5 Things You Should Never Say To A Female MMA Fighter

“Punch her in the titties!” 

“Pull her top off and kiss her!” 

These are actual statements heard during my friend’s debut MMA bout. Sadly it’s not an isolated incident. It takes endless amounts of physical and mental prep in order to step in the cage, but many female fighters face stigma when competing. Training for a fight involves a minimum of training twice a day six days a week, healthy meal prepping, and no alcohol consumption or smoking. 

Many fighters do this while working and dealing with family obligations. When I’m in camp I’m balancing camp with working full-time as well as attending school full-time. It requires dedication and isn’t for the faint of heart, which is why the above statements are not only disrespectful, but infuriating.

I’ve been training and competing for over ten years. The adrenaline rush of being in the ring is a unique experience that not many ever encounter. I began training in Muay Thai in high school with my younger brother. We fought terribly as kids and my dad decided to put us into martial arts so we could channel that in a more positive manner. 

Black and blues are all in a day's training. 

Aside from my brother and me now being best friends, training has enriched my life in many other aspects. It has helped me not only physically, but mentally as well. It provides an amazing outlet for stress as well as gives me the courage to pursue other dreams. After being locked in a cage where someone is trying to beat you in front of a couple hundred people, it becomes tough to feel nervous. 

I truly believe everyone could benefit from martial arts, but if we keep treating women like they're just a sexy side to the "real" show, we are doing them a great disservice. Here are some of the most common phrases female fighters hear and why they’re bogus.

1) “But you’re too cute/pretty/beautiful to be a fighter.”

Ugh. 

This common statement made to female fighters is intended as a compliment, but frankly it’s obnoxious. You don’t see people telling Roger Huerta or GSP or any other of the gorgeous men in the MMA world that they are too pretty to fight. Insinuating that we’d be better off holding round cards strutting around the cage in a bikini rather than competing in it is a slap in the face to all the hard work we do. 

As to your concern about me ruining my pretty face, well that’s why I practice learning how to block and counter.

2) “So you like to fight? You must be really flexible and into rough sex.”

Now if you’re into rough sex and have a consenting partner, enjoy yourselves -- no judgement. However, this was said to me by a very drunk male acquaintance. Inappropriate doesn’t even begin to cover it. There are many reasons woman compete in martial arts, however last time I checked it wasn’t due to their very private sexual preferences. Any chance you had of seeing how flexible I am ended the minute that came out of your mouth buddy.

3) “Oh my God, doesn’t it hurt when you get hit?”

No. When we women get hit unlike our male counterparts in this sport it does not hurt. It feels like we are being hit by pillows, limb manipulation feels like a pleasant stretch, we never bleed, we never bruise and keep in mind we always look pretty while doing it. 

Of course it hurts. 

Soreness is the norm if you train often. It’s about learning to push past the pain and to become a better athlete. It takes heart to continue to train when you’re hurting, but that is what champions are made of.

4) “I can’t stand watching women fight.”

Society wants women to be pretty, docile little homemakers; fighting flies in the face of that and it makes many people uncomfortable. Women are supposed to be motherly, nurturing. It’s hard to feel that way when you’re seeing two people punch each other in the face. I can respect the fact that my hobby makes you uncomfortable. 

It is important to remember though both fighters are consenting adults; you don’t need to watch it if you don’t like it. I’m not a child though, so don’t tell me I can’t compete just because it gives you the heebie jeebies. For what it’s worth, being a female fighter and being an excellent mother are not mutually exclusive ideas. We have several such badass mommas in the gym I attend.

5) “You must be a super angry violent person that gets into bar fights all the time.”

Listen. Just because I hit people in a ring doesn’t mean I hit them outside of it. I have self-control, which I learned through my many years of Muay Thai training. People get on my nerves because I’m human, but unless my life is in immediate danger, I’m not getting in a fight. I don’t feel like having assault linked to my name and prison orange is not a good color on me. 

Martial artists are usually chill people. There’s no need to get in fights outside the dojo when we can train and be challenged by teammates within the gym.

You may wonder why some female fighters don’t say anything when confronted by such misogyny. There are many reasons. The desire to fit in, not appear weak, not appear overly sensitive, the frustration of being talked over or downright laughed at are all reasons why women don’t always speak up. These comments are usually made in good “fun”, but they’re actually very harmful. It’s important to watch how we speak. 

