Learn MMA at Home – 8 Steps to Get Started Today

Here are 8 simple steps to help you learn MMA at home and you start home right away.

Obviously the best way to learn and train MMA is to join a gym and get live instruction and train with other students.

But this is not always possible due to location and access to MMA gyms.

In this case training MMA at home is really the only option.

Or you may want to supplement your live training with solo training at home and in this case these 8 tips will help you with that also!

1.Find the Best Online Learning Resources

If you are looking to learn for MMA at home for free then you will mostly use resources such as YouTube.

The main difference or benefit of using a paid program is that you will have structure to follow as opposed to learning for free off YouTube.

This is important when starting out and learning online from home.

The resources listed below come under 3 categories and are excellent places to get started learning MMA at home.

	Striking	Grappling	MMA
FREE	Muay Thai Guy Liam Harrison Stuart Tomlinson	Grapplearts Kama Jiu Jitsu	Fight Tips MMA Crash Course MMA Shredded Mini Course
ONE off payment	Heavy Bag Blueprint Solo Heavy Bag Training (MMA/Muay Thai)		The MMA Striker
Recurring Subscription	Nak Muay Nation Bang Muay Thai	Gracie University	Evolve MMA

You can read more about my recommendations for the best online MMA learning resources in a previous post I wrote here.

2. Choose Your Base Style

Whether it be purely striking or grappling based, top MMA trainers such as Firas Zahabi (GSP’s former trainer) recommend having a good base in one style.

You could also learn MMA in a dedicated manner through pure MMA training.

But I would take the advice from Firas very seriously from someone who knows what they are talking about as an MMA trainer.

If you already training arts such as Judo, Karate, BJJ, Boxing or muay thai then you already your base style to build off of.

You could make MMA your base style also and just begin with purely MMA resources.

But you may also find it more beneficial to choose a base style. When training at home solo, I find muay thai or striking styles to be the most efficient to learn and train solo at home.

3.Watch a Lot of Competitions

Whether UFC fights, BJJ Mundials, submission grappling, Boxing matches or muay thai contests – always try to be learning and improving in each area of MMA.

You can takeaway a lot from watching the best in their respective arts. Also you can learn and use the MMA applicable techniques in your own training and sparring.

These days you can watch a lot of fights and matches on YouTube which is free. Old fights and the Free Fights on the UFC channel are all great places to watch and learn.

Make note of particular techniques and try to create drills to add them into your solo training at home.

4. Find a Clear Area to Practice

The best option would be to set up a dedicated space somewhere at home.

You do not need a huge amount of space.

A garage or spare room should provide sufficient space. Depending on the weather it could even be outside in your garden.

But you really need to have some space to move around and train if you want to learn and train MMA at home.

5. Invest in some equipment or just make your own

I would recommend:

i)Setting up a heavy bag.

Specifically the Thai Bag or Banana bag.

This is the only bag that allows you to practice and train low kicks.

All other bags are not long enough.

ii)Putting down some mats

Mats are easier to clean up, you will be sweating a lot.

Also they provide some padding for the BJJ, groundwork techniques you will be training.

You could even make your own mats and heavy bag yourself.

6. Set Clear Goals

If you eventually want to be a pro fighter and are starting from home, plan to travel and visit gyms and attend seminars in the near future.

If you just want to learn and train some MMA at home on your own for fun and fitness then you want to set specific fitness goals too.

Former UFC fighter Jeff Joslin set the goals of winning a BJJ tournament at purple belt before he took his first MMA fights.

You could aim to earn your BJJ blue belt in the short term and compete and place in a tournament before purple belt as a specific goal.

Or aim for an amateur boxing or muay thai fights(s) before transitioning into amateur or pro MMA.

Either way you need to set both short term and long term goals.

7. Wear Compression Gear

Compression gear is especially useful as it helps stimulate the muscles for training as well as wicking away sweat.

Mentally once I put on compression gear I know I cant back out of a training session.

So just putting on compression gear helps me get mentally ready for each training session.

Wearing compression gear when training also has other benefits including reducing muscle soreness and breathe-ability for your body.

8. Make a Training Plan and Stick with It

It is important to plan your week out to ensure training is considered each week.

MMA also has different components that each need attention and practice each week to improve.

Even if you only start out training MMA at home two times a week you still need to plan this into your week.

There are a variety of useful planner apps for Andriod and iPhone that you can download and use for free.

An example program could look like the following is training MMA 4 times a week and two session of strength & conditioning per week.

	M	T	W	Th	F	Sa	Su
MMA	AM		PM		PM	AM	Rest
S&C		AM		PM

You could further divide up your routines to include striking and grappling in the same session or on separate days at home.

How to Learn MMA at Home – Final Thoughts

To sum it all up simply. The best way to learn MMA at home is to start as soon as possible.

It is great to do your research and the 8 tips I provided above will help you on your way.

But at the end of the day you need to make up your mind if this is really what you want to start doing and just get started.