Hi Nick
Well, I've not been with Geoff since pre-war days, well, maybe Pre-Gulf war, but I see what you mean.
I started training with Geoff when I was 12, and back then it was a traditional Shotokan Karate class, but even back then there was something all together more tough and brutal about the training than most other classes I came across later on.
So the sparring at the time was quite traditional in it's techniques, lots of kicking, sweeps, heavy straight punching, etc.
Very soon though, as I started to progress up the grades, the class started to change from trad karate to incorporating alot more boxing.
As a result our sparring and fighting changed, our stances changed to much shorted stances, different guard positions.
We still dabble with trad karate competitions but quickly left them behind as we usually got disqualified for hook punching or not using enough 'control'.
Fighting was still quite Karate though, we still kicked alot in our fighting, although the hands became much more predominant.
Then, Geoff went off and started wrestling and Judo, which he brought back to the club, along with some of the best instructors in the business.
Our art changed again then, to very much an all-ranges type of art. And as is always the case, when you discover something new, that tends to become the major part of your training whilst the other stuff takes a kind of back seat. So our fighting then became very ground focused, allowing us to use our Judo and other wrestling arts on the ground.
The Animal Day footage from way back then would demonstrate that. Whilst it is true that most fights end up on the ground if they go past the first few seconds, we were all quite keen to hit the floor - just because, at that time, we were all heavily into that and starting to really enjoy it.
Having said that, we were all still just beginning with the wrestling arts so our skills level, looking back, is very very basic.
Again, as we moved on, we started to focus more on anti-grappling and how not to end up on the floor.
Moving to present day, our training has changed dramatically again because our training now focuses alot more on the metaphysical protection and how we can use our physical training to benefit us metaphysically and spritually.
I want to be able to defend myself against ALL things that can be negative to me, not only the guy who wants to beat my head in on the train, but also the stresses of work that want to give me ulcers, the train wreck of broken marriage that leaves you in a depressed heap, the cripping fear of failure and/or success that can stop you trying new things and following your dreams.
Physical training can help all of this, and so our training has moved on considerably to enable that.
Just look back over some of the old videos and see how even our shapes have changed. In the Animal Day videos we were quite heavy, quite thick set, I personally moved up to 15.5 stone when I was wrestling and working the door lots - because that all helped with the heavy, gritty, type of fighting we were doing.
Now we're leaner (well - a little bit anyway), stripping back the fat just the same as stripping back the metaphysical weight that holds us all down mentally and spiritually.
I may have digressed slightly - apologies for that - but hope some of this makes sense
Take care mate - I'll let you know when the new book is ready - typesetter still fighting with my pictures at the moment
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