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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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#177 ·
It depends how limber your calves are to start with. You can lean against a wall, put your legs behind you and balance on the ball of the foot on the side you want to stretch, but be careful how far your legs are out behing you if you have any issues with your back. If you sit with both legs out in front of you like you were going to stretch your hamstrings, point your toes and lean as far forward as you can; this will stretch your shins a little. I like to balance the ball of my foot on the edge of a treadmill or some elevated surface and (balancing myself with any nearby surface) stretch my calves out one by one. A marathon runner also told me that writing the alphabet in the air with your big toe a few times a day was helpful for this type of thing.

P.S. Your "sharktank" is exactly the same concept as our renduri, only we don't roll unless it's TKD sparring (olympic rules and therefore full contact).
 
#178 ·
Gym

Barbell Complex (60lbs X 6 Sets X 6 Reps X 60 Seconds Rest)
Good Morning
Overhead Squat
Stiff Legged Deadlift
Bent Over Row
Reverse Grip Curl
Military Press
Skullcrusher

6,6,6,6,6,6

Same weight as last week excpt I got every rep. I love complexes and have sneaking suspicion they're a big part of my recent endurance boost...5 more lbs next week.
 
#180 ·
BJJ

5 Min warm up drill. I'm getting really bad at retaining techniques. I got the hang of most of them but they seem to be in one ear and out the other because I only vaguely remember them. Meh. Rolling was decent, Was dominant with a few, and 2 of my rolls I got dominated by more experienced white belts.

MMA tonight.
 
#181 ·
MMA

Watched another hour or so of Saulo today. I meant to watch more on my days off but it's so hard to focus on.

Warm up run, handstand walks along the wall, plyo wheelbarrows. Did a minute drilling guard pass. Did a round from full guard where the top guy is throwing punches and trying to pass while the bottom guy is sweeping or submitting. I got battered and armbarred.

Technique was a guard break. Grab an arm with both hands, jump up, pull the arm up with your same side arm, push down on your legs with the other, trap both legs by the shins, push into their chest, and bring your knee into the middle. Also from here we learned to pull their shin to the side, roll them to their side, step along them, knee on belly, grab an underhook on the opposite side and push down on their adjacent. Another technique was an armbar from guard. Grab a forearm, pull across to the side of your head, clamp down with your second hand on their elbow, first hand pushes their face to the side, foot up on hip, lift hips up and out, bring leg over, tighten knees and cross ankles.

In rolling I did mediocre at best. I felt really drained today, it could have been the cheat meal of the century I had earlier today (double quarter pounder meal). I'm also still getting used to rolling with ground and pound in mind, it really changes the game up. Even with my weak performance in rolling it felt like a very productive class.

Body pain is mounting and it's only day 2 of the week. My right big toe and my left pinky toe are still semi sprained, my right ankle hurts, my right shin splints are lingering, I think I did a minor groin pull on my right side today, my elbows are sore one of which was from an armbar that went a little too far, and my shoulders hurt if stretched.

BJJ Tomorrow!
 
#182 ·
So I'm taking today off. The minor pains could use the day off, and I can't properly lift my right leg because of my groin, so I'll probably give it all a good stretch today and just watch some more Saulo.

I talked to the owner of the weights gym. He doesn't have any heavybags in yet, so I said if he was cool with me using it whenever they're not running class, he can hang mine. I'll bring it in tomorrow and do my first self training session if the crotch is feeling optimal. If not I might just do it anyway and avoid using my right kicks/knees.

There's a chance that I may be able to get the opportunity to fight at our next local MMA event. This is all speculation right now though. I'm going to talk to one of my trainers on friday and see what steps I need to take and if it's even possible to get on this event. It's april 3rd, so two months away.

If I can get on, I probably will go for it. It's weird thinking about it though, this has always been just training with the thought of actually fighting still some fuzzy thing in the distance. This could get real pretty quickly here. If I do get on I'll drop to working 3-4 days a week and step up my training. More striking training, more ground and pound work, much more sparring, more endurance and explosive conditioning. More hours.
 
#183 · (Edited)
I took a few more days off. It was partial laziness, and partial lingering pains. My groin feels better but it's still hinting at a comeback. I'll cross my fingers.

I won't be fighting in april. I've decided it's too soon. I'm aiming for sometime this summer, so 4-6 months away. I'd like to get two fights in this year, so I'll try to get one in the fall or winter, ideally.

