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Breaking into M.M.A. Training Log

154K views 2K replies 38 participants last post by  KevinD 
#1 · (Edited)
Hello all, I've been mostly lurking these forums for awhile now. A little introduction: I'm 20 years old, just wrapping up doing a little world travel. While I was in Thailand I got involved with a Muay Thai training camp called Tiger Muay Thai, and trained pretty hard for a month and loved it. I decided to see where this passion can take me, and have decided to aim to fight in my first M.M.A. fight at a local amateur venue in my town called Valley Fight this coming December. This means I have a lot of work to do.

I will be training at a local M.M.A. gym called Revolution Chilliwack, as well as training with my friend who also wants to fight within the year.

I'm 20 years old, Southpaw, 6'4 about 195lbs, muscular build from years of weightlifting (I've got an enormous journal on a bodybuilding website but alas, there's no point talking M.M.A. on a bodybuilding forum, so here I am) but relatively weak cardio, other weaknesses include an occassional occurence of shin splints and contact lenses. I've only trained Muay Thai for a month and that's basically all my training besides a bit of self taught boxing.

I'm wrapping up my travels now, sitting in Bangkok for a few more days. I checked out a nearby Muay Thai gym but it was a hole in the ground with some mats and wasn't cheap, so **** it. I'm doing bodyweight exercises and shadowboxing in my room to help maintain what I can.

I go home soon so training resumes on August 1st as I enroll in the MMA gym back home and in addition begin my own training with a partner to keep the total training time to about 3.5 hours a day, 5 days a week.

Training is 4 weeks on followed by 1 week rest, each week is 5 days training, alternating between 2 days set out like this:

Day 1 - Technique
Stretch
Shadowboxing
Hit Pads
Standup Sparring
Rolling
Stretch
Go to class

Day 2 - Conditioning
Stretch
Skipping
Weight Training (Divided into Push/Pull/Leg days focusing on functional strength, explosive power, and endurance.)
Heavy Bag
Speed Bag
Stretch
Go to class

Classes are as follows:
Mon - Beginner Jiu-Jitsu
Tue - M.M.A.
Wed - Beginner Jiu-Jitsu
Thur - Boxing + Muay Thai
Fri - Boxing + Muay Thai + M.M.A
Sat - Rest
Sun - Rest

Going to ease myself into it and build momentum; first week just go to the classes, second week go to the classes and do training every second day, then by the third I'm doing the full routine. Also going to start light on my weights and build momentum over the weeks as powerlifters do.

I've also wrote up a flexible diet that I believe I can maintain pretty easily. I'll add the details once I've gone through with it for awhile in case any changes need to be made. What's important is the 6000 mostly healthy calories to exceed my maintenance level for a gradual weight gain.

Supplements are Protein/Creatine Monohydrate/Multivitamin/Fish Oil, considering a pre-workout supp like N.O. Xplode but don't really need the extra hit to the wallet or a caffeine dependency, so we'll see on that one.

I picked up all my gear to train out here in Thailand for nice and cheap. Got 16oz gloves, shin guards, wraps, mouth guard, and headgear. My friend has bought all of these things as well as some Thai kicking pads and a round timer, so we're all equipped and ready to go.

I'm aiming for December for my premier amateur M.M.A. bout. Wish me luck and feel free to pass on advice. I'm gonna tear a hole into this guy. :thumb02:

Some relevant links
Tiger Muay Thai, Phuket, Thailand:http://www.tigermuaythai.com
Revolution Chilliwack, Chilliwack, Canada:http://www.revolutionfightteam.com
Valley Fight, Chilliwack, Canada:http://www.valleyfight.com
 
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#30 ·
First class with Jose "Pele" Landi-Jons.


The dude is pretty badass. It was suppossed to be kickboxing only today but we did an MMA class afterwards. There's definitely a language barrier but I'm pretty used to that from Thailand. There's alot of just showing what to do and him making funny noises to emphasize movements.

Started off shadowboxing then he gave us a few combos to do. Its funny how viciously brazilians/thais shadowbox. They swing with full force and intensity like they're in the thick of it instead of not using power but focusing on being quick and precise. After that he had us practice a few moves in the clinch/breaking the clinch as well as a break + takedown. Sparred that stuff for awhile. Then 100 kicks on a partner with a pad moving and holding it in different places. Exhausting, but my kick still had decent power by the end of it. Also practiced shooting for one knee and then taking down, except in the opposite direction than we normally would, weird but good and gives you free access to his back. In MMA, we learned a few submissions, starting with the side choke. Then we practiced breaking a clinch, taking down and straight into the side choke. A pretty sneaky move that got put on me a few times today. Then as the guy turtles up we practiced sinking in a rear naked choke, and then a kimura that I didn't get the hang of because I seem to be a slow learner. Then we rolled and I did pretty well despite not submitting anyone, I stalled their advances alright and only got a few submissions put on me. Definitely didn't dominate anyone though. Good class!
 
