So the gym I go to has a Karate class on Wednesday nights. I've always done martial arts but I was never that bothered about Karate. It's free though so I figure why not and go along after I'm done.

The first half was cool. He was talking about using his Karate block stuff to block knives, which is a pretty bad idea but it was all kind of fun and worked you out in a cool way that was pretty new.

He also had this very domineering authoritative attitude which is kind of unpleasant, but I chalk this up to tradition. Respect, bow to your sensei and all that.

Then about an hour in everyone gets gloves and shin pads on ready to spar. He gives me a quick run down of the rules. No punching the face, just body shots. Kicking's fine everywhere but kees and groin. Kees are fine, no elbow. Light contact.

Now I've done Muay Thai for a few years now and a bit of kickboxing before that, so I'm pretty used to sparring. The only weird thing is the no punching to the face thing, which is a bit hard to adjust to. So naturally I'm a bit better than the other new guys, I make an effort to go light, and let them get in with a few shots.

I spar with the more advanced guys, a brown belt, and some guy who keeps talking aout a tournament he did at the weekend. I hold my own pretty well against both. I catch one of their kicks and knock them down muay thai style. They were fun and cool, good to spar with.

By now I've sparred with like 5 or 6 people, and my cardio's not great now so I'm pretty gassed. Out of nowhere the instructor asks me to partner up with him. He's not been sparring at all until now. I'm in 12 oz gloves, he's in 4 oz MMA gloves.

Turns out he wasn't planning on sparring with me. He's fucking fighting me. He wasn't much bigger than me, and I know what full force feels like on a guy that size. He wasn't pulling punches at all. I'm tired and not used to the rules, and he basically batters me. I knock him down at one point, he gets up and back kicks me in the throat. Then a minute later he does it again. He keeps this shit up, hammering away my my shoulder and battering me in the thigh right till the end. I bow out at the end , and head out, confused and pissed off

Thanks to this I've got a big cut on the right side of my neck, a massive bruise on my thigh and a big bruise and a shit load of little graze cuts on my shoulder.

I haven't got a fucking clue what was going through this guy's mind. Was he annoyed at me for going too hard with the beginners? Unlikely, and even if I did bad way to handle it. Was he just trying to put me in my place? More likely.

I've been to loads of different martial arts classes in my life and I've never once seen something so stupid and unprofessional.

Avoid the Karate classes at Tokei London Bridge like the plague.

Sorry to hear that mate. The guy sounds like a psycho. I tried boxing for a while when I was younger but nobody was getting hurt in sparring. The trainers used really look after new guys.

Yeah man. I've been injured sparring before but that was because of accidents, it was never the trained just deciding to beat the fuck out of you. I'm not hurt bad or anything I'm just mad about it. Posting this everywhere I can pretty much.

Shit dude that's 1 messed up sensei. Got to wonder what the hell he was thinking! Stamping his authority like a hardcore drill sergeant.

Was this a lesson you had to pay for?

Sort of. I pay to use the gym there, but for a few quid extra a month you can do the evening martial arts classes they have there. I mostly got it for the wrestling


Yeah, there's no way in hell I'd ever train with that guy again. I also told the guys who run the gym that they need to tighten up on safety in their classes. Sparring with head kicks, 4 oz gloves and no gumshields is a recipe for disaster.

And yeah, good idea. I'll stick it up on there.

I'd be tempted to return with a metal baseball bat. And yes I know there's a possibility he could still kick my shit in, so in that case, a crossbow.

I've got this vision in my head now of the next London forum meet involving us all getting tooled up and heading down to this gym.

Update on this:

I'm not tempted to go at him with anything. I even kept to his rules when this happened, despite the temptation to elbow him in the face. Just because he's an unprincipled prick doesn't mean I should be,

It turns out this guy's a well known arsehole. My Krav Maga instructor read this and kicked off. She has a lot of issues with this guy. It turns out he's one of the owners of this gym, and has been a prick to her from the start. The minute I find out that's he's got a stake in the gym I cancel my membership. It's a shame because there's a lot of people there I get on with but I'll be damned if he beats me up and takes my money too. She also gives me the email address of one of the other owners to make a formal complaint, and find out the details of the guy's karate association to complain to them too.

I send in a formal complaint, which reads like my post on here but sans swearing and with some safety concerns thrown in. I get this reply a day later:


Pretty weak, and they can fuck off if they think I'm going to get my Krav maga instructor in trouble.

I get a call today from one of the personal trainers from the gym who I know pretty well. He asks what happened and I tell him. He says he's sorry that happened and says something along the lines of:


I say:


There's apparently serious tension round there right now. The karate guy knows it was the Krav instructor who helped me out, and she's a worried he might just cancel all her lessons for revenge.

It won't matter soon though. My Krav instructor is looking to set up her own gym and just sent me this:


Should be opening round December.

Oh, and also...She's taking me on as an assistant instructor. £50 an hour plus whatever I make from private lessons. So it's all worked out. I'm so amped for that job.

Seems like that other guy thinks he's got a big "untouchable" sticker slapped on his forehead because of his stakes in the place.


I'd have done the same, cancelling the membership. Maybe if a few complaints come raining in then they might get their fingers out of their arseholes and kick the guy out.


Anyways, good luck with the new gym dude!

Yeah well done. You have to live by your values. Sounds like that lady is doing that too.

These pricks shouldn't be rewarded.

A problem I had with an office bully led to me making the best carreer move of my life....serendipity.

The best revenge is living well.