Choosing an MMA gym

MMA is more popular than ever. There are lots of new gyms popping up everywhere. How do you choose the right one for you?

Firstly it depends on your goals. If you are doing it for fun or to lose weight, the most important thing is to find a gym in a convenient location where you enjoy the training and where you get along well with the coaches and training partners.

If however you planning to fight then choose your gym very carefully and take the following factors into account.

·         Quality Fight Team –Fighting is actually a team sport. The team consists of coaches and training partners. Without them it would be impossible for the fighter to compete at the highest level.  Make sure the gym has a proper fight team, a group of fighters who are actively competing in MMA. You need  to be sparring regularly with other active competitors this is not the same as sparring with a few out of shape BJJ guys even if one of them had a few boxing matches back in the 1970’s

·         Fight Team Training – Make sure there are sessions where the fighters can train together. Avoid sparring with the non-fighters where possible (although grappling is usually ok). Weekend warriors will often treat sparring matches as if it was an actual fight, they want to prove to themselves that they could actually compete at a high level as well and they don’t care that you are 2 weeks out from a real fight.

·         Coach won the state karate title when he was fifteen and has seen every UFC – Look for coaches who have actually fought or are currently fighting. This can be easily verified via Google, YouTube or Sherdog.com. There are some great coaches who haven’t actually fought in MMA themselves but for every Greg Jackson there are hundreds of unscrupulous Sensei’s who are trying to cash in on the MMA boom with their limited knowledge and experience. Check their credentials first.

·         Three Cages, six boxing rings and no fighters! - Flashy Gym doesn’t mean quality gym – Some of the best gyms I’ve trained around the world – (Vos & Meijiro Gym in Amsterdam, Paraestra & Keshukai Gyms in Tokyo) have been very basic but they have some of the best fighters in the world. Don’t be fooled by flashy facilities and expensive equipment, it is no substitute for quality coaching and good training partners. As long as the gym has a good standard of hygiene and safety that is all you need.

·         One more Rep! - Beware of over emphasis on conditioning training at the expense of skills training. This can sometimes be done by inexperienced coaches to cover up the gaps in their knowledge and might make you a little bit fitter but won’t really make you a better fighter. Don’t mistake hard training for good quality training; remember you are training to get better at fighting you’re not trying to be the best at exercising.

·         Where did these guys pop up from? - Check the history of the gym & trainers. If the gym is any good they will have been around for a while. Make sure that they haven’t just recently turned their Kung Fu dojo into an MMA gym to cash in on the UFC boom. Once again this can easily be checked with Google.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=S9dHim6Lg1Q

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Running a great MMA show

I’ve been at more fight shows than anyone I know. From MMA shows to Boxing fight nights and everything in between. I’ve attended fight shows in the UK, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong & Thailand.

I’ve also been lucky enough to attend these events in a variety of roles. First off as a spectator, then as a corner-man, then a fighter, then back to being a corner-man and now as a coach. I've been lucky enough to have seen all types of events. Some very good & others very bad.

If you are planning on promoting a fight show here is a list of things I think could help…

• Pay Fighters – Fight fans come along to watch the fighters; they don't come to watch ring announcers, card girls, interviewers or anything else. I’ve seen lots of shows where the promoters didn’t have a budget to pay fighters yet they could afford to pay for a ring announcer. After the show people will remember the really good evenly matched and action packed fights. They won’t remember if the ring announcer did a good job.

BUT, only pay the fighters if they deserve to be paid which leads on to point number 2…..

• Research Potential fighters - I’ve heard of promoters putting fighters on their show based solely on a fictional fight record & Facebook fan page. On the other hand I know of one promoter who personally travels to Mongolia and other far flung destinations to watch potential fighters train & prepare for fights before he puts them on his show. If you want your fight show to stand out from the rest you might have to go the extra mile. This doesn’t mean you have to start jet-setting around but maybe ask fighters to at least send you either a DVD or links to watch their fights online.

• Good Matchmaking – This follows on from proper research of fighters. If you go to a fight show and every fight ends in the first round by KO or submission, it means that one of two things has happened. Either you’ve been lucky enough to watch all the future world champions OR the promoter/gym owner has matched up all his own boys against the residents of the old people’s home down the road.

• Don’t rely on fighters selling tickets – if a fighter is any good he will be in the gym every night training for 2 – 3 hours, when he’s not doing this he’ll be at home. If  the fighter you are putting on your show has 200 friends that he can sell tickets to it probably means he’s out talking about being a fighter more often than he’s actually in the gym training.

• Look after the fighters – treat them like professionals so they will be keen to come back and fight on your show, they will also tell their team mates and training partners so you will have a source of future good quality fighters.

• Proper Refereeing and Judging – Make sure judges & referees have a full understanding of the rules and scoring system of the sport. This will help to avoid confusing & embarrassing incidents later on. One promoter I know actually makes all the referees and officials study previous fights and tests them on rules & scoring. On the other hand I’ve been judging on an MMA show where one of the other judges actually told me that he doesn’t really know anything about MMA (he was a former kick boxer)

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Consistency

Ever since I first started training in martial arts I’ve been interested to find out why some people succeed in their training and become very skilful and others start off with the best of intentions but just never achieve the same results and then eventually give up.

When I sit down and think back on the all the people I’ve trained with over the years I notice an obvious recurring theme coming up again and again. It is a combination of consistency and perseverance. The successful may not have made huge improvements straight away or had much early success but they trained consistently, they made a habit of turning up regularly for classes a certain number of times a week and worked hard to reach their goals,

On the other hand I’ve seen many people who have been very sporadic in their training, they would train every day one week and then not turn up to the gym for the next month, when they return after a long layoff they notice that their training partners have gotten much better than them due to training consistently which can be very demoralising.

So why is it so hard to be consistent with your training? Well, everyone has their own reasons ranging from tiredness, minor injury, loss of motivation etc. however the key is to expect these obstacles and then plan how you are going to overcome them. Trick yourself into turning up to class because you know that once you are there you will enjoy it, you will be glad that you did it because you’re on your way to getting fitter, learning new skills and taking another step closer to achieving your goals.

How to stay consistent in your training

Plan for your coming week on Sunday night make a firm decision about which classes you are definitely going to attend for the next week.


Commit to training a certain number of times per week e.g. two or three sessions and stick to it.


If you know you won’t be able to make it to a certain class, then plan to make up for it by coming to another class or book a PT session to make up for it


Keep track of your training and monitor it to make sure you aren’t slipping back into bad habits


Don’t make excuses or give yourself any reasons to fail and not achieve your goals


Don’t overdo it at the start, build up slowly. Start off by training two evenings a week and then build up gradually. If you go straight in to training every day you will burn out or pick up injuries.

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