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Why Paddy Adalla walked out of the gym and into the dojo
Paddy Abdallah (left), a taekwondo enthusiast, and his coach Wilson Yeswa during a taekwondo training session at Premier Fitness Centre, Nairobi, on January 20, 2026.
There are two… no, three… actually four solid reasons why cloud engineer Paddy Adalla has quietly stepped away from the gym, or, more specifically, from lifting weights the way he used to. And no, it has nothing to do with that brutal head injury that nearly rearranged his face: the right side fractured, the orbital socket that holds his eye cracked.
The real reason starts with a belt.
He is currently chasing his Green Belt in karate, and that pursuit alone demands more time, energy and commitment than a typical gym split ever did.
“Karate is not something you squeeze in between leg day and chest day. It asks for your full attention - your lungs, your legs and, occasionally, your ego,” he tells BD Life.
Then there is the brotherhood.
Somewhere between 50 kicks, warm-ups that almost leave your legs numb, and drills that end with everyone lying flat on the mat, a bond forms. These are people who train together, struggle together and show up for one another outside the dojo.
Paddy says it is a kind of connection he never quite found while moving plates in silence at the gym.
Paddy Abdallah (left), a taekwondo enthusiast, and his coach Wilson Yeswa during a taekwondo training session at Premier Fitness Centre, Nairobi, on January 20, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita|Nation Media Group
Next come the life-saving lessons. Like how to safely carry an injured person without causing further harm during movement. For example, someone knocked down by a hit-and-run car.
“Karate teaches awareness, control, balance. How to fall, how to get up and how to react when things go wrong. The life skills and situational awareness.
“You get to practise rescue techniques. For instance, you have to carry your teammates over, say, 400 metres around the field and things like that. So you are learning life skills that you will generally apply in everyday life. No amount of bench pressing teaches you what to do when your body is under real, unpredictable pressure,” he adds.
Bending and twisting
And finally, there is the most important bit Paddy ponders often: how the body moves, not just how it looks.
At 29, he is already picturing himself in his 60s and even his 70s, not bent over or leaning on a walking stick, not moving like his joints are negotiating every step.
“I want to move fast. I want to bend, twist and flow the way I can now. For the two years I have been on this journey, karate has been relentless on the body, but in a way that teaches it how to last.
“High-intensity sessions packed with bodyweight work force the ligaments, joints and muscles to move together, not in isolation. Kicks demand balance. Squats demand control. Lunges test stability. Jumps wake up coordination. Every session pulls the body through explosive movement in all directions, training it to respond, adjust and recover,” Paddy explains.
Paddy Abdallah (in black), a taekwondo enthusiast, and his coach Wilson Yeswa perform an ankle lock with a tackle during a taekwondo training session at Premier Fitness Centre, Nairobi, on January 20, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita|Nation Media Group
That, he believes, is where functionality is sharpened.
He is quick to acknowledge that lifting weights builds strength and muscle. But without enough stretching and dynamic movement, that strength can become stiff. Over time, he argues, mobility suffers, and once mobility goes, everyday life becomes a struggle.
An honest body
Karate, on the other hand, keeps the body honest.
“The gym will make you strong, but is strength all you need? Strength alone is not enough.”
Before he began lifting weights, Paddy, who weighs 80 kilos despite the intense karate sessions, says he loved running.
“I began running while I was on campus. I needed support to keep me focused, away from a lot of the idleness that comes with being in school. I did lots of distance running and all the major marathons in the country. Later on, I joined the gym.”
What began as short runs morphed into long distances on quiet roads. The solitude that gave him peace of mind as he reflected on his life choices stretched over 10km, then 21km. Since 2018, the Standard Chartered Marathon became a mainstay on his calendar.
Paddy Abdallah, a taekwondo enthusiast, performs a horse stance with a punch move during a taekwondo training session at Premier Fitness Centre, Nairobi, on January 20, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita|Nation Media Group
While running gave him space to introspect and integrate his thoughts, he says it did not give him all the answers.
Karate came to him through fiction.
From late nights with David Baldacci and Tom Clancy thrillers, Paddy began picturing characters who fought, escaped and endured, men who sounded fictional but moved with frightening efficiency. He wanted to know whether those bodies could exist outside the page. Whether a real human could do those things.
“It’s funny, but that’s how I got intrigued by karate. I just wanted to test the waters, and then I ended up falling in love with the game.”
Humility hits hard
While those thrillers made karate seem dangerous, what he discovered instead was a discipline that teaches calm, especially in awkward or high-pressure situations.
Paddy Abdallah (left), a taekwondo enthusiast, and his coach Wilson Yeswa perform a shoulder tackle move during a taekwondo training session at Premier Fitness Centre, Nairobi, on January 20, 2026.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita|Nation Media Group
He joined a class in 2023, beginning his journey with the white belt.
“White belt is the beginning, and that’s where humility hits hard. You walk in thinking you’re fit from all the running and lifting weights. Then the warm-up begins, 50 non-stop burpees. That is before the real work. Kicks. Punches. Blocks. Repetition until your legs feel lethargic.
“Karate does not negotiate. This is where it quietly pulls ahead of lifting weights. In the gym, you can bargain, 12 reps, rest, adjust weight, control intensity. Karate does not care about your negotiations. It cares about execution, endurance and discipline when the body wants out, and that is the hardest thing.”
As he grew into the sport, he also began competing. That is where he sustained the nasty face injury that had him out for a month with a dozen stitches.
“Accidents happen. During tournaments, we use back knuckles and kicks. The injury came from a straight punch, and that packs a lot of force. Evidently, my opponent was strong because I ended up with a fractured orbital socket and cheekbone. I had surgery and plates were put in to restore everything. After a month of recovery, I went back to the fighting arena.”