I'm switching up my weekly schedule to a better balance between grappling and standup. I've also adjusted my conditioning to make it, in my opinion, more effective. Here's the outline of a typical week assuming I'm feeling good.
Mon
10:00-11:00AM Explosive Conditioning

Olympic Lifts
Clean and Jerk 3 sets of 3
Snatch 3 sets of 3

Explosive Circuit (3 rounds of 5 minutes)
Burpees
Sprawls
Medicine Ball Rotational Throws
Sprints
Medicine Ball Slams

7:30-8:30PM BJJ Class
Roll with people for an hour, no technique or drilling

Tue

11:00-1:00PM Muay Thai Solo
Shadowbox
Agility Ladder Drills
Heavybag rounds including punch out drills

6:00-7:30PM MMA Class

Wed
6:30-?PM Training at pro gym

Thur
4:00-5:00PM Muay Thai Solo
Shadowbox
Agility Ladder Drills
Heavybag rounds including punch out drills

5:30-6:30PM Endurance Conditioning
Barbell Complex
Ab Circuit


Fri

6:00-7:00PM Muay Thai Class
7:00-8:30PM MMA Class

Sat

2:00-?PM Training at pro gym

7:00-8:00PM Absolute Strength Conditioning

Squats 3 sets of 5
Deadlift 3 sets of 5
Dumbbell Bench 3 sets of 5
Weighted Chin Ups 3 sets of 5

Sun
Rest



I THINK I can maintain this. I will be working up to this, not jumping straight in.
 
#184 ·
Explosive Conditioning

Clean and Jerk 5,5,5@45lbs
Snatch 5,5,5@ 45lbs

I took a better look at the form for Clean and Jerk and it turns out I was doing them pretty poorly. I'm starting over with low weights and getting it right. Also did Snatches for the first time today, awkward, but it'll come. That's all for this day of the week.




Going to watch some Saulo, then an hour of rolling tonight.
 
#185 ·
^ lol. My gifs of olympic lifts got pwned.


BJJ

Really small class today, but our instructor is back, he got 1st in his division at some European BJJ tournament. He hurt his knee pretty bad though.

I showed up at around 7:30 which is an hour and a half in which felt kind of weird. I feel like a dick for rolling people that have been training while I'm fresh. Oh well.

We started with 4 rounds of guard passes, except the person putting the guard on can't use their arms or hands on their opponent. What surprised me is I actually did as good, if not better using only my legs. That's definitely starting to open up my eyes and got me thinking about letting my legs work almost as a seperate entity from my arms.

After that it was straight up rolling. Today went well. :twisted:

First match up was one of our newer blues that's like 6'4ish and 320lbs ish. I took side control early and eventually worked to his back. After a shitload of battling his defenses I sunk the choke. More battling. And then a tap via rear naked. Yeah baby. Starting again I think I got to mount on him before the round ended.

Next guy was another new blue belt. I dominated positionally, and had his back for most of the round. I couldn't finish, but I wasn't going anywhere either.

Next guy was another blue belt. I dominated positionally again though this time I spent most of it in mount. He covered up for most of the round and I couldn't deliver anything. I eventually took an armbar in haste and he turned it around on me. I eventually fought back to mount though where the round ended.

Final guy was a white belt that usually dominates me. This round was mostly the same I'm afraid. We fought in his open guard for awhile, he's really good at catching my sleeves and digging his legs into my arms. Spider Guard I'm guessing is what he's playing. Anyways, he eventually got an armbar, I barely got out and fell into a triangle, I barely got out again. He took my back and RNCed me. During this last round my stomach was acting up and I threw up a bit in my mouth, so I took the rest of the night off.

Awesome ******* night.

Tomorrow I'm going to look into 2 obstacles of my night because I keep running into them. Numero uno is how to stop getting raped by the weird sleeve grab leg in your armpits nonsense. Dos is how to best get through arms that are crossed across their neck in defense.
 
#186 ·
Absolute Strength Conditioning

Squat 6,6,6 @ 245lbs
Dumbbell Bench 6,6,6 @ 75lbs
Chin Up 6,6,6 @ bodyweight


Everything felt good today. I was warming up to do my deadlifts but my legs and lower back felt exhausted. I don’t think it’s a good idea to lift to near failure with squats and deadlifts on the same day, so I’m going to stop doing it. I might fit my deadlifts in somewhere else, though they don’t really make sense anywhere else. I’ll probably just alternate between squats and deadlifts every week, and change the stiff legged deadlifts in my barbell complex to regular deadlifts. Groin feels tight but alright. Weighing 219lbs right now. MMA tonight.
 
