Keith and Doomsday, very inspiring posts.
ttt for the love of the sport
Keith has taken his game to a high level, thats inspiring, maybe in time i'll do well, but for now i haven't done much. Thanks for the compliment.
If you want inspirational look no further than Johnathon Weizoreck, who has won in the UFC, without much help from trained mma professionals. This guy is everything MMA is about minus the fancy technique. Now i'm not saying he doesn't have technique, he has a lot, but its different from whats out there. He's easily as effective or more so in finishing fights than the highest ranking BJJer's out there. In fact, he has finished every fight hes been in. Only recently has he had the opportunity to train with highly skilled fighters and trainers.
Also Shaun Gay and Walter McCall, two guys who took their games to the pro level with hard work and not a big name trainer.
I wont say none of us had any help, I personally thank James Corbett for allowing me to use his gym to work on my skills and train with his guys. James is a trainer who has worked hard to learn what he can and teach it to all who wlil listen, without the benefit of a highly trained instructor on hand. He loved the arts so much he now teaches kids and adults what he knows. He really brought MMA to an area devoid of it.
Thats inspiring.
I'd say everyone in the area within a two hour radius of us who trains and competes in combat sports is a pioneer. We all make the most of almost nothing to start with and i think we do ok in competition.
Am i proud of the guys around here? YOU BET! I like to think we are becoming a pretty big part of the fight scene as a whole. All while teaching ourselves and each other. So it can be done. :D
ttt
Yeah how the hell did i forget Cam!
Hes fantastic! :D
Not to mention a hell of a cool cat. :P
TTT
Very inspiring. Makes me feel like a big pussy for not taking better advantage of the opportunities I've got.
Awesome thread!!!!
ttt for later as well...
Guys, I love this sport a lot, as well. I wanted to train so bad, that I asked a relative if I could fix an old block building with a gravel floor and no roof, just plywood, laying flat. After many lonely hours, strapping down tarps, falling through the rotten plywood I had the place dried in, somewhat. Then I began a quest for old carpet and padding for mat material, followed by gathering pool liner for a surface. After all that I had a place to train and searched for partners. With a few ex-TKD guys, some decent wrestlers, and one power lifter, we began with a Fighter's Notebook. After almost two years, many roof leaks, and many partners mysteriously disappearing, I'm mostly the only one keeping this thing going. God bless it, but I fear, I've fallen in love with a sport that there isn't enough interest in. Train hard and try to enjoy what you are doing is my motto. Team Round Table (540)858-2729
Below is a pic of my weight area in progress. You may see or not see all the other cool stuff to the rear which is the matted area with Thai pads, Boxing gloves, punching bags, focus mits, a B.O.B etc.
I started training with a group of friends after watching UFC 1 when I was fourteen or fifteen. I watched Royce as closely as I could and got the armbar and later picked up a few others. I bought a couple books but was pretty limited with not much technique.
A couple years later I moved to a small town and actually recruited a couple new MMA fans. One I taught everything I knew to and with a limited wrestling experience he did quite well and ended up fighting with a winning record on an amatuer level ( couple pro fights)My group of people grew as I welcomed in a couple state champ wrestlers who agreed to teach me what they knew if I did the same, we both benefited and both fighters went on to have winning amatuer and semi pro records as well. Unfortunately at the time I wanted to test myself against the tuffest guys I could which resulted in the same old grappling and sparring matches ending the same old way (me winning eventually in submission.)
IN the last few years I have made a solid effort to refine my methods and adopted a more well rounded approach to my training. We started training much more stand up as well as MMA. Putting ourselves in the worst situations, using strength training in unison with BWE and other conditioning methods including MMA specific conditioning drills has helped immensely. You can check the Strength and Conditioning forum hear for some great advice and workouts
Also another word of advice I have come to know is lose your ego (you have probably figured that out). There are people out there that you may invite to train with you that will give you fits. You may still be able to beat them and perhaps even handily but this one person can rub on your weakness and thats the guy you want to train with. I have purpousely recruited and trained people that are different body types, strength levels, and ability to give me different challenges. I am 5'7 170 and train with an extremely fast 5'10 150lber with a striking background who takes on fast to grappling. A tall lanky guy with big legs that can wrap you up and give you trouble on the ground, and with his fists with a reach. A guy about 5'10 who could bench press my whole family, hard as a rock with great wrestling and some boxing experience, and the list goes on. Each one of these people bring a different aspect to the table that helps round out each others game slowly but surely.
