Do You Need to Be in Shape Before Starting MMA?

There is a piece of advice you'll hear from a lot of martial arts gyms that I've never been completely comfortable with: “It doesn't matter what shape you're in. Just come in and we'll get you in shape.”

I understand why gyms say it. Nobody wants to make a new student feel unwelcome, and obviously you don't need to be an athlete to start learning a martial art. The average person who walks into an MMA gym isn't going to be in incredible shape, and that's perfectly fine. You're coming to the gym because you want to improve.

But MMA isn't simply another way to exercise. It is one of the most physically demanding and dynamically athletic sports I know of. Even compared with other challenging sports, MMA asks an athlete to combine an unusually wide range of physical and technical qualities.

You need strength, power, speed, balance, coordination, mobility, agility, conditioning and the ability to express all of those qualities while another person is actively trying to disrupt what you're doing. You have to strike, defend strikes, wrestle, grapple, get up from the floor, control another person's body, absorb physical contact and make decisions while you're exhausted. And you have to do all of that without losing control of your own body.

That's part of what makes MMA such an incredible sport, but it's also why I don't think everyone is automatically ready to participate in it simply because they want to. There is a difference between being untrained and being physically unprepared to participate safely. A beginner doesn't need to be athletic, but there has to be some baseline of physical capability that allows the person to train without creating unnecessary risk for themselves or the people they're training with.

As a coach, I have a responsibility to think about more than whether the person standing in front of me wants to train. I also have to think about whether they can participate safely, whether they can follow instructions, whether they can control their own body and whether putting them into a room full of other students creates unnecessary risk for those students.

Not Being Athletic Is Not the Same as Not Being Ready

I want to make an important distinction here because I don't think someone needs to be athletic to start MMA. The average hobbyist doesn't need to be strong, fast, lean or highly conditioned. They don't need a six-pack. They don't need to run a six-minute mile. They don't need to have played a sport in high school. If we required all of that before someone could start training, we'd have a pretty empty gym.

There is a huge difference between being untrained and being physically unprepared to participate safely.

An untrained person can still move reasonably well. They can get up and down from the floor. They can control their body. They can follow instructions. They can maintain balance. They can perform basic movements without putting themselves or their partner in an obviously dangerous position. They may get tired quickly, but they can recover and continue.

That's a perfectly normal beginner.

The problem is when someone arrives with such a low level of physical preparedness that the demands of the activity itself become a safety problem. If someone has extremely poor movement competency, very poor coordination, can't safely control their bodyweight, struggles to get off the floor, becomes exhausted almost immediately, or has so much excess body mass that normal partner drills become difficult to manage, I don't think throwing them into a normal MMA class is responsible coaching.

That brings up an objection I hear from time to time: “I'm a natural heavyweight.” Yes, there is a difference between being a big person and simply carrying a lot of bodyweight. A 6'5", 280-pound guy who grew up on a farm, played six years of football and basketball, is used to moving his body, has developed coordination, balance, strength and work capacity, and has spent years participating in physical activities is a very different training proposition from a 5'8", 280-pound person who has never participated in organized sports and has spent most of their adult life being sedentary. They may weigh exactly the same, but those numbers tell us almost nothing about how prepared they are to move, control their body and safely participate in a combat sport. Bodyweight is one variable. Physical preparedness is the issue I'm actually concerned about.

Your Training Partner Matters Too

MMA is different from a lot of exercise programs because your workout partner is part of the equation.

When someone is learning to squat, ride a bike or use a rowing machine, their lack of coordination primarily affects themselves. In MMA, the person next to them is involved. That person has to catch them, control them, grapple with them, fall with them and sometimes allow them to practice techniques against their body.

That creates a responsibility on both sides.

I have a room full of students who have shown up, learned how to move, learned how to train and earned the right to participate in increasingly difficult forms of practice. I have to protect their ability to train too. I can't simply say, “Well, this person wants to do MMA, so let's figure out how to make it work,” if making it work means another student has to become responsible for managing a partner who isn't physically prepared for the activity.

That's not fair to either person.

And this isn't about making everyone equal in ability. Beginners are supposed to be different. Someone will be stronger. Someone will be faster. Someone will be more coordinated. Someone will have ten years of wrestling experience and someone else will have never stepped on a mat.

