Boxing Society

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Einheri - Have you done any of those at Nottingham? If so, what were your experiences and what dya get for your money? I fancy taking up Boxing but if I'm gonna keep shelling out money after the £30 then I'm gonna reconsider. Especially if you're not getting £30 worth to start with

hey,just from a martial art/sport perspective why boxing?
do you have a history with it or is it something new you're taking up?

Yup, Judo and BJJ. I didn't have enough time for Muay Thai, and there was a timetable clash with it and Judo and BJJ (which are one after the other in the same room). If BJJ and Muay Thai interest you then you might want to look into Bushido MMA Academy as you can get unlimited training in BJJ, Muay Thai and MMA classes for (I think) about £60 a month. Also the instructor Lee Livingstone is the only BJJ black belt in Nottingham (the other nearest is Victor Estima at Gracie Barra in Mansfield, who is a truly world class fighter) and a professional MMA fighter. I took classes there in freestyle wrestling, submission wrestling and BJJ on the days that the uni clubs, which were slightly cheaper, weren't on (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays). The uni BJJ club has a brown and two purple belt instructors who were all great, the Judo club has quite a few blackbelts who take the classes and know what they're doing too.

Sorry, I didn't mean this post to be so long but if there's anything you want to know that I haven't covered then ask away.

Thanks a lot mate, was a really useful post

I googled the MMA Academy and the Krav Maga instructor is a politics lecturer. I'm not sure I'd be committed enough to fork out £60 a month though, but thanks for the hint. Out of interest, for that £60 could you have had the boxing and Krav Maga as well? Is it easily accessible from Lenton by public transport? And are you tied down to a minimum term contract (direct debit for 12 months for example).

I'll have a look at the martial arts stalls at freshers fayre and see what they have to say. Are the ones you mentioned a one off joining fee and the sessions are free or do you have to pay every week? Part of methinks being a big guy that I might do alright at judo, and part of me thinks having a bad back it might not be such a good idea. I wouldn't rule any of those out though. What would you recommend for getting fit out of interest, as opposed to keeping fit?

ok well just from my experience with both sets of martial arts if your main focus is on sport and fittness and not personal protection i greatly recommend the grappling martial arts (bjj, wrestling,judo)

Common misconception. Clearly you've never been thrown with a harai goshi, a suplex or a double leg takedown onto the concrete. You can trade punches with someone for a long time and striking, especially as taught for use with 16oz gloves on, can be a liability without gloves (if you break your hand punching someone then you're screwed). Chokes, locks and positional control are excellent for restraint and compliance in a real life situation, and knowing how to wrestle someone into an inferior position sets you up for a ground 'n' pound (punching a downed opponent from a dominant position). The only time I've ever needed to defend myself was when I was sat on a cramped train chair and a chav grabbed for my bag - I pulled him into open guard from that position and armbarred him; pure BJJ groundwork. Striking would not have been effective in that situation. I've said this before in this forum; grappling and striking complement eachother extremely well and both are useful for self-defense.

And if you won't take my word for it then take it from Bas Rutten; one of the most renowned heavyweight kickboxers and no holds barred fighters ever:



And if he doesn't cut it for you then how about a real self-defence situation with a Jiu-jiteiro choking out an attacker with grappling, caught on CCTV:

all of this is good and true and in a one on one street fight bjj is highly effective but when i said personal protection i was talking about street crime which tend to involve multiple assailants against one defender, in which case bjj would just get your head kicked in, not im not saying that with striking you can take on 4 guys but you stand a better chance of injuring one and running away.

I don't know whether you could. My game is a mix of Judo/BJJ/Wrestling, not really striking except to setup takedowns and clinching (although I did boxing from age 14 to 16). I haven't had pure striking (not striking for MMA) classes in years. The contract is month by month, you pay a month at a time and aren't held to pay every month. I used to take a bus to the town centre and walk to Bushido, took about 30-40mins (total journey one way) from Beeston.

As for Krav Maga, and I'm probably going to be negged for this but oh well, I wouldn't bother. There is no aliveness in the art as all techniques are tested against compliant, non-resisting opponents and there is no sparring. The reason Judo, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing, Muay Thai, and Kyokushin dominate the mixed martial arts world whereas Aikido, Traditional Jujutsu, Tae Kwon Do, Shotokan, Kung Fu, et cetera don't is largely because the former spar hard and train with non-compliant, fully resisting opponents whereas the latter either do not at all or just do unrealistic point-sparring. Krav Maga claims to be deadly but you wouldn't know until you're in a real fight and in all liklihood getting destroyed by even an untrained brawler with a few streetfights under his belt.

For both Judo and BJJ there is a £3.00 cost per 2 hour lesson (which is amazingly cheap, especially for BJJ which is in more demand these days than there is supply of legit instructors). A lot of people with bad backs transition from Judo to BJJ for that very reason, BJJ uses more wrestling style takedowns in order to secure a dominant position on the ground than high-power throws intended to cause concussion and breaks from impact. BJJ focuses on ground fighting whereas Judo focuses on throwing, BJJ is understandably easier on your back. Both will teach you how to break fall and minimize injury though, I barely get bruises from even the hardest throws these days because I know how to minimize inpact when being thrown (in the same way that you often see pro-skateboarders come off from huge heights and get back up with a grin - they've learned to break fall). That said if you have a broken back or another serious problem that can be easily aggravated I'd advise against it - you can always try it out as first lessons are free.

How big are you and what is your body type? Tall guys dominate in open weight Judo but there are weight classes. I'm 185cm and a reasonably lean 98kg, so somewhat above average height and a heavyweight - I do best with hip throws, pick ups and shooting for leg takedowns so I have very much a wrestling-style Judo game. It depends on your build, height and personal preferences really.

Getting fit - I powerlift and do martial arts aswell as MMA and wrestling conditioning (kettlebells, bodyweight exercises, et cetera), I'd recommend a similar mix of anaerobic and aerobic exercise. The importance of diet depends on your metabolism and goals - if you want to lose fat then restrict calories and fat and sugar intake, if you want to get big and muscular then just eat as many clean calories and as much protein as possible.

If you've any other questions I'll try to answer them as best as I can - always happy to "talk fight".

Thanks for all the martial arts advice mate, I really appreciate it.

I was living in Beeston last year as it goes, down Coventry Road. I doubt I'll go to the MMA club but £3 for a 2 hour session with the uni sounds like a decent bargain.

I don't have anything serious with my back, it just plays up every now and then in the lower part of my back. Since I started going to the gym back home it's become a lot more infrequent so I'm guessing it's weight / fitness related.

I'm 188cm and 132kg at the moment and overweight, but I have started losing weight and going gym already so I will be lighter (and a bit fitter) than that when I'm back to uni.

That's good. I'd advise you do some cardio aswell as weight training at the gym. You'll find yourself "gassing" during sparring if you don't, a lot of people who've not done much cardio before find themselves losing fights because they can't breath. Watch some of Tank Abbot's fights from the early UFCs, he had decent hands but he lost more than he won because he got out of breath before he could land a solid punch (that and because he was a barely trained brawler whose only advantages were size, strength and streetfighting experience).

The boxing people seemed quite cool. Might join. TBH I am quite dissapointed how this thread has deviated away from the main boxing topic.

The boxing people seemed quite cool. Might join. TBH I am quite dissapointed how this thread has deviated away from the main boxing topic.

What do you get for your 30 sovs?