Now I train just for fun, to stay in shape, to help others, and to keep the skills I have which are ever growing as polished as possible, but I am confident in saying that some of my guys with no "formal" instruction would clean up shop at an amatuer level show (most have). Some of my guys have even mentioned I should open up my own school, but I just dont know how comfortable I would feel charging for instruction when I know there is more qualified instruction out there.
You can do it and with success, just do your research, pay attention to the little things as well as the big things, discard things that dont fit your style or body type, and I would say if your serious about fighting maybe stop in at a high level school like Militech to get some pointers and some high level training from time to time. I think it would challenging to get to the level of a high profile fighter at a world class gym on your own (unless your a prodigy), but I think with a lot of dedication you can get a good ruff cut of skills and mind sets with the tuffening that a good school can help polish into an A level fighter.
God bless it, but I fear, I've fallen in love with a sport that there isn't enough interest in"
I thought this at one time too, when I just had one training partner for months. But eventually if you put your time in and get a good regimen like Sovaan posted you will get a good group of loyal trainees. I am lucky to have 4-5 very stable people coming, some like my brother coming every single day, where others are three, two, or one time a week. But they are eager to learn. Another interesting note, I never had a good training group until I set us a really nice matted area that looked like a little mini MMA school in my basement. I think people take it more seriously if people train in an environment that denote a successful program. Most people I have met would wrather train at a B+ instructers AWESOME facility, then an A+ instructers hole in the ground. It takes some money but its worth it and a much better environment to train in.
Garage training rocks! There have been a few instructors of note who have started in their garage.
Sparring on concrete in the winter is good for the soul.
GO TIME,
I disagree somewhat. You can train for cardio, get ready for fights and still have fun. You don't go all out all the time. Train smart.
From www.tqfc.com
RANDYS TOP 10 TRAINING HINTS
- Use a calendar to periodize your training, include your peaking phases for competitions or goal deadlines.
- “The human body is amazing.” It will adapt to a workload in 8 to 10 weeks. Use that as a guide to adjust training and keep your training moving forward.
- Keep a training log: include workouts, diet, sleep, and anything else pertinent to your training.
- Set daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. Write them down and share them with someone close to you.
- After a competition (win or lose), or at a goal deadline (accomplished or not) evaluate your program and routine. Keep what works, eliminate what didn’t, and move forward.
- Establish a warm up “ritual”. Think of your best performance, what did you do to warm up? Repeat that! It’s a living, evolving thing. Make changes accordingly until you can put yourself in the “zone” every time.
- “Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Find workout and drilling partners that challenge you or you’ll never improve your game!
- Proper rest is just as important as time spent training hard. Listen to your body and let it recover.
- Over training is more a state of mind rather than body. Alter your routine to keep it fresh helps avoid plateaus and stagnation.
- Strive to get 1% better each day. It doesn’t sound like much, but adds up in a hurry!
Keoni,
You train close to Cedar Rapids right?
P.S.
In your picture where is the lever that opens up your super kinky fornication room?
This may sound obvious, but when you are training on your own ALWAYS train like you are going to fight someone bigger, stronger, faster, and more skilled then you. If you have an experienced instructor chances are you already train like this...
Also, Train like an animal - be a crazed beast in training so that you don't have to be to win in the ring...How good do you want to be in the cage? Then aim to be twice that in training...
ttt
Keoni, You train close to Cedar Rapids right? "
Yup. Do the best I can with the bizarre schedule I have. But I am loving it.
"In your picture where is the lever that opens up your super kinky fornication room? "
The slipping bag that looks like a large dangling testicle pulls down to reveal the sex dungeon.
I started off in a barn with a few buddies training with video tapes. I have never trained "officially" under a grappling instructor at all, entirely self trained and self taught.
9 years later I have 2 schools and a nice handful of successful amateur fighters, some that will be going pro very soon, not to mention numerous titles for myself and my students in MMA and sub grappling competition.
It can be done if one has the drive, the dedication, the aptitude and the resources.
Peace-
Cam
Cam, i didn't know the whole story, thats pimp!
Your grappling is certainly impressive, but i like the way you strike too :)
Jstrike, I used to go to Cage Combat in downtown Los Angeles, god it was fun. There was a young guy by the name of Josh who had trained in his garage & was having his first fight, he was awesome to watch!!!
He had so much heart, it was unbelievable. He went the whole match, but lost the decision. Woulda been a tuff one for me to call, I actually thought he won it.
Technique...... you can learn, heart comes naturally! What you put in to it will show, always.............. & you'll never know what you've got, till you try it! Good luck!