Training Guidelines
TRAINING PRINCIPLES
COME TO KNOW YOURSELF, NOT TO PROVE YOURSELF
At The Way MMA, combat sports and martial arts are seen as a path toward increased self-knowledge. Humility, or a “beginner’s mind,” is essential to advancing on that path. The visceral reality of MMA training can serve as a microcosm for our life’s struggles and expose some of the false ideas we have about ourselves. As some have said, “there is nowhere to hide on the mat.” While learning the art of fighting is the specific outer goal, the inner growth experienced by the serious martial artist will expand into all areas of life.
QUALITY OVER QUANTITY: THE SMALL GROUP APPROACH
The number of students is limited to 8 for men’s classes and 12 for children’s classes in order to provide the safest and most efficient learning environment. Having seen injuries become common and solid fundamentals become rare in many gyms—largely due to the scarcity of attention by instructors—at The Way MMA, we are resolved to ensure each student has the individual attention needed to stay healthy and excel. This also ensures that there is a consistency of training culture among all students, which fosters trust.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS: THE SPORT THAT INFORMS REALISTIC SELF-DEFENSE
Throughout its history as a sport, MMA has revealed which martial arts are realistic and which ones are less so. The martial arts and combat sports that have proven themselves to be most effective are Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, and Judo. While every art has its place at The Way MMA, Jiu-Jitsu is seen as the core of MMA—the art against which all other arts must be checked.
To become a martial artist fully prepared for a real fight, one must practice these disciplines in their appropriate proportions, both separately and mixed together. Isolating specific skills is necessary for the highest level of refinement, while mixing techniques is a check for relevance and realism. If we want our skills to be useful in a real fight, we must learn grappling skills that account for striking, and striking skills that account for grappling. At The Way MMA, techniques with a high success rate that meet this criteria are prioritized.
TAKEDOWNS: WRESTLING IS NATURALLY EMBEDDED WITHIN JIU-JITSU
The Way MMA emphasizes strong wrestling skills. All other things being equal, you should want to be on top of your opponent. Having gravity on your side and making your opponent carry your weight is one of the greatest advantages you can have in a combative situation. This becomes even more of an advantage when strikes are involved.
Pulling guard should be reserved for situations where there seems to be no chance of taking down one’s opponent and should primarily be done as a means to quickly improve one's position with sweeps, back-takes, or submissions. Pulling guard just to avoid an energy-intensive takedown battle can be a trap for the guard player, who is more likely to be worn down in the long term by an equally skilled top player.
Wrestling-based takedowns have proven themselves to be the most effective overall in open grappling rule sets as well as in MMA. Ultimately, rule sets determine which sports contain the techniques of other sports. Since almost all wrestling techniques are legal in Jiu-Jitsu competition, Jiu-Jitsu naturally comes to contain wrestling. Therefore, any class that has “Jiu-Jitsu” or “JJ” in the title contains wrestling-based takedowns, which have been modified to account for submissions.
TRAINING STRUCTURE
“PREHAB” IS BUILT INTO WARM-UPS AND “CONDITIONING CAPS” OF ALL CLASSES
The bad news: High levels of skill in any physical activity are often gained at the cost of chronic overuse injuries. The good news: This is largely preventable, as those wear patterns are predictable.
At The Way MMA, classes always start and end with exercises that balance out the load on the body—loosening muscles that are likely to have become tight and overworked, and strengthening muscles that were likely to have been underutilized. This helps maintain healthy joint mobility in all directions and minimize overuse injuries.
GENERAL CLASS STRUCTURE
At The Way MMA, efficiency is a strong guiding principle. In order to maximize learning time, classes begin with a brief warm-up, carefully designed to be low impact, which gradually ramps up in intensity. Then students continue the process of warming up by practicing technique with progressive resistance. This allows one’s heart rate and core temperature to rise incrementally, supporting longevity and peak performance. Once fully warm, students are ready to safely engage in live training.
All live training—“scrimmaging,” “sparring,” or “rolling”—is optional. Training specific techniques with resistance up to 50% can be considered “drilling.” Resistance above that level would be considered “live work.” When it’s time for live work, whether situational or open scrimmaging, classes are divided into two groups: one group of those who want to do live training and another group of those who want to drill. Factors such as inexperience, age, and injuries can all limit our ability to train safely at higher levels of intensity. While this may represent a “watering down” of the training, it is better for people to be able to participate in a limited way than not at all.
Classes end with a brief, moderate-to-high-intensity “Conditioning Cap,” followed by cooldown stretching to balance out the specific loads certain positions can put on the body. This consists of a series of exercises that have been carefully selected to meet the “prehab” criteria mentioned above, in order to keep the body supple and strong, with full range of motion in all directions.
COOPERATIVE RESISTANCE AS TACTILE FEEDBACK FOR LEARNING
Cooperative and progressive resistance gives the natural feedback you need for dynamic, safe, and realistic learning. Doing moves on a "dead" training partner does not give realistic muscle memory, no matter how many times you repeat the technique.
At The Way MMA, students are taught how to become a great training partner, or "uke," while learning and drilling technique. By always keeping an "aliveness" as the one being practiced on, your level of resistance will not aim to defeat your partner's technique, but to give them natural feedback to improve it. This will also aid in understanding how to defend against the technique being practiced. Balance is key: Too much resistance, and one is too overwhelmed to learn. Not enough resistance, and one can't get a realistic feel for the move. Ultimately, it is up to the one doing the move to tell their partner if they need more or less resistance. Resistance should increase with better understanding of each technique.
Open communication with training partners and instructors will help to optimize everyone’s training experience. In order to minimize injuries and soreness and maximize training volume, students will be encouraged to aim for a default intensity level of about 70% when training is “live.” Higher levels of intensity should be reserved for certain occasions, such as competition training.
When striking is involved, contact is always kept light unless the instructor specifically states otherwise. Light contact means you are responsible for not hurting your training partner. More intense contact is typically reserved for competition preparation, or for practitioners seeking and agreeing on higher-intensity training with permission from the instructor.
Classes are held at 2 different locations- they are listed under “CLASS SCHEDULE” on the homepage. The main location on East Douglas is at the map link below. Space is limited. Please click on "SCHEDULE A LESSON" to contact us before you visit.