You think MMA is all about fighting fitness? It’s so much more. MMA comes with profound benefits that can be of great use in daily life, no matter who you are. For many who just start out, it becomes a complete gamechanger in everything from their social skills to strategic thinking and general attitudes to any trial or tribulation, not to mention the incredible holistic physical fitness that you develop.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the key points that MMA training and competition offer.

Creating mental resilience

MMA training cultivates mental strength without your even thinking about it. You get accustomed to confronting and overcoming fear, pain and stress. And that’s not only something that you’ll apply in the octagon—it’s a fantastic asset in anything from public speaking, to dating, to dealing with general work stress… you name it!

By making MMA part of your life, you learn to push through your limits, foster positive thinking and dismantling negative self-talk before it even starts rearing its ugly head.

Leveraging stress, pain and fear

When you think about it, stress, pain and fear are very useful signals—they’re there for a reason, to make you aware of threats and get ready to combat them. But all too often, rather than being helpful messengers, these signals all too often end up controlling you.

Becoming a disciplined MMA fighter means developing the ability to live in the present moment and to see use those signals as useful data rather than having a knee-jerk reaction to them, lose control and get into a panicky fight-or-flight mode. You will become used to making split-second decisions that keep both your body and mind ready for whatever comes next.

Connecting with the tribal you

As human beings, we evolved to be part of a group, and that’s something that unfortunately has become lost in today’s individualistic society. You’ll be amazed at what happens in you when you become part of the fighting community. Contrary to what you might think, it’s not one where everyone is constantly eyeing off each other. Quite the opposite. The camaraderie that you’ll have with your coaches, training partners and opponents will make you feel part of something bigger. And it’s an environment where everyone understands the sacrifices and efforts that you put in. That sense of a shared pursuit of greatness will bring out things in you that you’ll simply never get to if you keep flying solo.

Stop being afraid of yourself

Anger, frustration and aggression are natural feelings, but in the modern world, we don’t have the same natural outlets and needs for them as we used to in the wild, where predators and the constant need to feed ourselves made things a lot clearer. For many, this brings a lot of confusion, an internal turmoil ensues when we try to suppress such emotions. Bruce Lee put it beautifully when he said, “we need emotional content—not anger!”. What he meant was that we need to stay totally present in our bodies, connected to our inner life force. This means not being afraid of feelings such as anger and aggression—and MMA will teach you to let these emotions come up without becoming a victim to them. Think about this next time you come across an experienced MMA fighter. The best warriors are surprisingly calm, gentle and grounded. Because they’re no longer afraid of themselves or their feelings. They know how to handle them. And there’s no better path to leading a life of kindness and happiness than to embrace all of yourself in such a constructive manner!

Nurture basic human needs

Here’s a very straightforward fact: as a human being, you are in physical and mental NEED of being touched by others. It’s a matter of real importance. You might think that hard training and the right food is all you need to stay healthy, but not so. Studies of human babies show that they might well fall ill or indeed succumb entirely without physical contact. This aspect is something that you’ll get in spades in MMA. And whilst you may be battling your opponent, the sheer physical contact is still pure life energy.

All-round fitness

Last but not the least—the perhaps most obvious benefit of MMA: you’ll be an incredibly well-rounded athlete! MMA isn’t just about explosive moves, raw strength and technique. It’s about balance, endurance, nutrition, co-ordination… everything that enables you to go with the flow and expect the unexpected! There are few sports disciplines that ask for more than this.

The complete package that MMA offers—the physical, the mental, the social, the pure life force that’s waiting to be discovered by you—can provide the answer to the question that you ask yourself every single day.

How can you become everything that you could be?

Paul Walden
lobloo Research & Development