The emotional wounds from hearing these kinds of comments constantly take a lot longer to heal than any bruise. We have some little girls training at our gym. I want them to be able to focus on becoming ass kicking strong women, not vapid little sex pots in gis. 

orignally posted by xojane.com

What To Eat Before And After Your Workout

There are many opinions as to what you should eat before, during and after your workouts. The reality is that your body is your vehicle, so you’ve got to keep your engine — your heart — running while you work out.

That means fueling up with the right foods before your workout, hydrating with the right fluids throughout your regimen, and eating the right amounts at the right times.

“You don’t have to adhere to a rigid schedule, and there are no hard-fast rules,” says Riska Platt, M.S., R.D., a nutrition consultant for the Cardiac Rehabilitation Center at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. “But there are some things you should do before, during and after you work out.”

Before your workout: eat healthy carbs, hydrate with water

Not fueling up before you work out is like “driving a car on empty,” says Platt, an American Heart Association volunteer. You also won’t have enough energy to maximize your workout and you limit your ability to burn calories.
Ideally, fuel up two hours before you exercise by:

• Hydrating with water
• Eating healthy carbohydrates such as whole-grain cereals (with low-fat or skim milk), whole-wheat toast (without the fatty cream cheese), low-fat or fat-free yogurt, whole-grain pasta, brown rice, fruits and vegetables
• Avoiding saturated fats and even a lot of healthy protein — because these types of fuels digest slower in your stomach and take away oxygen and energy-delivering blood from your muscles

If you only have 5-10 minutes before you exercise, eat a piece of fruit such as an apple or banana.

“The key is to consume easily digested carbohydrates, so you don’t feel sluggish,” Platt says.

During your workout: hydrate with water

Whether you’re a professional athlete who trains for several hours or you have a low to moderate routine, keep your body hydrated with small, frequent sips of water.

You don’t need to eat during a workout that’s an hour or less. But, for longer, high intensity, vigorous workouts, eat every half hour 50-100 calories of carbohydrates such as raisins, an energy bar or banana.

After your workout: have fluids, healthy carbs and protein

After your workout, it’s time to refuel with:

• Fluids. Drink water, of course. Blend your water with 100 percent juice such as orange juice, which provides fluids, carbohydrates and potassium.
• Carbohydrates. You burn a lot of carbohydrates — the main fuel for your muscles — when you exercise. In the 20-60 minutes after your workout, your muscles can store carbohydrates and protein as energy and help in recovery.
• Protein. Eat things with protein to help repair and grow your muscles, including a whole grain bagel, baked potato, peanut butter sandwich, etc.

It’s important to realize that these are general guidelines. We have different digestive systems and “a lot depends on what kind of workout you’re doing,” Platt says.

So, do what works best for you. Know that what you put in your body (nutrition) is as important as you what you do with your body (exercise). Both are crucial to keeping your engine performing at its best.

Weight Lifting Tips For WOmen

The fix: "While opinions about static stretching may differ, a dynamic warm-up can decrease your risk for injury," says exercise physiologist Marco Borges, author of Power Moves. After five to 10 minutes of walking or jogging, do 10 to 12 lunges and pushups (the bent-knee version is fine) before starting your routine.

Using Sloppy Form
Experts agree that proper form is the single most important factor in injury prevention, yet many women don't give it a lot of thought—especially when they're in a rush. And women, thanks to their naturally wider hips, are more at risk for form-related injuries than men are: One study found that women had nearly twice as many leg and foot injuries as guys did. 

The fix: Before you begin any exercise, think S.E.A.K., says trainer Robbi Shveyd, owner of Advanced Wellness in San Francisco: Stand straight (head over shoulders; shoulders over hips; hips over feet), eyes on the horizon (looking down encourages your shoulders to round and your chest to lean forward), abs tight (as if you were about to be punched in the gut, but without holding your breath; this helps stabilize your pelvis), and knees over your second toe (women's knees have a tendency to turn in because of the angle created by wider hips, says Joan Pagano, author ofStrength Training for Women).

Stressing Out Your Shoulders
As crazy as it sounds, women who lift weights tend to have less-stable shoulder joints than women who don't lift at all, found a recent study. The reason: Doing too many exercises in which your elbows are pulled behind your body (think chest flies and rows) can overstretch the connective tissue in the front of the joints. If the backs of your shoulders are tight, you're even more likely to overstretch the front, increasing the imbalance at the joint, says Kolber. 

The fix: Modify your moves. First, don't allow your elbows to extend more than two inches behind your body. In the lowering phase of a bench press, for example, stop when your elbows are just behind you. Second, avoid positioning a bar behind your head. Bring the lat-pulldown bar in front of your shoulders, and when you're doing an overhead press, usedumbbells instead of a bar and keep the weights in your line of vision (meaning just slightly in front of your head).

Neglecting Opposing Muscle Groups
"Many women have strength imbalances, which can make them more prone to injury," says Shveyd. Sometimes they're the result of your lifestyle (hovering over a desk all day, for example, tightens and weakens your hip flexors while your glutes become overstretched and inactive). Other times they're caused by not working both sides of the body equally (say, focusing on moves that rely on your quads but not your hamstrings). 

The fix: For every exercise that works the front of the body (chest, biceps, quads), be sure to do an exercise that targets the rear (back, triceps, hamstrings). For instance, pair stability-ball chest presses withdumbbell rows, or step-ups with deadlifts.

Doing Too Much Too Soon
A lot of people think that more is better—more reps, more sets, more weight. But if you increase any of these things too quickly, your body may not be able to handle the extra workload. "Gradual conditioning prevents injuries such as torn ligaments and tendinitis, because your muscles and connective tissues have time to adapt," says Pagano. 

The fix: Practice a three-step progression. First, learn to do a move using only your body weight. "When you can do 15 reps with proper form, add weight," says Pagano. Second, stick to one set with light weights for two weeks or until you feel comfortable with the move. And finally, when you can complete nearly all of your reps with proper form, add another set or more weight (increase weight by roughly 10 percent each time).

How To Lose Weight And Keep It Off

All

you have to do is wheel your grocery cart into a checkout line to see the cautionary tales screaming at you from the tabloids:

Kirstie Alley regained the 70-plus pounds she lost on Jenny Craig. Maureen "Marcia Brady" McCormick got even heavier after she was on Celebrity Fit Club. Oprah—well, we all know about her weight lossstruggles. Janet Jackson, Kelly Clarkson...the list goes on and on.

It makes you wonder: If these rich, powerful women, with their personal trainers and private chefs, can't win the weight war, what chance do I have?

It doesn't help that the statistics are grim: By some estimates, more than 80 percent of people who have lost weight regain all of it, or more, after two years. Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles analyzed 31 long-term diet studies and found that about two-thirds of dieters regained more weight within four or five years than they initially lost.

Women who want to lose weight know these painful numbers all too well. "I've been on a roller coaster for the past two years," says Leigh Moyer, 31, of Philadelphia. In 2003, she lost 25 of her 155 pounds by diligently counting calories and logging daily sweat sessions at the gym. Four years later, busy with graduate school and her job at a software company, Leigh blew off her workouts and stopped monitoring her portions...and shot up to 175. "It was so sad, so frustrating," she says. "I let myself down."



Along with the emotional toll is a physical one: Not only is the extra weight a health risk, but recent studies have linked the gain-lose-gain cycle to such potentially life-threatening conditions as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression, heart disease, and cancer.

Understanding Metabolic Math
While small fluctuations on the scale are normal, the unhealthy behavior that experts refer to as "weight cycling" is not. Cycling is defined as a significant increase or decrease of body weight (generally 10 pounds or more) that occurs multiple times.

Experts believe a yo-yo pattern is often the result of a diet that's too restrictive, and a study reported in the journal Obesity backs that up: It found that people who followed a very low-calorie diet regained significantly more weight than those on a more forgiving plan. Desperate for quick results in a culture of instant gratification, "women try to lose weight on diets with too few calories," says Judith Beck, Ph.D., director of the Beck Institute of Cognitive Therapy and author of The Beck Diet Solution. "If you lose weight on 1,200 calories a day, the minute you go up to 1,300 is the minute you start gaining weight."

It happened to Tracy Srail. The 24-year-old from Atlanta has watched the scale bounce between 130 and 160 pounds for the past four years. "At one point, I was eating only one or two meals a day and chugging Rockstar energy drinks because I heard that caffeine increases your metabolism. I lost 15 pounds, but it didn't stick," she says. "I weigh about 155 now."

Even on a sensible diet, your body sheds pounds reluctantly. "One reason it's difficult to keep weight off is because there is a metabolic overcompensation for weight loss," says Gary Foster, Ph.D., director of the Center of Obesity Research and Education at Temple University in Philadelphia. "If you decrease your body mass by 10 percent, you would expect your metabolic rate to decrease by 10 percent, but it actually slows down more than that, by about 11 to 15 percent."