#31 · (Edited)
Another double class with Kajan. I was feeling pretty brittle with crazy neck soreness and something going on in my side from getting taken down too much. Regardless once you get the adrenaline and blood flowing, you push through fine.

Started off Kickboxing 3 rounds skipping. Bah. I love the benefits of skipping and its my favorite cardio, but I'm only doing it once a week and I'm simply not improving. I get streaks of going for minutes straight, then I get streaks of smacking my feet every 15 seconds. I lost my hand wraps and I need some MMA gloves so I'll probably order those along with a skip rope so I can get skipping every other day.

After skipping we did some shadowboxing. Then heavybag rounds while the trainer took one person aside to hit pads with him. Like usual I ended up going with him last and he took me for an extra round to push me. We did jab/leg kicks then straight/leg kicks combos. I wasn't too fond of how he wanted the leg kick...he wanted a huge step to the side and then a kick, which completely fucks with your balance and a slight tap would've put me on my ass. In thailand they always make sure you have your balance and if you don't they'll just push you over. So I went with it and he was pretty happy with me maintaining my power over the duration.

Next we sparred jabs/blocking, then 1-2s/blocking then 1-2-3/blocking. I got to go with the trainer again. I got a bit awkward at blocking the 1-2-3 because I instinctively twist with the punch while blocking instead of twisting against the punch as he instructed.

In M.M.A., warmed up then he taught us a few cool submissions. All of it started from guard. First off an armbar which I really needed to work on. Then the guy pulls his arm out, and you move into a triangle, then the guy levers his arm out to loosen the triangle and you do a very sneaky shoulder lock. Then we drilled doing this jiu-jitsu combo. Pretty cool. Then we rolled. My partner was ******* dieing so finally I got to push someone around. Got an Americana, and a Triangle. Also taught him a few things in the process which I didn't think I was capable of doing. Good class! Thank god I get to rest sore bones and joints.

Might hit the gym tomorrow, see how the body takes tonights damage.

UFC tomorrow bitches
 
#32 ·
Yet more progress in the gym

Squats 8, 8 @ 195lbs
Deadlifts 8, 8 @ 195lbs
Bench Press 8, 4 @ 165lbs
Military Press 8, 4 @ 105lbs
Chin up 8, 6 @ bodyweight
Cable Rope Crunch 12, 12 @ 180lbs

Did chin ups instead of pullups to see how it does with my back. Another week or two of this, then I'll get onto a 3 day split and do more combat related exercises.

Body weight is 210lbs today. Fluctuate much?

Another day of Jiu Jitsu with wobbly legs this evening.
 
#33 ·
Jits class. Practiced bridging and rolling when in full mount, then doing the scissor sweep. Went back and forth with that for a bit, then we practiced passing guard while the bottom guy submits/sweeps. I did well passing the guards, and though I didn't submit anyone, I did topple a guy over into full mount when he leaned back too far. Got a scissor choke put on me but besides that I held up pretty well.
 
#35 ·
MMA class. After warmup we did lots of neck strengthening exercises including neck bridges. I couldn't handstand when the time came. Meh, it'll come. Technique today was working from pumelling in the clinch, passing under an arm and grabbing from the side then slamming backwards or forwards. Drilled that for a bit then we rolled to submission from standing. I did well against the guy I was learning with because he is still pretty awkward with what he's doing. Then I switched off to a bigger guy who knew what he was doing, and then I got rocked and a bit frustrated. That's life.

Noticed my one side has some lingering pain for the past week or so. Not too cool. I feel fine training until I get stretched far one way or another or I get slammed. Which both tend to happen alot on a daily basis.
 
#36 ·
Jiu Jitsu class again. Apparently someone got choked out in the last advanced class so after warm up today we had a breakdown of what to do when someone is choked out so that they're positioned to open their airways, etc. Then we drilled it (lol). After that we had about 15 minutes to practice passing guard while the other tries to sweep/submit.

I noticed I've been going for quite awhile now and haven't got my first stripe. I guess I'm a bit of a slow learner or maybe he just overlooked me. I don't care about ranking in jiu-jitsu, it's just that a few people have been invited to the advanced class that started after me. Oh well.

