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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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#807 ·
Burpees (5x3 minute rounds, 1 min rest)
1 - 36
2 - 30
3 - 27
4 - 26
5 - 26
Total - 145

10 more than last week. I think I beat my pushup burpee record. =)

Hit the bag for 3 rounds. First round just boxing focusing on my major problems - range and keeping my hands up. Second round started working push kicks then push kicks to round kicks and ended with a 30 second punch out. Third round clinch and knees, then 30 second punch out.
 
#808 ·
Advanced No Gi with Bibi

Warmup, no technique just side control escape rotating through the whole class. Did alright but not great, the water was pretty deep at class today. In rolling I got manhandled by Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill, who isn't known for his ground game in MMA but took his toll on me with like 4 submissions in a round. Also rolled a purple belt with alot of back and forth though I did tap to a guillotine. Final guy was decent but I got the better of him and spent most of the time mounted on him, finishing with an americana and arm from s-mount with a sweep after he defended. 7 minute rounds are tough. Good class.

Afterwards training partner came in to hit pads, my hands were damn heavy after that class but I managed. First round I was looking much better as far as protecting myself, second round after the 100 punchout drill he started with, I wasn't looking so good. Third round was begrudgringly forced through. I'll keep it up though, my shoulders can't stay weak forever.

Waaay too sore for a monday..leg soreness from burpees, thigh pain from the purple belt digging hard with elbows to break my guard, shoulder, wrist, and elbow soreness from the increase in striking lately.

My weight cut's going suprisingly well, I guess I'll make monday after training the weekly weight check day. Last week I was 204 and 11.1% bodyfat, this week I'm 198lbs and 10.7% bodyfat. I'll adjusting my diet to slow the weightloss, but I'm pretty confident that this was just a low point of a fluctuation and I didn't legitimately lose 6lbs this week.

I'm in the middle of 8 shifts straight at work right now but am pretty happy with how I'm getting through it.

Back at it tomorrow.
 
#809 ·
Good that you will have the fight again. You are keeping good workout ethic.

Kajan put up awesome performance. Props to him.

I have my first mma amateur fight on 5th December. I hope that I will come close to your results :praise01:
 
#810 ·
My god this week is moving slowly. My right elbow is ruined with tendonitis, it feels like it should be in a sling.

I wanted to do 3 classes today but only managed to do one. I'm also jacked up on caffeine which makes sleeping tonight iffy.

BJJ was pretty good, after the warm up and guard pass drills we just did back escapes, and the teacher asked me to show a back escape. Then we drilled with everyone rotating around attacking eachother's back. I did well here and didn't get tapped. Then we rolled. I positionally dominated a big white belt one round. Then had a very neutral roll with the blue belt that hyperextended my knee in a takedown at one of my first blue belt tournaments, he's good and I'll have to get more rolls with him. Also rolled my white belt nemesis...I had slightly better positions but still spent most of my time in bottom half guard clinging for life, ended the round in his guard but only defending his submissions. My nemesis gets the moral victory again.

I've had a bit of an enlightenment today after training, one that I've had before. I'm wasting energy using my strength to cling to positions and fight their strength. It's a waste, and a habit that I spent alot of time in Brazil improving on. I'm technically better than most people here, I just need to RELAX, and be constantly moving and threatening. The challenge is that the less technically inclined do the grabbing and clinging, which can sort of suck you into their level if you're not aware of it. Next time I will be, next roll it's going to be smoother, lighter, and much more active.

That said, I need to give my elbow some rest. I'm going to harass my training partner to work kicks only with me tomorrow, god knows I'll need some tuning up on those before I fight.
 
#814 ·
Yep, it just sucks a little when those days aren't the ones you've allotted for rest.


No Gi with Bruno. Technique was arm drags from butterfly guard, then added taking the back, then added when you arm drag they pop their knee to block the back take - you wrestler grip the upped leg and the dragged arm then use your far butterfly hook to launch them over you. Then we worked omoplate variations.

In rolling I tried to be smarter, more relaxed and more active and did much better. All tough rolls, had a pretty neutral back and forth with a guy that's always been competitive. Faced my white belt nemesis and had another neutral roll, caught him with an open guard sweep against him standing and got on top. Last round was a long one with Kultar, and we spent alot of time in eachothers guards neutralizing eachother. I got props when I landed my kimura bump sweep on him, but didn't hold mount long. He also blasted me from his guard with his legs kicking off my chest, no joke I was on my knees and all 200lbs of me left the ground. Kultar was the only submission I saw tonight, he took my neck in the turtle and locked on a choke that I shouldn't have tapped to so fast- he didn't have his hooks in and I could have fought it.

