwing punches as hard as you can to ensure that you build enough strength in your joints to take the power of your strikes.


If you take these precautions, you should be able to kickbox and train for decades without suffering serious injury. Serious sportsmen and women often suffer injuries simply because they are pushing their bodies harder than they want to go - taking good care of yourself entails working out safely, as well as eating and exercising well.

Be a Better Kickboxer in 10 Minutes a Day

To really excel at a sport, you can't just turn up to training once a week and forget about it for the rest of the time. To truely become a master of it, rather than someone that 'goes kickboxing' you need to dedicate yourself to it. That doesn't mean hours of training every single day, and it doesn't mean that it needs to be in your thoughts constantly - you need to rest, and you need to do other things! However, a small amount of daily exercise can help you push yourself further in your training sessions and help you progress faster - whether that's getting your kicks higher, moving faster when sparring or being able to train harder right through to the last minutes of the lesson.

Stretching (2 mins a day)

Kickboxers aren't just strong and fast - you need to be flexible too, otherwise you'll never get your kicks up above the belt. Stretching before bed or during an ad break on tv won't make a huge difference after a day or two, but in a month or two you'll notice that your kicks are getting higher and your body is more supple.


Tabata (4 mins a day)

You've probably read the last post in December on how tabata training can help lose weight and stay in shape. It's quick, but by no means easy. Choose an exercise you need to improve on (such as push ups) and just work on that for a few minutes a day. You'll be amazed at the results.

That Extra Bit (4 mins a day)

This is the easiest part since you don't need to 'set aside' any time to do it. Take the stairs instead of the lift, walk to the next bus or tube stop, walk to the corner shop instead of hopping in the car - basically, take advantage of the daily opportunities to get a bit more exercise.

20 Awesome Martial Arts Quotes

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times - Bruce Lee (you might recognise that one from our website)

Cry in the dojo, laugh on the battlefield - author unknown

Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them - a desire, a dream, a vision. They have to have the skill, and the will. But the will must be stronger than the skill - Muhammad Ali

It's not whether you get knocked down, it's whether you get up - Vince Lombardi

Remember...you're expressing the technique, not doing the technique - Bruce Lee

Five Secrets of Japanese Goju Ryu: Move quickly, sound calm mind, be light in body, have a clever mind and master the basics - Gogen Yamaguchi

An unwillingness to deal forcibly with violence does not equate to moral rectitude - Mary Malmros

1-2 out of every 100 students reach Black Belt and of those only 1 out of every 1,000 achieves his 2nd Dan - Masutatsu Oyama (Sensei Jim at Ultimate Kickboxing is a 3rd Dan)

It's not just self defence, it's about self control, body discipline, and mind discipline and breath techniques. It involves yoga. It involves mediatation. It's an art, not a sport - Elvis Presley

A black belt is nothing more than a belt that goes around your waist. Being a black belt is a state of mind and attitude - Rick English

To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the highest skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the highest skill - Sun-Tsu

The ultimate aim of Karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the perfection of the character of its participants - Gichin Funakoshi

You may train for a long time, but if you merely move your hands and feet and jump up and down like a puppet, learning Karate is not very diffferent from learning a dance. You will never have reached the heart of the matter; you will have failed to grasp the quintessence of karate - Gichin Funakoshi

To be a warrior is not a simple matter of wishing to be one. It is rather an endless struggle that will go on to the very last moment of our lives. Nobody is born a warrior, in exactly the same way that nobody is born an average man. We make ourselves into one or the other - Kokoro

Without knowledge, skill cannot be focused. Without skill, strength cannot be brought to bear and without strength, knowledge may not be applied - Alexander the Great's physician

Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is a true warrior who can master both...and surpass the result - Tien T'ai

We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training - author unknown

Masters of the martial arts believe that a strong body and mind go together - you can't improve one without working on the other - Laura Scandiffio

What ancients called a clever fighter is ont who not only wins, but excels in winning with ease - Sun Tzu

It's better to practice a little than talk a lot - Muso Kokushi

Kickboxing and Street Fights

A lot of people take up martial arts for the self defence aspect - to know that if a situation presents itself, they will be able to hold their own and get out of a fight with minimal injury. Many just take up kickboxing so that they don't feel afraid of potential fights and feel safer walking home at night. Opinions are divided regarding whether or not kickboxing can be applied to fights outside the dojo, but being a kickboxer is bound to be an advantage if you know how to apply your training properly.

