What it Takes

So you say you want to be a Professional Fighter. This is an introduction and a run through of a day to day routine and an example of what it takes…

YOU get up in the morning and head out to your first session, which happens at around 6am. YOU would concentrate on Brazilian jiu-jitsu in which YOU have spent years gaining a purple belt, or a striking session, and around lunchtime there’ll be another session and then one again in the evening.

When it comes to MMA, there are three main aspects: striking, throwing and ground work, so throughout the week in your sessions at the gym YOU try to get a good mix of those in. You will be training at least five ( I do seven) days a week and probably be doing three sessions a day, and with each session lasting at least an hour and a half to two hours. YOU would train about 5-6 hours a day totaled up.

In between training sessions, nutrition is key to keep on track. A good, clean diet is essential in any sport, as well as for your general health. When YOU are training, YOU need to go on the Paelo diet, which means high protein content through meat and vegetables and very low carbs. You can also pick a specialty and go for something like snacking on blueberries!

When YOU get into the gym, YOU do some sort of strength training two to three times a week, often with a strength coach if YOU are training for a fight, YOU would give yourself a six week training camp, training three times a day and getting at least three or four weight sessions within that per week. Preparation for the fight would also include some pretty old school stuff like flipping tires, or hitting them with the sledgehammer. This is great endurance training, but it also avoids any muscle loss that you might get from some of the other training fighters must do.

Bottom line, it takes a lot of commitment and time in the gym. If you want to get involved, whether you want to train for fitness or to compete in the cage, you can mix and match. But YOU must get in contact with a quality gym and a some quality trainers and quality training partners. It takes a lot to become the best. And if that is what you want then you won’t hesitate to do what it takes.