Fans of Mixed Martial Arts and self-confessed fitness addicts we thought a submission wrestling class at Hooks gym the home of London Shootfighters would pose a challenge...but not too much of one. How very wrong we were!
London Shootfighters is a premier mixed martial arts school in West London run & owed by Alexis Demetriades & Paul Ivens. The duo aim to replicate their successful business formula at their new sister site in Oxford and have plans for another base in Manchester.
The fellas's tried and tested expertise of the fight game and the power of their brand brings some of the world's top talents knocking on their door.
Their current stable includes young guns John "The Hitman" Hathaway (15-1) and newcomer Michael "Venom" Page (1-0).
John, a former rugby player from Brighton is carving himself a very, very impressive career in the UFC with his most notable win against the experienced Diego "The Dream" Sanchez. Michael, a former kickboxing champion dominated his first professional fight with the showmanship and flair of a young Anderson Silva.
Now back to that submission wrestling class. Buoyed by the fight imagery and motivational phrases like "Greatness Is Within" adorning the gym's walls the pleasantries and hand shakes were executed with a touch of unusual vigour on our part. The warm up and stretch session led by another promising fighter, Esi Muradi, soon shook off the bravado and prepared us for wrestling drills 101 courtesy of Mr Ivens.
Various clinches, takedowns and basic arm bars were the order of the day and broken down well enough for even wet behind the ears pupils like ourselves to master. Once these moves were firmly drilled and understood some very intense wrestling sparring was introduced to end the session.
Co-ordination, rhythm, timing, memory as well as strength, agility & cardio were taxed and paid in full. Our hour and a half introduction to submission wrestling was as much a challenge for the brain as it was for the body.
Before we got to Hooks Gym we had bags of respect & appreciation for the fighter & the fighter's IQ and by home time we had even more. The plan had been to sample the fully equipped gym afterwards but with dizzy head and pounding heart the vast free weights, top quality machines and wealth of cardio equipment was left to be sampled for another day.
Thanks to Alexis (pictured below, right), Paul and the rest of the London Shootfighters crew for the welcome and to friend of fizzYcaL T.J. Kennedy (pictured below, left) of Hybrid Fighting Method who came with us.
Now we know what to expect we'll be back and better prepared for round two!
Interested in joining a class? Checkout session times and club info here.
