Hobbs' 12 week challenge

[Hobbs]

Yeah, Krav Maga defo goes for effectiveness. It's pure self defense. Loved the trainer, a small muscular black guys who looks deadly as fuck, but actually very gentle and patient. Class a bit too far away though.
No kickboxing nearby so far, but met a local trainer who could start a class soon if we recruited a few more people.
No muay thai either.

I'm looking for some something local and mostly geared toward fitness.
Self defense is a bonus, as I haven't been in a fight for about 20 years ahah.

Also had my first class of karate tonight, loved it! It has no more than 8 students, and it's next door to work.
I think I'll go for that for now, and keep an eye on kickboxing.

Rob - yeah I enjoy it, my muscles not that much ahah. I haven't gone to very high weights/very short contraction time yet, I'm more between 10 secs and 30 secs, trying things and see how it goes. Works very well for quads on hamstring curl machine for instance. Feels odd to get out of breath while not moving

Say, how's Wing Chun ? There's also a class near home. Ta.

[Hobbs]

Hey everyone,

Long time since last update, but I haven't been idle

Martial art:

Got into karate and enjoying it.
1 session / week which is not much so I also practice katas at home and punches/kick on the heavy bag at the gym.
Very good cardio work out too, those tired of running/swimming/cycling can give it a go for an solid action fix!
With karate - and probably just any other martial art too - you also learn quite a bit about anatomy and body mechanics, the learning curve is HUGE.
Anyway, I want to go up to the black belt now.
First graduation sessions coming up in a couple of weeks, so hopefully I get rid of that horrible white belt ahah.

Also starting Brisith martial art training next Monday.
It's a mix of kickboxing and muay thai.
Looking forward to that to.
http://www.britishmilitarymartialarts.co.uk/

Running

I had planned to do a half-marathon with my gf (hey :p) in a fancy costume, but she dropped out of the race, so I decided to try for a personal best instead.
Did 4 sessions of hills/speed work + two 18.5 k to get ready, but even with that if proved to be a tough one I was already knackered halfway but managed to hang on and keep going, which I'm quite proud of
So improved my PB by 30 secs and finished in 1.44.42

The good news in that my knees were perfectly fine.
I reckon recovery was due to a mix of:
- regular stretching
- regular foam rolling
- core exercises recommended by physiotherapist: quadruped and lying quadruped
- strength training (hello squats and hamstring curls)
- mixing-up running with other types of cardio (spinning / swimming)
- taking running up gradually.

Will post about weight training a wee bit later.