Martial Arts!

[PuertoRicanGuitars]

For my eighteenth birthday I'm getting MMA classes. The academy my parents and I are looking at offers Muay Thai, Relson Gracie Jiu Jitsu, Filipino Martial Arts, and Combat submission wrestling. Right now I'm gearing towards Muay Thai. If anybody has had experience with these styles I would appreciate any opinions.

 

[Strelok]

They all seems worth it but most of the guys would probably suggest you the jiu jitsu since it's probably the more useful for self-defence.

I would advice you to go by yourself,I was used to do sambo myself and guys who came with their parents to check if "everything was nice" were not exactly taken seriously.
However before chosing check if in any of those classes there are many girls,it could be pleasable to look at them but their presence in many cases force the trainer to simplify the trainings and the warming up,female friendly environment and martial arts don't match togheter.
At least that's what work here.

 

[PuertoRicanGuitars]

They all seems worth it but most of the guys would probably suggest you the jiu jitsu since it's probably the more useful for self-defence.

I would advice you to go by yourself,I was used to do sambo myself and guys who came with their parents to check if "everything was nice" were not exactly taken seriously.
However before chosing check if in any of those classes there are many girls,it could be pleasable to look at them but their presence in many cases force the trainer to simplify the trainings and the warming up,female friendly environment and martial arts don't match togheter.
At least that's what work here.

Well my parents are paying for it. Of course they would want to check it if its worth the money. I don't see how that would cause people to not take me seriously (unless I'm misunderstanding what you are saying). I'm going to a class for observing to see what its like so I'll know if it has girls or not. I doubt there would be alot anyways I'm not doing this for the chicks.

 

[PuertoRicanGuitars]

If you were in interested in wrestling, which I feel is a great base for any sort of combat sport, you should get more exposure in it.

Most local programs(high schools, local clubs, even colleges) will let you practice with them for free. Its almost freestyle season, and there are many tournaments every weekend, depending on how far you're willing to drive. I live in California so we have an abundance of wrestlers out here.

The cost is cheap too, $40 for a season card to all the tournaments, then $10 dollars a tournament for how ever many matches you want, Greco Roman usually doesn't have as many people in it, but its still worth the exposure. The matches you get depend on how much weight or experience you want to give up.

Judo tournaments are the same, I only have a white belt that I got from one semester of community college Judo classes, but now it allows me to go to tournaments. You pay $40 for a season card, then just pay for the gas, food, and tournament entry. Get a lot of experience and its fun too.


I'd also do a few months of boxing first before training in muay thai. When I first went to watch my best friends amateur muay thai fights, almost all the fighters had no hands, or combos. The majority of the knock outs and knock downs that I've seen at the amateur/pro muay thai fights are with the fists.

After my friend badgered me into coming in to train at his gym, I was surprised at the lack of hands and forms of most of the fighters. They just threw some of the worst punches I've ever seen. They knew right away that I had trained in boxing.


Out of curiosity what general area do you live in?

I live in Virginia Beach, all suburban here. Those are pretty good tips. The academy that is being checked describes Muay Thai as "Thai Boxing". I geared towards that because last my friend Joe kept pestering to box with his friends at their house. Earlier when school started I finally decided to go. Met his friends Will and Joey. My first fight was with Will and I won (they been doing the boxing thing for a year.) My friend Joe knows how to fight because he's been in loads of real fights since seventh grade. I always lose to him whether he goes all out or not. Wasn't that painful as I thought it would be and but the headaches from the head blows afterwards were kind of annoying. I may not like my friend Joe kicking my a$$ every time that part is infuriating lol. They all were very impressed and saying stuff that since I'm Puerto Rican I know how to fight. It did strangely come naturally and I wasn't nervous at all. I had a blast honestly, its where my interest in fighting started.

Edit: Sorry about the "story of my life" details. That first fight was a great experience and I felt like I had to type it out. I was so happy and proud that day.

 

[BigJimbo]

Good luck to you. I did the whole Karate thing back in the day. Lasted about 5 months (maybe it was 4 months?). I had a s---- instructor. Maybe if I had found Sensei John Kreese things would have worked out. And yes, John Kreese is the ONLY reason I ever gave it a shot. The baddest motherfu---- known to man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lUt0Ile00&feature=related
MMA is for pussies compared to Cobra Kai.

And before any of you young boys thinks I am trying to be silly. Without those scenes MMA WOULD NOT exist. Trust me. That set the ball rolling.

 

[SamTheHobit]

Muay thai no question about it.

 

[powpow]

hey Im pumped that you thinking of doing my sport, brother!

so look yeah Ive been doing this for about 7 years now so Im gonna give you some solid advice.

unless you just have loads of freetime to do multiple disciplines at once, start with bjj. bjj gets you really aware of your body, its orientation with the rest of space, and gives you an overall solid base, because most fights end up on the ground at some point.

roll with the guys in jiujitsu for a while, maybe til you get your blue, and then talk to your instructors, tell them you wanna mix it up, train thai boxing, filipino thing, whatever. filipino is really useful. my old gym did it too, and teaches you how to use a knife, which, if you plan on fighting in the real world, is an important skill to have.

you wanna do just ring stuff, I suggest bjj and muay thai. its a popular combination right now and for good reason. its the business. my last fight I won through the techniques I learned from thai boxing.

the most important thing you can do in mma is to not be a specialist. you wanna be well rounded. like wrestlers tend to drop their hands and so I kick them in the mouth. thai boxers seem to always wanna throw those cheap ****in leg kicks, so I hit them in the mouth or take them down, where they flop around like a fish, I get them in mount and pound on their face for a while.

Im not great at any discipline. The most important thing is to be aware of your body and read peoples timing, see what works for you, and evolve from there. By the time youve been fighting for a year or so (I got my bjj blue belt in 7 months, a little earlier than average), youll know your strengths and weaknesses.

the most important thing is to join a gym that has a good community. guys that come every day. guys that are down for the cause. check it out, talk to the instructors, try to see what the community is like. you gonna be doing this a lot so the people you train with is very important. my gym now, we got a solid core of about 10 guys that come every day. we hang together, go out to eat, party, chill, whatever. keep each other going. you skip, your buddy calls you like BRO WHERE YOU AT

you got any questions, send me a pm, Ill help you out. best of luck buddy

 

[Boxer]

An other vote for wrestling especially if you plan on sparing. It might not be as "cool" to study as Muy Thai or w/e but it's definitely very effective in the ring.

 

[Bible_Belt]

thai boxers seem to always wanna throw those cheap ****in leg kicks, so I hit them in the mouth or take them down, where they flop around like a fish, I get them in mount and pound on their face for a while.

I work in mma promotions, and we just had an event last weekend where I saw a training partner of mine beat up on a muay thai guy exactly as you described.

To the OP, you need a striking art and a grappling art. You must have both, or you will get beat up just like the muay thai guy that I saw. He might have been awesome at muay thai, but that's not an art you can use after you get tackled, and he was horrible at jiu-jitsu. At the same time, I have seen bjj guys do nothing but flop on their back and get beaten up, too. Grappling skills are critical when you're losing, but not enough to carry you far as a fighter when that's all you have. The best pure grapplers in mma are wrestlers, but even they when they win, it's boring. If you ever want to be a professional, you have to sell tickets, and fans want to see striking more than grappling.

 

[EA Gold]

If your preparing for close combat in a jungle warfare setting, you'll need some of that Filipino martial arts.

by the way... Happy Birthday

 

[Gaucho]

Boxing and wrestling. One day someone is going to come along who is great at both and you are going to see somebody almost unbeatable.