#188 ·
MMA

Warmup run. Shrimping. I was surprised to see we weren't doing plyo wheelbarrows today. There was quite a few new people and Kajan probably didn't want to scare them off before they registered. lol. Instead we drilled guard passes and then did leapfrogs/shooting between their legs.

Technique really stuck today because we spent an hour practicing two moves. From side control, move hand to their hip closest to you, my other arm overhooks on their far arm. Rotate to north south position, keeping weight on them. Keep a hold on that over hook, pin their other arm to the ground then bring a knee onto it. Bring other knee up beside their head so you're sitting on it. overhook pulls into a kimura. Second move is they grab hold of their trapped arm, in which case you spin into an arm bar with the kimura grip, switch to armbar grip once the arm is fully extended, otherwise you can pop back into the kimura at any point. Sweet move.

First roll I positionally dominated including body triangles, and threw lots of light strikes. Eventually took his back and threw more punches.

Second guy we had an epic battle, though he was smaller than me so I'd give him the win. We spent alot of time in my guard. Once again I made use of the body triangle, landed a kimura sweep, took mount and threw strikes. I forget how it ended but he was getting some stuff on me too.

Third guy had some sort of rib injury going on and seemed to be in pain so I went real light and just worked my open guard. I eventually took his back and RNCed. Later on I took mount and more strikes.

End of class. Good shit.

Talked to my trainer about getting my first fight this summer. He thinks that's really good timing for me and seemed pretty stoked on it. He said he'll look into finding something for me at 205lbs. I'm sure he'll be riding my ass more in the future now.
 
#189 ·
I was sore as **** today. Those squats murdered me, just because I missed them last week so my body had no idea what it was in for.

BJJ. Rolled for awhile. Had some good rolls that were back and forth, including with two blue belts. It was mostly positional, not alot of subs getting landed. One of the blues omoplated me but I rolled over it and was pretty much stuck. He couldn't finish but I couldn't get out so I just accepted it and tapped. Not much else to report. Oh, I was in too much pain to go in and hit the bag this morning. I'm thinking I'll be arranging the schedule a few posts back a little more.
 
#190 · (Edited)
Muay Thai

Shadowboxing 3 rounds, sparred 3 rounds, felt alright at best, biggest things to work on is getting rid of the hesitation and throwing in combos. Did some drills on partner jab + kick, 1-2 opposite leg kick.

MMA warmed up with a run and shrimping. Technique was an armbar from mount. Get into high mount with your knees under their shoulders and feet on their hips, grab their arm with your opposite arm, bring knee adjacent to their arm by their head, get other foot up under their shoulder, posting with free arm, take the other leg and come across their face, keep legs tight, pull back for armbar. Other technique was mount escape, just create space, hands on hips, legs high up on one side, big bridge, hip out opposite way, reguard.

In rolling I did alright but definitately not spectacular. I felt ******* DRAINED today. I had a beer today about 2 hours before training, that could have been it. I'm also a little bit behind on sleep and am wrapping up a week of training.





Big news, my trainer's already pulled some strings and I've got a date for my first fight set! June 19th. Amateur fight, about an hour away from where I live. 3 rounds 3 minutes long.

I've also been invited to train at the pro's gym on wednesdays and saturdays. I'm going to have to get saturday's off from work because they start at 2:30. This shouldn't be too much of an issue, and that means I'm down to 4 days a week work which will be a relief.

Needless to say, training steps up another notch. I'm eating, sleeping and breathing that date from now on. No fun. More training, even if it's just light shit. Much more videos. Perfect diet. No drinking whatsoever. Lock down on the sleeping.

My right groin hurts quite a bit. I got kicked alot on that side though so hopefully alot of the pain is just bruising on my hips and thigh. Ice time and a light day tomorrow and sunday.

June 19th, going to do this right! The countdown begins!
 
#191 ·
Explosive Lifting

Clean and Jerk 3,3,3 @ 95lbs
Snatch 3,3,3 @ 55lbs

More olympic lifts, still getting used to the movement. It's a sketchy thing to learn because there's a ton of things to keep in mind at once, while remaining explosive, plus you need a decent amount of weight to get the right momentum. Weights are up slightly and it's coming.

