Topic: Previous Physical Activities

[Kyle Rudolph]

Depends, if you want to be a cage fighter than do a lot of martial arts. If you want to do judo do judo.

How serious were you about all of those?

You do not need a mixed background in martial arts to fight decently in MMA.

Two words, Royce Gracie.

[DevintheNinja]

previous physical activities include

tkd-19 years itf wtf tang soo do
basketball-played a few years organized but mostly streetball at parks
baseball-2 years in peewee and 2 years in high school
football-2 weeks organized(basketball season started)
hockey-1 year middle school
bmx-2 years
skateboarding- whenever my bike broke or got stolen
autocross-current favorite activity
drifting-current activity

[Rebecca Myers]

You do not need a mixed background in martial arts to fight decently in MMA.

Two words, Royce Gracie.

I could counter that with our Judo black belt who will be left nameless (we need more decent judo guys in the UFC, seriously) who got totally smashed at a recent UFC, but I won't. Because, for the most part, I agree.

Adding to my list:
Snowboarding/Skateboarding for like a year.
Walking for 16 years. That's right.
Ballet for a month.
Kendo on and off.

[FastGuppy]

You do not need a mixed background in martial arts to fight decently in MMA.

Two words, Royce Gracie.

You can prove anything with one example. Sure, there are fighters out there that don't need much; however, they don't need much.

Ben Askren trains where I'm at and he will attest he needs to get better at boxing and kicking. If I had to do any recommendation for just one art it would be Jeet kune do. Judo is great, but I guarantee better results if you do boxing, and wresting together than just one.  Besides, I’d rather take Jujitsu than judo.

No, you do need to do ten million art or specialize in everything, but you need to know how to punch or take someone down.

[Zach Morgan]

I used to skateboard, that's about it though. I guess I can stick hiking, biking and outdoors stuff in there too.

[Brandan Mendenhall]

I could counter that with our Judo black belt who will be left nameless (we need more decent judo guys in the UFC, seriously) who got totally smashed at a recent UFC, but I won't. Because, for the most part, I agree.

Adding to my list:
Snowboarding/Skateboarding for like a year.
Walking for 16 years. That's right.
Ballet for a month.
Kendo on and off.

Kendo is rough! I tore up my feet somethin' FIERCE when I was in Japan. Played around with Kendo for a few months before I said "eff that noise" and joined the Judo team.

[Kyle Rudolph]

You can prove anything with one example. Sure, there are fighters out there that don't need much; however, they don't need much.

Ben Askren trains where I'm at and he will attest he needs to get better at boxing and kicking. If I had to do any recommendation for just one art it would be Jeet kune do. Judo is great, but I guarantee better results if you do boxing, and wresting together than just one.  Besides, I’d rather take Jujitsu than judo.

No, you do need to do ten million art or specialize in everything, but you need to know how to punch or take someone down.

Of course you need to know how to kick and punch but if you're good enough at one thing you don't need to train the other much at all. I don't train Judo, I boxed for 7 years and currently train BJJ and TKD but that's not the point I'm trying to make.

Take someone like Royce or Helio Gracie. Their takedowns are amazing and they don't really worry about punches and kicks. They can throw some but they don't really train them. Or you can look at a different light at some like Lyoto Machida. He is straight Shotokai Karate and when he knocks someone down he waits for them to get back up. He has no ground game but his stand is so absolutely amazing he doesn't need one.

I'm not trying to say it's dumb to train more then one as I do train more then one. All I'm trying to say is is that you do not HAVE to train more then one martial art to be a good MMA fighter. If you are good enough in one then that may be enough.

[Sam Chin]

Of course you need to know how to kick and punch but if you're good enough at one thing you don't need to train the other much at all. I don't train Judo, I boxed for 7 years and currently train BJJ and TKD but that's not the point I'm trying to make.

Take someone like Royce or Helio Gracie. Their takedowns are amazing and they don't really worry about punches and kicks. They can throw some but they don't really train them. Or you can look at a different light at some like Lyoto Machida. He is straight Shotokai Karate and when he knocks someone down he waits for them to get back up. He has no ground game but his stand is so absolutely amazing he doesn't need one.

I'm not trying to say it's dumb to train more then one as I do train more then one. All I'm trying to say is is that you do not HAVE to train more then one martial art to be a good MMA fighter. If you are good enough in one then that may be enough.

+5 Nicely said

[Rebecca Myers]

Brandan, Kendo's definitely rough on the feet. And the kiai's are fun at first, but yelling "Men" or "Do" over and over again gets old fast, huh?