Elbow feels a bit sore but much better than last time.

My 8 day stretch of work finished today. I'm hanging by a thread on just quitting the ******* job.
 
#815 ·
Finally a day off work. Did 3 rounds of pads before doing BJJ class. I didn't exactly grasp the technique today so I'm not even going to try to describe it. In rolling first round I got a white belt to toy with. Got a nice reverse scissor sweep, finished with an arm triangle and a triangle. Then rolled a top blue belt, pretty back and forth but I found myself in a tight omoplata that he eventually finished. Last round was with Dream Featherweight Champ Bibiano Fernandes. "Today I will see you" he says to me before we roll. That could be interpreted a few ways. He was all over me and finished with an armbar. We kept going with him attacking and me barely defending, triangles, armbars, I finally survived the round with my lips smashed up and my nose bleeding.
 
#816 ·
Got to train with Blake "The Snake" Fredrickson, who runs our amateur team nowadays. I haven't worked with him in the past because I wasn't getting out to Langley often and because he usually runs his session on saturdays. Having this saturday off I got a chance to give it a go.

He had us shadowbox a round in our opposite stance to get us out of our comfort zone, then we drilled a couple combos with partners. First was 1-2 stepping off the side with the 2, lifting leg up as you superman jab, then step out into a left kick to their leg. Second one was double jab, switch stance on the third to make it a right cross, step off for a left leg kick. Awkward combos but pretty neat.

Then we did 4 minute rounds MMA sparring in full gear. I met the guy that my opponent beat last, and he was nearest my size so I worked with him the most. I did my best to keep it standing, tagging him plenty from outside his range, working lots of punch and kick combos. He would eventually get me against the cage where we'd struggle and I'd either reverse out and break off or he'd take me down. On the ground I kept his posture broken pretty easily and landed decently from the bottom, but with boxing gloves and shin guards its hard to work sweeps and submissions. I did manage to get a foot to his chest when he postured and blasted him off of me. I did two rounds with him and felt pretty good. He bailed on a takedown and I ended up on top half guard, kept him flattened out and pounded until he eventually reguarded, he tried an armbar that I pulled out of and worked to pass but he rolled to a turtle. I tried to move around to take back but he attacked a single leg well and took me down to guard to finish the second round. Then I got to work with two other guys that were a bit smaller than me. I did well using my range once again, funny how I haven't sparred or done much muay thai but I instinctively went to the same combos that I always used to do. Both guys did eventually take me down, but both had a tough time getting any posture, and one I swept into mount and ended the round pounding from his back. Good class!

Talked a bit with the guy that lost to my opponent. He said he has some crappy quality video of the fight that I could see, which will be nice because I've only found one round on youtube of my opponents first fight, which apparently he has improved on alot since. Also learned a few other things, he's about 6'2 and cuts to 190 from 210, so big dude doing a big weight cut. I'm not dieting down any further. He seems to prefer to be on the ground, but isn't very great off his back. The guy I was trainig with today said he controlled and won the first round, and our opponent came out in the second and threw a head kick right away to try to put it away. I'll have to be wary of things like that.

Overall I feel pretty good that I got to train with my opponents last opponent and didn't feel out of my league at all. Great week for training! Right elbow is aching but everything else feels phenomenal, I keep this up and I'll be set for a great performance on January 15th.

UFC tonight! I entered a 25$ MMA pool at MMA Madhouse I always liked doing fantasy mma betting so a cheap little pool makes these events a little more interesting to watch. Plus its probably a good idea to build relationships with online media. Plus, I can win a couple hundred $$$, if you click through the link you'll see I'm currently tied for first after the first event (I'm revolution).

Sweet rest now and back to work.
 
#817 · (Edited)
Phew, good first day back. Did 3 hours today. No Gi advanced, No Gi beginners, and Boxing. I've been much busier and smarter in rolling recently. Bruno's been keeping an eye on me and I try my best to stay out of closed guard. Today I was making open guard work decently. I hit two sweeps and did well preventing a pass against a tough roll. I'll keep working on it. I got submitted with a triangle by a small and really skilled guy I've never trained with before. I thought he was a noob when I was working with him, until I rolled him and he was at a purple or brown belt level. God he felt strong. Got a couple submissions in other rolls an armbar from triangle and one or two others that I forget.