Haven't quite figured out how I'm going to do the second part of this session with the area availabe to me.

I've been putting 'active rest' into practice. If anything hurts or is sore it gets stretched and used a couple times a day to encourage bloodflow and recovery.

A few hours of Saulo today and BJJ tonight.
 
#192 ·
Instead of watching Saulo's set I started on Demian Maia's Science Of Jiu-Jitsu. Watched volume 1 defending the guard pass and volume 2 the triangle. I feel like I retained quite a bit and might pull off a few fancy moves in the future. The triangle bit had a few that were especially useful because they're pretty common positions I get myself into. My favourite was when you fail a kimura or a kimura sweep you can do a fancy swing straight into a deep triangle. That moves going to be in the back of my mind until I land it.

BJJ

Caught the tail end of learning a little choke from mount. Seemed pretty savage and effective, not sure what it's called but it's a pretty basic forearm into the throat kind of business.

In rolling I rolled a blue belt and the two white belts that always seemed to give me trouble. There wasn't any tapping for anyone, though I almost landed a triangle from mount, it was just a little sloppy as I had just watched the technique the one time today. Positionally I probably had the upper hand on the blue, but the other two whites had the upper hand on me. For some reason I was pretty exhausted again in rolling today, no real reason coming to mind for why this would be. I guess once again I need to pay more attention to relaxing while rolling..

I've been thinking sinc I'll be training at the pro gym on wednesdays now, I might just do the full BJJ class on monday. We'll see how this week goes.

Tomorrow I'm gonna do some solo muay thai in the morning and then do the MMA class that evening.
 
#193 ·
Stretch

Round of shadowboxing

5 rounds of 3 minutes on the heavybag

Stretch

Sauna


Delightful morning. My hands felt heavier to hold up than I remember, gotta get that endurance back up. I didn't really start to get my feet and hips into my strikes until the last round or two and then I was throwing bombs. MMA tonight.
 
#194 ·
MMA. Warmup run, shrimping, drilling guard passes, and shitty leapfrog shit. Technique was a proper rear naked choke, a ghetto choke, and escaping back control. Then we drilled escaping while your partner is trying to submit. I did pretty good.

I gotta drive out to this pro gym I've been invited to and train with them. I think they're doing sparring today so I anticipate taking a few beatings.
 
#195 ·
The Fortress, they call it. The pro gym.

I had no idea what to expect, to be honest I was expecting some ghetto setup with some mats and bags. I drove an hour or so out into farm land, got through a big electronic gate, and drove around to this huge building. Go inside, and it's huge. Boxing ring, massive amounts of mats with fencing along half of it, half a dozen or so bags, a big bar, a big setup of reclining leather seats surrounding the biggest projection television I've ever seen. The screen must have been 10+ feet across. Up stairs there was a full weight room, but I didn't venture up there. Showers, sauna, etc. I didn't know there was a place like this in my province.

Anyways, so I got in there and started stretching and warming up. Saw a few familiar faces but was mostly unknown. I'll point out now that I was an idiot and forgot my mouthguard at my other gym. What does that mean? I couldn't spar, and it was sparring day.

I kind of sparred anyways until they noticed I had no mouthguard, I had driven an hour so I had to at least try. I got paired up with this guy that was no joke about 290lbs because I was the closest to him. He was stocky as hell so I figured I'd just backpedal and jab to set up other things. He comes out with headkicks and bodykicks galore and takes me down with a rhino charge. I was fine, but it was pretty wild, and the guys got all nervous about us crashing into the smaller guys sparring near us so we got moved to the ring. Anyways, once I got told not to spar because of the no mouthguard thing I talked to the 290 dude and he seemed pretty nice and wants me to keep coming out so he has big guys to train with. Sounds good.

I hit the bag for a few rounds, and got to see some of my trainers in action, which was pretty inspiring.

I feel like a tool for forgetting the single most important thing, I swear my mouthguard was in my bag, oh well! Now I know I've got alot to work on. I'm going to put some extra hours in this weekend and have my partner put on some gloves and shin guards and just pound away on me until all my nervousness is gone in the pocket and I can function and react properly. I feel way out of my element at this gym and need to step it up a notch.
 
