Mae-Geri & Anarchie

I'm so close the the black belt I can't believe it. When I started this blog in 2015 I was just going back to martial arts after a lifelong stop because of shitty circumstances, first through savate, then american kickboxing, until I fell in love with kyokushin in 2021 after coming back from COVID. I would have never thought I'd attend such a physical, hard class 4 times a week, including saturday mornings, but here I am now about to test for the brown belt (which means the black belt is in about 2 years, if everything goes right). I wish 10-year old me could see current me.

I would have never guessed bare knuckle would get so addictive too. It's hard to go back to gloves now, the feel is just SO DIFFERENT. I used to be afraid for my hands since I'm a musician, but the reality is much safer than I thought and holy shit is it exhilarating. Nothing tops a bare knuckle round in terms of adrenaline and fun. I just wish I was better at sparring (I really suck haha)

Not to mention it brought me to compete for the first time and I even got to train in Los Angeles when I visited my then girlfriend there. Beginning kyokushin in 2021 has been one of the best decisions in my life.

I'm still training, harder than ever. I flunked my test for 2nd kyu / brown belt last january, mostly because I wasn't there at all regarding health, and also because my shihan views 2nd and 1st kyu as the hardest / most demanding. I'm trying again in late june. This is the first time I don't pass a kyu test since I started kyokushin in 2021, so I'm not too worried about the future. Gotta get that brown belt in June.

I'm not doing any tournament this year, again because of health concerns. I did help with setting up the Open de France in Lyon last february and took a bunch of pictures that I might post here ; a bunch of fighters from my dojo were there and did some stellar fights, I'm half proud and half scared of them now haha (seriously, that one white belt who joined this year did an incredible job for his first tournament. Placed 3rd against much much stronger opponents). I want to focus on getting better and on technique / stamina.