Lightning

Hi. This is my first time on the forum, so I apologize if I posted this thread in the wrong section. I hope to have a great stay here!

My name is Henry, and I am currently 15 years of age. I've always been into martial arts, especially Jiu-Jitsu. I recently gained an interest in MMA this year. I trained at an MMA gym for around 3 months. I stopped training at that gym because I felt very insecure with egotastic practitioners, and the facility was simply too small to train; let alone spar and roll.

I flooded the internet with searches for my nearest BJJ/MMA gym. There was a BJJ gym around 1 hour away from where I live. As my mother has a very busy schedule, and she does not take notice of my interests; I decided to take public transport. I arrive at the BJJ gym and I can promise you it was the best training lesson ever. Everyone was friendly and caring. No ego, fun, training for our own purposes. Pure class.

I had my trial day, and was given information on training fees. I was stunned by how expensive they were, and it was simply too expensive to afford as a teen.
Decided to move onto Judo.
A Judo gym is surprisingly only 15 minutes away from me. I got there, and it was another mcdojo. Kids mucking around in Gi's, no sparring, instructors telling stories about his childhood and bullies. Not what I was looking for.
All the other gyms are up north from where I live which are 1 hour and a half away from me.

I'm so frustrated about how hard it is to find a decent gym over here. Should I take boxing as a starter? There aren't any Muay Thai gyms for me over there either. And I don't want to do TKD because 90% of them are mcdojos and it simply doesn't work in a fight. arghhhhhhh.....

Any suggestions guys? Training fees / money is what stops me from training. Other than that, I am so determined to train as hard as I can.

Lightning

-Bump-

Summary of this:
Should I start boxing and transfer onto MMA later? Boxing doesn't utilize kicks but I guess it's a good starter. Your opinion please?

mfer

This is the best opinion ever so please don't waste it.

Join your Highschool Wrestling and Judo Team. If you are able to also enroll in Boxing then do that too.

Wrestling is a very good base for MMA and its FREE.
Judo is also a good choice, but I would recommend wrestling if not both.

Boxing is a very good base as well.

MCDOJO101

Hahaha i hate mcdojos i used to attend one when i was a little kid but i quit that fake dojang now. Depending on where you live, you should look for a martial art or boxing gym with a good reputation. Boxing is actually very good to start MMA, I'm learning boxing right now and you'll be able to throw accurate and sharp punches when you get into MMA. It is also beneficial because many MMA fighters are not strong in striking because they have to practice submissions, takedowns,clinches and etc. That is why Anderson Silva and GSP come to the wild card gym to train with freddie roach and improve their strikes. I highly suggest it if possible.

Lightning

I live in Australia. There is no such thing as high-school wrestling here.

Haha, thanks for your reply.
I might go ahead and join a boxing gym next week or so.

swpthleg

1) Save your pennies for decent running shoes, as I'm pretty sure there's open road or other terrain near your house.

2) Jump rope.

3) YouTube tutorials.

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MCDOJO101

In case you live in Los Angeles, i suggest you check out the Fortune Gym or Wild Card they are popular but beware they have deadly fighters

Sugar-Free_LizaG

Another thing is to take the Evan Tanner/Rich Franklin route and get together with friends, get some instructional DVD's and work it out together have fun!

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Lightning

Good idea. Even though I suck at using the jump rope, I will try to keep fit at home this way. Although I really want to train my fitness basing it on a particular martial art.

That would be an awesome idea, however not many of my friends are into MMA. Even if they were, they wouldn't be bothered training it with me. :P

I guess I gotta get myself a job. Earn 900 dollars and pay a 6-month BJJ training contract.