We have many amazing people with interesting stories that walk into all our gyms! The member spotlight turns to Bradley Wiedenhofer a BJJ student at South Yarra. Read More
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5 Solo Drills you can do to help your Muaythai
Training on your own is part of the sport some times, so here are 5 drills I like to do as part of my training to be more efficient with time.
1. Shadow boxing. This seems like an obvious one but it’s a great chance warm up and work your technique without impact on your body. I also use visualization in my shadow boxing, instead of randomly throwing shots I visualize an opponent sparring in front of me and work my defenses, attacks and footwork.
2. Tabatha bag work. Tabatha is awesome for fitness! Find a long bag and start with 20 seconds of technique combinations at lower intensity and then 20 seconds of high intensity with hard and fast combinations. Do 8 rounds of this then have a minute rest.
3. Clinch work on bag. Lock on to a heavy short bag, pull and push the bag like you are in the clinch driving knees in at different angles. Practice your pop back straight knees and continuous knees, it’s also a good way to practice hard elbows.
4. Plyometric work is great for developing explosiveness in your Muaythai. My favourite plyometric drills are box jumps including one legged box jumps. Gradually build up the height on the box jumps ensuring that both feet are landing cleanly so you can stabilize on top of the box.
5. Ladder drills help with speedy footwork and agility. There are heaps of different drills to try the aim is to be as quick and light on your feet as you can. I usually start the drill at half speed and build up the speed as I get more comfortable.
I try to keep drills simple but also challenging, since it they are ‘solo’ drills it’s best to choose ones you enjoy as you get what you put into the drill.
Claire Foreman
#iamabsolutemma
What to expect in your first month of training in BJJ?
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) is an incredible sport and a martial art in where you never stop learning. For an average person it takes 10-15 years to earn their black belt and that’s because BJJ is extremely difficult. BJJ can be practised as a hobby, a competitive sport, a way to get fit, stress relief, a social outing and a very effective form of self-defense.
In your first few sessions, you will learn the fundamental moves and concepts which will carry you through to more advanced techniques later down the track. Usually you will repeat the technique on a partner without any resistance, which is called drilling. The next step of training is where you test out the technique or sequence you just learnt with live resistance from you training partner. This is a great way to give you feedback on how effective your execution is and where it could be improved. Probably the most enjoyable part of training for many is the sparring part – or ‘rolling’ as we call it in BJJ. This is where you train with full resistance with an aim of having positional control over your opponent and eventually making them ‘tap out’.
In your first month of training, you should expect to have a lot of fun. You may see yourself dominated by a smaller, but more skilled opponent, which means that the sport you are choosing to do actually works. You will learn new skills, meet some wonderful people and become a part of a friendly community. You will get fitter but also realise that the more efficient you become at the technique, the easier it gets. You will learn about patience and discover things about yourself – be it on a physical or emotional level. The beginning is often tough, but all you have to do is keep turning up with an open mind and be ready to learn. Training BJJ for whatever reason you may choose is a journey absolutely worth having.
As they say, a black belt is a white belt who never quit.
Livia Gluchowska
#iamabsolutemma
Member Spotlight: James Walters
We have many amazing people with interesting stories that walk into all our gyms! The member spotlight turns to James Walters a BJJ student at Melbourne’s CBD his an insight to the reasons he trains!
Thiago Student CBD
Name: James Walters
Sport: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
Occupation: Waste and Recycling Infrastructure Planning for Victoria
How did you get into the sport?
I grew up my whole life playing football, and was heavily into the gym and fitness. I was overseas on a holiday and thought I would try an MMA class. Turned out I accidentally did a BJJ class instead, I got absolutely destroyed by everyone for 2 hours straight, no matter what I did, how much strength or effort I used, everything worked against me. I must have been submitted at least 30 times. I was fascinated and hooked immediately. From that point on I knew straight away that BJJ is something I needed in my life.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
Training Jiu Jitsu every day and competing on the world stage, living a healthy lifestyle with a strong mind and body. Inspiring and motivating people to be the best they can be in all aspects of life, open to offering any assistance or guidance to anyone who asks for it whatever it may be. As well as working with the developing world to improve their waste systems.
