MMA Training Hub

Training
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Well, looks like I’m almost 100% after that sinus/head cold bogged me down most of the week. Good thing, too, I need to be able to enjoy my pizza and wings on Super Bowl Sunday (GO GIANTS!!)

Did another bodyweight conditioning workout today. Did lots of push-ups (med ball switches, one-hand med ball, regular and Swiss ball); squats (prisoner, single-leg) and ab work (planks, med ball twists, sit-ups). Also did some hamstring curls with the Swiss ball and did some high-rep arm work with some light dumbbells. Also did several rounds of shadowboxing and finished with some stretching.

Going to go to class tomorrow. I might try for a double-dip, but we’ll see how I respond after BJJ.

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[quote]P84 wrote:
question for the group…again…going to start the Waterbury method this week. Although it only recomends 3 days a week…I only have about an hour a day to work out. Would their be any downfall to lifting three days and in between doing my abs, calves, 4arms and core or would that not allow me enough rest time? Just wondering. Thanks guys[/quote]

You could always to do conditioning on your off days, that’s what I do. Get a a book from Rosstraining.com and you’ll have all you can handle.

Speaking of Waterbury he said that 8x3 takes too long for the martial artist. However I do a combination of Waterbury’s 10x3 and Woogie’s (workingclass fitness.com) 15x2 for my weight training days and it combines heavy weight with extremely brief rest periods which makes for short heart pounding workouts and I can adjust the frequency simply by adjusting my volume which then affects recovery.

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Thanks guys. I will let you know it works out and I will take a look at Ross fit. As for MA three times a week. I will just do my conditioning on my off days and see how I feel. Thanks guys.

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[quote]Kerberos wrote:
Hey everyone,

I’m planning to start training Muay Thai at Jorge Gurgel’s MMA Academy. Hopefully I will be able to take some jiu jitsu/submission grappling classes later on as my schedule allows. Right now, I’m leaning toward going two or three times a week for MT.

What kind of gear am I going to need to purchase myself and what will be provided? Any information on what to expect for my first couple classes, what to wear, how to prepare, etc would all be appreciated.[/quote]

For starters you will wnat a cup and mouth piece. You should be able to borrow head and hand gear until you get a good idea of what you want, and respectable retailers availble to your area.

The best mouth piece available can be made by your dentist, and usually at a decent rate. Otherwise head over to your local sport shop and pick up a couple cheap mouth peices. The cheapest cost about $1.00 and will tide you over in basic classes. If you spar alot against guys in heavier weight classes or want to compete you will need to upgrade.

As for cups I really reccommend Shock Doctor’s Compression Shorts with Built-In Flex Cup. Its all I wear these days. Can’t say much about them. They’re compression shorts with a cup built in. Comfortable to wear. The cup stays in place. They have saved my balls many a time. Available at ringside.com

As far as class goes just leave your ego at the door. When you get hit or roughed up a bit smile so they know you’re still having fun. Relax. Have fun. This is recreation.

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[quote]P84 wrote:
question for the group…again…going to start the Waterbury method this week. Although it only recomends 3 days a week…I only have about an hour a day to work out. Would their be any downfall to lifting three days and in between doing my abs, calves, 4arms and core or would that not allow me enough rest time? Just wondering. Thanks guys[/quote]

3 total body sessions per week is enough lifting. If you feel an absolute desire to other stuff then add 5 minutes to the end of each session to do whatever you please. I suggest attacking those 5 minutes usinf Staley’s EDT protocol.

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[quote]Thanks for posting. Jorge’s new gym looks super-nice, and big, so you should have a good time there.

As for what you’ll need for muay Thai: a pair of 16-oz. gloves, hand wraps, shin guards, mouthpiece and of course, a cup.

The shin guards could be something you purchase a bit later down the road, as you might not need them right away. But they are good to have…

As for what to expect in your first classes, my guess is that you’ll be starting in a beginner’s class. So you’ll learn a lot of technical stuff; stance, how to properly throw a punch, knee, kick, elbow. Stuff like that. I doubt you’d do any live sparring right away.

Let us know how it goes.[/quote]

Thanks for the quick reply.

Any recommendations for places to purchase that stuff? I looked at Dicks and found a couple pair of gloves, but I have no idea what brand to purchase. Also, the wrists wraps I found there were only 108 inches. I have been watching some videos on wrist wrapping and it seems like most people recommend 180 inch wraps.

How soon can I expect to be sparring? I can’t waiting to start hitting and getting hit (I’m expecting more of the latter for a while). I tried to get a couple friends to come with me, but most of them don’t think getting hit in the face sounds very fun.

I’ll be sure to keep posting with updates on how things are going. I’m really excited to get started.

