Training yourself

[JoeDurrant]

I have been looking at MMA/BJJ clubs in and around Watford, and I could find a few, but travelling to them is a problem as I have very little money. So I have decided to rain myself the basics. I have started running, and I go down the gym once a week, I also do prees ups, sit ups, and all of that sort of stuff. I am going to start swimming aswell. The only place I have access to a punch bag is the gym, but I can work with pads with my mates, and when my brother is down, him. What advice can anyone give me to improve my fighting techniques, weight loss and anything else related in the sport. Oh about the weight loss thing, I am 111kg and my preffered weight would be around 70-90kg.
Any help would be great.

[TheFreak]

If you cant get to a gym i would suggest finding some decent instructionals online, but the basics are the most important part if your learn them wrong its just gonna be a big waste of time.

its all up to what you want to achieve from this if you wanna fight your gonna need a gym eventually, if its fitness your after then theres nothing wrong with doing it on your own or with some mates.

[JoeDurrant]

If you cant get to a gym i would suggest finding some decent instructionals online, but the basics are the most important part if your learn them wrong its just gonna be a big waste of time.

its all up to what you want to achieve from this if you wanna fight your gonna need a gym eventually, if its fitness your after then theres nothing wrong with doing it on your own or with some mates.

I want both fitness and eventually fight, I will be able to go to gym after my college course in a couple of years, and when I have some money coming in from a job. So untill I can find a job I am a bit screwed.

[mattypants89]

see I have a problem like yours in which i find getting to training or getting to the gym sometimes hard ( My main style is wdo ryu karate but im looking at getting in to mma as well ) and i dont sparr anywhere near what i feel is nessary so my brother kindly offerd to let me train on/with him, so i got him a pair of gloves and a pair of them TKD kick paddels things i think there called foucs paddels or somthing ... anyway we sparr and train doing throws and kicks punches etc but however i can only do those becuase i do a formal traing session on mondays and then all day on a sataday is spent at the gym then karate then hsingi and pakua then i go for a run.

where money is concernd isent a issue for me a work full time as a builder , but my karate lessons are 6 pounds a go and my hsingi and pakua lesson is 3 pounds a go .


well i recomend starting a style even if it isent a mma or a freestyle martial arts class even if its once a week or once every two weeks becuase that will give you more knowlage and more first hand experience than a online book or what have you.

Having said that i also use online information, looking at videos on youtube is quite helpfull

But doing the classes for real will then give you the stuff you need to know to be able to train at home as like the freak said "the basics are the most important part if your learn them wrong its just gonna be a big waste of time."


sorry about it being so long i hope its helped alittle a bit mroe info about your self would be cool.


mat

[TheFreak]

maybe try and do one class a week and then other days just practise what you learned in the class on your mates.

[Emmet J]

I'm about to sound pretty negative here, but bear with me.

For a start, Freak is correct. Leraning the basics properly is the key to being good at MMA, which is why people who learn the basics off books/youtube/mates/etc tend to be shit when they start MMA properly (if they ever do). This is also a problem for people who decide to go and do 'another style' until they can get to MMA (look, it's either MMA or it's not), because you inevitably fall back to your basics, and if that's 'hands-down-by-your-waist' karate stance, or 'roll-your punches' kung-fu striking then that's what you'll do. Obvious exceptions (for some) may be boxing, Muay Thai, Judo, etc, but even these can be detrimental.

So here's the thing. In a lot of respects (and some people will disagree with me here). You're probably better off not trying to do any MMA stuff until you can get somewhere that will show you the basics properly, even if it's once a week to start out. That way, if you have to train on your own you'll at least know you're doing it right and not fucking yourself up for down the line.

In the meantime, work on your cardio, strength training and all-round fitness (especially if you're looking to loose between 20 and 40 kg as you suggested), because that's a big part of training that a lot of new people underestimate.

[bigreddog]

For fitness - you're fine - good work and good luck with it.

But fighting is a skill sport, and MMA is defined by it's aliveness - work with a resisting partner.

My suggestion - get yourself to a judo club. It's about as cheap as you can get, and ubiquitous, and a great base - you'll hard conditioning in the randori, get stand up clinch work, and some ground work. You may even find some training partners who want to train mma. It's not perfect but it really isn't a bad place to start, imho

[JoeDurrant]

Thanks for the advice and I have found a judo club like 5 minutes away from me, so will join that, and I will carry on doing my cardio.

[Leigh]

Do load of drilling and sparring with your mates and try to get privates off someone good on a regular basis to make sure you are going in the right direction

One of the funniest things I ever saw was a boxing match in Vancouver. One guy was listed as "He trains in his basement!" He got stopped in about a minute

On the same show, a BJJ blue belt had an MMA match against a Native American who was really aggressive. The BJJ guy ran in with head down and got beaten like a dog - punched to the floor and stamped on

The moral is - natural ability will get you so far but proper training is required to fulfill your potential

[Reedy]

I remember hearing that Evan Tanner taught himself with videos how to grapple.