- Do sufficient amounts of research.
If you enjoy mixed martial arts, then you must be aware of the amount of work that every fighter needs to put into every fight. This includes learning about their opponent and their fighting style, working on their fitness and coming up with a plan for the actual fight. This is the same way that you should get ready for MMA training. It is best to critically look at all of the gyms near you that offer MMA training, visit the best ones and even join for a trial period since most gyms offer this. Once you have done your research, choose the gym that is in line with your particular needs. So, for example, if you’re just looking to start MMA as a hobby then you should join a gym that is fun and enjoyable. On the other hand, if you want to fight competitively, then you should look for a professional gym that trains real fighters and have excellent coaches. Buy all the gear you need to get started at surplus.net.
- Take time to get ready.
Next, you should take time to ensure you’re physically prepared for the training. Now, you don’t have to be in perfect shape in order to start learning MMA, but you do need to have a certain level of fitness. Basically, the vast majority of beginner MMA classes are for people who don’t have much experience in MMA as opposed to persons who are not very fit and are now starting to work out. Doing warm up exercises in a MMA gym is going to be quite challenging and a lot more difficult than the majority of workouts you’d do in a non martial art setting. As a result, it is important that you are already reasonably fit and conditioned as this will help you significantly when learning MMA and also help your training to be more sustainable and safer.
- Don’t go all in and pace yourself as much as possible.
Upon starting your training, you’ll likely want to go all the way as soon as you can. This is typical as you’ll be quite excited and want to learn as much as you can, as quickly as you can. However, no one can become an MMA professional overnight and it will take time to master this martial art. So, if you push too hard, too fast, then you’ll likely get injured and end up taking even longer to progress.
So, it is best to start by training only once or maybe twice every week and add in other types of training such as strength training, running, yoga etc on the days that you don’t do MMA. You should also ensure that you don’t workout on one day per week as this is necessary for rest. This rest day will help your body to repair, recover and become stronger. Then, as you become more fit you can change your schedule accordingly.
- Make sure to spar regularly.
When starting MMA training, it can be quite difficult to figure out the perfect routine. However, you should definitely avoid going to hard from the start. In class, you should also avoid going too hard by getting into intense sparring with professional athletes since you’ll surely be easily defeated. This will not only cause safety issues since you can get injured, but it will also negatively affect your self esteem. However, you should also avoid making the mistake of avoiding sparring altogether. Sparring is necessary so that you can practice the new techniques you learn and how to apply them in a real fight. So, be sure to practice technical sparring where the fight is done in a slow manner with very little power or no power, as soon as you start your MMA training.
It is best to talk to your coaches for the best advice and they will be able to guide you on the appropriate times to start sparring.
- Never give up.
Mixed martial arts is extremely fun, however, it is very difficult. The amount of energy and fitness required to fight for only 20 – 25 minutes in a cage is quite high. As a result, there will be multiple days where you’ll feel like just the warm ups alone are too much and you’ll feel like its best to just give up. MMA is also mentally demanding since you’ll have to learn numerous techniques, master them and adapt them. This is actually quite mentally challenging and will grow your intellect.
The truth is, you will get very frustrated while practicing and sparring. You will also lose many times against your opponents while learning and training. However, this is absolutely necessary in order for you to learn and you will actually learn significantly more by losing a match than by winning it. Even though it is frustrating to lose, it will make you better.