It's going up

We have had a period of growth at Lockdown. I think this is due to two main factors. One, being our amazing social media person, and secondly, we have restructured the way the classes are run. This has made us adapt and make unforeseen changes, which has been great for Lockdown.

For a while, the training sessions consisted of the fighters, then everyone else. This meant that you knew who your hard rounds were, and who the easy rounds were. Due in part to the session changes, the gap has begun close, but this has been in a fun way. There are people who have improved through training due to having more training partners, more focused training and a different attitude. This means there are people who used to be an easy round and now they sneak up on you and if you aren’t alert, they will catch you.

The real bonus is that on any given night, there are 3 people on the mat who can beat anyone else in a variety of ways – takedowns, submissions and getting punched. With fighters, one part of their brains hates this and makes them come back to the next session looking to exact vengeance. The other part – the more important part – which, as a coach I love, is if I can train people to be better than me then I have done my job. Not that I am great fighter, but as a coach, if you can take people to a level above yourself that is a success. Greg Jackson is not the best fighter at his gym, in fact he would get mauled by a lot of people, but he is great coach as he is a real student of the fight game. His job is to take people to the top level (this goes for a lot if not all top-level coaches).

At Lockdown we are putting the fighters in groups to train specific areas and at a higher intensity. Just by the nature of this training, there is going to be a learning curve. This is not new, it is just easier with more people at that level. Most of the guys haven’t been beaten much in training very often and that is going to change. We are going to sit down and have a chat about this as some people deal with ups and downs better than others. There will be nights where you are at the bottom of the pile and there will be nights where you are at the top of the pile. The focus I want to see is all positive, when you are at the bottom of the pile and you are having a bad night (which we all have) I hope that you understand what is happening and then keep pushing and giving it everything. Above everything else, there are no excuses, congratulate your teammate and move on. Then on the flip side, when you are having a good night, make the most of it and get as much success as you can – practicing winning is important. On average, with the group we have, they are going to have a night with mixed wins and losses which as a coach makes it perfect. This means that there is no clear number one and depending on the discipline depends on the outcome (typical striker v grappler). This also means that everyone is trying to learn from one another and trying to beat each other. When you are getting beaten, it keeps you hungry and humble, two very important things for fighters. Steel sharpens steel as they say.

The people at the top of your club set the culture and at Lockdown we are very lucky, the top level people are always the last to leave the mat as they are always looking for another round. Then we get a visiting specialist, e.g. a pro boxer, those at Lockdown line up to test their skills against said specialist. Just by the nature of MMA, a good grappler, striker or wrestler will beat us; they are specialists in their field. However, that does not mean we go down easily or that we don’t love the challenge of someone skilled and trying to beat them in their own game. In the past I have trained at clubs where the instructor didn’t train against good people just in case they got beaten. That mentality is an old martial arts mind set. News flash, I am not a world champion in anything and therefore, there are always going to be people better than me out there, so who cares. It is very hard to improve if you are the top dog at your gym; you really want people snapping at your heels wanting to take your place and, on some nights, get the better of you.

With the increase in intensity at Lockdown and having the people who can really push each other, the level is going to increase, and I get a front row seat to watch it all happen. It will be interesting as they are improving, my job gets both harder and more fun. We will see what a group of skilled, motivated and positive individuals can do, watch this space.

Gareth Lewis
Head MMA Instructor