“Train for life” The story behind Xin dojo

My martial art journey began in London as a teenager. Unfortunatley Like many teenagers I had dropped out of school and was engaging in all kinds of mischief, drugs and deliquent behaviour. 

I started training in amateur boxing and Chinese kickboxing as a way to find positive focus. I got obsessed with it quite quickly, gave up drugs, and just trained all the time. Everybody thought I had gone crazy! One day my coach recommended to train in a camp. So at 18 I moved to China to train full time in Shaolin. I had no idea what it would lead to but I was young and it was just better than my london life at that time.
I learned a lot training in those camps. The grind of training six hours a day six days a week. Living in the mountains, smashing sandbags, sparring, stretching on a tree, lifting rocks, pushing to the limit, meditating and then doing it all over again. It was really tough but it transformed me. I came out of there and found a job in Beijing. I didn’t really know what to do with this martial art skill though. So I decided to try fighting and went to Thailand.

At 22 I spent almost a year training in Thailand. In total Competed in Muaythai professionally six times and amateur boxing once. The training was brutal and the fights were tough but the experience was valuable. Little did I know the experiences in Asia would be influential in building the Xin dojo.

At 23 an unexpected twist of fate happened. I returned to Uk to start a sport science degree and unfortunately injured by back while training. It was a pretty bad injury that required surgery. This was one of the hardest times in my life as the doctors told me I would never be Able to train again. Motivated by the injury I delved deep into my study of physiology, biomechanics , nutrition and neuroscience. Fortunately I was able to use the knowledge to rehabilitate my injury. Eventually even use the lessons learned to create a spine rehab course which is currently helping people to recover and avoid back injuries. This experience was also key in the development of True energy Yoga.

After my injury healed I did fight again. However it It just wasn’t my destiny anymore. I naturally gravitated towards coaching. 

Fast forward to 2022 I  opened the Xin dojo. Xin 心   pronounced like “Shin” means heart or mind in mandarin

I wanted to create a beautifull fresh environment where you can get fit, feel good , connect and learn to defend yourself.

So far we have helped many people lose weight, give up addiction, learn to fight, get into great shape and feel better.

This is what the ethos of train for life means, enrich your life with training