Adults and teens from fourteen, pads and bags, controlled sparring for those who want it, Monday and Wednesday evenings
Kickboxing
Kickboxing for adults and teens from fourteen, Monday and Wednesday at 7pm and Friday at 6pm, with Rhys Evans: punches, kicks, knees and combinations on pads and bags, conditioning, and controlled sparring only for those who choose it. The fittest hour in the building and a proper martial art, not an aerobics class with gloves on.
Kickboxing is the class people come to for fitness and stay in for the technique. It is an hour of real striking, taught properly from the stance up, on pads held by a partner and on the bags, with the conditioning built in rather than bolted on. Sparring exists for those who want it and is never compulsory.
Sessions are an hour: ten minutes of skipping and mobility, twenty of technique (the jab-cross, the round kick, the teep, the knee, the defences that go with them), twenty of pad work in pairs building combinations, and ten of bag rounds or conditioning. Rhys teaches the defence with the attack every time, because a kickboxer who cannot cover is just a target, and partners swap holding and striking so everyone learns to hold pads well, which is half the skill.
Controlled sparring is on Friday at 6pm for members who have trained for at least three months and asked to join it: light contact, full protective kit, matched by size and experience, two-minute rounds with Rhys on the clock and the authority to stop any round. Nobody spars on a Monday or a Wednesday, and nobody is ever pressured to spar at all; about a third of the kickboxers do.
The kickboxing grading syllabus runs alongside, with coloured shorts stripes instead of belts, for members who want a structure to work towards. Gradings are twice a year and optional. Teens from fourteen train with the adults with parental consent and do not spar with adults.
For the first month the club lends gloves and wraps; after that a pair of 14oz gloves (£30, we stock them) and, for the Friday session, shin pads, a mouthguard and a groin guard or chest guard. Train in a T-shirt and shorts, barefoot on the mats.
What is included
- Monday and Wednesday 7pm, an hour; sparring on Friday 6pm
- Technique from the stance up: punches, kicks, knees, combinations and defence
- Pad work in pairs and bag rounds every session
- Sparring optional, after three months, matched by size, full kit
- An optional grading syllabus with stripes, twice a year
- Club gloves and wraps lent for the first month
What it costs
£45 a month for every kickboxing session, £60 for everything, or £9 a session. Gloves £30, shin pads £25; club gloves lent for the first month. No joining fee and no contract. The timetable has every session with its spaces and the memberships side by side; the gradings page has the dates, the places left and the belt ladder.
Questions about kickboxing
Will I get hit?
Not unless you choose the Friday sparring, and even then lightly, in full kit, against someone your size. Monday and Wednesday are pads and bags only. You will hold pads for a partner, which is a workout of its own.
Is it a good way to get fit?
It is the best way we know, because you stop noticing the fitness and start noticing the technique. Expect to be wrecked after the first two sessions and fine by the fourth. Members routinely lose a stone in a term without trying to.
Can women do kickboxing here?
Yes, and about forty per cent of the class are women. There is also a women-only self-defence course run by Ffion six times a year, which is a good first step for anyone nervous about a mixed class.
Your first session is free. Bring a T-shirt and joggers.
Tell us who is training, how old they are and the discipline you are curious about, and we ring back the same evening with a session that has space. Train barefoot on the mats, ask the instructor anything afterwards, and decide then. Or ring the club.