A slightly longer blog than usual but I am sure you will see why. This write up is from a full intense high altitude training week in Lanzarote and highlights that it's not all 'fun n sun'.
Although Cris and I instructed together on the course I took part in every activity which I believe serves as a great inspiration to any students I teach.


Thursday 4th June

Arrived at Arrecife airport, Lanzarote, at 8pm and after getting out luggage and then straight to Club La Santa. We arrived about 10pm and got checked with the students that came with us who are all sharing an apartment which was like a big brother house, perfect for sports teams. We got an apartment to ourselves as we are instructors. We met up with the other people from Essex who were part of the course and had a little drink (water or juice of course) and then off to bed as we had a very busy week ahead!


Friday

We were up and at breakfast for 8am as we had the welcome meeting where we saw who was on the course and what experience they all had. There was a guy from Germany, two from Norway, one from Denmark and 15 from England and they had all had at least one year's kickboxing experience which was good as we could then run an intermediate course. They received their t-shirt, water bottle and a pair of handwraps along with some safety instructions and the timetable. The first lesson was today at 10am.

The first lesson was a basic movement and footwork lesson so we could asses exactly what level they were at and to lure them into a false sense of relaxation! The second session was a very basic padwork session but it got your heart and lungs working well especially in the heat and at high altitude. Leif and I did a demo just to show how all techniques fit together and boy was it hard on our lungs!


Saturday

We met for breakfast at 8 and then got ready for the extra training part of the course which was optional for anyone on the course but compulsory for Luke who was taking his third Dan all this week. Throughout the week Luke will have to complete the extra training all the course training and one hour of technical training, every day for six days (a total of 5 hours training per day).

The run was 5km around the track, it wasnt a race but you went at your own pace most people finished between 25 and 27 minutes, apart from one guy who did it in 20 minutes!

None of the kickboxers profess to be top runners but as long as they keep bettering their times then that's a great goal and inspiration. It was straight on to the course and it was an application lesson working the ropes and movement etc.


Sunday

Today was our swimming day we started at 8am and swam 1km which is 20 lengths of an Olympic swimming pool. We got dried and went for breakfast and then to the ring to start our course.

After the course we all chilled out by the pool and swam in the leisure pool as it was so hot today.

The course today was the first circuit training. We worked with partners and had bag work stations, core work, focus mitt work, sprints, running, plyometric stations and power stations. This station was like what they do in rugby with the rhino pads and pushing the pad holder back. Each station was for two minutes and it lasted just over one hour. We then did some good fitness work and a good cool down.


Monday

We started the day off with a swim and again it was for 1km and the only rule was you had to try to beat your first time and everyone did it.

The course was a blocking and movement lesson we had our pads on and worked shin blocks, evasions etc we also introduced knees to the lesson. A lot of the students were from a boxing or kickboxing background so knees didnt come naturally to them so here is where we spent a bit of time teaching the various knees.

The evening session Professor Dave Terry and his wife Adele took a Ju-Jitsu lesson showing locks and chokes from attacks and after the lesson Adele took us through some breathing techniques to relax out body and cool us down. This evening there was a good entertainment show on in the square, it was called African footsteps show where they balanced on the side of chairs and on each other it was very skilful and very entertaining.


Tuesday

Today we started with a big sprint circuit where we sprinted 100m as fast as you could then ran back to the start line then sprinted 90m and ran back to start the 80 etc right down to 10m. You did it with partners just so you had someone to gage your pace on. We then got the pads out and spread out around the track and each pad holder had a different technique eg. Round kick, jab and cross etc. one person started and they had to do 50 of each technique and then run to the next pad. There were 12 stations and it was real hard work!

This morning's session was a re-cap of yesterday's class plus onto more advanced techniques and onto clinch and working in the clinch this is physically hard as well as mentally as you have someone elses body weight to move around.

I told everyone to have a chill out afternoon as this evenings session was going to be a killer circuit.

The circuit was a pure pad work lesson but all of the techniques were for speed and to get your heart racing after two minutes. I gave them a fitness exercise to do like squat thrusts, burpees, tuck jumps etc and then it was the other person's go.

After 10 different techniques and exercises I gave them some partner exercises to do where the partner pushed them to the limit but then it was the other person's go to push them! They all worked really hard so I made sure they had a very good cool down.


Wednesday

Today was the last day of training and we were doing two sessions in one. The class was based around fitness to begin and re -apping what they had learnt over the week and then we did a solid hour of padwork for power basic jab, cross, hook, uppercut, round kicks.

We said our goodbyes to everyone and invited everyone out to the Chinese in the village this evening as a celebration and to find out if Luke had passed his third Dan black belt.

As it was the last day the extra activity was races on the beach it was hard work but a lot of fun too!

We went to get ready for the Chinese meal and pack out cases ready for tomorrows departure.

At the Chinese we had a table for 25 and when we had ordered the food we announced that Luke had passed his grading with a first class pass. He was over the moon and the celebrations began! It was a good night, plenty was eaten and drunk!


Thursday

We had our room as long as we wanted and we chilled out by the pool as we were being picked up at 3pm. We said our goodbyes to everyone as they were going back home.

We were going to spend another week in Puerto del Carmen where Cris and I holidayed and I trained another three times at the clubs we now have great relationships with over there.