Great News!!
We are all set to re-open again after the latest government lockdown restrictions which were in place for the past three weeks in both West Lothian and North Lanarkshire.
The timetables remain the same as prior to lockdown, details will be emailed out shortly.
ALL OUR FACILITIES RE-OPEN FROM 18:00 hrs on FRIDAY 11th DECEMBER
Following the announcement yesterday, which saw the Scottish Government make further changes in order to stop the spread of coronavirus. These changes unfortunately impact us and the fitness and leisure industry yet again, meaning we have had to adapt once more and make changes to our timetables for the next two weeks.
The major point from yesterday’s announcement is the closing of group fitness classes to those 18 years and over, as such there will be no adult classes for the next two weeks.
As there were a few student 17 years & under training in the adults classes, please note for the next two weeks you will require to train within the junior classes. If you are unsure please contact us on Facebook.
We understand that this is very disappointing news to many people, but we must follow all government guidance and rules.
These changes come in to effect from Saturday 10th October for two weeks, until Sunday 25th October.
PLEASE SEE YOUR EMAIL 
FOR UPDATED INFORMATION & TIMETABLES
We realise that these changes yesterday were not expected, but we continue to remain positive and persevere going forward, making training as accessible as possible for everyone.
Thank you for your understanding and continued support.
Kind regards
GMAC Martial Arts
Over the past few months, there have been many first’s for the students and instructors, and today was maybe the biggest one yet. We held out first ever outdoor Black Belt Grading & Pre-test.
The coronavirus outbreak in Scotland meant the nation went into lockdown on 24th March, just a few weeks short of our planned annual black belt grading. This at the time, put an unknown delay for the students who were due to take the biggest test of their Taekwon-Do career to date in early April.
Fast forward 6 months, during which the candidates had been training regularly via Zoom, as well as outdoor & weekly one-to-one sessions as restrictions were slowly lifted, we planned the grading to be taken on the grounds outside of Integrity Martial Arts gym in Uddingston. We were fortunately blessed with a dry afternoon, which saw the candidates under go their respective gradings, whilst maintaining social distancing. This meant some obvious changes to the criteria to account for limitations, and some additions too. An extra challenge for everyone, one which they gladly accepted and overcame.
We are pleased to announce the following results;
Promoted to 1st Degree:
Gray Nisbet (Wishaw)
Lennon McAvoy (Wishaw)
Sam Jones (Wishaw)
Promoted to 2nd Degree:
Hayden McAvoy (Wishaw)
John Melrose (Integrity)
Scott Crooks (Livingston)
Congratulations on your well deserved promotions.
Pre-Test
We also held a pre-test for candidates looking to grading in April 2021, with the following completing:
Nathan Cowan (Wishaw), Despina Athanasiadou (Livingston), Lorna Singleton (Wishaw)
As you are all aware we have been given the go ahead to return to indoor classes from 31st August. It’s been a long 6 months, since we had to close due to Covid, however we are so excited to get back to face to face teaching indoors, and seeing everyone back in Dobok from Monday!
Before adding further information as to the new procedures we’ve put in place, we’d like to take the opportunity once again to thank you all for your support and continuing to keep up your training via Zoom and Outdoor classes for the past months. It’s been a challenging journey at times getting used to virtual teaching, and it’s constraints, as well as the challenges the Scottish weather and midges have brought us too. But we’ve gotten here together!
We posted some information yesterday on our Facebook Page with regards to the new entry and exit procedures that will be in place. Details have also been added below for ease of reference.
NEW TIMETABLES
As we are required to comply with one way regulations, and limited numbers continue to be in place for the time being, there have been some changes to our normal timetables. In order to keep the same number of classes going each week, we’ve made some amendments to the times of these, which can be seen in the new timetable.
The main change just now is the Drop-Off/Collection Zones, as for now spectators will not be allowed due to the maximum capacity numbers we must adhere too. Just think similar to the nursery and school set up. We’ll be using drop off points, and collection points, which will all be explained in a video which will be made available and posted on our Social Media Pages before Monday’s Classes resume.
If you are not sure which class you should be attending please contact us ASAP, and we can advise accordingly. It may be that there are further changes to the timetables after the first week, if this is the case we’ll advise.
REMEMBER YOU MUST CONTINUE TO BOOK CLASSES IN ADVANCE
We’d like to take the time to wish all students, their families and loved ones, a very Happy Easter from us all at GMAC Martial Arts!
Remember chocolate calories don’t count today!
We appreciate the support we’ve had so far from everyone, the virus may have the nation housebound but it will not stop us from continuing!
We are currently working hard editing and building a home learning resource on our website for all students to use whilst the country is in lockdown for the next few weeks, meaning we still have the ability to bring training to you in your own home.
On our website you have full access via the student zone, to a variety of home fitness workouts which can be used as a standalone form of exercise or combined with technical training videos for a longer training session according to your grade. We encourage everyone to make use of the online facility, and email or message us anything you’d like us to add to it.
Next week we hope to bring a few live training sessions…..watch this space!
Please be patient whilst we upload everything, there are videos and workouts already uploaded, but with 100+ videos to edit its taking some time to compress them down ready for upload to the site.
Remember we also have our MEMBERS ONLY FACEBOOK PAGE where videos and workouts will be uploaded daily also.
Due to this afternoons announcement by the Scottish Government amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, we as a club have also made the decision to bring forward our planned Easter Holiday Closure and close all our schools and face to face training sessions from Friday 20th March 2020 @ 8pm.
This difficult decision has been made after a number of sleepless nights, and worry filled days from all our instructors and staff members, with the best interests of our members, parents and everyone concerned in mind. The closure will be 2 weeks of our annual 5 week holiday contingent, and we hope that it’s enough time for the virus to pass, and allow Scotland to get back on its feet.
In the meantime it is important that we all stay connected and do our best to keep training, and each other motivated in the meantime, so with that in mind we have moved all of our teaching online for the time being.
Students will be able to access our online resource via our private members page (link can be found on our GMAC page).
Already we are planning additional classes after things return to normal, with extra classes for all throughout the summer, as well as a FREE Summer Camp for all our Junior student’s.
YOUR SUPPORT
As a small family-run business, this is a very uncertain time for us and our team. However, be rest assured that we are doing everything we possibly can to ensure that GMAC Martial Arts makes it through this challenging period and survives to come out the other end.
We recognise that we will each face different challenges over the coming weeks and months. All we can ask is that our members and their families stick by us through this hard time by continuing to pay their fees and interacting with us online to ensure that the worst doesn’t occur and that we don’t have to close on a permanent basis.
We greatly appreciate your support and your loyalty and we will continue to deliver an excellent service online for our students and their families.
We appreciate that this situation will affect us all differently. If there is ANYTHING you would like to discuss about these temporary arrangements, please contact us and we will be happy to help.
📧 Email: info@gmacmartialarts.co.uk
We’d like to thank you all upfront for your continued support and loyalty to GMAC and hope that you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy during this difficult and uncertain time.
We’re staying positive and are excited to offer a new way to learn and grow together!
TOGETHER WE WILL BEAT THIS!
Please remember your Indomitable Spirit.
GMAC Martial Arts Team