Why does your own metabolism thwart you? Simple, says Kelly Brownell, M.D., director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University: "The body may perceive dieting as a threat to its survival. It might not know the difference between Atkins and famine."

What's more, says Brownell, who coined the term "yo-yo dieting" in the 1980s, weight cycling can actually change your physiology. So the more diets you've been on, the harder it becomes to lose the weight. A hunger hormone called ghrelin increases, and a fullness hormone called leptin decreases, so you feel hungrier and less satiated.

Born to Rebound?
It's bad enough that your body fights you when you try to lose weight. Now there's compelling research to show that some people may be hardwired to yo-yo. 

David Kessler, M.D., former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner and author of The End of Overeating, and his team of researchers at the University of California at San Francisco and Yale University, looked into the biology of weight cycling. They found that the reward circuits in the brains of people Kessler calls "conditioned hypereaters" were excessively activated simply by the smell of food and stayed that way until those people finished eating whatever was on the plate in front of them.

In other words, when you have overactive neural circuitry, resisting temptation is not a question of willpower alone. "This is a biological cause of conditioned hypereating. It's the first time we can say 'It's not your fault,' " Kessler says. He estimates that 50 percent of obese people and 30 percent of overweight people are conditioned hypereaters.

Evidence shows, however, that this reaction is partially learned, and that through conditioning, you can rewire your brain. After all, the yen to yo-yo is not just physical; emotional triggers play a huge role too. A study at Brown University found that dieters who ate in response to emotions such as stress or loneliness—as opposed to external events, like overdoing it at happy hour—were more likely to regain weight.

When Darcie Schmidt of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was in her late twenties, she lost 75 pounds and then regained 120 over two years, largely because of emotional eating, she says. In her early thirties, she stuck to a strict diet-and-exercise regimen and shed 132 pounds. "I did not eat a single chip for 18 months," she says. But the stress of a divorce, a move, and a return to school knocked her off track, and she traded her three-mile, five-day-a-week runs for bags of those verboten chips—and regained 40 pounds.

Beck sees women like Schmidt all the time, who do well for a while, only to fall off the wagon. The problem, she believes, is that they never learned the skills needed for long-term behavior change. "They haven't been taught how to motivate themselves every day," Beck says, "or how to respond to negative thoughts and recognize a mistake as a one-time thing."

A study of 200 overweight and obese people, published in the Journal of Psychosomatic Research, supports the importance of a behavior-change approach. Along with other weight-loss techniques, one group received an additional hour of therapy, in which they learned to change their behavior; the other group did an extra hour of low-intensity exercise. After a year, those in the therapy group had maintained their weight loss, while the other group's members hadn't. 

Risky Bigness
While watching the numbers on the scale fluctuate wildly is a blues inducer and clothes-budget buster, there are far more compelling reasons to hold steady. For one, your metabolism might be affected—and not in the way you probably hoped.

"If you go on a very strict diet and gain the weight back quickly, you might lose a lot of muscle and regain a lot of fat," says Keith Ayoob, M.D., R.D., an associate professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "Then your metabolism operates on a slower idle, which means it's going to be harder to lose weight as time goes on."

The more times you yo-yo, the theory goes, the more fat your body gains in each rebound. Because muscle burns 10 times more calories than fat does, your metabolism eventually will slow to a crawl.

"Losing and gaining regularly takes a huge toll on your body," Ayoob says. Beyond aesthetics, such as a loss of skin elasticity, regaining weight burdens your arteries and skeletal system, and may stress the liver, which can become covered in fat.

Yo-yoing also does a number on your ticker: A study in Clinical Cardiology found that women who weight cycle five times or more during their lifetimes may be damaging their hearts in the process.

But perhaps most startling is the dangerous and lasting effect weight cycling has on the immune system. According to the first study of the long-term impacts of yo-yo dieting, women who repeatedly lost and gained weight had lower immune function, particularly lower counts of natural killer cells. "These cells are important for fending off infections and are also vital in fighting the early stages of cancer," says Cornelia Ulrich, M.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Low killer-cell activity is associated with higher rates of cancer. In her study of more than a hundred overweight but otherwise healthy women, those who had yo-yoed most frequently—five times or more—decreased their natural killer-cell activity by a third.