Two days off again so I'll be looking to get some extra training in.
 
#818 ·
MMA Class

Practiced back and forth takedowns. Kajan came over to show a double leg variation, as you go in you step around their back leg to block them from stepping back and pull the legs out as usual. Praciced some takedown defense technique and then sparred one guy trying to takedown and the other guy defending. I defended all the takedowns but had problems taking other people down, only successful when I pinned them against a wall. Then we did some muay thai shadowboxing and practice kicking with partners.

Muay Thai

Run, skipping, walking with knees, geared up and drilled combos for most of class. Finished with clinch sparring.
 
#823 ·
Thanks man!

Beginner BJJ

Warmup drills, technique was a near side armbar from side control, then a transition to turn it into a kimura. Also worked a side control escape.

In rolling I got rounds in with the two purple belt instructors, spent most of my time on the back and mount of one of them. The other spent most of his time in my guard, but fell off for a heel hook instead of passing. Also rolled a white belt that basically spazzed out on me. Starting from our knees he tried to get a collar choke on me while we were still upright and, I guess, he tried to throw me with it. Anyways I ended up on top of him while he reefed on the choke, passed to side control while he was still trying to choke me out. It was tight but obviously thats a pretty inferior position to choke from. Spent most of my time on top of him, took his back but he escaped into my guard by the time the end rounded.

Only one class today but it's my 6th class this week already so I've got a good pace. Body's achy but alright. It's record breaking cold here right now and I got a nasty nose bleed at the end of class, probably won't be the last.
 
#824 ·
Hit the pads 5 rounds

Then did no gi advanced with bibi.

Technique was a guard pass from stand. Step in with on leg, same side arm is used to strike then reaches out and around their far leg to open up the pass. Also learned two butterfly guard passes, both start by stepping one knee out and over to the other one in front of a hook. Then the outside leg steps over the hook, then as they hip out to the side your inside leg can take mount. The alternate version is one knee out and over to the other on in front of a hook, and then hop over to side control.

Two tough rolls with a very good purple belt, got tapped once. My roll with Bruno our brown belt ended early when my nose started bleeding like crazy.
 
#830 ·
and I am assuming both trips were an amazing learning experience?

Did you find that expensive because honestly $7000 for 3 months seems like a do able price...

P.S sorry your from a less awesome province then me :)
I have family in Ontario and am out there every year, B.C. is better =)

Yeah, both were amazing. If the fighting thing doesn't work out I'm going straight back to world travel.

I'd say the overall experience of Brazil is better but as far as cheap training, Thailand is unbeatable.
 
#838 ·
Took two days off for rest, just stressed out and missing sleep latley.

No Gi advanced today. The talent pool was heavy today, Kajan came in, Bill Mahood, Bruno, Bibiano was teaching. We drilled protecting ourselves from the back, I got choked by a purple once in all. In rolling I had a a few good rounds but Kajan really took it to me. I never get a chance to train with him so it's always nice when I do. He was all over me though, and being generous with the ground and pound, my nose leaked like crazy and my face looks like hell =). I survived and had my moments in at least giving him a fight though.

Tomorrow's a day off work Kajan told me to do Muay Thai with the pro's at 12:30, then MMA Sparring at 5:00. I think I'll take a picture of my face tomrorow. =)
 
#839 ·
Took two days off for rest, just stressed out and missing sleep latley.

No Gi advanced today. The talent pool was heavy today, Kajan came in, Bill Mahood, Bruno, Bibiano was teaching. We drilled protecting ourselves from the back, I got choked by a purple once in all. In rolling I had a a few good rounds but Kajan really took it to me. I never get a chance to train with him so it's always nice when I do. He was all over me though, and being generous with the ground and pound, my nose leaked like crazy and my face looks like hell =). I survived and had my moments in at least giving him a fight though. I did the beginner class afterwards but ended up just teaching a guy on his first day. I got one round in the end with a decent guy and was mostly dominant, with an arm triangle finish.