[quote]For starters you will wnat a cup and mouth piece. You should be able to borrow head and hand gear until you get a good idea of what you want, and respectable retailers availble to your area.

The best mouth piece available can be made by your dentist, and usually at a decent rate. Otherwise head over to your local sport shop and pick up a couple cheap mouth peices. The cheapest cost about $1.00 and will tide you over in basic classes. If you spar alot against guys in heavier weight classes or want to compete you will need to upgrade.

As for cups I really reccommend Shock Doctor’s Compression Shorts with Built-In Flex Cup. Its all I wear these days. Can’t say much about them. They’re compression shorts with a cup built in. Comfortable to wear. The cup stays in place. They have saved my balls many a time. Available at ringside.com

As far as class goes just leave your ego at the door. When you get hit or roughed up a bit smile so they know you’re still having fun. Relax. Have fun. This is recreation.[/quote]

Thanks for the information.

I still have a couple of cheap, self-molding, mouth guards from when I played football. Hopefully, these should make due until I really get a chance to go at it.

I fully expect to get my ass whipped for a couple months. I’m really excited to get in there and take a beating anyway. I remember reading an interview with Bas Rutten where he is talking about the first time he walked into a grappling gym. He said after getting dominated the whole class he made a promise to be submitting all the guys there in six months. I’m looking forward to getting proficient at the craft.

Thanks again to both of you for your replies.

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Most hand wraps sold in retail chains are going to be ~108 inches long. They’re cheap so it won’t hurt to have a few pair lying around. Ross over at RossTraining.com has come up with some interesting uses for old hand wraps.

Ringside.com has pretty wide selection of wraps too. Check their discount sales for cheap prices. Standard wraps are 160" (I think) and Mexican Style are 180". These are necessary for more protective wrapping like the between the fingers and the ribbon methods. Both methods lend more portection to the knuckles while leaving enough material for proper wrist support.

http://www.boxinggyms.com/tips/handwraps.htm

This is a really good site in general so read thru it.

Sparring will probably depend on your temperment and some of the senior students opinions of you. Or they may just throw you right in. Sink or swim. How you react will deterime future sparring opportunities.

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[quote]Bujo wrote:
Most hand wraps sold in retail chains are going to be ~108 inches long. They’re cheap so it won’t hurt to have a few pair lying around. Ross over at RossTraining.com has come up with some interesting uses for old hand wraps.

Ringside.com has pretty wide selection of wraps too. Check their discount sales for cheap prices. Standard wraps are 160" (I think) and Mexican Style are 180". These are necessary for more protective wrapping like the between the fingers and the ribbon methods. Both methods lend more portection to the knuckles while leaving enough material for proper wrist support.

http://www.boxinggyms.com/tips/handwraps.htm

This is a really good site in general so read thru it.

Sparring will probably depend on your temperment and some of the senior students opinions of you. Or they may just throw you right in. Sink or swim. How you react will deterime future sparring opportunities.[/quote]

This sums it up pretty well. As for gloves, like Bujo said, you can probably use whatever extra gloves are there in the gym. Talk to the instructor and see what kind of gloves they can order; sometimes they can get decent discounts on that stuff, so don’t be afraid to ask. You can’t go wrong with a pair of Everlast, though, if you want to buy a pair right away. Look for 14-16 oz. gloves and ones with a velco strap. That makes it easier to put the gloves on/off.

And with sparring, yeah, just be respectful and pay your dues. Most guys are pretty respectable, so as long as you’re not a tool, they’ll welcome you in pretty quickly. I remember being nervous as hell the first time I rolled in BJJ. I definitely got my ass kicked, but I didn’t complain and after a week, I already knew most of the regulars in the class and all that nervous tension was gone.

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thnks for the input guys. I will let you know how it works out. I appreciate the advice.

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I have the dentist mouth piece and with insurance I only paid $30- and got to keep the mold so the next one can come out of pocket. I wasted a lot of money trying the take home kits off the internet.

I have an XO cup and compression shorts but mostly I use a jock with a pair of Bike compression shorts and that’e enough compression to almost cut blood off.

I use the 180in wraps too. The 108 are just to short for my hands.

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What do you guys recommend for a cup? Its very uncomfortable for me to wear one when sparring, but the one time I did get blasted in the balls with a knee was worse than the discomfort of wearing a cup.

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As for cups I really reccommend Shock Doctor’s Compression Shorts with Built-In Flex Cup. Its all I wear these days. Can’t say much about them. They’re compression shorts with a cup built in. Comfortable to wear. The cup stays in place. They have saved my balls many a time. Available at ringside.com

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BJJ (Gi)
Time: 90 min.
Notes: Worked a lot of guard passes. Really focused on keeping tight to your opponent to not give him room to get back into guard while you’re attempting the pass. Also need to remember to keep elbows tucked in so as to avoid triangle attempts from your opponent.

