You've probably told yourself you're too old for this, or too unfit, or that you'd have started years ago if you were ever going to start at all. Most people standing in this room said the same thing before their first session. They came anyway.
We train to fight our demons.
Demons Kickboxing was founded in 2004 by Denise Elliott, 5th Dan black belt, and it has been the same thing ever since — a room where you train, where the coaching is honest, and where you leave carrying less than you walked in with. The sessions are intense. Your lungs burn, your legs go, and a coach will be in your face telling you to get your hands back up.
The Demons Den, our own unit on Hall Road in Aylesford — not a sports hall booked by the hour. It is a state-of-the-art fight gym: matted end to end, so pad work, bag work and ground work all happen on proper martial arts matting rather than a wooden floor, with a full-size 16ft competition ring in the middle of it for sparring, camp work and the show fight nights we host here. Heavy bags run the length of the walls, and the gym is equipped for kickboxing, boxing and Muay Thai. Everything stays where it is — the mats stay down, the bags stay up, and the ring is there every night of the week.
It runs right across the ages. Diddy Demons from three, cadets learning technique properly, adults starting from nothing at all, ladies-only and family classes, and a fight team that competes seriously under CMAA rules.
Nobody trains alone here. If you're off, someone asks. If you go quiet for a fortnight, someone messages. It isn't a gym you pay to attend — you're part of the family from the first week.
Three classes to start, £21. On-site parking. The Demons Den, Unit 4, Homefarm Estate, Hall Road, Aylesford, Kent, ME20 7QZ. Est. 2004.