Lyons karate club

31/05/2026

Gradings on end of July, date to be confirmed. Kata kihon and kumite all to be covered in class over next few weeks but I urge you to practice outside of class.

27/05/2026

Classes back to normal tomorrow night!

24/05/2026

23/05/2026

In a world where everything seems superficial, where the cult of personality is more important than the worth of a person, it seems that skimming the surface of a martial art is all that is required.
The image below is generic and meant to convey maturity and lifelong study but there are people out there who would sneer at someone like that as being 'past it', and consign him to the scrapheap.
Deep study appears to be a thing of the past and whether this is because things are so accessible but at the same time ephemeral or because its too hard to give that kind of commitment I do not know. I do know its killing true martial arts and all it will leave behind is an ineffective sport oriented mish-mash of nonsense that will gradually be diluted to the point of only being fit for the ring.
I know people will point out exceptions that prove the rule ( i know some myself ) but they are gradually dying out and what or who will replace them?

16/05/2026

Thursday evening we were practicing knife awareness/defence keeping it as real as possible. The discussion initially revolved around concealed weapons, constantly checking location, blading etc. We moved on to ' grab n stab ', whether it was sensible or doable to run 🏃‍♂️ and who was most likely to be a victim of knife crime according to both statistics and anecdotal 'evidence '
We listed money with menaces, gang violence and county lines along with the growing trend for teenagers to carry a blade.
None of the listed apart from the statistically unlikely money with menaces seemed to apply to class members viewed superficially but then today I hear of a guy at a supermarket in Sunderland who casually filled a trolley and walked out. When challenged by security, he pulled a knife! Shoplifters tooled up? Looks like its more applicable than first glance.

14/05/2026

Tonight's senior class will concentrate on grading stuff for first hour including kumite.

14/05/2026

Just watched a defence from a throat grab, and aside from the asinine comments it was all good. Locate the hand and turn/ twist grip off whilst driving rising elbow into the face and knee strike to the groin. But then " this takes his base and sets him up for the takedown " whereupon he scarfs his neck and takes him down for a side control. Made no sense. If this was in the context of 'rolling' then the groin strike was illegal and if in the context of self-defence then from a legal view point he should have legged it after the knee to the groin as anything else is indefensible and from a view point of self-preservation, willingly going to ground is a bad idea.
Or am I missing something?

12/05/2026

Last night was a technical night of advanced kata and bo training and everyone trained hard and enthusiastically but special mention needs to be given to Lucy Harrison who ( technical stuff alert ) during defence and disarm dropped into kosa-dachi , unaware that she had, just knowing it " felt right". That shows me that lessons are being absorbed and acted upon unconsciously. Great stuff Lucy.

08/05/2026

There have been several incidents in Hetton recently of women being approached by 'men' making unwanted advances or being overtly sexual. Two incidents at the doctors surgery prompted management to advise staff to leave work in groups or pairs.
You may believe these are isolated incidents or part of a growing trend but if it happened to you, could you manage the situation?
Lyons karate emphasise situational awareness, de-escalation, diversion tactics and should it be necessary, simple, direct self-defence that works against an assailant bigger and stronger than you.
If you would like to able move around your community with confidence , without fear, contact us now !