Ultimate Training Systems MMA: San Antonio, TX

**Overcome** · Posted On: 12/01/2011 1:47am

Ultimate Training Systems:
San Antonio, TX
www.utsmma.com 5930 Lookout Bend, San Antonio, TX

"Our bottom line is changed lives!
U.T.S. provides education-based health & fitness programs combined with dynamic, functional training modalities to actively engage, establish and maintain total-body wellness that pays dividends throughout a lifetime.
We are health care providers at heart, therefore we do not view nor treat individuals as financial transactions.
U.T.S. is a grass-roots movement of like-minded people who are willing to step out of their comfort zone and into something greater than their current state of being.
We don’t offer a five-star environment with machines, plasma TV’s and amenities unnecessary to reach your goals.
U.T.S invites you into a growing family united by a common goal of positive, life-long development towards total-body wellness.
U.T.S challenges the mind, body and spirit of its participants to go above and beyond ones self-imposed limitations, into a realm of greater possibilities.
Our focus is on the practical application and seamless integration of dynamic fitness training methods, combined with fundamental nutritional principles used by professionals for world-class competition, personal fitness and total-body wellness.
Our programs are structured for the whole family to enjoy and our advanced training regimens are ideal for amateur and professional athletes seeking to excel in competition.
Our classes produce real, tangible results that you can see, feel and experience in all aspects of life. Mind, Body & Spirit.
Our purpose is the positive development of every student.
To overcome adversity and become your ultimate best!"

taken from the Ultimate Training Systems website www.utsmma.com

Ultimate Training Systems: San Antonio, TX Review:

8/10 Overall

Aliveness:

9/10
Everyday, some form of competitive striking or grappling at the end of class, Some weeks its even more active with getting fighters ready for fights in the shark tank or something similar. Its as alive as you want it to be, for the more advanced fighter its everything you could ask for, plenty of skilled fighters and trainers to get you ready for the big fight or help you advance yyour fighting skills. If your intermediate, plenty of sparring & grappling to get you used to banging or rolling with nice frendly competition, & for new to MMA students its up to them if they want to roll or spar, not too hard the first few times but a get your feet wet kinda thing. Its Alive for everyone.

Equipment:

9/10
The facility is equipped with ZEBRA mats, heavy bags, an octagon, TRX, and strength training equipment. The mma octagon cage is great and is used often, full floor ZEBRA mats are very nice and are kept in top shape, very clean.Variety of bags for muay thai, boxing (tear drop, long muay thai, boxing, ect.) Weights for lifting and strength training classes. They do require you to bring some of your own gear but sometimes they have extra shin pads, head guards, and gloves, as well as usually having extra wraps for your hands for you to use. Very clean and neat, Pilates and yoga room, massage room, free kids day care. You can order through them to buy gear discounted as well. This facility is one of the best looking in San Antonio, Hands down.

Gym Size:

8/10
I would say that its roughly between 5,000 - 10,000 square feet. I did not measure the facility but its a pretty big warehouse. Theres enough room for a huge open area for grappling and sparring, group kickboxing and other excercises, Octagon, Weights, and a back area for working off of the cage with a caged area and more mats. Besides the main areas there is a free childs care room, bathrooms, massage room, pilates, zumba, and yoga room. As well as an upstairs lounge that is being built. I love that its not a little store size gym, its a big MMA warehouse!

Instructor/Student Ratio:

8/10
Medium classes with multiple instructors for a certain dicipline, during boxing class we have Luke Marshall who has several a boxing coach from England who is a Pro boxer and has extensive boxing experience, over 14 years experience in martial arts, he has multiple black belts in Tae Kwon Do, Hapkido, Chinese Kenpo and Japanese Jiu-Jitsu. He has also acquired additional training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai Kickboxing and Filipino stick fighting. Wrestling is tought by a our wrestling coach Dan, as well as a few others. They are very family like and make sure that everyone is getting the help they need, even sometimes an instructor will take someone aside and give some free extra help if asked. There are plenty of instructors on hand to help the students and answer any and all questions happily. When different skill sets are in a class they split the class up by experience, helping the new meanwhile making sure the advanced still learn new techniques and improve as well. The main thing that stood out is that they actually care about you getting better and it really shows by the attention they give each student, tons of 1:1s.

Atmosphere/Attitude:

10/10
Nothing stands out more in this gym than the atmosphere, no D-bags at all, everyone here is a family and I garantee you will too. At the gym its very open and everyone is always happy to see another, everyone is always invited to hang out outside of the gym and have Fight Night Bar-b-Q's and partys and we do that often. EVERYONE feels like they are a part of the family, soon upon my entry there everyone come up to me and they were happy that I was there and welcomed me as a part of their family, which made training a ton easier because the akward feeling of not knowing anyone was passed, it seemed like everyone was my friend, including the instructors. The banner on the cage entrance is, " Your EGO is your opponent" and its clear that its not an issue. Some people have come in with bad attitudes before but I think they were turned around by the way everyone is, theres no need to try and act tough, everyone is there to train. The Attitude is what made me want to come back, it made training more than just training, it made it seem like a second home.

