Asking some questions if possible.

Well, hello everyone, kinda new here and I love it.
But anyway, I had a few questions if possible.

I have been interested in mma since I was about 16, never really had a chance to try out anything since no car and school. But now 3 years later I would like to try out some type of contact sport, just something to start out, though not alot of choices in my area. Here is what we have...
Many types of Karate
Aikido
A mma gym, I think it was called, Nice Guy Submissions

I don't really know where to start though? Should I try a type of Karate first or something? Or should I try to jump into the mma gym in the beginning? Most fighters I see have a good background in one certain art which makes me think I should try out one thing. From what I've heard the mma gym is mostly about free training with partners, not many instructors, so I dunno about that.

Also, I would like to get into shape a bit before I start, for the past couple weeks I've been basically running about 2 miles every day, doing around 100 push-up's, as many crunches and sit-ups I can do, jump roping for about 10 minutes, a few pull-ups, and shadow boxing. I have a gym membership but I haven't been in about a month, would it be better for me to go to the gym and lift weights? Or should I just add some exercises to my home workouts so far.

I've also been trying to eat right, my diet normally consist of oats and toast for breakfast, at lunch normally a 6 inch chicken breast on wheat from subway, dinner is normally a salad. I have small snacks of like granola bars and stuff in-between, am I eating healthy?

ATM I'm...
Height: 6'1
Weight: 193

Well, I know I've asked alot, but any input at all would be wonderful, thank-you everyone.

You should talk with Rush. He's a member on this site that has all around knowledge that would be able to answer the questions your asking.

Go to member directory and type in his name, you can send him PM. Or just wait. He will more than likely chime in on this...
Good luck

Well, did you wrestle in high school? If you did I'd say jump right into mma, though I don't like the sound of a gym with no instructors. Is it more of a club?

Karate is a pretty good strinking base, and easily applied to mma with the proper modifications. What kind of karate is it? If it's kyukoshin then I'd do it, shotokan is a lot more forms based.

Aikido will help you very little in mma, as good figters do not over-commit to moves enough to be caught up in most Aikido techniques. Not to bash Aikido, it's just more of a self defense martial art than for sport fighting.

If you're going to work out at home:

Start including Burpees and Mountain Climbers to your routine, 5 mins at a time to start with.

Make sure your shadow boxing is intense enough to work out a good coat of sweat within 5 mins.

Do A LOT of pullups.

It sounds like you need to be taking in more protein diet wise. I'd suggest at least supplementing your current diet with a healthy protein shake. More than that, though- I'd suggest supplementing your diet with more natural protein. I do understand the concern for calories, though. Unbuttered chicken and fish products should do the trick nicely. Tuna fish is your friend, too.

It sounds like you don't have a lot of options for MMA type schools around you. I took a lot of karate styles growing up. Unfortunately a lot of what you learn is crap. Not necessarily the techniques, but the format under which they are learned. You need to be at a gym that is going to teach you proper technique and also put it to the test in realistic situations. Unfortunately with a lot of Karate styles your partner goes into "dummy mode" and the training isn't as hard core as it needs to be.

As for what sounds best in your area you'll need a lot more info.


1) Go check out some of the classes being run at each gym. See how hard they train. See if the instructor personally teaches or if he's just standing there like a douche while some sub par assistant instructor individually helps each student.

2) Look at the training partners at each gym. Are there people your size and weight with what appears to be similar intensity for the sport?

3) Look for the school's credentials. Have they won any worthwhile awards like state grappling tournaments, state karate tournaments, or even national awards? Do a ton of research on the instructor and the school itself.

These are just a few things. It sounds like you're making the steps, but sometimes you've got to look at things with a skeptical eye and really feel them out. Also, look for local boxing or wrestling gyms. In a lot of cases boxing would be better than martial arts simply because you'll actually be hitting people and getting hit. Which is something you'll have to get to know all about in MMA.

Another thing- check out this thread- http://www.mmaplayground.com/forums/topic13115-1.html

It has some advice in there for beginners.