Rolled for 30 min. Did well in terms of passing guard and improving position. Got caught in a couple of submissions by a little jack rabbit; guy was like 130 lbs. soaking wet but he was unbelieveably fast. After I gave up those subs, I got heavy and neutralized his speed with my size advantage. Was the only white belt in class again. It’s humbling going up against guys with several years of experience, but man, I feel like I learn so much when I am in those classes that I know when I go up against guys with my experience level, I’ll have an edge.

Stamina was good after not really training this week due to my allergies.

Plan on putting together my new lifting routine later today.

Oh, and found out my MA gym is getting 3 tractor tires and several sledgehammers next week! So hopefully I’ll be able to use them at least once a week for some killer conditioning work.

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[quote]slimjim wrote:
What do you guys recommend for a cup? Its very uncomfortable for me to wear one when sparring, but the one time I did get blasted in the balls with a knee was worse than the discomfort of wearing a cup.[/quote]

I’m old-school; got the jock strap and cup combo by BIKE. Works well, but I need to get the compression shorts as they’d be more comfortable.

I also want to get a better mouthpiece. I have a bunch of cheap Everlast ones that I use. Yeah, they work, but they’re not an exact mold so it’s hard to talk with it in at times.

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Also, if you want to be respected going into your first few stand up sparring sessions, don’t go swinging for the fences. Nothing bothers me more then a newbie walking into a sparring session throwing haymakers like hes trying to knock out big nog.

Its usually a punch for punch agreement in sparring, if you go 50% the other guy will usually match you, if your going 110% don’t expect your opponent to let you KO him. Check your kicks and keep your hands up, you’ll be lightyears ahead of the other newtothesports.

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[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:
Hahahha anyone else watch Brock Lesner get schooled last night?[/quote]

That went pretty much the way a lot of people predicted. Lesnar landed some good blows and the point deduction was very questionable, in my opinion. Mir’s got great jiu-jitsu for a HW and took advantage of Lesnar’s inexperience. Give him more time and Lesnar will be a force in the HW division.

Noguiera is a stud. What a clinic of BJJ he put on. That sweep was sweet, as was the set up for the guillotine. So fluid for a big man. I still don’t know how he survived that first round; Sylvia definitely had him on queer street. The guy just doesn’t die. Nice to see Sylvia being more aggressive, hopefully he’ll continue that trend.

As someone who trains primarily in BJJ, it was great to see 2 outstanding submissions – plus a good sub by Marquardt against Horn. Definitely pumped me up to get back in the gym and train ASAP.

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I saw it, thought he did alright for the experiance he had, but he made a clear beginners mistake with walking through a bjj’ers open guard. Too high of competition too fast IMO.

With the point deduction I believe it was “The Mustache” trying to cover a mistake, there was a clear hit to the back of the head, but I wouldn’t be surprised is Mario was actually about to stop the fight, saw that Mir was ok after he had seperated them, so he covered his tracks with the point deduction.

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It was a lesson in why we dont see GnP much anymore, i was expecting the lesnar match to be short. Nog has been in some war’s in pride. Some good bjj displays i was starting to get bored of the sprawling and brawling we see alot of.

Ive got a question for everyone, what is your personal approach to MMA? are you sprawl and brawl, ground and pound or something else.

Ill start, I dislike stand up despite my start in Taekwondo (flaming useless) and kickboxing/kyokushin (more useful), i have slow hands and poor head movement , hence i employ crazy monkey style head protection. I have a heavy right hand and have a good clinching game with alot of infighting, bodypunches/knee’s etc. My takedown’s are one of my favorite skills, ill try some really unorthadox take downs (which gets me alot of flak from coaches). But the ground is where im happiest especially my top game and half guard. But my guard game needs serious work, ill actually switch from full guard to half guard if i can. I use rubber guard to make use of my flexibility and quite often catch people with the unusual sub’s. Ill generally use kimura’s and hammer locks and i can work them from all sorts of positions.

that said, good stand up fighters particularly tall ones with good clinch defense and takedown defense are a real nightmare for me.

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I’m not good enough yet to have a ground attack preference but the more skiled my opponent the more I resort to GnP.

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having also watched the ufc, i don’t understand how nog (who is a hero of mine) has managed to win his last two fights. While his boxing managed to keep him in the fight for the second round and his obviously his jits helping him finish it, i feel that at this stage if he fights anyone who is willing to push the pace of the fight will finish him. I think randy would take him apart as would fedor or barnett.

shame to see jeremy horn and i reckon giving lesnar mir as his first fight was seriously harsh and makes no sense given the ufc’s usual strategy of pampering guys they want to hype by feeding them idiots. give him some time and i can see him doing some damage.