My side still aches like my liver or kidney or something is bruised. Gay. I also popped my shoulder while rolling today and it hurt a bit. 2 more days to go before the 2 days off.
 
#37 ·
hey man. hope u don't mind., I stumbled accross this training log and have been keeping an eye on it creeping in the background for about a week now trying to figure out who it is..

im brad falk, a blue belt at Revolution Chilliwack, gracie barra.


Good luck in ur quest to reach the pro's mang. lemme know if u have any questions about anything.

Keep it up Though.


are you competing in the tournament this weekend?

.. and ps don't worry.. it took jared and I about 3 months to get our first stripes...

and about another year after that to get my blue belt... patience is key in jiu jitsu.. just keep being a great training partner..

take care.

brad . the incredible falk.
oh and I run the revolutionfightteam.com website.. so post on that message board some time.. im trying to get a little discussion going.
 
#38 ·
Hahah, that's cool you found this. My name's Jesse. I doubt you'd know me by name. I'm the freakishly tall white belt with no stripes, blondish hair.

Yeah, I'm sure that stripe'll come. It's really not the stripe I'm too concerned about, but getting to train more with the adv. class.

Not going to the tournament, I think I'm working when it's on, and have only been going just over a month now so it'd be hard to put up a struggle. I'll get on board the next one though.

I'll check the board out, didn't even see it.
 
#39 ·
Holy shit, what a class with Pele today.

Kickboxing started off with basically fake sparring with a partner. Kind of risky business since we weren't using gloves or anything. One guy took it a bit too seriously and was punching people. I hate when people have to go 100% and put everyone at risk of getting hurt doing something meant to be light and controlled. Anyways did that for awhile with a bunch of people, felt good to spar someone even if it was just simulated. Then we did 100 kicks on the sheild, then 50 of each knee, then 20 or so of a fake into a jumping high kick, then 20 alternating knees pushing off into a high kick. This was pretty agonizing. Finished with 50 pushups and then he had us run for what felt like forever.

MMA class started 10 minutes later. Was very straightforward, the 4 of us that remained just got on top of a heavybag and pounded away from mount, side control and guard. This was the first time really that I've practiced ground and pound and was pretty impressed at how much force I could get. I basically just thought about the angles and types of punches I've seen in the UFC and worked them into combos. We went hard for a long time, not really having any idea how long we had to go for. Ended up pounding on the bag at full force for 30 mins straight. I was also pretty suprised how everyone maintained their power. I managed to stay pretty relaxed yet still do huge damage to the bag, and wasn't even gassed by the end of it. My knuckles and elbows are bruised though.

My shoulder was really stiff today so I was hesitant about going to class. I warmed it up really well though and it held up fine until about half through GNPing the heavy bag when I popped it on a sloppy punch. Ouch. It's gonna hurt tomorrow so I'll play it by ear tomorrow and hopefully make it through the last day before rest.
 
#40 ·
yeah.,, that muay thai class was quite the grind...

I was the one that didn't rotate so I didn't get around to the guy who was gettin a lil too serious and crackin people.. I brought my buddy for the first time tonight, and he said he got punched. and I saw pele giving him a real stern warning at least twice. redic..

and as for the hundred kicks, hundred knees, then the flyin kicks... that was just out of hand.
but repetition leads to perfection, and I always hear those wild stories of the thai boxing champions just hitting bags for hours and for thousands of kicks. so I guess theres no way around the tried tested and true methods. u can't help but just be in a bit of awe while seeing pele demonstrate a technique and then abruptly declare, ACTION !

we'll see how fast I can recover here for saturday.. i just wanted to get a bit of cardio going. going, and maybe some video for the website .. but u just get hooked in going there. ... can't help but train.

- brad.
 
#41 ·
Kickboxing/MMA

I was really tired and not in the mood to train today but sucked it up and went anyways. Soreness/hurting is adding up, and I've been ******* up my sleep by consuming too much caffeine during the day. You really can't miss sleep when you're working and training full time so I'll kick the bad habits.

Once I got going everything was decent. In kickboxing did the warm up run as always, then shadowboxing a bit of technique while advancing and backing up. Kicks, punches, knees, push kicks. I found myself a bit awkward I guess I'm getting rusty and need to do more shadowboxing again. My right kicks are definitely lacking. Then we sparred the clinch with a partner. Did pretty well here, it's just a bitch keeping your shoulders up and your neck poised upright tight. Then we hit the thai paids with straight/hook/head kick combos. End of class.

