I've been training MMA for the last 8 months and it's been a great ride.I've experienced so much betterment physically, but mostly mentally, it turned my life around !
I've never been a part of any sports team during my life and I decided I need a serious hobby, so I joined an MMA gym. I'm a shy guy so the beginnings were soooo freaking scary to me, a bunch of ripped, mean looking guys, watching my every step, or so it seemed. (They actually don't care. :)
I tried so hard in the beginnings, trying to prove myself to them lol, felt like I need to show them I deserve a spot on the team ha ha. If only I knew I'd be a welcome part of the group just a couple of months later..
Confidence
My confidence grew so much during this short period of time, not only because of all the fighting, they make you group up with new people, there's no place for social anxiety there, just go ahead and train with a complete stranger .
Learned to stand up for myself, not just stand there, learned to say what I want to say and stand by it. It's a great feeling to express your opinion and be able to stand by it without being scared away by opposition.
Depression
Having something to look forward to is a great way to fight your depression, the worst thing in the world is having nothing to do, nowhere to be, everything to think about and all the time in the world to do so...
I'm not saying MMA magically cured my depression, of course not, but whenever I feel down, I can always remember all the hard work I've been putting in at the gym, all the friends I've made there, all the times I've really achieved something - finished a deadly work out, got better at that choke hold or whatever else comes to mind.
That high I get after training is really amazing, feel like I'm moving myself in the right direction, feels like I've killed off some of the demons inside of me..
I can always look forward to that, even if my days get super dark, I can always rely on that. Having something reliable to look forward to is great, something stable, something that is there every week of the year.
Social
I've made a lot of friends on there, surviving a rough workout makes people connect more than anything I've ever seen before. Having to work together in duos, trying to learn all kinds of weird positions, nothing makes friends faster than grabbing each others ass while trying to kill each other ! Ha ha.
I've never been a big fan of small talk, but it's a good place to practice it, you generally don't lead deep conversations while boxing, but utter silence is also not very cool.
It's been a big plus for my social skills, yeah. Meeting people you'd never meet otherwise, way out of your social circles, training like that puts you on the same level with everyone, it doesn't matter if they're the banker you'd normally wash the car for. On that mat, everyone is equal.
Fitness
This one is pretty obvious, I've gotten very fit, 4 trainings a week do wonders for your body. I've been fit before starting, so it's not that big of a deal for me, but I've seen people change drastically. I couldn't even recognize some of them !
Just start
Pick a hobby that might interest you and start ! Don't wait a day longer, I've been putting MMA off for 4 years before I finally started, wish I started back then, I could have been amazing at it by now.
New things are scary, I know that very well, but being stuck in a place where you have nothing to make you happy is so much scarier, isn't it ?
If you can't think of something you'd really like to do, why not go ahead and try multiple things before you find one that is going to be your passion ?
There's so much more good stuff I've gotten out of it, but if I really had to pick just 1 thing, it would have to be that everything new is scary, but finding your passion is definitely worth it ! I'm hooked !
Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by LordDominik007 from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.
If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.
Cool, thank you for posting! I've been training MMA for 4 years now, and since I started posting on Steemit, the thought of making a small article about my experience in the MMA world has hunted me since :) It's really important to feel like you belong somewhere and you're right, a gym like the one you're going to, always training and socializing and pushing yourself to the limit next to other people - contributes to that. Congrats and looking forward to your next posts!
Hi, Thanks for the reply, really appreciate it ! :)
I can only agree with everything you said. Training MMA is a truly unique experience and I have never done anything more fulfilling.
Congratulations @lorddominik007! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honnor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPBy upvoting this notification, you can help all Steemit users. Learn how here!
Good on ya mate! Upvoted and I'm interested to follow your journey. I have wanted to do BJJ for about 10+ years and I don't know why but I just never commit. I'm also quite a lone wolf type of person, not shy so much but just not a big talker especially among larger groups, but a small group who don't care about petty bullshit sounds like the go. Good luck with it all and I'll definitely be doing a blog also once I get my arse into BJJ or MMA. 👍👍
Yeah, I've been wanting to try years ago, but always found an excuse..
oss!
this was awesome, i would love to train bjj or mma but i'm still trying to figure out how to get through that massive wall of social anxiety that makes it so difficult to start.
True, I was afraid as hell. But once you complete a workout with everyone, you're a part of the team, you earn their respect and it's all good from there :) Just go for it !