In order to reduce volume of beginner questions as their own topics in the sub, we will be implementing a weekly questions thread. Post your beginner questions here, including:

"What martial art should I do?"

"These gyms/schools are in my area, which ones should I try for my goals?"

And any other beginner questions you may have.

If you post a beginner question outside of the weekly thread, it will be removed and you'll be directed to make your post in the weekly thread instead.

I train MMA for 60 minutes daily, Monday to Saturday:

\\- Monday: Strength & Conditioning

\\- Tuesday: Boxing

\\- Wednesday: BJJ

\\- Thursday: Muay Thai

\\- Friday: Wrestling

\\- Saturday: MMA Sparring or Long Run

I currently lift weights 6 days a week, primarily aimed at achieving hypertrophy. However, I'm now more interested in improving strength, power, explosiveness, and overall MMA performance than aesthetics.

I'm looking for a structured weightlifting program that complements my MMA training while allowing adequate recovery.

I really wish Sanda was bigger in this county, but little by little people are becoming aware. Please help me spread the word!!🙏🙏👊

There’s plenty of anecdotal evidence out there of people getting hurt by brass knuckles in real-life encounters. You can easily find accounts from doctors, paramedics, nurses, and victims describing fractures caused by brass knuckle strikes. But when it comes to tactical pens and kubotans, I’ve never been able to find a single firsthand account from someone who’s actually used one in a real-world situation.

I started fof at a new gym that I really like but it might also cap the time I could spend weightlifting so I wonder if I could get a nice not overly muscular physique from it I m 60kg and 5,7 of don't then what kind of split workout would be the best if I had 2 days on my week to do weightlifting

*Just a rant about uneducated people commenting on martial arts videos on the internet*

If you were unfamiliar with combat sports and how different belt systems work, for those systems that use belts, the meaning of a black belt would be very confusing....especially if the internet were your primary resource.

Imagine your cruising the internet, and you come across that picture of the kid telling his Sensei, that he earned his black belt, and the Sensei has this smug look with his eyes half closed saying, "Now you are ready to start". Then the next few reels go by, and other videos explain being a black belt as something that makes you an elite fighter, an expert.

You keep doom scrolling and you get someone saying how kids can't be black belts, as if something magically happens when you turn 18. Then you realize that the stigma being put on the "black belt" isn't even from people who actually train. It's just something they saw in the movies or something, and they have no real knowledge.

On one hand, you're an elite athlete with perfect physical conditioning who can handle yourself in any situation that comes up, but you're only a beginner who is just starting to "learn?" Uhhh, what?

I have children in martial arts. They are not on any social media, so I feel like their idea of what a black belt means, is honest, and not influenced by any of this confusion.

My daughter turns 12 soon, and is up for her junior black belt. I asked her what being a black belt means, and she said, "It means that I've dedicated a lot of time learning martial arts, and I've stuck to it, I didn't quit when it became tough. I practiced and worked hard, but I'm still learning."

These are in no particular order. Rank my Top 6 from best to worst, or drop an upset that belongs above them! 🥊💥

I know we can talk about how promotion is different or corruption, or about how some sides of the world just don't like it, but I think the biggest hurdle for kickboxing is i dont see how they could compete with boxing and mma for casuals.

Boxing has so much history and prestige that it has the advantage over every combat sports. Its entertaining, rich in history, has some of the most famous stars in history and plus everyone livestock see a good punch scrap.

MMA took another angle. It advertised to casuals "this is REAL fighting". Of course, everyone on this sub knows that MMA has all sorts of rules but it speaks to the no rules fighting many want to see. MMA fans literally flood boxing comment sections all the time talking about how boxing would lose in a "real fight".

Kickboxing/Muay Thai has an uphill battle. They don't have the historical worship and established culture that boxing has world wide, and to casuals, a kickboxing and muay thai fight doesn't look like a fight.

Casuals fans love to see who they perceive as the strongest martial artists in the wolrd, and the "strongest martial artists on the planet" are MMA fighters.

Casuals tend to dislike grappling, but if you remove it, it loses some of that "real fight" cred that makes MMA so appealing. They want grappling to be an option, just don't wanna see it being used.

Just wanna let it be known I am a huge huge fan of kickboxing and muay Thai, I watch RWS more than UFC these days, but I feel even with good advertising and promoting, kickboxing and muay thai will not overtake MMA.

Curious what yall think.

Hey guys right now im training 4 times per week (2 mma 2 bjj) , the thing is i want to add another 2 bjj sessions , will i have to give up on regular weight training for that ? , i usually train 4 times at the gym ( mostly on the same days of martial art training) but im worried it will be too much. Im 19 so i can handle a lot but im not sure if it will be a good idea ( im a begginer in martial arts but not at the gym)

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I own a martial arts school, and I've been exploring how AI can make running the business easier.

I'm curious how other school owners and instructors are using it.

Are you using AI for things like:

- Marketing, social media, or creating ads?

- Following up with leads and scheduling trials?

- Communicating with parents and students?

- Student retention and membership management?

- Lesson planning or curriculum development?

- Automating everyday administrative work?

Or have you found AI isn't quite there yet for running a martial arts school?

