Splits, Punches and Tornado Kicks! New to NFA

[royalJ]

So as the title says I'm new to the forum and new to the Nerd Fitness Academy so like all the others just thought I'd post a hello an introduce myself. So here goes nothing!

Hello, I'm Jack, 20 years old and I'm from the UK near Liverpool. I've been fighting my weight for as long as I can remember, I'm sure you know the story... lose the weight put in on again, halfway through the diet something goes wrong and I give up (hoping NF can give me some accountability and habit making help really.)

The one thing I've always been able to stick with is martial arts, for the most part, did Wing Chun when I was around 7 for 2 years before a falling out with a friend caused it to end. When I was 15 I joined a kung fu club. Fast forward 5 years and I still go to that club twice a week and I'm 6 months away from being a 1st Dan black belt in Lau Gar kung fu. At the time of righting this, I'm currently 222 lbs and its time to change. 
What I guess I'm looking for out of this is some diet and nutrition help alongside the accountability to stick with it and a supportive group to guide me through which I'm told this is. Added to the exercise I already do with kung fu and I'm also doing an hours boxing every week with a friend. I want to start adding some HIIT and when I can afford it some weight training. The plan at the moment is to drop down to 200lbs (I'm 6ft btw) and start adding some lean muscle to what is currently a very fat based frame. 

 

Now on to the other aspects of my title.

As stated I'm an enthusiastic martial artist and have been for some time and with the deadline of my 1st Degree Black sash coming up alongside some other martial arts based events ... looking at you Defence Lab conference and  DL summer camp 2019. I want to improve other things besides my weight like flexibility and learning new techniques.

 

So for the first one; I'm already a pretty flexible guy but its time to get out my comfort zone in that area. So in the next 6 months, in time for my grading, I want to be able to do the splits and increase my flexibility. Anyone who can advise me on stretches to do and good form would be amazing.  so that's the first minor goal in martial arts - To achieve full splits by the time of grading in 6 months. 

 

Secondly, I want to improve my sparring (that's punches) to be able to go consecutive rounds without tiring massively with the end of goal of being able to do the UFC style 5x5 minute rounds - gonna do this through shadowboxing, HIIT on the exercise bike and sparring practice outside of the kwoon when I have a training partner handy.    

Finally and the one that caught most people's eye I would imagine is tornado kicks. I injured myself a few years ago doing jumping kicks and tore the ligament in my ankle as such I've steered clear of complex and somewhat 'flashy' kicks but its time to change that so it time to challenge myself and learn some new more advanced techniques in terms of agility etc. So I'm going to try and learn the tornado kick with the end goal being able to post my progress and the achievement on here and on Facebook. I have no deadline for this as it won't be on the grading and I doubt I'll use it in sparring that much its just a little personal learning base thing for me.          

 

So yeah that's my little introduction... huh not so little really sorry about that I do tend to ramble on abit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Trixie Falsae]

Welcome,  welcome! Bodyweight exercises will get you started if you don't have access to weights.  Many people do well with just bodyweight exercise so you don't have to lift weights, it is just a preference some people have.