Welcome to Equilibrium Kickboxing Academy

Why Kickboxing? My journey

As a child I was inspired by martial arts stars such as Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon and Jean Claude Van Damme in films like Bloodsport and Kickboxer. I tried a more traditional martial art when I was 10 years old but I struggled with the rigidity of the style. Some elements such as Kata and a lot of fresh air work I didn’t find very interesting. I didn’t feel like I was learning the type of martial arts that I’d seen on the movie screen and I wasn’t really enjoying it. I soon stopped training and my martial arts journey felt like it had come to a bit of a premature end.

It wasn’t until I turned 19 that my interest in martial arts piqued again. I discovered a kickboxing club that my cousin already attended, he was an orange belt. Unsure what to expect I went along to the club, after the first lesson I can honestly say I was totally blown away and I was instantly hooked. It was a club where the techniques being taught were really exciting and inspiring. The method of training was predominantly working in pairs using equipment such as focus pads and strike shields so you could feel the feedback. I had some catching up to do as I was ungraded and the most experienced members were orange belts, I pushed myself hard in training and always tried to do what the advanced groups were doing. I progressed quickly and my fitness, flexibility and stamina followed suit and started to catch up where I didn’t miss a single class or opportunity to grade for the next belt. Within a year I was training alongside the more advanced students of the class and still pushing myself hard fully committed.

The black belt which I so desperately wanted to achieve was in sight. I had a few competitions under my belt and was starting to see some success there. I also became a trainee instructor and starting teaching my own classes. Within the next 2 years my black belt was achieved and I was over the moon with excitement. The ambition didn’t stop there however, it actually marked the start of the journey. Further Dan grades were ahead of me but also the joy of teaching and competing kept me interested. I always felt like I was learning something new and pushing the limitations of my body. Also to hear that I was inspiring others made me immensely proud, I wanted to pass this on to future generations.

Fast forward to today and I am in my mid-forties recently moved to the area of Bude in Cornwall. I felt the desire to set up a kickboxing club and give something back to the community of Bude and the surrounding areas. I want to inspire more people to fall in love with martial arts and more specifically kickboxing as I have.

So Why Equilibrium?

I chose the name Equilibrium  for several reasons, balance in kickboxing is really important, not just to be able to kick without falling over but also to keep calm in your mind and your body, to have fun and reduce stress levels. It is also a balance of power, speed, movement and technique that comes together to master each skill and technique.

So why choose us for you or your child?

I believe that kickboxing should be accessible for all. We are a family run club with a family friendly atmosphere. The classes are well structured and students with a good level of commitment make very good progress and soon realise the many benefits of training. We use the very best quality equipment in our classes that is always kept up to date and in great condition. All techniques are broken down into simple steps when taught that make it easy to pick up and learn. The challenge then comes in perfecting the technique in terms of speed, power and technical execution.

Each class will include a suitable warm up relevant for the class. There will be drills that promote different aspects of training and always at least 2 elements that will be focused around what is required for the students’ next grading level. By the time students are ready to take their black belts they will have learnt every core kickboxing technique required and be a really good martial artist.

Become an instructor

For some students there may be an interest to become instructors themselves. We offer the best quality training so that you could become a part of the Equilibrium Instructors team. We also offer a junior leader programme for teenagers to be able to assist in the juniors class and start their instructor journey. The experience of being a junior leader will not only prepare the student to become a student of the future but we also tend to see a boost in confidence. This can support them at school and in later life.

Sparring and Competition

For some students there may be a desire for sparring and competition. If there is enough interest for this a separate sparring and competition class will be provided where drills and specific scenario training will be provided to prepare students for competition. This would all be done safely ensuring the equipment used is safe, any sparring is fully supervised 1 instructor per sparring bout and all contact is closely monitored. There are specific competitions on the open circuit that I would sanction for the club to participate in to ensure the best quality organisation, judges and referees. Most of the competition we would enter is known as light continuous sport kickboxing. Children can also take part in this class if interested and would be closely monitored and certain additional rules in place to protect from any chance of injury.