# Start mma firstly or learn a specific martial arts first



## ninjadeathcult (Feb 14, 2009)

Hello,

I have a question I am interested at getting into mma training, but to be honest I am not in the best of shape I've been going to the gym for about the last 6 months and while I am not fat and have a fairly athletic looking build I know that I have no cardio and my strength is not as up to scratch as my size would have you believe , also my co-ordination is not the best ( i have'nt been involved in sports since I was a kid) so I am afraid that if I started doing MMA that my lack of conditioning/strength and co=ordination would make me lag behind your average mma beginner and lead me to get frustrated as well as waste some poor trainers time. Do you think it would be best for me to perhaps focus on one particular discipline firstlly , say jiu-jitsu or Muay Thai until I get my co-ordination/conditioning in check and then move in mma?, or is it best to go straight to mma training? and if you think I should do one dicipline firstlly which would you reccomend?, your commnets would be appreciated.

jim

Jim


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## JayC (Jul 16, 2007)

I recommend Muay Thai first mate. Get your hand co-ordination and your feet working in unison, and you'll burn a lot of fat doing this too. I went over to JJ from this and haven't looked back, it also did wonders for my flexibility.


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## ninjadeathcult (Feb 14, 2009)

JayC said:


> I recommend Muay Thai first mate. Get your hand co-ordination and your feet working in unison, and you'll burn a lot of fat doing this too. I went over to JJ from this and haven't looked back, it also did wonders for my flexibility.


thanks for the comment James I thought MT might be a good first step as I know it involves a lot of pad work and would definatelly help build some much needed cardio I also heard that it it not too hard to learn and is very effective. Would be interesting to see if anyone believes that a grappling martial art would be best to start with...


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## temeura (Oct 29, 2008)

MT is definitely a great start. Then again, so is BJJ, that will also really improve your cardio.

If you could, do both. See what you think of them.


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## Imy (Jul 20, 2007)

JayC said:


> I recommend Muay Thai first mate. Get your hand co-ordination and your feet working in unison, and you'll burn a lot of fat doing this too. I went over to JJ from this and haven't looked back, it also did wonders for my flexibility.


QFT.

Even if you can't do Muay Thai immediately, try and do another stand-up MA. Sorting out your standup game is definitely the first step.


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## ninjadeathcult (Feb 14, 2009)

thanks for your replies as I live in cardiff there is no BJJ classes that I know of but their seems to be a reputable Muay Thai gym called Eagles , That I may check out


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## JayC (Jul 16, 2007)

BJJ is a necessity to learn, but some people who start grappling don't do any standup, and it's not good to not learn standup!


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## temeura (Oct 29, 2008)

There is a Gracie Barra in Cardiff, isn't there?


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## ninjadeathcult (Feb 14, 2009)

temeura said:



> There is a Gracie Barra in Cardiff, isn't there?


oh yeah you are right just googled it and found, thanks for your comment I'll have to have a serious think about which to start first now that BJJ is a viable option..Muay Thai or BJJ...allthought most have you have reccomended MT to start with the idea of grappling does appeal to me . I used to love wrestling with my mates when I was younger ( I Know BJJ will be nothing like that!) and allthought as I said I am not the most co-ordinated person in the world I am very flexible (i.e can put feet behind ear) I think BJJ might be better suited to me....both Gracie Barra BJJ and the beginners class of Muay thai are both on mondays and I will make the first step tommorow.hmmm decisions decisions..


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## temeura (Oct 29, 2008)

Either one will be brilliant. Enjoy.


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## LICKSHOT (Feb 10, 2009)

ninjadeathcult said:


> oh yeah you are right just googled it and found, thanks for your comment I'll have to have a serious think about which to start first now that BJJ is a viable option..Muay Thai or BJJ...allthought most have you have reccomended MT to start with the idea of grappling does appeal to me . I used to love wrestling with my mates when I was younger ( I Know BJJ will be nothing like that!) and allthought as I said I am not the most co-ordinated person in the world I am very flexible (i.e can put feet behind ear) I think BJJ might be better suited to me....both Gracie Barra BJJ and the beginners class of Muay thai are both on mondays and I will make the first step tommorow.hmmm decisions decisions..


I know Pedro Bessa, he has BJJ school in Cardiff aswell. http://www.pedrobessa.co.uk

he's a good coach, good luck with it all mate!


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## Si-K (Jul 23, 2007)

Personally, I would say start with Muay Thai if you seriously doubt your abilities (and you will burn fat if you train hard and eat a moderate diet) - to me Thai and BJJ are two completly different cardio workouts (hope this makes sense to some of you at least) I just find that the cross over in fitness does not apply - sorry I can't explain this.

