Evolutionary Martial Arts is one part of the Evolutionary Concept, which comprises Evolutionary Martial Arts, Evolutionary Self-Protection and Evolutionary Health. There are a great many people supporting this endeavour whose efforts we’re very grateful for, including you reading this now, but here is a little look at the main names you’ll hear and faces you’ll see in training which serves to tell our story so far:
Sigung Paul Horrobin
Sigung Paul Horrobin is the founding chief instructor of our particular style of Gongfu. In ———-, he started training in a hybrid system of traditional and modern martial arts characterised predominantly by a mixture of concepts and methods from Kung Fu, Krav Maga and Muay Thai called The Chien Kun Do Martial Arts Academy, run by chief instructor Mr Peter Ellis of SPHERE Combat Systems and SPHERE Protection Services, a senior close protection operative and security consultant. At the Academy, Mr Ellis brought together traditional concepts from the martial arts such as the excellent parrying angles of Wing Chun with more modern combatives that he used in his work as a close protection operative and bodyguard. While training there, he also benefited from the wide range of experience that the multitude of instructors there had in complementary systems, notably Boxing and Jujutsu.
In 2008, Mr Horrobin opened his own class following extensive revision of his previous training. A lot of its focus was on placing greater emphasis on the traditional aspects of the syllabus and the detail of their skillsets, most notably from the core of the system which was Wing Chun. He called this class PHDefence, and it soon expanded to many classes throughout the week across Stoke-on-Trent, in Sneyd Green, Chell Heath, Stockton Brook, Milton and Endon, among other areas.
Sifu Josh Nixon
Sifu Josh Nixon is now the main instructor of our classes. In 2001, he started training at The Chien Kun Do Martial Arts Academy under Mr Ellis, where he met Sigung Horrobin. It is in attending first the CKD and then the PHDefence classes, as first a student and then an assistant instructor, that Mr Nixon undertook his Black Sash and Instructorship in 2009.
Through extensive research, training and pressure-testing with other instructors in different arts and systems, Mr Nixon worked alongside Mr Horrobin, developing a system of purely pragmatic self-protection that complemented Mr Horrobin’s emphasis on the traditional martial arts under the working title of the CSPS: Combative Self-Protection System. By 2013, this was revised as Evolutionary Self-Protection, which marked the beginning of The Evolutionary Concept. Through this time, Sifu Nixon and Sigung Horrobin worked together on various projects, short courses, charity events, seminars, workshops and private training. Throughout the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021, Sifu Nixon worked with Sigung Horrobin to extensively expand and refine the PHDefence system, syllabus and instructorship process, leading to its eventual revision as Evolutionary Martial Arts in 2022.
He is a qualified teacher (PGCE), and member of the Chartered College of Teaching (MCCT) who has been working in schools since 2012 across key stages 1-4. He has an enhanced DBS check, training in first aid, safeguarding, health and safety risk management, fire safety and extinguishing, emotion coaching, teaching methodologies to differentiate for special educational needs, psychological and physical disabilities, CEOP, PREVENT anti-radicalisation, etc.
Sisuk GC
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Coach Lauren Walker
Through our integration with Evolutionary Health, Evolutionary Martial Arts students benefit from personal evidence-based health and wellbeing coaching in the four areas of nutrition, movement, relaxation and sleep with extensive support from Evolutionary Health‘s founder, Lauren Walker. Coach Walker has extensive experience in the field and associated disciplines, beginning with her background in professional football, which saw her play for Port Vale Ladies, Stoke City Ladies, Wolves Women, Arsenal Ladies and Blackburn Rovers Ladies, as well as being selected as a member of the Great Britain women’s football squad for the World University Games in Belgrade in 2009. She has a degree in Sport and Exercise Science, went on to become a qualified Level 4 Strength and Conditioning coach, and has attended all UK Strength and Conditioning Association workshops. She is also a FA Level 2 Football Coach and a qualified science teacher (PGCE) with specialism in Biology, is Head of Biology at her workplace and has experience teaching across key stages 3-5 since 2016, as well as an enhanced DBS check and training in safeguarding, first aid, teaching methodologies to differentiate for special educational needs, psychological and physical disabilities, CEOP, PREVENT anti-radicalisation, etc.
Coach Walker founded Evolutionary Health with the sole purpose of helping as many people as possible to set out on an evolutionary journey towards optimum health. She encourages her clients to make small, simple and achievable changes to the aforementioned four key pillars of health in order to succeed in living a happier, healthier and longer life. Her approach is a culmination of years of education, experience and research, and continues to inform and transform our practice to great effect.
Evolutionary Martial Arts 