Why do you love training at Absolute MMA?
The fact that at any point in time you can walk in there and be surrounded by world class coaches and athletes working hard towards their goals, and passing on knowledge to anyone who asks for it. The people I have met at Absolute are like family to me now, and you don’t have to go very far to find someone to get advice about Jiu Jitsu, weight training, conditioning, holistic health, or any other aspect of life – we are diversified and unified. Plus the facilities are incredible, and the quality of BJJ practitioners in the gym on any given day is insane. The lunch classes will make you and break you.
What advice would you give to people to take up your sport?
You’re going to feel uncomfortable, you are going to feel compromised, you are going to sweat a lot, tap a lot, and feel like you are being swallowed alive. You just have to keep showing up, work hard, listen with an open mind, and you will grow every day, and get fitter, stronger, more flexible, mobile and motivated, and all those things you thought were impossible from day one will become second nature. You will also be surrounded by a whole bunch of people who inspire you and believe in you, even when you might not. Oh and care for your cauliflowers early.
#iamabsolutemma
Thiago Stefanutti Officially promoted to the level of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt third degree
Officially promoted to the level of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt third degree. I would like to thank my coach and good friend Paulo Streckert who is teaching and believing in me since my first day on the gentle art’s journey, thank you all my team mates in Brasil and Australia without you it wasn’t going to be possible.
Thiago Stefanutti
#iamabsolutemma 
More classes and Yoga at Collingwood!
Happy to announce that we will be adding more classes to the Collingwood timetable of 13.02.17 We will have more Muaythai Fundamentals classes on:
Tuesday 7.00pm-8.00pm and Thursday 7.00pm-7.45pm! Also if you haven’t heard YOGA is also added to the timetable! Thursday 7.45pm-8.30pm! All classes will be taught by world class trainer Jai Tao.
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Why is clinching so important in Thaiboxing?
Personally, I believe the clinch is an aspect of the game that I resort to if I feel I’m struggling to dominate an opponent in striking range. In the clinch you are able to lock someone up, land powerful knees and elbows, perform discouraging sweeps and wear the opponent down physically and mentally. On the other hand, your opponent may also resort to the clinch to defeat you if you are keeping on top of them in the striking range; therefore it’s essential that you are proficient in this discipline to defend against strong clinchers or as a means of winning your Muaythai fights. It’s unique to aspect of Muaythai and is one that separates it from other striking disciplines like K1 style of kickboxing. It is important to understand scoring in the clinch and is essential part to Muaythai, this is why I believe it is so important.
John Mckenna
#iamabsolutemma
Staff retreat
Last weekend we had our annual staff retreat! It is a time to reflect and set goals for the year. The location was set in the beautiful Rye! Decked out with a putting green, spas, BBQ area and movie theatre! It was the setting of something relaxing and gave an awesome opportunity our for staff to relax outside a gym setting. Time was spent watching the Green vs Mundine fight, surfing waves, sharing stories and laughing at each others antics! It was a great weekend and the team at Absolute look forward to a bigger and better 2017!
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New Muay Thai Classes in Melbourne CBD
Due to popular demand we will now be offering lunch time Muay Thai classes in the CBD! From 1.00PM to 2.00PM every Tuesday and Thursday the great Laos Toohey will be running an All Levels Muay Thai class on Mat 1.
This is in place of the Kickboxing FIT class that finished up today. We encourage those who were attending the Kickboxing FIT class to also attend this new Muay Thai class as you’ll still get a great workout and you’ll also benefit from learning from one of the most experienced trainers in Australia. To see the new timetable, check it out on the smartphone app (just search for “Absolute MMA” in the app store) or view the timetable here:
