Gym vs MMA

Ok...for personal reasons my training time is limited (not through laziness I might add, just too many things to juggle and I can't cut them back). So basically I need to lose 3/4 stone in fat, so for the last few weeks I have lost over a stone by weight training 1 day/ CV the next.

The results have been pretty impressive, but I'd much rather go to MMA/Muay Thai/BJJ classes instead of doing gym CV - I live in Coventry so I'm pretty lucky in that there are a plethora of different places to train (The city is always getting a kicking, but if you want to learn about fighting its the place to be)!

Anyhoo, the question I'm really asking is how much gym work do you guys do compared to actual training? What is keeping you fighting fit, the gym, the fighting, or both? I'd prefer to mix my CV with learning something (I can handle the gym, but prefer actual training) so I'm curious to how much actual weight training you guys are doing...

Hey Jay

I know what you mean about juggling mate, as i do the same thing.
Partner and 4 kids, plus my little projects, plus courses, training, etc etc.

but I managed to get to the gym about 4 times a week, mainly in the evenings, this covers weight training for strength, not size, bag work, pad work, and this does not include the time i do sdf stuff. this will be and is incorporated into the week with friends, training partners, or classes.

so all in all, I train about 4/5 times a week. but its a mixture of all.

Craig

Craig where is your gym? Its easy for me at the minute, my gym is yards from my house but has no punch bags etc so on nights off from the weights I'm starting to think I'm better off doing MMA stuff rather than doing cross trainer/running/walking. Your gym sounds great...

My gym is just on the foleshill road mate.
its called bodyworx. has a couple of decent punchbags, all cardio equipment, and free weights and machines mate.

http://www.bodyworxgym.co.uk/ this is the link mate
no joining fees, etc etc. and if you use it a lot it is only 20 quid for a month. which is a bargain.

Hi jay.

If you still want to lose weight it's important for you to maintain CV work as that is what burns fat.

The majority of MA work anaerobically (meaning without oxygen), which means they are explosive fast working exercise types of training and they only burn carbohydrate and not fat.

To burn fat you need to work aerobically (meaning with oxygen) which is the slower more long duration work you get when doing CV work in the gym. ie running, rowing, cycling etc.

Of course, this needs to be mixed with a good diet and weight will be lost if the calories in are less than the calories out (burned). I managed to lose over a stone in 6 months (unintentionally) purely by changing my diet to a very healthy fruit snacking and lean meat with veg etc combination as well as training every day (2x strength at gym, 2x kickboxing/mma, and 3x bjj).

As you say, the balance is hard and time restraints are the most difficult. But the point I'm coming to is just to make sure that in your diet you make small changes that will no doubt cause weight loss AND SAVE THE NEED FOR TOO MUCH CV WORK. For example: Snack fruit and leave out snack foods that are the worst - crisps, chocolate, cakes and biscuits; eat wholemeal bread but try to limit the amount of bread you do eat, for main meals try prepaing lean meats and use low fat sauces etc, and be careful with the boxed stuff that we all shove in the oven on gas mark 6 for 25 mins. Look at the back of those boxes and see the amount of fat (of which saturates especially) and the carbs that are actually sugars.

I know it's controvertial at the moment, but whole chickens are really cheap in most supermarkets and cooking one of them will give you dinner for three nights in a row (well it does for the single man anyway!) plus it's great for protein if your weight training.

I know this was long winded and strayed away from the original question, just started flowing though! There's loads more I'm sure we could all cover. The most difficult part of it all is the self discipline to just leave the flame grilled real mcoys and have an apple. It's a lot easier to do if you don't buy them in the first place!

Hope any of this helps, Nath

Thanks for the info guys - pretty much what I suspected really hence me sticking to the gym but wishing that MMA training had similar weight loss gains, which does not seem to hold much water. But then again, everytime I train at Clubb Chimera I seem to drop 1.5 pounds the next day (then again, I'm carrying some weight and some of that is bound to be water loss). The gym in foeshill sounds pretty good craig, may have to check it out. My diet is pretty good now - I only wish to maximise the time I have to enable me to continue losing weight so it looks like its back to the treadmill!

Cool Jay

Just keep it simple mate, nothing complex as Nath already pointed out, basic principle as he said is make sure you burn more than you consume, I was a personal trainer for a while and eating little and often also but in the right context does wonders.

if you are looking to go to my gym mate, let me know and can meet you there, everyone is very friendly mate and can meet up and do a session of you want.

I'll take you up on your offer mate, I'll pm you when I get a free night and I'll get over there...thanks for offering!

No Worries mate.

we are all here to help, so anything we can do to help each other is a bonus

Hi Guys,

just too add my 2 pence, i had trained for a few years at the local gym just doing weight training (it was where i met the lads from FFMA) and not much CV work apart from playing rugby at the weekend. When i started to do MA i kept going to the gym as well and have found it a great help now we are starting to do grappling, however if you get too big i think you could compramise your speed and body movement because of your sheer body mass.

I train 4 times a week at the gym and 3/4 times a week at FFMA depending on sat class and i wouldn't miss it for the world!!!

Kind regards

Tim

Thanks for the response Tim, great to hear your story and your typical training regime - its not half bad! If you ever get up to Coventry there's loads of places train, you could do worse than look up Clubb Chimera, Matty Evans/Tony Somers/Glenn Smith at Red Corner, CPS Sunday class or even Geoff Thompson (the daddy) himself for master classes in the city. Sorry for the shameless plug, got to big up my home town boys!

great hearing from you Tim
You have a pair of diamonds in the shape of Tony and Alan....
just wondering if you have found that in your time in the arts how all the good guys are also the nicest?
funny that!!
mick x

Morning Mick,

Sorry for late response, no internet at home at present. Having only been involved in ma since last year, i was taken by how friendly the club was. I was partnered with Alan for the first couple of classes to get up to speed with punch names and combo's also to assist with pad holding. My only regret is not starting earlier on in life. Alan, Tony and the other instructors (Ed, Joe, Emma, Steve & Ross) have all been a massive help and its never too much for them to run through something a few extra times to ensure the class has got the grips of what to do. Its a great club and im really proud to be a part of it, i completely agree with you on 'the good guys are always the nicest'

Kind regards

Tim

hey pal, im a ym junkie who fits in MMA when he can. my aim is for muscle size but i love my fighting too. i find that when im doing groundwork with guys of any size the gym training really helps me to be really strong on the ground.
my typical week is mon-fri, get up at 5.30am be at gym for 6. mon, wed and fri are weights days and tues and thurs are CV days. my MMA is a tuesday night and my kickboxing and general groundwork is on sundays.
my own personal opinion is that the gym is important to get the full potential form your muscles when in the fight situation. i've sparred with really great ju jitsu guys who outclass me in ability but cant tap me due to my ground strength and it always helps for being able to control you opponent when your in a ground situation. you'll find that you can also hit harder when standing trading too after a while.

all the best, matt