To apply kickboxing to a street fight, you need to forget the 'sport' aspects of it, and apply the basic techniques. The primary difference between a sport/competition fight and a street fight are the rules - basically, on the street there are no rules. You may get press ups for swearing, spitting, hitting below the belt or not showing respect to your opponent in the dojo, but in a street fight these things may well help. Once you realise that you're not sparring, you'll also realise that a lot of techniques are simply dangerous in a street fight - spinning hook kicks are likely to land you on the floor if your opponent grabs your leg, kicking above the belt is just foolish unless you're extremely fast and it's unlikely you'll start with your guard up in a proper stance. For a lot of people, these differences alone mean that they can't transfer their knowledge of a fight sport into a real fight.

But once you get past those differences you can really see the advantages of kickboxing. The warm ups and exercise mean that you will be stronger, faster and have more stamina than the average guy down the pub. While stamina may not be much of an advantage as most street fights don't last as long as a competition fight, your speed and your strength will put you at a huge advantage if you apply them properly. A good punch is a good punch, whether it's landing on a pad or someone's nose - the basic techniques of snap punch, reverse punch, rising punch etc, coupled with experience putting them together in quick succession mean you won't waste energy swinging lifeless punches and once you get a hit in, you know how to continue. Sparring will get you used to ducking, weaving and being in a fight situation, so you should be able to evade any attacks more easily.

Finally, one of the major advantages of a martial art is increased confidence. After a while of training, doing thousands of press ups over several months, achieving your next belt and knowing that you have a killer roundhouse punch will boost your confidence, and it shows. The way that you carry yourself, look at people and communicate change with it, so the likelihood of getting in a fight decreases as people go and try to find an easier target.


The ECKA syllabus is largely based on self-defence, as are our competition rules. If you would like to find out more about how kickboxing can help you defend yourself and improve your confidence, go to our website to book into one of our classes in North London.

Pictures of our brand new dojo

**Edited with new information and pictures as we've finished the ground floor**

We've been busy at Ultimate Kickboxing, moving into our new premises. The new schedule kicked off a few weeks ago, with specialised sparring classes and new classes for juniors and adults.We've also created a specialised personal training space in the top floor. If you'd like to book in for a class, or find out about the personal training area, just contact us using the info on the website or the form on this blog.

 The main training hall.

 From outside - still need to get a sign up!

 Speedball area and extra equipment.

 The main hall again

 Hall and seating for parents etc.

 The dojo is 'L-shaped', with the main training area  in one side, and the speedball and equipment area in the other.

 The speedball area.

The personal training space

Our personal training space upstairs has a smith machine and dual cable-pulley maching, as well as freeweights, a swiss ball and other personal training equipment. We're currently on the look-out for a treadmill to add to the collection. If you're interested in hiring a personal trainer here, or in hiring the space for use as a personal trainer, contact us by clicking here.

5 Factors that Win a Fight

We can all spot a good kickboxer when we see one - the techniques come from nowhere, the forms are perfect and you never know what's coming next. There are 5 basic factors that mark a good kickboxer from a great one, and make the difference between winning a losing the competition.

1. Speed

If you can move faster, you can land more techniques - it's fairly simple. Training yourself to get faster also helps you build stamina as you have to push yourself harder and harder on the pads and in sparring sessions to land your punches and kicks faster than before.

