Alex Thomas Fitness and Martial Arts Training

June 1992
This cheeky little chap and his 2 older brothers started practising judo.

34 years later, he is very excited and nervous for his own Judo students to take their grading tomorrow afternoon.

Good luck to everyone from the Exeter and Exminster Judo Centres. You are climbing the mountain one step at a time. Remember that every black belt was once a beginner who tied on a white belt and stepped onto the mat for the very first time.

Believe in yourselves, give your best effort, show good spirit and respect, and enjoy the experience. Whatever grade you achieve tomorrow, be proud of how far you have come and keep moving forward on your judo journey.

See you on the mat. 🥋💪

Have you got a man in your life whom you love? A husband, brother, uncle, son, partner etc. Do you want them to be healthy, active and social?
Sign them up for our mens weights course!

We do more than lift weights. We laugh, talk, move, stretch and create a social network that can only be positive.

Our 6 week course is taught by me, Alex, and I will show and instruct proper technique, create an exercise circuit to get your heart pumping and muscles moving.

The. on week 6, after our last session, we pop along to the pub for an hour or so to decompress.

Excellent for your physical and mental health.

Drop me or Good Vibes Studio & Gym at ESA a message to get booked on 🙂

New mens weights block starting in Marsh Barton on Thursday June 4th.
Excellent for beginners. Bring a friend.
Instruction by me, Alex. It’s a fantastic social as well as a work out!
Drop me or Good Vibes Studio & Gym at ESA a message to book your place.

With grading season upon us, it gives me pause for thought.

Our Exeter Taekwondo club had a successful grading last weekend and this weekend the Devon Judo Centres will have their pregrading session with grading in June.

As an instructor, it’s my job to ensure that the students are fully prepared, confident and competent.

Something that I frequently say to the students (and myself) is that what they need to demonstrate, technically, is a tiny portion of their martial journey. Specifically the things they need to know to get their next grade, whilst remembering what they needed for their previous ones.
Their current knowledge and skills are built on the foundations of what they already know.

I also tell them that what they need to pass all of their gradings, up to and beyond black belt, is a tiny portion of the entire art. There is so much that you can’t be examined on. This includes techniques not in the syllabus, omitted for safety, rules or that they are an adaption of something else. Beyond the physical, it’s the mental and “spiritual” for lack of a better word. The commitment, perseverance, grit, determination, patience, understanding, helping others and so much more.

What we cover in our gradings is like the earth. A sphere, standing alone. Big. But looking inwards.
What there is in our martial art is like the solar system. So big and vast no one can truly know it all.
And what there is in all martial arts is like the universe. So massive it hurts your head.

So all we can do is try to understand our own art but try to look outwards to the universe to see what else we can learn.

As someone who has studied 2 very different arts for a long time, amongst dabbling in others, I feel like I’m on the earth and the moon. Studying each of them, seeing where they intercept, how they share the same principles. How they look totally different but also the same.

I hope that our students continue to study and grow and explore the amazing worlds of martial arts.

Good luck to everyone on their gradings and their martial journeys. But remember, it’s a small drop in the ocean for what you are still to achieve and experience.



Devon Judo Centres
Exeter Tae Kwon Do - TAGB
Alex Thomas Fitness and Martial Arts Training