One final note- It doesn't necessarily matter what style your base is. Just because Anderson Silva takes BJJ and you're taking BJJ won't make you successful. If you're taking it at a crap school then you'll be crap. So look for what the best available in your area is.

Yea if you were in the southern part of the Jelly state.. there are two MMA groups that hold regular shows and have training centers... And the reason many guys in MMA today have more tradational backgrounds is cause growing up MMA was just starting and all that we had were tradational styles to train in.. there were no MMA training centers... THough I say learn whatever you can as long as the instructor is good.. And be honest with yopur instructors.. tell them you want to get into MMA.. There are some TRadation style instructors out there with no respect for MMA and will not teach you.. so be honest.. you do not want to make a teach an enemy half way though your training if he finds out your doing MMA..

Well, ty all for the advice. :P

But ya, one of the karate schools is shotokan, that wouldn't be good to do?
And I had tried to find boxing or kick-boxing around my area but can't find any. I'll have to look into a place about wrestling. I live in a small town in Kentucky, but only about 15 minutes from Owensboro where everything is. I'm gonna go check out the mma gym on monday, they let you train for about an hour to see what it's like before you enroll from what I've heard. And gonna check out one of the karate places one of my friends go to.

And about the protein, you mean like the 100% whey protein stuff?

And ty again everyone.

Was thinking about making another thread, but that would be ridiculous, I'll just add a few more questions in here, hope people read it. :P

But anyway...

I got some of the 100% whey for protein shakes from gnc, but when should I take it? I have heard that I should after my workout, some people say 2 scoops but the bottle says 1. Would it be good for me to eat some oats before my workout, then a protein shake after?

Also, I've been trying my diet and working well, though would it be fine for me to have like one meal a week thats bad? I felt dissapointed in myself because I ate chinese today, drank a coke, and ate some popcorn. Maybe I shoulda just gotten water at the movies and ate salad while my gf ate chinese.

Oh, and some questions about the gyms, you said Shotokon was more form based, so would it be bad for me to take if wanting to pursue mma someday? Because the instructor is very good from what I heard and there 6 days of the week, not standing around. And the mma gym I talked about wasn't as bad as I heard, alotta intense workouts.

And my home workouts, anyone know anything about resistance bands? Are they any good to work with, was thinking about buying some. And planning to buy a heavy bag.

I know I ask alotta questions, some silly. But any help would be much appreciated. :)

On the protein.. If you really want to get jacked and get into MMA,i never really was into the whey but usually your suppose to take it 2-3 times a day.One when you wake up, one after/before you workout, and one before you go to bed. Alot of people take it at diffrent times , and alot of people argue with taking it before you go to bed due to the calories you take in. Buts that usually what i would do.And you have to have some good lifting / working out program your doing. All the protein has to do something. Before i go to MMA (which is a workout) i eat something with alot of sugar/carbs (nothing huge, and nothing bad), good sugar before you workout, raisins,banana,almonds, you could eat oats just some thing like that.

For the meal, i really dont no what to say about the 1 bad meal a week thing, i guess for you its alrite yeah, but once you start getting into the MMA more you will notice aot of cardio involded,. That will meen drink ALOT of water. Stay off the sodas. When its hot you should only drink water, and stay off the high-fructose (just something for you to no).To tell you something popcorn isnt really bad.Popcorn is a good snack food for someone who is watching what they eat. BUT you must choose the lower fat versions. Be smart, try the light popcorn, as opposed to the movie theater extra butter variety.

Any form of MMA is good for someone who wants to get into it. Now i dont no much about Shotokon, but if your saying the your going to be in there everyday and your instructor is one of the best. Then hands down, Go. But an all MMA gym is the way to go.Stuff like Shotokon is for people starting out but IMO as you start to do it you can bored easily, because its probly not what you think, if your use to watching UFC and stuff like that.

Resistance bands are great, you can do so much with them, its not even funny. I have a pair thats for lower body and upper body, with resistance bands you can build strength in all areas, and you can do some MMA exercises with them. (punching with the resistance, some for lower body you can practice shoots with,etc)
Heavy bags, are more then what they look, you can build speed,strength,practice combos, and more advanced stuff like timing an even accuracy.
Anything else, just ask.