Tomorrow's a day off work Kajan told me to do Muay Thai with the pro's at 12:30, then MMA Sparring at 5:00. I think I'll take a picture of my face tomrorow when all is said and done. =)
 
#843 · (Edited)
Fighters class muay thai

Yeesh what a day

Skipping, drilled combos back and forth, including clinch work, did ALOT. Then we sparred for like 5 rounds, then he took turns doing pads with everyone. I was on the bag for like 10 rounds before I got to go. I finally got to get my kicks going and even just two rounds with him I have a lot more confidence and better idea of I need in my kicks. Good, hard day. Kajan said there's MMA sparring at 5 but I'm ******* toast for today. Back at it tomorrow.
 
#844 ·
No Gi Advanced
Technique was a tricky move I hadn't seen before, Bruno showed how to hit it from butterfly guard, getting mounted, and attacking the de la riva guard. Not going to go through them because quite frankly they're not really going to translate into words. Lots of rounds with all blue belts, won my rounds but tapped to an ankle lock or two.

No Gi Beginners
Helped teach and tried the moves out a bit myself, an attack to break turtle, a butterfly guard sweep, and something else that I forget. Rolled a bit.

Muay Thai
We had the class split in half with one half holding pads/sheilds/mitts with the other half drilling non stop 1:30 each with 7 stations. Man that was tough. Then just clinch sparring.

Good day. Less than 6 weeks to the fight, less than 2 weeks left at work.
 
#845 · (Edited)
Missed class again on friday, this week has had some quality sessions but two lackluster days of missing class. I blame my job, stress, sleeping problems, and a girlfriend. Going to book an appointment to get back on sleep meds when I go to get my medical paperwork hopefully next week. My job finishes on Dec 14th, so that should help put things in balance until the fight is over. I got in today after work to do some conditioning. Tried a few new things today to help put together a good full body routine.

Tire Flips 1,1,1 @ gym length and back (18 flips per set)
Rope Climb 1
Pushup Burpee to Chin up 10,10
Sprawl Deadlift 8,8,8@45lbs
DB Clean + Squat 8,8,8@50lbs

Ab Circuit
Decline Twisting Crunch 20,20@45lbs
Reverse Crunch 15,15@15lbs
Cable Crunch 20,20@160lbs
Plank 1:30, 1:30

Neck Circuit
Forward Bridge 1:00
Handstand Bridge 1:00
Backward Bridge 1:00

204lbs 11.1% bf
198lbs 10.7% bf
198lbs 9.9% bf
201lbs and 10.5% bf

Weight is slightly up.

Today was a promotion ceremony for our BJJ. I've heard rumors that Bibiano's is leaving us in January, which is a brutal blow to our team. Two of our brown belts got promoted to Black, as well as a few other belts were administered. I couldn't go because I have a job...but here's a pic of the team anyways.

 
#846 ·
No Gi Advanced
Technique was a sweep from deep half guard when they try to pass the de la riva. Glover sweep I think it's called? Anyways, I didn't get much time to work on it because I got called over because the gym owner was showing this beast of a man around and needed some training partners for him. He was about my height and 270lbs of muscle. So that was fun. Me and Bill and Rob took turns doing rounds with him. I'd try to break his guard and come around and he'd launch me with a leg. In my guard I was pretty much useless too. It's definitely interesting to roll someone so much bigger though, hopefully I get more opportunities to, it sounded like Rob will be giving him privates and might use me to do them. I'll have to get a picture =)

In normal rolling I got a couple rounds in with bill. I did well with a hip bump sweep and kept mound for a round. Next round in my guard didn't go as well and I wasn't able to do much. Afterwards Bill was telling me the most underrated thing in amateur MMA right now is elbows to the body. When they're controlling your wrists, grab one with your hand and the same arm comes over with the elbow. He said it takes awhile to get the power into it, but your throwing your whole shoulder into it and aiming for ribs. I remember in Brazil having a guy do this to me and it was hell. So I'm going to practice that on a bag now.

No Gi Beginners
Warm up drills, sweep was pendulum sweep. A couple differences I noticed when Bruno does it. First, he likes to cup the arm at the elbow and trap the hand at the hip, while I do an overhook. Second he brings his far leg all the way around, as if he were going for an armbar, swinging it for extra momentum. I'll give this fine tuning a try. Had another good roll or two. I wasn't being rough but I just murdered a newer guy of decent size. :)

Boxing
Shadowboxing, drilling combos, sparring.
 
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