MMA started with another warm up run, then went straight to technique. Worked from side control and half guard today. We worked on a triangle choke, an armbar, and two variations of a knee bar. All of these I'm pretty inexperienced with so I learned alot today. I seemed to pick up the technique pretty fast too. Now we need to see if I can remember it and put it to use when rolling in the days to come.

As we rolled today the first guy I pushed around pretty good and landed a triangle and an americana. Also took the time to help him with breaking guard and tought him the americana. Second guy used to wrestle and was thick as ****. He immediately slammed me down and and kept me there the whole round. I tried to bridge and roll, tried to use the wall to push off of, tried to hip escape, but he kept on me. Luckily he didn't really know any submissions and was pretty tired so he couldn't do anything to finish me.

Good class. Rest will be much appreciated. We're aiming to start morning training sessions this coming wednesday.




Hahah, yeah I wasn't rotating either so luckily I never had to face him. My buddy also got his cracked a few times though so he started leg kicking him really hard.

The guys in Thailand are totally about repetition and power. With his crap english and his tough drilling and yelling MORE POWER I feel like I'm in Thailand all over again. There's no better incentive to obey than having a huge brazilian fighter that doesn't speak much english giving you shit for slacking. Love it.

You competing saturday? If so good luck dude, I gotta work that morning unfortunately. I'm sure you'll get some vids at least.
 
#43 ·
Missed monday to go to a concert. In the meantime I've been slacking on eating but at least I've cut out caffeine.

First day back was MMA class. Warm up run, drilled different variations of the wheelbarrow, then some gymnastics. For the first time he had us gear up and try some standup combos. On technique we learned how to escape the arm bar into side control, and how to take the back from side control. Then we rolled from the knees, I was mostly dominated and got kimurad twice.

Decent class but I got tired pretty quick after the warm up, and was pretty slow learning the techniques. Even with 3 days of rest I can still feel my shoulder and side bugging me. Don't know what I'm going to do about that, especially with our additional workout starting tomorrow morning. Gotta be up at 5:30am now and training by 6:00. :confused05:
 
#44 ·
Here's how I've set out the morning training to do a trial run this week. I'm going to make time adjustments as I go, but tomorrow I'll be up at 5:30, at the gym by 6:00, leave the gym around 6:45, at work by 7:00.

Day 1
Skipping
Stretch
Strength Conditioning (Squat/Deadlift/Bench Press)

Day 2
Pads
Spar
Roll

Day 3
Skipping
Stretch
Endurance Conditioning (Towel Pullups/Dips/Ab Circuit)

Day 4
Pads
Spar
Roll

Day 5
Skipping
Stretch
Power Conditioning (Clean and Press, Clap Pushup, Burpee)
 
#45 ·
First early morning workout today. Maybe I'm becoming a morning person, or maybe I was just rested well from sleeping in the 2 days prior, but this morning went very well.

15 minutes skipping
Squats 6, 6, 6 @ 205lbs
Deadlifts 6, 6, 6 @ 205lbs
DB Bench Press 6, 6, 6 @ 65lbs

Very intense workout for how early in the morning it was. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Man am I crashing now though, gonna powernap then head off to jiu jitsu this evening.
 
#48 ·
Brutal class with Pele, every class seems to get harder with him. Warm up run, shadowboxing.
Then heavybag drills:

1,2,head kick combo X 25
1,2,head kick combo in opposite stance X 25
Jab, low kick combo X 25
Jab, low kick combo in opposite stance X 25
Right elbow, Left elbow combo X 50
Right elbow, Left elbow combo X 50
1 Minute punch out drill
1 Minute punch out drill
1 Minute punch out drill

End of class.

Then MMA class. Once again we ground and pounded on a bag for 30 minutes straight.

Powered through everything pretty well. Conditioning is improving. Hurt my left shoulder a bit during the ground and pound. Gay. Will ice it, my months membership should run out in another 2 weeks so my body will have to hold up until then before a week of glorious rest.
 
#49 ·
Kickboxing/MMA

Skipping, shadowboxing, combos on the bag, practiced a few moves on eachother like checking/catching kicks and countering.

MMA was some moves off pummelling including a takedown. Then learned a few techniques that I can't even remember at this point. I'm feeling pretty physically and mentally exhausted at this point and had a hard time concentrating for MMA. Resting up now at least, then back to work monday morning.
 
#50 · (Edited)
Morning gym. I slept in by accident and kind of fucked over my partner, but I managed to get to the gym this afternoon.

