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Photos: Ruth Gibson
After volunteering to sample Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) for Vision, I was clueless as to what to expect, apart from in one aspect: that it would be extremely physically demanding. I would like to think I am fairly fit, so I was intrigued to see how I would fare when faced with this notoriously gruelling form of exercise. After donning my bright white trainers I felt excited, if a little apprehensive, to be taking on such a different sport from that which I am accustomed.
From the first moment, the club was nothing but friendly and welcoming, but I was still a little concerned when one of them mentioned that Niall, the club’s president, was something of a hard taskmaster.
The designated place of suffering would be the little green patch opposite Heslington Hall; a public area where everyone could witness me struggle breathlessly through the training. The particular session I joined was primarily fitness based, but Niall promised, or perhaps threatened, to teach us some of the technique involved in MMA too.
We began with a warm up which felt more like a complete round of circuit training, involving numerous laps round the field punctuated by press-ups, sit-ups, burpees and more. The sweat began to show (luckily I was garbed in a black t-shirt), but I was quite proud of how ready I was for the next activity. However, this pride was undoubtedly misplaced, as I had of course only completed a 20-minute warm-up.
Warm-up over, it was time to move onto practising various techniques. The rest of the group were subjected to more fitness, while Niall was kind enough to teach us (Josh Mangham, another Vision reporter, was with me) some of the basic moves and stances of MMA. I was first told how to stand, with my hands up ready to block, and was then encouraged to do some shadow boxing, while keeping stance and block steady. It was surprisingly difficult to keep co-ordinated and I must have been the most unthreatening proponent of MMA ever, with my limbs flapping everywhere.
My coordination did improve a little and Niall decided (probably because of the constraints of time rather than conquering of the first task) it was time to move onto the pads. Now, whenever you see roundhouse kicks in the movies they ooze cool. However, when I attempted the moves I looked a bit more like Emile Heskey attempting an overhead kick, than Jackie Chan kicking someone’s ass. It was very difficult to maintain balance on one foot while kicking high with the other leg, especially for someone as completely inflexible as me. Despite my obvious ineptitude, it was thoroughly enjoyable swinging kicks; but after a while the tiredness did begin to kick in, as all power drained out of my legs. Niall refused to stop there though, as he introduced us to a second move.
This time I was encouraged to grab Josh by the neck and start kneeing him repeatedly as hard as I could into the pads he was holding over his stomach, and even more southerly regions. This had to be done for three minutes, but seemed like an eternity, as my legs began to lose any of the strength that remained. Even when it was Josh’s go, holding the pads was wearying, as I had to try to push the pads forward every time he kneed me, in the hope that my voice would not reach unnaturally high levels by the time the session ended. After a few more reps, exhaustion began to seep in, and Josh and I had to take a few cheeky breaks whenever Niall’s back was turned.
The final activity of the session was a selection of roundhouse kicking, jabbing, and right and left hooks. It was a proper whole-body work-out, again interspersed with press ups. Sweat was now pouring down, and I felt a combination of sickness and light-headedness as all my energy had been expended, despite some trusty Powerade. The last set of press-ups was simply too much, as I collapsed prostrate on the floor, unable to lift myself up for the last repetition. Fortunately this signalled the final intensive activity of the session, and as I painfully clambered up, dreading the warm-down, the majority of the other members of the club seemed primed for more. The fitness of these people was certainly admirable. The warm-down was thankfully not too strenuous and Niall even found the strength to attempt the incredible feat of about fifty roundhouse kicks in twenty-five seconds.
I came away with two feelings: firstly, one of utter exhaustion and secondly, one of satisfaction. It had undoubtedly been a painful experience, but it was certainly very rewarding, and as Niall commented, “MMA is a great way of staying in shape, and is fantastic for self-defence.” I’m not sure any aggressor would be fearful of me after that one session, but I imagine the transformation from being less like Heskey, and more like Chan, would be a quick one. MMA is such a unique sport as it incorporates judo, freestyle wrestling, Muay Thai kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu; so if you fancy getting fit, feeling safer or just having some fun, I would whole-heartedly recommend MMA. Thanks to Niall Durkin and Sam Devlin, another one of the experienced members, as the club was as a whole extremely friendly and understanding, especially since Josh and I brought the high standard down immeasurably! It was a challenging, and at times brutal experience, but one that was unquestionably worthwhile.