2. Stamina

Without stamina, you can't last the entire fight - rounds might sound fairly short at a few minutes, but when you're bouncing, kicking and punching almost every second of them you'll get very worn out if you don't train hard enough. By the third round, fighters are often lowering their guard and hitting slower, which means that a fit fighter can win by gaining points in the third round even if they didn't score as many in the first or second.

3. Unpredictability

If you can't see a technique coming, you can't guard against it. The neater your kicks and punches are, and the faster you are at throwing them, the more points you'll score.

4. Adaptability

Roughly the same as unpredictability, with a slight twist. Most fighters have a particular style, and in serious competitions your opponent and their coaches will study your style. If you can change it to suit your opponent's weaknesses, you're at a clear advantage. Most styles are developed according to the fighter's weaknesses (and playing to their strengths) so to be able to adapt your fighting style you need to have consistent techniques; your punches need to be as good as your kicks, you need to be as good with your left leg as you are with your right and you need to be as fit as you are fast. Being a well-rounded fighter can often win more competitions than being fantastic at one particular technique, but average at the rest.

5. Dedication

Probably the most important factor of all. To be a fast, fit, well-rounded fighter, you need to train hard, and train often. The fighter that wins will be the one that eats right, exercises consistently, takes care of themselves and always pushes themselves beyond their comfort zone. A fighter isn't made in a week or in a class - it's a lifestyle choice.

For information on training and classes, go to Ultimate Kickboxing in North London.

7 Exercises to Improve Your Kicks

A decent kick requires a combination of flexibility, balance and strength. This combination of exercises works on all three to help you kick higher, harder and land safely and ready to throw the next technique.

1. Lateral Stretch

Probably the simplest, but also the most difficult. If you really want to improve your flexibility, you need to stretch every day and push yourself that little bit further each time. With the lateral stretch, simply stand with your feet as far apart as possible and hold your weight there - use your bodyweight to push your legs further apart, and your leg muscles to stop yourself from going further than you're comfortable with.

2. Lunge

A fantastic exercise for building strength - put one leg in front and the other behind with both feet facing forwards. Bend the front knee to at least a 90 degree angle and leg the leg behind drop down, keeping it straight. Go as far down as you can while supporting your weight with your legs. You can either do this as a static exercise, or do sets of lunges.

3. Squat

Stand with your legs shoulder-width apart and bend your knees at a 90 degree angle - ensure that your heels stay on the floor during the exercise. Like the lunge, you can either hold the position or do sets.

4. Leg Lifts

Stand on your hands and knees, keeping your back straight and flat. Raise one of your legs until it is at the same level as your body - don't let it dip lower than that at any point during the set - and lift and lower it for as many reps as you want per set. The key to this exercise is keeping your abs engaged, your back straight and making sure that your leg doesn't dip down too far.

5. Balancing

Like the lateral stretch, this is a fairly simple exercise that is quite difficult for a lot of beginners, Stand up straight, and lift your leg (keeping it straight) until it's at 90 degrees from your body (you need to be able to kick above waist height in kickboxing). As you're lifting your leg, let your body bend to the opposite side so it ends up in line with your leg - it will act as a counter-weight and keep you balanced. Unlike the squats and lunges, the point to this exercise isn't to strengthen your muscles, but to help you balance and teach you how to use your own body weight to help you lift your legs higher and stay balanced. It's a good idea to experiment with how high you can lift your leg and stay balanced. Make sure all your movements are slow and fluid, and your supporting foot is steady.

6. Multiple Kicks

Use a chair or table to balance for this one if you're not confident enough to kick without. These kicks don't need to be very fast, so take your time with them. Do a series of kicks without lowering your foot - to start with, try a waist-height front kick, roundhouse kick, chest-height front kick and then a side kick, and then lower your foot. Push yourself to kick higher each time, and ensure that you clearly show which part of your foot you are striking with.

7. Leg Swing

While holding on to a chair/table/door handle, keep your legs straight and swing one of your legs sideways away from your body as high as you can. Repeat this 20 times on each leg - you should go higher at the end than you do at the beginning.


Ultimate Kickboxing - North London