With so many drawbacks, you might wonder if you'd be better off just accepting your belly rolls. But the perils of being overweight still outweigh the risks of yo-yoing. So how do you quit the cycle for good? Despite what you read in the tabloids, it is possible.

How Women Can Build Muscle Fast!

If you're a woman trying to build muscle fast, these tips can get you to your goals. Since gaining lean muscle mass rapidly requires changes to both your workout and diet, consider a resistance training plan that works all your major muscle groups and a diet that contributes to muscle building.

Tailor Your Workout

Female athlete. Photo Credit Jupiterimages/Digital Vision/Getty Images

For rapid muscle building, women need programs tailored to their gender. Testosterone and growth hormone have a significant effect on muscle building, but women have much less of this hormone in their body. Weight training stimulates women's bodies to produce greater amounts of these two hormones, allowing you to gain muscle much more rapidly than other types of exercise.

Use Myofibrillar Hypertrophy

Lifting weights. Photo Credit iofoto/iStock/Getty Images

Myofibrillar hypertrophy is a type of exercise that builds muscle. This exercise involves using relatively heavy weights and performing sets of two to eight repetitions. A shorter number of repetitions with a heavier weight increases both the quantity and size of the muscle fibers, resulting in more lean body mass. When you reach the seventh or eighth repetition, the weight should be too heavy for you to lift easily. Pushing your muscles to the point of exhaustion stimulates testosterone release and increases microtrauma of the muscle fibers. Microtrauma involves small tears in the muscle cells, and your body will respond by repairing and replacing the damaged fibers with stronger and larger tissue/

Use Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy

Dumbbell chest press exercise. Photo Credit Chris Clinton/Photodisc/Getty Images

In addition to increasing the size and number of muscle fibers, you can also increase the fluid within muscle cells, allowing them to grow larger. This type of training shows the greatest results in beginners and leads to fast gains within a few weeks of training. With sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, you engage in circuit training with 12 to 15 repetitions per exercise and a minute or less of rest between sets. Choose three or four exercises and perform them back-to-back. Some of the more effective exercises include incline dumbbell chest press and chest fly, bench dips and dumbbell side raises. This type of training does not cause muscle fatigue, but instead stimulates the body to produce more growth hormone for muscle building.

Outside the Gym

Banana and peanut butter. Photo Credit Olga Nayashkova/iStock/Getty Images

Your workouts make up the primary way to build muscle. However, rest and diet also contribute to building muscle. Rest gives your body time to repair and build muscles, so experts recommend 48 to 72 hours between workouts. Additionally, eating before and after a workout contribute to muscle gain. About an hour to 90 minutes before a workout, eat a snack that contains about 50/50 carbohydrates and protein. Examples include a banana with a tablespoon of nut butter, energy bars made with fruits and nuts, or a half sandwich with whole grain bread and roasted turkey. You'll want to replenish the body's stores of glucose and protein within 30 minutes post-exercise. Low-fat chocolate milk and bananas with peanut butter make up easy options for a protein and carbohydrate-rich post-workout meal. These foods contribute to lean body mass building.

WNY MMA & Fitness: Strong is the New Sexy!

Strong is the new sexy in women’s workouts: Women's Fitness in Buffalo and Western New York

By Dorene Internicola

New York - Women's fitness in Buffalo and Western New York has come a long way since skinny defined the ideal body and a muscled arm was cause for alarm.

Fitness experts say that as strong becomes the new sexy, the gender divide has narrowed, if not closed.

From resistance training to power workouts such as barbell squats, medicine ball throws and kettlebell swings, a rigorous regime has become more popular with women.

“We want women who want to turn it up a little bit,” said Dean Hodgkin, a fitness writer and martial artist who co-authored the book Better Body Workouts For Women with fitness consultant and nutritionist Caroline Pearce.

“We specifically included heavy resistance and weight training formats because if women don't train heavy, they'll miss the opportunity to gain strength,” said Hodgkin, who is based in Leicestershire, England.

Along with advice on executing workouts from hula hooping to power hopping, the book also dispenses guidance on issues on Women's Fitness in Buffalo and Western New York, like training before, during and after pregnancy, eating issues and mind games that can undermine progress.

“These are times when women let it all fall apart,” he explains. “There's no question that self confidence is more of an issue for girls.”

Jessica Matthews, an exercise physiologist with the American Council on Exercise, doubts if a women's fitness book filled with power drills would exist 10 years ago.

