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New to MMA... Any tips?

2K views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  MMAnWEED 
#1 ·
So, me and a mate of mine have decided to start MMA. I used to play football (soccer for americans), but it was too dangerous as I keep spraining my ankle, so would like to join in with a safer sport (jokes :p).



1. Should i join take martial arts classes or just go to the MMA class?

2. I am currently overweight (about 200lbs and 5ft 10" - Would say approx 30lbs overweight) - What is the best way of losing weight an gaining some muscle? (my idol is bruce lee in fighting world and his aesthetics are godlike)

3. What should i be doing in terms of weight lifting? (I wanna gain size and punch/kick power)

4. Anything else :D


Thanks guys
 
#2 ·
First of all, believe it or not mma is safer than soccer (football) The injuries that come with playing soccer are usually far worse than mma and as far as I know there is only one death in mma and quite a few in soccer throughout the years.

1. It depends on what you want. Learning a traditional martial art like karate or kung fu is great if you want some discipline and to really embrace the art in the word martial arts.

If you want to be as effective as possible in the stand up department I'd say learn muay thai. If you want to be as effective as possible in the ground game, I'd say learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If you want to be as effective as possible in a real fight where everything goes, then jump straight into mma.

2. Diet, Diet, Diet. More important than anything else is what you put inside of your body. I could talk about diet but once I start I wont be able to stop so I'll spare my wrists for now.

Exercise wise, if you're looking for the most muscle growth that translates into practical striking power, I'd say stick to deadlifts and squats. Never ever do any isolation lifts if you're looking for practical size. For your ground game, nothing is better than weighted pull ups IMO. Once you put more muscle on your body, it gets easier to burn fat. Also, core work is also very important... you're going to need some strong abs if you want to do mma.

3. Start out with low rep deadlifts and squats at first to gain raw power and size. Once you have an ideal amount muscle that fits your frame well, I would start doing higher rep deadlifts and squats and I would also start incorporating circuit training. Strength over time is a lot more important than overall strength... remember that.

Since you're 5'10, I'd say a good walk around weight would be around a muscular 170-180 considering you said you had a bit of fat on you as well.


4.Stay motivated and hungry, my friend. Expect to get your ass kicked at first. It's a humbling process ;]
 
#3 ·
Thanks for that, I've done a bit of sparring with some amateur fighter and got put to shame... I love it, even though I got spanked.

Time to put words into action now then, so psyched for this. Like you said though, just hope i keep motivated IMO the hardest thing! (other than diet, especially around xmas)
 
#4 ·
So, me and a mate of mine have decided to start MMA. I used to play football (soccer for americans), but it was too dangerous as I keep spraining my ankle, so would like to join in with a safer sport (jokes :p).



1. Should i join take martial arts classes or just go to the MMA class?
If you want to do it for fun and have a good allround fighting training, go directly to MMA. If you aim to go into high competition I suggest to do a specialised martial art (go and try out different styles and stick with the one you're most comfortable with) and mix it up with MMA. The reason is the following: MMA is the essence of different styles mixed together. It teaches the most direct and effective techniques and leaves out those techniques that have less chance of success. That sounds reasonable, but there is one problem. Everybody in MMA learns this MMA essence, but by leaving out the techniques with lesser chance of success you're not used to them, neither in using them nor in defending against them. So training in a specialised martial arts besides MMA can give you the edge when you MMA skills are equal to those of your opponent. You can see that in the successful usage of supposedly flashy or less effective techniques by Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Jon Jones etc. (of course they are physically gifted too)

2. I am currently overweight (about 200lbs and 5ft 10" - Would say approx 30lbs overweight) - What is the best way of losing weight an gaining some muscle? (my idol is bruce lee in fighting world and his aesthetics are godlike)
The basic principle of losing weight is a negative energy balance which means that your energy input (food) is lower than your energy output/consumption (activity). Weightlifting is an effective way to lose weight/fat as on the one hand weightlifting itself is highly energy consuming and on the other hand you build muscle mass which is an energy consumer even during non-activity. For a healthy and long term weight loss aim at losing about 1 lbs(~0.5kg)/week.