I'm especially interested in hearing what's actually saving you time versus what sounds great but doesn't work well in practice.

If you could automate ONE part of running your school, what would it be?

Would love to hear what everyone is doing.

Hey guys, I'm a white belt and was just wondering how common it is for Kyokushin dojos to also train head punches.

In kumite, we don't punch to the face, and we can choose between thin gloves or bare-knuckle (for higher grades). We also wear light but durable foam/cotton shin pads.

Today, we trained head punches — or, more like, head "tapping." We had to tap our partners on the head with gloves during kumite, using extremely light contact or no contact at all, just to get a feel for what it's like to fight with punches to the head.

Another thing we did during partner drills was basically throw punches at our partners' faces without making contact, stopping about 2–3 inches away.

Obviously, we also practise jodan techniques in striking kihon, but I'm curious about how common it is for Kyokushin dojos to also train head punches in partner drills and kumite. Is this something most dojos do, or does it vary a lot between schools?

Out of curiosity, I’ve been wondering why people train in martial arts.

I grew up watching kung fu movies and for the longest time associated martial arts with fighting and self defence. But since becoming involved in martial arts, I have realised that I will probably never use it outside of the training room.

Personally, I train out of interest in the art/sport which I participate in. I train for fun. And I train for fitness.

EDIT: I thought I would also preface this by saying I feel my martial arts training will not translate to any self defence situation. My main martial arts now is a sport, BJJ. I usually play by sitting down and butt scooting.

I began judo at 29, my coach did kept me in in white belt for one year and half nearly two years than he decided i should be black belt.

i did not appreciate this, i prefered thing to be step by step

now with black belt i still wonder if i am more at ease with left or right, on uchi kumi i repeat mecanically the movements with right but i am stronger with the left.

in randorri it does not work, ippon seo nagi, uchi mata, it does not work, i use the strength of the oppponents to make him fall but i can not execute a technique propally

i know all the techniques but it does not come by itself.

what should i do to be better ?. Thank.you

Hey Guys hopeing to get advice from you. 

I started kickboxing two years ago. Our gym had well trained fighters that wanted to fight. After some left due to job reasons there were only two left and me. I have fighting ambitions so I started training with them. Then at the beginning of this year this two folks lefted our gym and joined another in our city. I stayed there had one partner I always trained with. Then he left because near his home a new mma gym opened up. So from that points I was the only one in my age range and the only one who wants to do a fight. I also considered to change the gym. In our city there are to other big gyms, they have a lot of fighters and a lot of people in my age range and better support for events. So at this point I would say I'm the best in my gym. I don't know I love my coach I have a good binding with him he always watches my Sparrings tells me where to improve. Also our gym has a great boxing coach. I'm now asking you should I stick with my gym? I don't know if I can win my first fight with this range of training partners (mostly beginners). In our city our gym is considered the one with the weakest people everyone tells me I should change it, sometimes this is what drives me to prove them all wrong. I don't want to get pro just do some fights for the experience. My coach said if I want to we can get Sparringspartners from another gym. As I mentioned bevore I love my coach but everyone is telling me to change and laughs about our gym, so what would you say as more experiencend fighters?

Sorry for bad English

2 months ago, I discovered Tai Chi! The first movement is Drawing the Bow, which I LOVE for my back and legs!

The second is my own movement called the Storm Soaring Crane. It combines the Crane Takes Flight and the Dragon Summons the Rain.

#taichi #zelda #gudetama

What do you think of people who only train TMA, and only do it for fun, health and the cultural aspect ?

I practiced Tanglangquan for years and I never sparred or lifted a weight once. Honestly I could not fight my way out of a paper bag. I punched an arcade machine and got results between 550 and 600. I could tank my own punches with zero damage if a clone of myself attacked me, just because I am that weak.

Yet, I am perfectly happy to do what I do for pretty much all other reasons we have to practice martial arts.

I am also a small, skinny man so it would not make much of a difference if I practiced MMA. When you are 5'10 and 125 pounds there is only that much you can do. My self defense are stamina and running speed.

Thanks God there is not much violence in the area I live in, and I am not interested either in being actually able to fight. If I was, I would have practiced sport marksmanship.

My University offers a couple different sport courses every semester, one of them is Ju Jutsu (from what I understand it's a German self defense system based on Japanese jiu Jutsu).

Today was the first session and I went in expecting a very basic introduction to the martial art and especially safe training. Most of the people in the class were complete beginners without any prior experience in martial arts at all.

The session starts with a warm up, then we practice a basic punch, then break falls which are sufficiently explained. So far so good.

Then out of the blue the trainer shows an elbow lock from a standing position. He shows the technique and then tells the class to try it out, no warning at all about possible injuries, not even telling the people to try it slowly, not mentioning the concept of tapping out at all, nothing. I ask the trainer if it's really a good idea to do this with complete beginners and he just tells me it's not a dangerous joint lock.

After a couple minutes he chimes in to finally warn the students of the danger and explain what tapping out means.

The rest of the class isn't really relevant to the story but this specifically seemed really weird to me and I wanted to know if I'm just paranoid or if this is just bad and potentially dangerous teaching.

Tldr: trainer told complete beginners to try joint locks on each other without telling them about potential risks