MMA Forum

I have a new found even greater love and increased respect and admiration for ALL MMA Fighters!

After many years of following MMA, I had always thought these guys must be fit and strong and always thought ouch that must hurt when one of them gets punched, choked or is forced into submission. I now realise I totally underestimated the pain and hard work these fighters have to go through!

Last night me, Jarrod and another forum member Keiron went along with James Knight (also a forum member and a MMA fighter for some years) to Evolution gym in southend to attend a training session.......

OMG I have never ever ever been so exhausted in my life!! I go to the gym at least 4 times per week and i considered myself to be at a reasonable fitness level but now I realise how wrong i was! I seriously feel like I have been in 10 grueling rounds with the likes of Liddell or GSP! Every muscle in body is aching! and they went easy on me!!LOL There are so many things that hurt that I just haven't thought about before because they look so painless when watching. I seemed to have got into this mind set that ment if i didn't see blood or someone knocked out then it didn't look like it hurt. Even a tap from a stray elbow or foot and I was thinking blimey, Imagine If he actually ment to do that and put force behind it, that would of seriously hurt! and just the fact of having someone smother you with their body weight wasn't something that I had ever thought about before. Its bloody hard work!! I also cant believe the levels of stamina these guys have, I only wrestled for about a total of ten minutes and that was without punching, elbowing or kneeing etc. and I was absolutely shattered! I had admittedly been running around and doing press ups and sit up etc but still, it totally drained every drop of energy out of me. God knows what its like when you have someone who is actually trying to knock your head off too! lol

Anyway It was absolutely superb and I cant wait for next week now, think im gonna get even more hooked into this superb sport! :-) .I haven't been able to let off that much steam in as long as i can remember!! :-)

For any MMA fans that watch it but don't do it, I gotta recommend you try it out, It gives a whole new outlook on the sport and the heroes that compete in it!

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MMA NEWS

Good post mate. A lot of people underestimate the hard work and pain that the sport brings. You've always got that street talk of how hard people are and they don't need to train blah blah.

We had a rugby guy who came to train at our place and this guy was fit!!! I mean his body was ripped, but he was also huge. Half way through he looked like he needed to lie down and go to sleep. So I went over to him and just said not to feel bad, it's just a different type of sport and fitness and to keep going and that he was doing exceptionally well for his first time. You couldsee in his eyes that those choice words were just what he needed for extra the motivation.

Everyone has to start somewhere and it'll only get better

Its good that someone who is only a fan can try it out and understand how hard it is to be at a competetive level in MMA. Alot of fans look upon MMA as like a cock fight but with people, they pay to see a knockout or broken arm etc, they dont understand the tactics, the skill levels and the fitness levels. They Boo when you get a stalemate on the ground, not realising that to get a stalemate you need two fantastic jiu-jitsu fighters. BJJ is well known as Chess On A Mat! But besides that, the training itself is grueling at the best of times, and only gets harder as each fighter in the gym gets fitter and better, in order to keep up, you also need to get fitter and better... Not Easy!

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Great post, i can really appreciate both sides as ive now been training for just under 2 years but watching for 3! I doesn't matter what sport people do or how hard people think they are. My sensei teaches at Pupil Referal Units and we get so many 16-18 year olds coming down thinking they the hardest thing going, and after skiving a warm up they soon come in swinging, and ofter go out bleeding or puking!
Every training session re-inspires my love for this sport and strengthens my respect for those guys who put it on the line every session.

Hahaaa Decent Post Mate!

As painfull as it is it's twice as addictive i'm sure you would agree. Welcome to what i feel every day! got to love it

It really is addictive, i remember my first session, i was completely dead afterwards, and the next day i could think of nothing worse then getting back into the gym, but i persevered, and the improvements come thick and fast
I love it!