3. What should i be doing in terms of weight lifting? (I wanna gain size and punch/kick power)
If you're not used to weight lifting you should do a low-weight/high repetition program first (chose a weight with which you can do 20-25 repetitions). On the one hand it trains muscle endurance which you also need for fighting and on the other hand it makes your body (muscles, joints, tendons etc.) getting used to weight lifting and the correct form of your exercises. If you start right away with high-weight/low repetitions you could damage your body. After a month or two you can start with high-weight/low repetitions (8-12) to gain muscles mass. And you should switch your program every several months (exercise wise and high/low repetition wise) when you feel that you don't improve anymore that much, so your body regularly has to adapt to new challenges.

For punching and kicking power you basically need your whole body as the correct and effective techniques are an interplay between a lot of different muscles. For MMA in general, working on your core strength is particularly important.

4. Anything else :D
Don't eat directly before you go to your training. You would regret it ;)

First of all, believe it or not mma is safer than soccer (football) The injuries that come with playing soccer are usually far worse than mma and as far as I know there is only one death in mma and quite a few in soccer throughout the years.
You can't compare it like this. There are millions and millions of football (soccer) players around the world, but probably only several ten thousands, maybe hundred thousands MMA practitioners. And football is played for hundred years while MMA became professional only 20 years ago and came somewhat to mainstream (still not nearly at a scale like football) maybe 5 years ago.

Non competitive MMA is probably not more dangerous than football, but competitive MMA definitely is. Just look at what's the main goal there - to do damage to your opponent. There is a reason why so many matches in the UFC have to be canceled/delayed.

1. It depends on what you want. Learning a traditional martial art like karate or kung fu is great if you want some discipline and to really embrace the art in the word martial arts.

If you want to be as effective as possible in the stand up department I'd say learn muay thai. If you want to be as effective as possible in the ground game, I'd say learn Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. If you want to be as effective as possible in a real fight where everything goes, then jump straight into mma.
For "real" fighting, meaning non regulated fighting, I'd rather suggest a good classical (not McDojo) Jiu Jitsu school and some additional boxing. Fighting with cloths on is significantly different to fighting half naked with sweaty/slippery bodies, and in a good Jiu Jitsu school you also learn tactics how to deal with multiple opponents and weapon fighting.
 
#5 ·
You can't compare it like this. There are millions and millions of football (soccer) players around the world, but probably only several ten thousands, maybe hundred thousands MMA practitioners. And football is played for hundred years while MMA became professional only 20 years ago and came somewhat to mainstream (still not nearly at a scale like football) maybe 5 years ago.

Non competitive MMA is probably not more dangerous than football, but competitive MMA definitely is. Just look at what's the main goal there - to do damage to your opponent. There is a reason why so many matches in the UFC have to be canceled/delayed.



For "real" fighting, meaning non regulated fighting, I'd rather suggest a good classical (not McDojo) Jiu Jitsu school and some additional boxing. Fighting with cloths on is significantly different to fighting half naked with sweaty/slippery bodies, and in a good Jiu Jitsu school you also learn tactics how to deal with multiple opponents and weapon fighting.

Well of course the overall number of deaths is ridiculous to compare considering the difference of numbers in each sport but considering there has only been one mma death that I know if that has happened in 20 years, the ratio is still heavier on football player related deaths.

In mma you know exactly what the other mans intent is: hurt you. You try to prevent that at all costs. In football you have the intent of controlling a ball and scoring... the injuries that occur in this sport are freak accidents that sometimes come from being blindsided... IMO MUCH more dangerous than mma. MMA events get cancelled and delayed because the fighters get injured in practice... it only take that one guy. In soccer, many people get injured but the match obviously never gets delayed or canceled because its a team sport... much different.

Also, are you talking about jiu jitsu with a gi? No one's clothing is that thick... your clothes would rip if you tried any jiu jitsu moves with a normal t-shirt. No gi is much more practical.
 
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