#196 ·
Muay Thai
Warm up run, drilling a 1-2 to clinch and knees on partner, push kicking back and forth, a throw from clinch, combos on pads, very light sparring.

MMA
Just drilled starting in bad positions and escaping. Side control, mount, knee on belly, etc. Did really good here. Then we rolled. I was mostly dominant with everyone. Landed a triangle from the kimura setup on the dvd, 2 armbars, and 2 rear nakeds. No subs on me though I fell into a guillotine and had to fight my way out. I was all over people today. Plenty of gas, overall soreness but no real injuries. Good stuff. Getting better! I was suppossed to do my endurance conditioning today but I think I'll miss it this week.
 
#197 ·
Kajan is off to fight this weekend in Montreal, I don't doubt that he'll kick some ass.

Muay Thai.

Skipping, shadowboxing, heavybag. The people preparing for a fight went to the ring to spar. We did 3 minute rounds with people switching out after they've done two rounds. I did about 8 rounds total. Getting more comfortable sparring, getting better with footwork, throwing in combos, relaxing and breathing, and a bit better with the nervous energy.

MMA, warm up run, pummelling, technique was some basic work from side control, americana, armbar, kimura, and two escapes. Rolled 2 rounds starting from side control. It was pretty back and forth in both rolls, got a triangle from mount.

This weeks almost done. Shin splints were acting up in sparring, I've ripped a big blister on one of my big toes but it's all wrapped up now so it shouldn't be an issue. I also kicked an elbow with my ankle, feels okay now, we'll see tomorrow. Other than that I feel pretty good. If I feel good tomorrow I'm going to do a lift day as well as have my partner attack me and keep working on those defensive skills and get more comfortable getting smacked.

My sleeps been terrible for the past 3 days. 5-6 hours at most even though I give enough time for 8. I feel tired all day but once my head hits the pillow my mind won't stop. It's really frustrating putting all your effort in to do this right and then have something as simple as a sleeping problem holding you down. Dropping all caffeine didn't even help. I picked up some nighttime tylenol and feel it setting in now.

UFC tomorrow!
 
#198 ·
I slept 4 hours last night. Really frustrating at this point. I'm not training today, I feel like shit and it would be working backwards. If I can't fall asleep early tonight I'm going to go to my last resort and smoke a joint, which is so far the only truly effective thing I've tried to tackle restlessness. That's not going to work in the long run though.
 
#200 ·
Symptoms of gastroenteritis or stomach flu include abdominal cramps, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. You may also have fever, headache, and swollen lymph glands, depending on the type of bug that causes it.

In severe cases of gastroenteritis, loss of bodily fluid can result in dehydration, a life-threatening condition that needs medical attention. Signs of dehydration include sunken eyes, light-headedness, increased thirst, dry or sticky mucous membranes in the mouth, lack of normal elasticity of the skin, decreased urine output, and decreased tears.
I have this. :( Was vomiting and shitting all night last night so it looks like I'm out of training for a few days. I'm feeling a bit better today but still have only managed to hold down gatorade. BJJ DVDs in the meantime, and hopefully back to training around thursday!
 
#203 · (Edited)
Woohoo, first day back. I feel decent, my stomachs still a bit weak but my appetite has been getting stronger exponentially. I couldn't eat for 24 hours there.

Muay Thai
10 Mins skipping, 5 rounds of 5 minutes on the heavy bag, 5 or so ab exercises, 100 rep sets, Pele you bastard. I wasn't expecting any mercy today and I definitely got none. I was pretty tired at everything, the body's definitely not optimal, but it's enough that I can get back into the swing of things without interfering too much. I didn't do MMA because I was feeling drained.

Tomorrow our trainer fights to defend his lightweight belt. (Kajan Johnson in montreal, XMMA)

While I'm at it, I might as well do some shameless promotion for Kajan.Sherdog Profile

Kajan's 14-10-1. It's easy to be mislead by the record, but Kajan started fighting after only 2 months of training. He also fought 9 times in that first year. Lately, he's 9-1-1 in his last 11, and keeping up a steady pace.

Tomorrow night he's rematching against his only draw. I haven't seen the first fight, but I heard that it was a close decision, and he was fighting a french Canadian fighter in Montreal, so things are a bit questionable. He's under those circumstances again.


Here's his most recent fight, I think they were hoping for a bit more from the other guy.


Another


And one more.

He's also a ******* awesome trainer, but that doesn't matter to anyone here.
 
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