My MMA beginner classes

[Hiro Protagonist]

Hi all,

So, next Monday, I'll give my debut as a "serious" MA instructor...

In t3h park. :tongue6:

I have three students right now, but the group could grow up to ten participants.

All of them are overweight and have virtually no experience in MAs.

(As you might guess, I am doing this as a favor, for some friends who want to start a gym around my place. I do not really feel qualified to teach anyone, especially when I compare myself to the people that teach and taught me.)

So I had thought of this:

1800 Meetup

1810 Light running, with gloves and gear on

1850 3x15 Indian Pushups

3x30 Jumpin' Jacks

3x20 Bas Rutten jumps

1910 Stretching exercises

1925 Striking

Basic techniques: Straight Punches, 3-punch-combos

2000 Striking

Basic techniques: Jab, jab-straight-jab combos

2030 Sparring

2100 I feast on the blood of the fallen



So, since I have virtually no experience in teaching n00bs,
do you think this is a reasonable way to start?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated,

Rafe

[vile_zoidberg]

EDIT: How overweight are we talking here? I'm imagining 230+ and 20%+ body fat.

I don't know what "Indian Push-ups" or "Bas Rutten Jumps" are, but if they are anything like regular push-ups and ski-jumpers/jumping jacks/that horrible squat-exploding jump exercise, I would do those post-stretching. I know for myself, pushups really suck if I don't get at least a little stretch before hand. Also, if your students are tubbies, don't be expecting 60 jumps on the first few sessions to go swiftly. If there is anything fat people hate, it's jumping repeatedly at high intensity (I know this from personal experience, something that I am still combating).

50 Minutes of running for untrained, out of shape, non-military people is a lot. Many people have a hard time with running twenty minutes, much less an hour. Take them for a jog, sure, but expect some fall-outs.

Also, what gear are they running in, and why are they doing it on their first day? The first week, in my humble opinion, should be instruction on the most fundamental things:

Stance--a lot of people have fucking retarded fighting stances. Make sure they don't have anything picked up from Drunken Master, they know their comfort range for foot placement, weight shifting, hand placement, etc.

Movement in their stance

Hand Technique--jabs, crosses, hooks and simple blocking

Combos after teaching proper punching form. Drill this a lot, and make sure they don't get sloppy, which they probably will because they are new and out of shape.

I wouldn't worry too much about serious sparring on the first few sessions, except maybe the first day to get a guage of how they perform. (Before people start getting butt-hurt, this is so that they don't start out their MA training with exceptionally shitty form. Teach them the fundamentals first)

Do you have focus mitts? If so, you should use them just about every time, or drag a heavy bag with you at all times. I'd go with mitts.

Also, make sure you stretch them after the class. And ensure that you espouse the greatness of shadowboxing as a training aid when they aren't at class.

[vile_zoidberg]

The title states "MMA" class. I take it you will instruct them on ground-fighting. I'd wait a little bit before you start delving into this. Let them get the hang of one thing at a time, lose a little weight, and build their coordination. After they've got the concept of standing and fighting, sparring, and how it feels to get whacked in the face, go over clinching, and how things change at that range, then takedowns, then full on grappling awesomeness.

Then start feasting on their blood.

[Student]

Ditto to Vile's advice.

Sounds pretty tough for a group of overweight beginners with no MA experience.

I would keep the 1st class to a simple and light warm-up with some active stretching worked in and then some very basic MA technique. Then each session guage how well they handled this and adjust accordingly.

If you want to focus on standup then as Vile already said stance, movement in the stance and some very basic strikes (jab, jab-cross combination) and some basic defense to the jab and cross would be plenty (this is actually quite a bit to cover in one session).

I personally would start them working this on the focus mitts (they can punch each other gloves if you don't have focus mitts - make sure the person holding the mitts/gloves knows to hit back into the strikes for the safety of both people) and if they sparred I would keep it very light until they get their defense down.

I think working some shadow boxing into this would not hurt either.

Good luck and have fun.

[WhiteShark]

Unless there is a typo in your schedule 40min of running for a beginner class focused on technique is retarded. It's not a running class.

In fact I've never understood why anyone has a significant portion of the class dedicated to calisthenics. IMO you shouldn't be doing much more than it takes to warm up and get the blood moving. If you absolutely have to do calisthenics doing them at the end of class makes a lot more sense if you care about improving technique.

[vile_zoidberg]

I just thought of something: This is a public park, right? I have no idea how it works in the states, much less in Germany, but you may want to consider the risks of engaging in sparring at such an open forum, what the polizei(sp?--I can't remember) will think, and what kind of legal repurcussions there may be if one of the fatties turns out to be whiny, pearl-forming vagina when they get a bloody nose.

By the way, what part of Germany are you in? I spent a couple of years in Heidelberg. That's were I put on 70 pounds of huggable softness (god bless you people and dunkle weisen, bitching doners, and that pizza place that had American drivers, so I could order a delivery and NOT have to go to the gate).

[Mr.Miyagi]

That warm-up is too intense for noobs, let alone fatty-noobs. That will make them not want to come back. Get them working more on pads/focus mits, to get their cardio up to standard, slowly and entertaining keeps the fat-beast coming...!

Do a basic jog around, maybe 5mins (tops), 10-20 Push-ups/Sit-ups-Crunches/Squats (Only one set), and then start on your striking basics?

Once they start to get fitter, you can put it up a bit, no-one really wants to be asskicked in warm-up like that, they won't be able to lift their arms.

[vile_zoidberg]

Wooooooooohooooooooo! People agree with me?! Doesn't that count for, like, a bump-up in reputation? I'm tired of the "vile_zoidberg is not completely worthless." I needs me some "vile_zoidberg is better than you."

Seriously though, you make fat people work too hard, you -WILL- have a coup on your hands. Angry fat people are scary.

[Omega Supreme]

Why are you wearing gear during warm up?

*edit.
I'm sorry would you like some recommended changes because you look like your trying to run a two hour boxing class.

[Kambei Shimada]

If the ground's soft enough you should add basic sprawls and shoots as part of the warm up.

You could also consider attaching cakes/donuts and cookies to the back of a bike and making the fat bastards chase you.