“Now you see this all the time,” said Matthews, noting women are eager to embrace tough workouts like CrossFit.

Having a well-defined physique, she said, has replaced skinny as an ideal.

“A fellow yoga teacher mentioned to me the other day that she was excited and proud to be able to perform barbell squats (with the barbell positioned across the back of her shoulders) with great form using 225 pounds (102 kilos),” Matthews said.

When she started teaching group fitness 14 years ago, it was rare to have a man take a class.

“The shift in the industry is interesting to see,” she said. “(Today) there are no specific exercises for men or women. The type of exercise is based on person, not gender. I like to think we've moved on.”

Dr. Michele Olson, an expert with the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), said women tend to be weaker than men because they are smaller and have less muscle mass.

But given the same strength-developing exercise programme, she said, women can become just as strong in the upper body and almost as strong, about 80 percent, as men in the lower body.

“The principles are the same whether you're a man or woman in terms of how exercise is prescribed and the results that are realised,” said Olson, a professor of exercise science at Auburn University in Montgomery, Alabama.

Give men and women the same exercise prescription for cardio fitness and they will improve to the same extent, she said, adding that heart disease is the number one killer for both sexes.

ACSM guidelines call for all adults to engage in cardio exercise at least three to five days a week, along with two to three days of strength training and two-to-three days of flexibility training.

For strength training, Olson said, both men and women should lift weights that are heavy enough to exhaust the exercised muscle in no more than 12 to 15 repetitions.

“This will make you stronger,” said Olson. “If you want to add muscle you need to lift heavier weights.”

Experts say the fear that women who weight train will suddenly sprout bulging muscles is unfounded.

“Women, and most men, have a terribly hard time bulking up,” Olson said. - Reuters

Women's fitness in Buffalo and Western New York program is a great start to strength training with our newly added women's only weight lifting class.

WNY MMA Conditioning & Womens Fitness

You can try to find a more well-rounded athlete in terms of overall fitness than a wny mixed martial arts fighter, but we doubt you’ll be able to.

A high level MMA fighter has the endurance to go five five-minute rounds with a little bit still left in the tank at the end; the power and strength to land lethal strikes and execute crippling submission holds; and the overall athleticism to master various fighting disciplines—from wrestling to karate to boxing. Not coincidentally, virtually all successful MMA fighters possess lean, athletic physiques to show for it. So if the WNY MMA & Fitness body type is what you’re after, why not train like a fighter?

“The types of workouts I do with my MMA athletes don’t require any running or aerobic work, because there’s no aerobic work done in a fight, only anaerobic,” says Corey Webster, head of strength and conditioning and kickboxing at WNY MMA and Fitness Mixed Martial Arts Academy in Buffalo, New York.

“We do sprint-based intervals, and by doing this, the guys respond faster to putting on muscle and losing body fat in addition to improving their cardio levels. But it’s not necessarily muscle mass they’re putting on—it’s more muscle density. Most of the exercises we do are big, compound, leg-based moves. In fighting, the guys are squatted down a lot and shooting in for takedowns, so these guys can’t afford to get tired legs.”

“[Websters] strength and conditioning program for me has been amazing,”. “I noticed results in my cardio after just one week—being able to spar longer and not be tired afterwards. I was also worried about having to cut weight, but I haven't had to do that at all, as the pounds just fell off naturally without having to change my diet, and I feel much stronger."

What does this tell you, come to WNY MMA and Fitness to get a heavy dose of MMA conditioning and get into incredible shape. Besides, who can say that they have the chance to train with pro fighters. 

Performance at WNY MMA

Performance is everywhere we turn. Interviewing for that next job. Going on that first date. Competing in your local fitness competition. In order to succeed at anything, you must be prepared to perform and compete.

In a perfect world, everyone should be afforded respect and equality. But in the real world, the harsh truth is that everything is a performance or a competition. Everything.

What Martial Arts Teaches Us About Peak Performance

The oft-used analogies when it comes to competition are that of both the warrior and the athlete. A martial artist is both. Furthermore, a martial artist is, of course, an artist. In addition to sport and combat, there is much to learn from the martial arts when it comes to finding your peak performance.

I grew up around the arts. My mother performed professionally as a ballet dancer for more than twenty years, my uncle fronted a jazz quartet for a living, and my dad ran a creative business as a marketer. I followed suit performing on stage as an actor and also became a martial artist in my adult life.