What I'm talking about is establishing a baseline of capability that allows everyone in the room to participate in the same training environment.

Sometimes the Answer Is “Not Yet”

This is probably the most controversial part of my position.

I don't believe that every person who wants to train MMA should necessarily start MMA immediately.

Sometimes the responsible answer is not yet.

That doesn't mean “never.” It doesn't mean someone isn't welcome. It doesn't mean they aren't capable of eventually becoming a martial artist. It simply means that they have some preparation to do before the activity becomes an appropriate choice for them.

If someone is significantly overweight and severely deconditioned, for example, I may tell them that I don't think jumping directly into MMA training is a good idea. I'm not saying they have to become a professional athlete first. I'm saying they need to improve their general physical preparedness enough that they can safely participate in the environment I'm responsible for.

That might mean improving their aerobic conditioning. It might mean getting stronger. It might mean learning basic movement patterns. And yes, if excess bodyweight is a significant limitation, it may mean working on their diet and losing some weight.

That's not shunning someone.

It's giving them a path toward the thing they actually want.

I'm Not Running a Modified Exercise Class

There is another practical reality that I think is important to acknowledge. I have a limited amount of space, limited coaching bandwidth and a room full of people who are there to learn MMA. I can't create a completely different training program for every person who walks through the door.

There are gyms and trainers who specialize in working with people who need highly individualized exercise programs. That's valuable work. It just isn't what I'm trying to build at BLAST.

My job is to teach MMA. That means I need a reasonably consistent baseline of physical capability in the room. I can accommodate normal differences between students. I can teach beginners. I can modify an exercise when someone has a minor limitation. I can help someone who is out of shape gradually become more conditioned.

But there is a point where “modifying the MMA class” becomes a completely different service. At that point, I would rather be honest about it than pretend that I'm providing something I don't have the resources to provide well.

MMA Can Be the Goal Without Being the First Step

This is where I think the conversation can become much more positive.

If someone comes into BLAST who desperately wants to learn MMA but isn't physically prepared for it yet, I don't see that as the end of the conversation. I see it as the beginning of a different conversation.

What do you need to do to get ready?

Start walking. Start lifting. Improve your diet. Build some aerobic capacity. Learn to move. Lose some bodyweight if that's appropriate. Establish some basic physical competence. Then come back.

You don't have to become a fighter before you start MMA. But you may have to become physically capable of training safely before MMA is the right place to start.

Coaches Have a Responsibility to Say No

I think we've created a strange expectation in the fitness and martial arts industry that every potential customer has to be told yes.

I don't agree with that.

A coach isn't just someone who provides a service to whoever is willing to pay for it. A coach has a responsibility to make decisions about training. Sometimes that means deciding when someone should spar. Sometimes it means deciding when someone is ready to compete. Sometimes it means telling someone that they're doing too much.

And sometimes it means telling someone that they're not ready for the training they want to do yet.

That isn't cruelty. That's coaching.

The easy thing would be to let everyone into the room, take their money and tell them we'll figure everything out later. The harder thing is to look at someone and say, “I don't think this is the right starting point for you.”

I'd rather have the difficult conversation than put someone into a situation where they are likely to get hurt, or where another student gets hurt trying to train with them.

The Goal Is to Get You on the Mat Eventually

I don't want this to be interpreted as “If you're overweight, don't do martial arts.”

That's not what I'm saying. I've watched people change their lives through martial arts. I've watched people who started with very little physical ability become strong, coordinated, conditioned and confident. I've watched adults discover that they are capable of far more than they thought.

But there is a process.

Sometimes the first step toward becoming a martial artist isn't an MMA class. Sometimes it's getting your health and general physical preparedness to a point where you can participate in one safely.

We talk constantly about progression in martial arts. We understand that a beginner shouldn't immediately be thrown into an advanced class. We understand that someone shouldn't compete before they're ready. We understand that you don't teach someone a complicated technique before they've learned the movements underneath it.

Physical preparation deserves the same respect.

Not ready doesn't mean not welcome. It means there's work to do first.

And if someone genuinely wants to learn MMA, I'm perfectly happy to tell them what that work looks like.

The goal isn't to keep people out.

The goal is to make sure that when they come in, they're ready to train safely, learn effectively and be a good training partner for the people who are already here.

That's part of my responsibility as a coach.