FastGuppy, as someone who practices both jujitsu and judo, I can tell you that both of them have their pro's and con's. Judo is better for stand-up, but if you've got a wrestling background you should be fine. The two, when used in MMA, have the same throws. Jujitsu is better for submission, they are not depended on as heavily in judo, however jujitsu can also be a lot slower and more about working for position, while in judo since time is limited, practitioners learn to switch position and control their opponent in a more timely manner.

Kyle, word. And you should start judo, just saying.

Ganbatte! Osu!

(I still love the fact that only Brandan can understand me. I could be blathering about Totoro for all everyone else knows. Tonari no Totoro!)

Mark my words. If anyone posts the picture of the messed-up Totoro, I will get you. And so will Brandan. (Yes, you're getting involved because..I'm bribing you with Ramune and Chanko )

[Brandan Mendenhall]

(I still love the fact that only Brandan can understand me. I could be blathering about Totoro for all everyone else knows. Tonari no Totoro!)

Mark my words. If anyone posts the picture of the messed-up Totoro, I will get you. And so will Brandan. (Yes, you're getting involved because..I'm bribing you with Ramune and Chanko )

Sounds good. I loves me some Ramune :3

[Kyle Rudolph]

TKD and BJJ take up almost my entire week and what time I have left is used by Shotokai. Judo would be cool but I don't have the time.

[Rebecca Myers]

TKD and BJJ take up almost my entire week and what time I have left is used by Shotokai. Judo would be cool but I don't have the time.

Make time. Haha.

Sounds good. I loves me some Ramune :3

Me too. Although I hate that darn marble. I'm always so temped to break the bottle for it, despite the labels that discourage it. And Chanko is actually gross. I had it in Tokyo.

[J Kyle Smith]

Well I guess I did miss out on some stuff. I did do karate and soccer in elementary school and soccer, but those don't really count for me. Then I attempted skateboarding which I couldn't learn anything more than an ollie. And I rode my bike a lot during the summer of middle school. And marching band for two years.

Those didn't cross my mind for some reason...

[Sam Chin]

Sounds good. I loves me some Ramune :3

Dude, what flavor Ramune do you like? (i prefer the Melon flavor lol. I guess being asian i love the flavor of Melon XD)

[Rebecca Myers]

Dude, what flavor Ramune do you like? (i prefer the Melon flavor lol. I guess being asian i love the flavor of Melon XD)

Raspberry all the way!

[tentonbrick]

My resume seems short compared to others.

Ex-United States Army Combat Engineer *Airborne*
Power lifting.
Hiking.
Woods Running.

[Sam Chin]

Raspberry all the way!

Raspberry is good too lol (but melon is better! lol) Have you ever had Aloe? (the drink)

Ex-United States Army Combat Engineer *Airborne*
Power lifting.
Hiking.
Woods Running.

that's Hardcore man. I know i could never powerlift (the fact that i'm 5'6, 124lbs, and really skinny lol; and don't say i should eat alot, cause i do...metabolism stops me from getting bigger)

[tentonbrick]

that's Hardcore man. I know i could never powerlift (the fact that i'm 5'6, 124lbs, and really skinny lol; and don't say i should eat alot, cause i do...metabolism stops me from getting bigger)

lol, my heaviest body weight was 370-375, I was deadlifting stupid amounts
I weigh 180 something now. ahahaha, thats crazy now that I look back on it.

[Lydia Cloak]

Little Person Years =)
Softball and Synchronized Swimming
The classic few months of Ballet and Gymnastics

Teenage years
Shotokan Karate
Jiu-Jitsu
Goju-Ryu Karate
Sun Hang Do

I never was one for team sports, but if it involved tackling then I was all in =D So unorganized football and such.

Now
Parkour (will be back into it more once the sun is out more often when I can actually go out)
Swing Dance
Gymnastics
Conditioning
Was doing trail running during the summer

[Sam Chin]

Little Person Years =)
Softball and Synchronized Swimming
The classic few months of Ballet and Gymnastics

Teenage years
Shotokan Karate
Jiu-Jitsu
Goju-Ryu Karate
Sun Hang Do

I never was one for team sports, but if it involved tackling then I was all in =D So unorganized football and such.

Now
Parkour (will be back into it more once the sun is out more often when I can actually go out)
Swing Dance
Gymnastics
Conditioning
Was doing trail running during the summer

Do you live in Alaska? lol