But if you wanna get started then Thai is probably the way to go as it would only take about 6 months to get the basics down and if you get caught in a street fight then I would not recommend going to ground if necessary - so from a practical sense it works as well - BJJ is so much fun and very technical so you would probably find this more frustrating...although you may find a knack for it - personally I am amazed at the amount of times I see guys who have no idea how to land a punch...any way just though I'd chip in my view point.:happy:


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## ninjadeathcult (Feb 14, 2009)

Si-K said:


> Personally, I would say start with Muay Thai if you seriously doubt your abilities (and you will burn fat if you train hard and eat a moderate diet) - to me Thai and BJJ are two completly different cardio workouts (hope this makes sense to some of you at least) I just find that the cross over in fitness does not apply - sorry I can't explain this.
> 
> But if you wanna get started then Thai is probably the way to go as it would only take about 6 months to get the basics down and if you get caught in a street fight then I would not recommend going to ground if necessary - so from a practical sense it works as well - BJJ is so much fun and very technical so you would probably find this more frustrating...although you may find a knack for it - personally I am amazed at the amount of times I see guys who have no idea how to land a punch...any way just though I'd chip in my view point.:happy:


thanks for your comments some good advice. well monday has been and gone, I didnt end up going to either Muay Thai or BJJ, I had the bloke at the gym walk me through a program on Mon and I was so exhausted I could'nt bear to do anymore physical exercise. I did call about the BJJ and the Muay thai that is available within reasonable distance from myself ( I dont own a car) and I'm am leaning towards Muay Thai as it is within walking distance from my place the Muay thai gym has 2/3 begginers classes a week and a gym with all the equipment etc and genrally seem to be fairly organised, whereas the Bjj options where 1 class per week in a gymnastics centre a bit too far from me, (the other BJJ class that people mentioned dont have a class in Cardiff anymore) . So I think The MT is the choice plus I need to shift a bit of body fat as well. Once again thanks for your advice and ill let you know how it goes.


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## Standupandfight (Feb 20, 2009)

I was in the same boat . Tore into a kickboxing class , lots of high tempo all over conditioning , just the job to get back on track. Plus really good for stand up work . Learning good defence techniques and combinations which is only adding to all round fight


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## cb1980 (Mar 16, 2009)

ninjadeathcult said:


> Hello,
> 
> I have a question I am interested at getting into mma training, but to be honest I am not in the best of shape I've been going to the gym for about the last 6 months and while I am not fat and have a fairly athletic looking build I know that I have no cardio and my strength is not as up to scratch as my size would have you believe , also my co-ordination is not the best ( i have'nt been involved in sports since I was a kid) so I am afraid that if I started doing MMA that my lack of conditioning/strength and co=ordination would make me lag behind your average mma beginner and lead me to get frustrated as well as waste some poor trainers time. Do you think it would be best for me to perhaps focus on one particular discipline firstlly , say jiu-jitsu or Muay Thai until I get my co-ordination/conditioning in check and then move in mma?, or is it best to go straight to mma training? and if you think I should do one dicipline firstlly which would you reccomend?, your commnets would be appreciated.
> 
> ...


With lack of conditioning, strength and co-ordination it seems to me like u arent really cut out for competing at MMA so i would say it doesnt matter what u decide to do, id say go and learn mma if u can rather than a single discipline and just enjoy learning all the different aspects without putting too much pressure on yourself to be very good!


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## Fraz Hinch (Feb 7, 2010)

i am very intrested in begging in MMA...i am 16 years old and will be 17 in april..

i go to the gym twice a week and i wish to begin in some form of martial art training..

what would be the best thing to do to find out which style would be best for me?


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## benny (Oct 9, 2009)

I would recommend doing some stand up although the BJJ takes much longer to learn - can you do both :thumb

I have been doing BJJ for about six months started going to MMA classes and the guys with the stand up pretty much owned me!

It makes it bloody hard if i had the basics for stand up I would fare much better...as a consequence I have been working a lot on my stand up game.


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## toxo (Mar 11, 2008)

go for wrestling. it will give you a good base standing and on the ground. a few boxing classes aswell would be good.


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## danny boy (Sep 19, 2009)

I started with BJJ and have been doing it around 5 months now but i quickly started doing Muay Thai which i've been doing 4 months and i would say its definitely better to learn some arts before going into MMA which is what i'll be aiming to do in the future..


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## vinnie (Sep 30, 2009)

I've trained Muay thai for 5 years and submission wrestling for the last 6 months my stand up was rubbish so thats where I concentrated as I wasnt a natural stand up fighter,now everything is coming together well since starting wrestling aswell.


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## MUTINY! (Jul 31, 2009)

I'd vote for Muay Thai if you have issues with your co-ordination, Also it will get you hella fit!


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