Carl is talking with Richard Canton Founder of the Canton Martial Arts based in Eastbourne. He is the current five-times world champion in a variety of combative and kata events and achieved this at the WUMA world championships.

They discuss the importance of martial arts for building confidence and the right mindset and why learning about how to use goal-setting across all areas of your life is a gamechanger along with how it has been to be a martial arts business owner during a worldwide pandemic.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Quality of life is vital and you have to know what’s important to you.
• You need to be aware of and look after your mental health.
• Martial arts classes provide the opportunity for release and to relax
• Having time off doing something completely different and away from martial arts is vital.
• The lockdown started off as a negative but it has enabled us to restructure and make sure the processes and system we want are in place.
• As martial arts instructors and business owners, we have had to invest just to keep going even though our income has gone down by a third.
• People want to come back to classes and training but it’s important to still offer zoom for those who are concerned about face to face classes.
• We have comprehensive plans in place to meet the requirements and keep members safe.
• Goals and goal setting are fundamentals if you want to achieve anything.
• Sport enables effective goal setting and it’s important to take this approach and plan for goals across all areas of your life.
• You need to learn to not worry about the things you can’t control.
• Having confidence and the right mindset is a vital part of anything you do and martial arts provides a good place to build both.

 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Zoom has saved many martial arts clubs and the people who do martial arts’

‘People want to get back into the gym and the dojo’

‘In a world of uncertainty people crave routine and any certainty we can give’

 

VALUABLE RESOURCES

HKA Main landing page www.hastingskickboxing.co.uk/kickstartnow

YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/user/Hastingskickboxing

HKA Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Hastingskickboxing

Adult community link  https://m.facebook.com/groups/274624209886110?ref=share 

[email protected]  - Join Leigha every weekday for a workout for a fiver per month

Canton Martial Arts

The Perfect 10 Richard Canton's Lifestyle Academy

 

ABOUT THE HOST

Hi, my name is Carl Denne.  

I was born in Hastings in 1980. Married, father of two beautiful daughters, Bethany and Leigha. 

My daughters, the wife, and gym ARE MY LIFE.

IF I’M HONEST, I pretty much failed at school. Heavily dyslexic, I was dismissed for being a “naughty kid” that didn’t want to learn. I was heavily bullied for having shit clothes and ginger afro hair. I didn’t have many friends. 

When I say bullied I don’t mean called a “poo-poo head” and being looked at in a nasty way. I mean thrown downstairs, and hit with chairs and tables. Clothes were stolen whilst in the shower. That kind of bullying…

Oh, how things have changed… 

Martial arts, and specifically Kickboxing, have changed my life, and now I am much happier and change other people’s lives for the better on a daily basis. 

I am a complete adrenaline freak, so In my spare time, track days, jumping out of planes, sitting on top of them, rage buggies in the desert… The higher, the faster the better for me. I’m always looking for the next thing to get my blood pumping, so if anyone has a challenge I’ve not found yet, please feel free to share. 

I do like a Saturday night movie night, Chinese, Netflix, lots of chocolate with my three little ladies. I love being around my friends and family. This is why I love the crazy HKA family so much, as this is my extended family.   

I left school with pretty much nothing! A few sad GCSE’s C - D grade, BUT I did have a shit-ton of energy and passion to achieve, and to prove all the teachers and people that looked down on me for all those years, wrong. So, after a few jobs here and there, I settled on working for Openreach (BT) as a cabler/jointer copper and fibre optic multi-skilled engineer with HGV.

I left this in 2015 to chase my dream of running my own Kickboxing Academy and working with the future of today, rather than a job that just paid the bills. 

I’ve trained pretty much my whole life: Karate, boxing, Judo, from the age of 9, and of course, I’ve now done over 29 years of Kickboxing. I’ve passed many Instructors and coaches courses, attended many training courses and seminars, grading up through the syllabus. I passed my 4-hour hell-on-earth 3rd Dan black belt in July 2018 with the ICO.

If I’m honest my real passion and skills have come from learning the hard way; through being in the trenches. I know how it feels to be on your arse. I know how it feels to have to pull yourself out of the pit. I’ve been through a divorce. I’ve lived through the pain and have worked with thousands of members, students, children, teachers and adults over the years, and the one thing I get told every time is how well I/we keep it very real, and that I have a complete understanding on most eventualities. 

Thank you for reading and listening. I hope you connect with myself and the team, take away some ideas, understand you’re not alone, and that it’s good to talk, listen and help others as and when you can.