In a word YES…. Thanks for stopping by!
The best way I can convince the every person is to tell a personal story about my son Joshua (0-0).
At age 12 he was 125kg, did nothing but played games and eat things that everyone knows are not the right choices for a young person to consume. He was very shy and after being assaulted on a bus, his self esteem was at an all time low.
After driving past a local gym that was about to open its doors, we saw that it was going to be a fighting gym offering BJJ, Muay Thai, Boxing and all those things that make a life long MMA fan sit up and notice! and decided that was going to be the key to helping Joshua with both his mental and physical health.
At first he was completely against it, after years of dad asking him to watch and enjoy the metric ton of fighting I consume on a weekly basis but realised I wasn’t playing around and started attending twice a week for BJJ.
After about 6 months, he was going 5 days a week adding Boxing, Muay Thai and MMA to his classes and he was visibly thinner but a story never goes smoothly does it?
9 months into training BAM! The whole world goes into lockdown which meant all training ended in the gym and everything was put online. We as parents were worried about this as we though Josh would go back to his old ways and all the positives would be undone but if anything it cemented his mental toughness because he almost never missed an online class, was more often than not the only person in attendance.
He also became obsessed with fighting as a whole, would watch old fights and really became obsessed with everything MMA so when gyms opened up again, even though there were strict restrictions, he was back on his training immediately!
By this point he had lost about 25kg and really coming into his own. The shy boy who couldn’t say hello to anyone new would be the life and soul of the gym when he was around, often being the first to welcoming a new member to the gym and being there to help get people used to classes. He had outgrown the kids classes and was now training with the adults which was even more impressive that he was so open and comfortable.
Small side story to cement this, he travelled to a leg lock seminar to a completely new gym and went in by himself which is something he would never had done a year previous, let alone before his training began. This was also the first time our plucky hero would properly meet one Mike “airlines” Ekundayo who was training at and teaching at GBTT.. but back to the story!
Josh at this point had come to a cross roads, stay at his current gym where he was having to train and spar people 2 to 4 times his age or move on to a gym that had younger people that would push and test his abilities. Josh is very much an honour based young man so it was at that moment he preferred to stick it out.
Funnily enough at the same time a gym was preparing for its first open day and I convinced Joshua to come and try it out for himself as it was open to all. It took him exactly 5 minutes to decide this was the place for him and we signed him up on the spot.
That moment happened almost 1 year ago now and the 12 year old 125kg has blossomed into an almost 16 year old young man who has lost 50kg of fat while also packing on a fair amount of muscle. When he isn’t studying for his G.C.S.E’s he is in the gym 5 days a week, he trains with some of the best fighters from across the world and can even be seen as an assistant coach for the kids classes.
In a nutshell, he has changed his life forever. He has become a great striker with solid grappling and in his first inter-club he competed in K1 Kickboxing and MMA, winning both matches with hopes to have his first amateur fight later this year.
MMA
Any lifestyle changes is going to be hard but the positives are life changing, more importantly life lengthening and it is never too late to start. We have everyone from 5 year olds up to people in their 50’s here at GBTT. Everyone is on their own journey but everyone understands how difficult the path can be and most are only too willing to lend a helping hand.
Find your local MMA gym and give it a go! If you are anywhere near GBTT we can offer you a one weeks trial so you can start your own journey. Click here now to sign up.