Taking up martial arts is a great idea.

Michelle Allinson, who’s been a fitness kickboxing and martial arts instructor at Cheltenham Martial Arts for four years, is certainly not short of reasons why.

“Martial arts change your life,” says Michelle, who first joined the academy as a member eight years ago.

“You have a discipline and a goal to work towards. You gain the confidence to stand tall, learn skills to protect yourself and develop a positive mind-set.”

Those statements could probably sell martial arts to quite a few people – there are definitely worse things you could spend your time doing!

Michelle is clearly not only passionate about what she does, but great at it too – it takes a certain type of person to have martial arts as a hobby – you need to be committed as well as both mentally and physically strong.

“I am proud of working my way to my 1st dan black belt and then achieving my second. I am now 3rd dan in kickboxing and mixed martial arts,” she says.

“I’m currently working my way through a different discipline – I am a brown belt in Wado Ryu, which is a traditional martial art.

“I’ve worked hard to gain my belts and have been pushed to my limits mentally and physically, especially in the six-hour dan gradings.”

This is all very impressive of course, but Michelle’s story is actually quite an inspirational one, proving there is always a chance to change your life for the better.

“I started martial arts as a very overweight mother of four, and I’ve now lost over 16 inches around my waist” she says.

“The highlights of my time with martial arts has been finding a passion and turning that passion into a job.

“I enjoy my job so much – I love helping people achieve their goals, whether it’s their fitness goals in fitness kickboxing or working their way through the belts in martial arts,” says Michelle.

“Seeing people come out of themselves and becoming stronger and healthier in both body and mind is amazing. I also enjoy the work I do for our social media.”

Michelle’s ambitious and dedicated attitude is one that the whole of Cheltenham Martial Arts Academy are on board with.

“The academy has been going for 12 years and we currently have over 300 members,” says Michelle.

“Our club is special; we are one big family of like-minded people, looking out for each other. We have no egos in this academy.

“Everyone encourages each other – I work with an awesome team.

“We have plenty of high achievers and stories about lives changed through martial arts.

“The owner Matt Rudman has actually written a book called Confident Kid Power: Release your Child’s Full Potential with Martial Arts, which is about just a few of them.”

Things are all great now, but they might be even better soon.

“We hope to gain more members and help more people reach their goals,” said Michelle.

“We’ve got a local impact programme that’s raising money for local schools and clubs – we want to make sure we stay active in our community, so aim to carry on with this.

“I’m very much looking forward to the future, both for myself and the academy.”

Take Michelle’s advice and give martial arts a go – like she says, it could change your life.