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A few months ago I decided it was time to test myself and fight in the cage. I felt confident enough in my couple years of training that I would be able to hold it down. If you do not think you’re going to win, you’re not going to win.
Prerequisites:
- Time: Fortunately for me I’m still a college student that does not have a family or a full time job. 15+ hours a week are spent on training. A part time job with flexible scheduling helps me work around my training.
- Planning: The usage of training logs and spreadsheets have helped me track my workouts. If you use a daily planner, it helps to put your workouts in.
- Lifestyle Changes: I gave up a lot of my partying and hollering at trollymogs (see: floozy). You don’t have to become a recluse and not hangout with anyone. Just stay away from late night partying and large amounts of of Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Badass Fight Shorts
Even if you win, you still lose if you have silly fight shorts. Fashion is the most important thing about preparing for a fight. You won’t see me kicking ass and taking names in Vale Tudo Booty Shorts. That’s why I rock Contract Killer (thanks Shaun at Limitless MMA) fight shorts. The name alone will definitely have my opponent pissing himself.
Badass, no?
Technical Skill
My technical skill was just a little bit more important than my fight apparel. I sat down and analyzed myself, which were my strong points, what were my weak points, how can I improve myself? I focused on my weak areas and polished up my strengths. I’ve seen it in the cage on the amateur level many times, fighters who can’t fight. These dudes look like their only training was throwing wild hooks on a heavy bag at their local gym.
Strength & Conditioning
It’s amazing that technique can conquer strength, any Jiu Jitsu practitioner will confirm this. Now if my opponent is has technical skills at my level, strength and conditioning will give me the upper hand. A majority of my conditioning comes from MMA training, although I do supplementary strength and conditioning in some mornings. I try to train smarter and not longer in my A.M strength and conditioning workouts. They include Kettlebells, Barbell Complexes, Circuit Training, Sprints, and other fun things.
Nutrition
I had to make my target weight class meaning I had to cut 15 lbs. I was burning calories like crazy and burning fat but I sometimes would feel terrible training. The root of the problem was my terrible eating practices, junky foods high in saturated fats and no micro nutrients and a lot of fast food. Quickly, I made the move to change my eating habits. I started eating more whole foods and trying to eat very healthy. The change took time, but I did it little by little. This allowed me to cleanly cut weight and have plenty of energy during training and throughout my day.
This is all the areas I addressed. My fight hasn’t happened yet, so we’ll see if my checklist was good. Anything I’ve missed, anything you can add to the check list? Leave a comment. If you think I was serious about how I look in the cage, have a sense of humor please.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
The list looks good, and the shorts rock!
July 5th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I think the shorts are funny. The paint splashes that are meant to look like blood spatters are too glossy in the photo. maybe it looks better in person.
Personally, I’d go for solid green, blue, or black. If it included anything it’d be stripes down the side and on the trim. I guess I like the classic clean look over the get in the opponents head look. Most likely I’d just cut and stitch a pair of a traditional uniform’s bottoms to do what I needed.
As for the amateur’s training. That guy I mentioned. The one that want’s to get in the ring just 1 time win or lose… He doesn’t even want to train. I saw him the other day, told him it’d take about a year to 2 years to train and he whined about it.
July 6th, 2009 at 2:42 am
Hey Jimmy! Nice post! Looks like you nailed it!
Those shorts are sick! Nice.
BTW, I saw an ad for Evolve Academy (where I train) on your Google Ads banner…pretty cool!
Thanks for the post!
Fred
October 7th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
i have been training for awhile mma. a friend ofd mine has set up backyard fight. i want to do it, but at this point i am no t ready yet. i know for sure im not ready. no i do not want to make this a career, but i wouldn;t mind trying it for a couple of years. it would be much appreciated if you could send me some pointers on how to start a better nutritional diet and train better.
October 7th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
its me jerry again. is it possible that you could send me some names of some videos that would teach me the basics of bjj. this is the art that i would be more interested in. it would be much appreciated.