Squat 6,6,6 @ 215lbs
Deadlift 6,6,6 @ 215lbs
DBBench Press 6,6,4 @ 70lbs

Decent progress but my concentration just wasn't there. It didn't help when a bunch of ******* morons flooded the gym doing all kinds of dangerous stuff. All kinds of half rep showboating on the bench, tossing and dropping of weights, guys spotting on the bench with only one hand (lol), and even one guy who took the weight off one side of his friends bench press when he wasn't looking and not even telling him SO ******* STUPID. I brutally beat the shit out of everyone and then left.
 
#51 ·
Jiu Jitsu. **** these classes are getting hard to remember everything.

Today our instructor was in LA for a tournament. So it went on to the purple belts who did a good job teaching today. Started with pummelling, techniques today included getting a more sneaky mount from side control, the triangle, escaping the triangle. Practiced passing guard while the other tries to sweep/submit. Did pretty good holding people off, did decnt passing guard, and no submissions landed on either party.

Everyone got invited to the advanced class so of course we stuck around. Practiced escaping the north/south position and taking the back. Also practiced a kimura, and an armbar. Good class. I better wake up tomorrow.
 
#53 ·
MMA class. I showed up late because there was some construction on the way there and I had to turn around and go the other way...

Got there and jumped in practing some standup, guy A throws a 1-2, guy B throws 2-3-leg kick. Another was practicing blocking a take down with a clinch+knee.

Then we learned alot of technique involving ground and pound because he wants us to always be striking while rolling.

Then we rolled. First guy we had a decent roll despite me being bigger than him. Landed lots of fake strikes and caught him in a triangle. Second guy was a bit frustrating. He kept catching me in a headlock then cranking on my neck the whole time. I eventually tapped because I couldn't get out and I didn't want to hurt my neck. Going to look into escaping headlocks. Third guy was a bit softer and I got him with a triangle and my first arm triangle choke.
 
#55 ·
BJJ

Warm up run, jumping jacks, squats, pushups, abs, etc.

Technique was something involving hooking heels on a guy standing over you (forget the technical name), scissor choke and a variation of it, and armbar from guard. Picked everything up pretty fast since we've spent a few classes on the 2 submissions.

Then we rolled with a guy on mount. I swept my guy twice and shuffled down into half guard as well. While I was on top I got swept once. Then we rolled trying to pass guard while the other sweeps/submits. I couldn't pass the guys guard but managed to avoid getting a kimura put on me. End of class.
 
#56 · (Edited)
Kickboxing/MMA with Pele.

Quick warm up run with some pushups, for the first time we didn't do any insane warm ups that not only warm up, but gas you out.

Instead he split us in half and set half of us on the bags and the other half into groups of three to hit the sheild. I got put on heavy bag duty first and we worked boxing only. Kept up good movement and power but I find myself getting bored and every combo feels repetitive when I can't do elbows and kicks as well. I don't know how many rounds we did, it was pretty much just constant for an extended amount of time.

Then we switched off to hit the sheild. 1 person holds the sheild while the other two stand on opposite sides and kick it. Did 25 low kicks, 25 side kicks, 25 high kicks, then switched legs and did it again. Kept up pretty good even with the high kicks which is sweet. I got in a pretty good groove and the stance stayed constant and the hips got into the kicks. We thought we had to do 50 of each kick on each leg at first so we did alot more than we needed too. Oh well.

Finally was sparring which was the first real sparring I've done since I've come back. Pele told us to go about 50% on power. First up I went with my training partner and we had a pretty good round. I kept pretty evasive and caught him with lots of jabs and kicks to the side. He definitley caught me in a few exchanges as well, overall I did a bit better. Second guy has been going about as long as me but is learning at a bit of a slower pace and is smaller than me. I worked the jab/kick combos and let up a bit when I was catching him with too much and focused more on blocking/countering. Third guy was definitely good, he kept a tight guard and always threw in combos so he had me backing up the whole time. I tried to keep evasive while throwing at openings, and definitely landed a bit, but was overall for sure on the losing side. Fourth was one of the pro fighters and he definitely wasn't going 50%. Still I kept with him and landed more shots than I got on the third guy. However when I got hit there was some solid blows and once again, I wasn't winning. Still pretty fun though. The dude later went on to pound the hell out of my friend who was only on his second class. Really impressive there champ... Anyways next up for me was a girl who I obviously turned it down a notch on, though she's a pretty tough girl so I'd do lots of blocks and counter-punch, soft leg kicks, etc. Obviously I'd be winning the round, but that wasn't the intent nor an accomplishment. Done.

MMA Class. Once again 30 minutes ground and pounding a heavy bag. Huge turnout for this one, must have been about a dozen of us pounding away. It got tiring but we pushed through like we always do. Finally its over.

Training in the morning.
 
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