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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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#361 · (Edited)
I'm back.

Ran into some loss of motivation, then a family emergency came up. Mostly just me being a bitch though. I've been resurrected back into training because another opportunity to fight came up for September 25th in Bellingham. Another amateur one. Hopefully I can get an opponent and everything works out this time.

Muay Thai/MMA

Skipping 15 minutes, 100 kicks on the bag. Rounds of light sparring. Took it light and did well. I'm feeling out of shape but that of could have to do with what I ate pre workout. NEVER, EVER, EAT CHILI BEFORE TRAINING. I did well in sparring mostly due to experience and size. I felt the chili/out of shapeness at work so I relaxed as much as I could and for the first time focused on head movement (thanks Anderson Silva for the reminder). Good stuff.

MMA

Warm up run, then a few different kinds lunges, crab walks, etc. Darwin was filling in for Kajan today. Just did a basic pass from half guard, as well as stand up for half guard. then practiced it. In rolling I was dominant. The BJJ still feels sharp, though I still felt tired and had to stay extra relaxed. I've been reading alot of Saulo's book and picking up a few things as I go.

Looking ahead, I've got 6-7 weeks to the fight. I'm taking this week too get myself back up to par. Going to lift and get through initial soreness of coming back. Then I step it up the week after, don't really know what's in store, one of the manager guy wants to arrange a program that will probably mean alot of trips to the pro gym. I might be losing my car license shortly so that could make things difficult. Fuckers.
 
#364 ·
MMA Class

Did yesterday's class and todays. Techniques were pretty much the same, kimura from guard, bump sweep, guillotine. One new thing I hadn't seen before was when going for kimura from guard, after hipping to the side, post on your head, then straighten out your body to align with your head.

In rolling I've been doing alright at best. I win when I should win, but had two tough rolls that I was frustrated with. Everything's super ******* sweaty and I can't seem to control well enough to maintain a position permanently or finish a submission.

See how I feel tomorrow. Might lift then do BJJ classes, might just do BJJ.
 
#365 ·
Saturday
BJJ. Was going to lift beforehand but I got tricked into a sales pitch from a vacuum salesman that wasted my morning. In BJJ the warmup was pretty tough, followed technique of escapes/passes in half guard. then we did a king of the mats type scenario starting in guard. I did second best. I could have did better but one guy started before I could get closed guard on him and he passed.

Looks like the BJJ tournament in mid september that my friend and I were eyeing up is cancelled. Fortunately our owner said he's looking to start running 4 tournaments a year. Unfortunately for me, the first is starting on the day of my fight.

Sunday
Rest

Monday
Conditioning

Burpees (5x3 minute rounds, 1 min rest)
1 - 33
2 - 27
3 - 23
4 - 22
5 - 21
Total - 126

Beat my all time best by two. Almost puked afterwards. I'm content that I'm finally making more headway with these things. Going to chart my progress in a second here.

I talked to the weight's gym owner, I've got the okay to use the heavy bag room early in the morning before work. Will probably start thursday/friday and work on a rusted striking game.

Watching a bit of Saulo or Demian now and then BJJ this evening.
 
#367 ·
BJJ

Had a really great class today and did pretty well. Tried out a few new things with some success...rubber guard...saulo's running escape from knee on belly. Had one roll where I got wtfpwned, but it's all good. Too lazy right now to go though it all. Conditioning tomorrow morning then Muay Thai + MMA class.
 
#371 ·
Didn't do conditioning this morning, too sore.

Muay Thai

Skipping, Shadowboxing, techniques with a partner just practicing footwork. Advancing and retreating and countering, pivoting, etc.

MMA

Warm up run, tumbling, techniques and drills today were just escapes from mount, side control, back control. Got two rounds of rolling in. Got out worked by Kajan and one of our fighters. Tough day. My shoulders and elbows really ache today.

They want me to fight october 10th now, and it's a 4 hour drive away.
 
#372 ·
Boxing

Arrived late. Shadowboxed while moving on a line. Hit the bag a few rounds. Worked a round just doing straight punches with the instructor. He smacked me when I wasn't bringing my hand back to my face on my double jab. Oops.

MMA

Same technique. Rolled mostly noobs. Had two tough rolls that were pretty even. My elbows and shoulders are still extra sore.
 
#373 ·
Quick class, missed the warm up. Technique was locking people into a different form of side control. Hips literally on top of their hips, bottom knee against their side, other leg propped up on the foot towards their head. Both arms in their armpits. Felt like a pretty sturdy control. When they finally dig their elbow in to make space, trap that hand against them, roll over it with torso, switching legs, your hips on their shoulders, your hands on the opposite hips. All they really have here is a bridge and hip, but with an arm trapped it's a pretty good chance of stealing mount.

For back control from turtle, hip on theirs, seatbelt grip making sure to get the shoulder that's away from you. foot or knee in, roll them towards you, second hook. Another counter we learned is if they trap your arm at the elbow and roll you, you keep the grip, walk around with your legs, scissor up, drag them to a seated position, then left at the trapped shoulder for your first hook, then second hook.

Nice techniques today.

Drilled side control and back from the turtle. Did really well.

Rolled a few rounds. Did well. I made up a rather obvious move. I was in mount and was working for an americana but couldn't trap the arm with my arms, so I move up my knee over their bicep, pinning it with my shin, clamped down their wrist and slide the other hand in. Just gotta watch they don't roll you over. Good class. Joints are still sore but I've been trying to roll lightly and they're feeling better by the day.
 
