As a much younger person I used to spar a lot in taekwondo, using light open-handed gloves. Taekwondo sparring is basically kickboxing, and the kicks are where you get the most points. Being big and slow, I don’t think my kicks were ever that good, but I have a good reach and did OK with my hands, if I could stay out of trouble.

As we get older, we know we need to invest more time in working hard to prevent muscle and bone loss. In addition, I have been wanting to up my cardio game and work up a sweat, and to do something that I felt complemented my Traditional Chinese Martial arts. My Kung Fu teacher (I am still very much a novice here) is also a Western boxer so we often done some pad work in our Kung Fu lessons, so I felt I had some insight as to what I was letting myself in for.