Getting Started in MMA

How Do You Get Started?


Sure you may be a wrestling champion in college or you trained at the best martial arts school in your town. But, do you have what it takes to join and compete in mixed martial arts competitions? It's one thing to follow the rules in a particular combat sport but it's really another thing to fight in a no-holds-barred combat sport tournament.

You have to consider the fact that mixed martial arts have minimal rules. Here, there are no counts when you knock down an opponent like in boxing, and you can be pummeled in to submission while you are lying down almost helpless on the ground.

You may want to remember that there were quite a lot of cocky fighters who entered MMA tournament who were helplessly pummeled down by their more experienced opponent.

Just how do you become a MMA or mixed martial arts fighter?

For starters, you have to get a good trainer who specializes in mixed martial arts fighting. You have to remember that fighters in mixed martial arts have different disciplines. In fact, some even have more than one type of martial art technique. Today, you will find that most of the successful mixed martial arts fighters don't just concentrate in one discipline but they also have knowledge and some skills in other disciplines.

In your quest in order to become a good MMA fighter, you have to know the key to become a mixed martial arts fighter. You have to have the proper training and you have to know the four elements in order for you to become successful.

The first key to success is by knowing how to kick and punch. This can be achieved through Muay Thai, Karate, Boxing and other striking sport. The work here can surely help your hands and feet in terms of speed and power. The focus mitts which are part of the training in these disciplines will develop the quickness of hand and feet. It will improve your hand to eye coordination, which will give you a more accurate and more powerful shots. The heavy bag will build your power up, which is essential in giving you that knockout power.

You need strength training. The workouts here will include power cleans, snatch, and jerks. Most of the strength training workouts will mean compound exercises. This means that you will do a lot of lifting exercises that uses more than one muscle when doing it. Unlike body builders who do isolation exercises or exercises that focuses on one muscle at a time, your workout routine will focus on working out different muscles at one time in order to get your muscles to work together and fire it up exactly at the same time.

To do this, you have to lift heavy weights. The Olympic lifts are an excellent example as it builds muscles and it will train your core. The lifts you do here will improve your explosiveness and quickness. You should go for barbells rather than machine dumbbell as barbells can provide you with more exercises and will be able to exercise more muscles.

Ground training is another important training when you want to become a good MMA fighter. Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu are two of the best workouts and disciplines that focus on ground training. This will help you with your submissions and practice counter attacks when you are on the ground in the MMA ring. The best way for you to do this is to join a school or class that offers Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or Judo. Wrestling is also great for ground training.

Lastly, you have to have MMA training. Mixed martial art is a combat sport that features different disciplines. Here, you will encounter opponents who have different fighting styles and different kind f martial art. MMA trainers will teach you how to fight the different martial arts styles and also how to do the different techniques to beat your opponents, such as ground and pound and submission holds.

Mixed martial art is the future of combat sports. If you think that you have what it takes to become a top MMA fighter, then you should think about training and improving your style and technique. By doing so, you will be able to really get it on with the other MMA fighters out there.