With Mixed Martial Arts being a full contact sport with its roots in bare knuckle fighting there are a lot of misconceptions when it comes to people deciding wether to train in this art. Below we discuss the top 5 most common myths regarding training in MMA.
1. MMA is just for professionals. This idea applies only in the case of Professional fighters. With MMA becoming so popular more and more people have started training. People from all walks of life have now started training in MMA. Some people train to keep fit and lose weight while others want to compete and possible turn professional. It's all about choosing the right training for you. if you just want to train for fun and fitness then training 2-3 times a week and leaving out the heavy sparring will suffice and if you want to compete then 5 days a week and lots of sparring and extra training on other areas like grappling and conditioning will be your main training.
2. Training in MMA can be really hard and can cause injuries. MMA training can be very tiring and exhaustive but as long as you train smartly and rest between sessions you shouldn’t have a problem. Even in performance sports, the purpose is to have hard and effective training, so that the body can get the stimulation necessary to reach your peak level of fitness. However, the training must not become ineffective. People can come to the gym tired after a work day and leave relaxed (physically and psychologically) and not more tired. This is extremely useful for people with sedentary jobs, but also for those who make physical effort at work. They could use the training by choosing a type of effort meant to compensate the one involved in their job.
3. Training takes too long. Again, this idea is true if applied to training in MMA to become professional fighter, which can only be obtained by training a lot. But also in this case short and very intense training or training for relaxation and recovery are often performed. You can train intensely for 30 minutes and still get a very good workout in MMA. Most training sessions last an hour so this should fit in to most people’s schedules.
4. MMA is a brutal sport. Due to MMA starting out as bare knuckle style fights it gained its reputation as being brutal. But over the last 10 years it has become more popular and regulated by professional medical boards and has gained a unified set of rules making it a more fair and safe sport. MMA is becoming more wide spread and excepted and is one of the world’s fastest growing sports
5. I’m too old to train in MMA! With MMA becoming so popular in recent years there really is people from all walks of life training in this sport. Accountants, policeman and chefs are just some of the jobs that people from my gym work as are aged anywhere between ages 16-45! There are lots of exercises adapted to different ages. Their purpose is to keep and improve health and also to improve physical shape. Because the final purpose of training is not always preparing for a competition, the exercises can be organized gradually according to their difficulty, eliminating the risk of accidents. Because it's based on perseverance, the training can be adapted without problems for older people.