From the arts, I learned much about what it takes to compete in life. Of course, the typical correlations to performance always apply - hard work, preparation, and attitude all matter. But what brings these attributes about? Telling someone to work hard falls on deaf ears without the “why” behind the hard work. Telling someone “attitude is everything” accomplishes little without the key to unlocking the passion that brings about that attitude.

This is where the arts (WNY MMA and otherwise) tell us much about competition because the foundation of the arts is asking the “why.” Finding trust, authenticity, and your true competitive spirit is what the way of the artist is all about.

Nurture Your Instrument

Any performer knows that if his or her instrument isn’t in top condition, then the performance could be compromised. That means cleaning, treating, and maintaining your instrument. A skier sharpens his skis, a musician tunes her instrument, and a singer nurtures her vocal cords. In order to be at one with your instrument - be it your body, a musical instrument, or a presentation piece - you must take care of your instrument the way you would your own child.

For athletes, your instrument in competition is your body. In my kung fu days, we used to have three-hour Saturday classes. One hour was dedicated solely to stretching. That is, one third of the time in class was purely about nurturing our instrument in order to prepare it to optimally perform. Said another way, in order to perform at your peak, constant and thorough maintenance is required.

Where You Prepare Matters

To borrow a line from Christopher Walken on Saturday Night Live, when you rehearse you must “really explore the studio space.” The line is both spot on, as well as hilarious, because that is what we do when we rehearse – we explore the space. We try, we innovate, we fail. Your rehearsal space must allow for creativity, trying new things, and resolving conflict.

For the athlete, this proces starts with locating a space that allows you to do your best preparatory work. In the martial arts, WNY MMA, dojo, or dojan is sacred ground. Many gyms and schools have some sort of ritual upon entering, be it a bow or a momentary pause of respect. The idea is to immediately get your mind right when you show up to rehearse. Stepping into a rehearsal space should be like stepping in to a church or sanctuary. Your sole purpose is to find the present moment in order to listen and grow.

How You Rehearse Is How You Will Perform

There are many old adages to this effect - act as if or practice makes perfect. I recently attended a lecture by a former Navy SEAL who said they even have a saying: when in doubt, rehearse. While there is no substitute for a real competition - the bright lights, the adrenaline, and the live audience - rehearsal is the gateway to that moment.

One of the critical components of rehearsal is the concept of contingency. As an actor, I have practiced scenes by saying my lines backward or as fast as possible. I’ve rehearsed scenes blindfolded and I have done scenes without the lines. The idea is to have a plan for every possible scenario, but to end at the same destination.

I’ve done similar things in sparring in the martial arts. Sparring with only one hand, using only kicks, or throwing only punches. Sparring at WNY MMA might entail taller, heavier, or shorter opponents. The bottom line is that practice is not merely repetition, but preparation for the certainty of uncertainty.

Find Your Feet on the Floor

One of my teachers used to begin every class with this simple instruction: “Feel your feet on the floor.” Inevitably, a new student would roll his eyes as if to say, “What exactly is that supposed to mean?’ Feeling your feet on the floor has to do with being grounded and present, to actually feel your feet against the ground.

Starting at the ground, you can determine things like: What does the ground feel like? What do your feet feel like? Are you heavy or light? The answers to questions like this are a starting checklist to getting present.

Another way to feel your feet on the floor is to “see” your breath. Every breath connects you to your body and the ability to be whole and present. In order for an athlete, artist, or warrior to be at his or her peak, the performance must start with being present and the ability to find the feet on the floor.

Trust and Authenticity Trump All Other Values

Trusting others - teammates, partners, and so forth - is a given when it comes to peak performance. Anyone knows that to forge a successful relationship, trust matters. But what about trusting ourselves?

Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink, asserted that our intuition is always right. Your intuition knows the correct next step to take, but is often blocked by a desired outcome - to get the job, find love, or win the competition. The key to trusting your intuition is self-awareness.

Bruce Lee, widely considered the greatest martial artist of all time, spoke volumes on the subject of self-awareness. “The possession of anything begins in the mind,” he stated. He also pointed out that the biggest obstacle a person can face in competition is our self.“Fear comes from uncertainty; we can eliminate the fear within us when we know ourselves better.”

This is what my teacher was driving at when telling us to find our feet on the floor. To know ourselves, to find that quiet spot in our mind in order to trust the process, and more than anything - to trust ourselves.