Striking Instruction:

8/10
Striking is one of my favorite things to learn at this gym. Boxing is tought by a specific few instructors, as well as Muay Thai, and the MMA classes. Every class is different and exciting that starts with something new we learn or a specific thing we have been working on. We always end with sparring or a way to apply the techniques. One of my favorite is where one person only kicks and keeps range and the other just uses striking to close the distance. Overall the variety of striking trainers and their skills are awesome, their extensive knowledge in fighting and their willingness to always give extra help and give you the 1 on 1 was a win in my book.

Grappling Instruction:

8/10
Grappling is my favorite thing at the gym, even though I do love striking, grappling is so fun at this gym. Some days we learn wrestling from our wrestling coach, some days jiu jitsu from the main instructor or the jiu jitsu coach, but everyday its something new and exciting, everything is No Gi, we dont have a gi class, because everything is geared towards MMA. The trainers are very knowledgeable and are always showing me many different ways to do things even though ive been doing this for 2 years. I guess its the way they all think differently and it all kind of mixes together into a perfect mixture of all the styles to make you a better well rounded ground fighter.

Weapons:

2/10
We have had a few weapon seminars but nothing to call it a regular occurance in the gym. The owner has had training in Phillipino Stick Fighting (Eskrima) if thats what its called, and I have been to a few seminars but its usually only by request, (so many people sign up for it)

The Bottom Line:

Overall, this is the best gym in San Antonio in my opinion. From the moment you walk in the atmosphere sets the tone to what will be a great future of training and fitness journey as well as the feeling of taking on a second family. I would recommend this gym to EVERYONE. It also has fitness classes, zumba, kids classes, nutrition seminars, diet coaching and much more that goes beyond MMA, and for the average fitness seeker. Also the pricing operates like a church, as in donations, so you pay what you think its worth, respectively to how much memberships usually are. The estimates are on the site and their focus is changed lives not a pocket full of money. There are holiday specials up on the site $30 for 30 days, and $60 for 60 days, specials always going on. So come in and try a few classes free and I hope meet you and welcome you to the UTS family!

**The_Beak** · Posted On: 12/01/2011 9:11pm

It's great that you found a place to train that suits you.

Good Luck, Buddy.

**Pork Chop** · Posted On: 3/01/2012 5:26pm

little late posting this reply

Overall, this is the best gym in San Antonio in my opinion.

Everyone's entitled to their own opinion; but that's kind of a grand claim for a town that brags multiple UFC pros, multiple Brazillian champions teaching BJJ, and at least one muay thai coach from Thailand.

**The_Beak** · Posted On: 3/22/2012 10:30pm

Porkchop where in San Antonio do you train SanShou?
I would love to have a go playing under that ruleset.

Porkchop was that you messing with the tags?

**The_Beak** · Posted On: 3/22/2012 10:31pm

Double post

**Pork Chop** · Posted On: 3/23/2012 5:09pm

Originally Posted by The_Beak

Porkchop where in San Antonio do you train SanShou?
I would love to have a go playing under that ruleset.

Porkchop was that you messing with the tags?

Don't think I touched any tags... at least not that I know of.

I learned Sanshou at Baltimore San Shou, one of the Big 7 Sanshou gyms in the US, under Julio Trujillo and Aleks from Belarus (never got his last name). I did get a teaching certification before I left.

Currently I train muay thai at Shadowfist/Team Vongphet over on the Northwest side, Babcock and Hillcrest. I'm usually there Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. I'd be more than happy to work on sanshou with you.

**The_Beak** · Posted On: 3/23/2012 6:56pm

Originally Posted by Pork Chop

Don't think I touched any tags... at least not that I know of.

I learned Sanshou at Baltimore San Shou, one of the Big 7 Sanshou gyms in the US, under Julio Trujillo and Aleks from Belarus (never got his last name). I did get a teaching certification before I left.

Currently I train muay thai at Shadowfist/Team Vongphet over on the Northwest side, Babcock and Hillcrest. I'm usually there Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. I'd be more than happy to work on sanshou with you.

Thats freaking awesome some SanShou in my hometown.
What's the mat fee look like over at Phet's?
I'm thinking next Saturday would work best for me.
What time do you think you would be there?
I can't PM you my contact info because of your stasus as a noob so post more and lurk less.

**Pork Chop** · Posted On: 3/28/2012 5:13pm

Originally Posted by The_Beak

Thats freaking awesome some SanShou in my hometown.
What's the mat fee look like over at Phet's?
I'm thinking next Saturday would work best for me.
What time do you think you would be there?
I can't PM you my contact info because of your stasus as a noob so post more and lurk less.

Sorry for the late reply.
I think it's $15 per class, but first time should be free.
I'm usually there Saturday 11-1; the next few weeks are really crazy for me though, so I can't say for sure.
I'll try to be there this weekend, but I have to go to Houston that day.