Unfortunately the hall at Queen Eleanor’s school will not be available the last Wednesday of this month (the 31st). Sensei Jamie is looking for an alternative hall close by so please stay tunes for updates.
Karate experts may find this somewhat of a no brainer (excuse the pun), but a group of scientists has made the effort to prove the point using some state of the art imaging technology. It turns out that karate training doesn’t only affect the body, but it also affects the brain.
An article published in the Science Daily describes the findings:
“Researchers from Imperial College London and UCL (University College London) found that differences in the structure of white matter – the connections between brain regions – were correlated with how black belts and novices performed in a test of punching ability.
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“The study, published in the journal Cerebral Cortex, looked for differences in brain structure between 12 karate practitioners with a black belt rank and an average of 13.8 years’ karate experience, and 12 control subjects of similar age who exercised regularly but did not have any martial arts experience.
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“Brain scans showed that the microscopic structure in certain regions of the brain differed between the two groups. Each brain region is composed of grey matter, consisting of the main bodies of nerve cells, and white matter, which is mainly made up of bundles of fibres that carry signals from one region to another. The scans used in this study, called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), detected structural differences in the white matter of parts of the brain called the cerebellum and the primary motor cortex, which are known to be involved in controlling movement.
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“The karate black belts were able to repeatedly coordinate their punching action with a level of coordination that novices can’t produce. We think that ability might be related to fine tuning of neural connections in the cerebellum, allowing them to synchronise their arm and trunk movements very accurately.”
A message for Sensei Jamie:
“Regretfully, the next two session in Guildford (1st & 8th August) are cancelled. This is due to the school not being able to make the hall available because of staff holiday. I was only informed last week whilst abroad on holiday and therefore have been unable to arrange an alternative. If you pay by standing order I will be contacting you shortly after my return to discuss a refund. Irrespective, if you would like to maintain your training regimen you have the following options:
I appreciate that this may cause some annoyance, however it is also a great opportunity for our karatekas to experience other instructors. Both Sensei Austin from Egham who is 5th dan and Sensei Jerome from Sutton who is 4th dan are accomplished instructors and I am sure you will enjoy training with them.
Again, I apologise for any inconvenience.
Yours,
Jamie.”
And in more ways than one. Whilst it is very unlikely that you will ever get to use karate in anger an article published on the BBC today based on scientific research claims that “a lack of exercise is now causing as many deaths as smoking across the world”. The article also mentions that “… people in higher income countries were the least active with those in the UK among the worst as nearly two thirds of adults were judged not to be doing enough.”
So, why not do something about it? If you want to get active and fit start karate today. Woking and Guildford are not close enough? Why not try Egham or Sutton or one of the many KUGB clubs closest to you. Know someone who is maybe not as active as they should be? Use the buttons below to share this post and maybe karate could save their lives too.
If you pay by Standing Order to train twice a week you can now also train at Egham Karate Club at no extra cost. Now for just £45 a month you can train up to four times a week. That’s less than £3 a session!
If you pay by standing order you can now save even more:
Family discount – second family member pays half price. So two family members training twice a week will be paying £45 + £22.50 = £67.50. That’s almost half price compared with paying per session.
Introduce a friend and you get a month free membership as soon as they start paying by standing order.
That’s right, just 3 minutes! New research suggests that just three minutes of exercise a week (yes a week) could improve key health indicators. A workout regimen using High Intensity Training (HIT) consisting of just three 20 second bursts three times a week has been shown to be able to dramatically improve Insulin sensitivity and aerobic fitness, both key health indicators. The BBC’s Michael Mosley explore this and other surprising facts about fitness in this article and a Horizon programme – The Truth About Exercise.
On Wednesday, January 25th, the Kenmei Karate Club in Sutton celebrated its first birthday with a special charity event. Sensei Neil Jerome took on the 100-man kumite challenge to raise money for the Smile Train – the KUGB’s current charity appeal. The event, which was streamed live to the world (and watched by a few enthusiasts) also attracted karatekas from Woking Shotokan Karate Club and from Egham Karate Club. Sensei Jerome should be very proud in having raised nearly £600, which will enable more children in developing countries who suffer from a cleft to smile and lead a normal life. Oh, and they had cake too.