#374 ·
Don't know what happened on monday. I somehow overslept and felt ******* DRAINED all day. I did an abbreviated burpee day and the first class of jiu jitsu and felt waaaay out of shape.

Today felt better, though when I went in this morning to do an Ab circuit I noticed that the side of my lower back really hurt on the exercises. So I just planked 2:10 X 3.


Muay Thai/MMA

Worked footwork, basic movements, then paired up and practiced reacting to your partners movements. Then a few quick counters when they're following you. In MMA warmed up with a few guard passes, then technique was all half guard, how to take back from half guard, and a few passes to side control. Learned a couple, or at least better learned a couple, so I should be seeing more of those. Drilled rounds starting in half guard, then rolled straight up. Did alright.
 
#376 ·
Boxing

Skipping, hit the bag, hit the pads. It's all coming back to me.

MMA

Was exhausted by the time this class rolled around, got crazy full body soreness from the lifting. We did a bunch of stuff working against the turtle. Mostly working with seatbelt control. My favourite one you just use your leg to hook their arm instead of their leg, and with that arm there's an easy choke or GNP.
 
#377 ·
MMA

Warm up run, tumbling, hip escapes. Technique was triangle form guard. Basic triangle theory, then a Demian Maia move for when they posture out on the hip bump sweep...grab their head, turn chest to ground, pull out leg and swing into triangle. Looks like Kajan and I watch some of the same DVDs. Then we did a basic triangle escape, grip hands under butt, stand up, posture, peel their leg off and swing into side control or turtle.

In rolling I was dominant. First roll was alot of my mount. Finished a kimura from there. Second roll was mostly me in side control. Third roll was with one of our fighters starting from a stand. It was a bit of a stalemate at first, I never shoot because I'm just awful at it, so it was alot him shooting and me sprawling on him, him clinching and me shrugging it off. Finally he shot and took me down but I fluked out and kept the momentum going and flipped him over me and into mount. Grapevined and started working for arms. Eventually got his back and choked. Good class. SO SORE in the joints. Still alot of muscle soreness form the lifting. One more day.
 
#378 ·
Barbell Complex (80lbs, 6 sets, 6 reps)
Good Morning
Overhead Squat
Deadlift
Bent Over Row
Reverse Grip Curl
Military Press
Skullcrusher

Added 5 lbs. Early failure, **** it's getting heavy. 6,6,4,3,3.

Ab Circuit

Decline Twist Crunch 40,40
Reverse Crunch 15,15@25lbs
Cable Crunch 20,20@75kgs
Ab Plank 1:15, 1:15

Something still hurting a bit on the twisting crunches so I took the weight off and doubled the reps. Hadn't done my circuit in awhile, by the time I got to the planks they failed like a minute early. Good workout.


I was planning on going to bjj tonight, however it seems I hurt my ankle when wrestling last friday. It's nothing serious but I'm trying not to agitate it.
 
#379 ·
Looking back, when I started the barbell complex 6 months or so ago I was struggling with just the bar (45lbs). Now I'm working on completing 80lbs. Taken into consideration that there's 252 repetitions if I complete all 6 sets, that's a pretty decent jump. Sometimes it feels like I'm not getting anywhere, but in retrospect the slow and steady rise is encouraging.
 
#380 ·
Muay Thai

15 mins skipping, 3 rounds shadowboxing. Combos with partners.

MMA

Did rounds ground and pounding heavybag, then rounds of ground and pounding drills with a partner holding a medicine ball. Then a few simple GNP techniques. Welcome to ground and pound month. Rolled with striking. I did well.

Once again I found myself super drained and tired. The correlation is definitely on days I sleep in. Ideally I want 8-9 hours of sleep a night, but on days that I work I usually get 5-6. This means by the time I have days off I just pass out for like 12 hours. I'd be fine with this system if I didn't feel like it was my first day at an MMA gym on every day I oversleep.

Tomorrow I'm getting up early to hit the bag, and then I'll probably do burpees that evening. My right ankle still hurts at random times but isn't life threatening. Kajan wants me at the pro gym on Saturday for MMA sparring.
 
#381 ·
I'm probably not telling you anything you don't know, but put heat on it before you work out, and ice after.

Plus I'm sure you wear ankle supports anyway so everybody know's you're a menace on your feet.

Are you given combos for shadowboxing, or do you just wing it? My teacher gives us combos and we shadowbox up and down the floor.

Also if I shadowbox in my 16oz gloves rather than the 12oz ones I usually use, will that help condition my arms and shoulders further over time?
 
#383 ·
We typically just wing it and our trainer walks around and reccomends things to follow up with or corrects our form. I'm not sure about the gloves thing. I don't shadowbox with any gloves. I've heard of people boxing with dumbbells too, but at the same time people condemning it. To each his own I suppose.
 
#384 ·
Pele is back to thursdays. For those not familiar with Pele - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CkfDvjOZpDk&feature=fvst

Good to see him back, he looked glad to have his students again. He made us pay dearly.

Warm up run, 300 kicks on the kick sheild. Yes, that's 3-0-0 kicks. Then 100 knees. Then 10, yes 10 rounds on the heavybag with 30 second breaks. Yes, you read that correctly. Then more running. Pushups. Then shadowing combos across the gym. End of class. I have a quality hurt going on.
 
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