Mouthpiece: At first, you can pick up the ultra cheap boil and bite ones ($2-$10) and upgrade to the nicer ones later. I use a custom mouthpiece fitted by a dentist, but that can be pricey.

Gloves: The basic ones I’d pick up are the hook and loop style gloves, $19-$40.  Save the fingerless ones for later.

Handwraps: If you’re doing more than a small amount of punching, you’re gonna need a few pair to protect your paws.  I like the mexican style, 180″.  The length is non-negotiable; longer is better. At ~$3 buck a pop, pick up two different styles and see what you like.

Athletic cup: Many dudes (and ladies) dissuade themselves from wearing them. Many of them regret this decision.

Things for later: Rash guards, headgear, punching mits, punching bags, shin guards, etc.

There comes a point in every man’s life where he asks himself, “Wouldn’t it be awesome if I could train hardcore MMA, but never have to leave the house?”  My brothers, the answer is hella-frickin yes, it would indeed be awesome. I’m glad you asked.

What a Man Needs

(Now when say “man”, I really mean mankind IE the brotherhood of mixed martial artists; although the sisterhood of the flying knee could easily be included.)

You need many things, but right now you need a place to do your mixed martial arts.  You may already have a gym you attend, but sometimes you just need a private space for you.I don’t have to convince you why, you’ve got the reasons. But as you construct it out in your mind, remember that you really have 4 major needs when it comes to making the mixed martial arts home gym.

Combined, I call them the QUAD: Space, Mats, Bag, and Weights.    There are many cool things one could buy and make, but I love to keep it simple. Not only are the basics affordable, but the serve multiple purposes and usually do them pretty well.

SPACE, The first frontier

Space is the primary requirement for an mixed martial arts man-cave; more is better. Outside of spending cash, this is your primary restriction.  But don’t fret, even if you live in short ceiling apartment on the top floor you can still have a little slice of heaven, in terms of the MMA home gym, but don’t expect the whole pie.

Vertically, you need space where you can lift items overhead, and a ceiling high enough to jump and not hit your head is a bonus. Horizontally, 8×8 feet square is the basic minimum for me.  You can feasibly work a heavy bag and do some techniques in that space, but it’s tight.  10×10 square feet is much better and 12×12 is great.  If you’ve got more, congrats to you.  In my basement, all I can spare is one 11×13 patch, but I can grapple, work a heavy bag, and do pretty much any lift I need on it.

(Image courtesy of ygor)

BAGS: A heavy bag for punching and kicking

If I could only buy one item for MMA training at home, it’d be a heavy bag for punching.  Working the heavy bag is a great workout by itself, but you can also pick it up and practice slams, work ground and pound, and number of lifts. I know many guys get mats first, but this is folly.  Your training buddies will let you down, get sick, have jobs, etc; when you’re alone you need a heavy bag.  It will never leave you.  Additionally, if you can afford it, go leather.  A good leather Muay Thai bag can outlast your ability to punish it for years.  I’ve ruined a canvas and fake-leather bag over the course of one summer (it was an awesome summer though).  Get the simplest, largest, highest-quality bag you can afford and resist the urge to deviate and get “specialty” bags. Speed bags, water bags, body/pear/tear shaped bags are fun but limited in scope; just get a quality bag that you know you’ll use and use often.

If I may offer a few more suggestions:

If you can afford/manage it, buy the heavy bag filled.  While it’s nice to craft a specific weight and feel for your bag, it’s also a huge pain in the butt.  Online, people have suggested that you find leather scraps, clothing factory scraps, old socks, etc.  The problem is most of us don’t have a million pairs of socks and ragged tee shirts to sacrifice, nor do we happen to live next to a tannery that happens to give out it’s excess leathers. I spent a couple of days on a garbage treasure hunt searching for stuff to pack in my bag.  40-80 lbs is a lot of fabric material. Trust me, its more than you think.

Moreover, if you don’t pack it right, you leave uneven spots inside the bag which can cause you to injure your hands when striking, or in my case, kick a hole right in my bag due to a loosely packed soft spot.

Along with the bag, you need hand protection.  Boxing wraps and bag gloves.  Don’t be tempted – if you have enough funds to get a single pair of gloves, get some hook and loop boxing gloves.  The fingerless MMA ones are nice, but I’d save them for my second pair. As for the wraps, I prefer the stretchy (“Mexican style”) hand wraps.  Stretchy or no, get the longer ones – they are sooooooooooo much better than the short ones.

Mats

There are a couple of good routes to take with mats, all depending on how you plan to use your training space.  If you think you’re going to be bringing in guys to train takedowns or judo – if the space allows it – you’re going to need the pricier mats.  Zebra Mats, Dollamur Mats, Swain Mats etc.  If you plan on restricting your partner exercises to just BJJ rolling, you can get away with the much cheaper interlocking mats (I bought mine from Costco when they had a run of them).  Even if you plain to always train solo, you’ll still want to get mats.  Yoga, break-falls, rolls, and grappling drills feel much nicer on mats.

Also, consider getting mats for at least one wall so you can practice working off cage wall. Places you might want to check are: KSL.com classifieds, Craigslist, Matsmatsmats.com, etc.

Whatever your decision, make sure you get some good cleaning solution to mop up with (stuff like KenClean, see my post on ringworm).  What you’re looking for is an chemical that will kill bacteria, fungus, and viruses – while simultaneously not burning your face off nor ruining your mats.

(Photo courtesy of Steve Caddy)

Weights

If you’re on a budget, you want to get the most bang for your buck. I’m a huge fan of the kettle bell. Buy a big one (one pood/ one and a half  pood) and a smaller one.  If you just can’t convert to the party line yet comrade, grab a classic Olympic weight set.  One bar, some plates, a couple of clips and maybe a bench.  For me, a bench is completely optional, and something silly like a preacher curl bench is downright retarded.

If you just have to accessorize, I’d pick a medicine ball, a pull-up bar (maybe gymnastic rings if it suited the space), a bosu/yoga ball,  and a sturdy plyometric box.

Things I’d never get: a treadmill, any kind of ab machine, and wrist/ankle weights.  The reason I’d never get these things is the same reason I’d not shave my whole body hairless, wear pink satin undies and watch Jane Austin films unless forced into it by an attractive member of the opposite sex.  Because I’m a freakin’ man … and because these things add little value to the whole scheme of my gym.

Naming your training space

Now you’ve set apart some space and spec’d it out how you’d like, you need an a propos moniker for it. And by “an a propos moniker” I mean a badass name for the place.  Below is a chart to help you decide.  Feel free to let me know what you call your home dojo in the comments!

Other Gear:

If you want to go the extra mile, consider the following goodies.

• Video Camera  – or use your webcam on your laptop to video yourself and then critique
• Sparring gear for two
• Extra heavy bag specifically for ground and pound
• Large tire + sledge hammer
• Rope climbing station / rock climbing wall
• Striking mitts

.

Again, I’d love to hear about how you’ve decked out your training facilities in your home.

(picture courtesy of Hourman)

My wife just bought me a new pair of jujitsu gi pants. Why? Two reasons.

1. She’s awesome.
2. My old pair made me look homeless.

This has made me do a little research into how to make my gi last longer, and stay nicer.  What I’ve found out surprised me.

I don’t want to drag this out, so its bullet point time.

• If you want your gi to smell fresh, you must wash it after every use.  Even if the gi is dry – sweat has evaporated and oils from your body have made their way in.
• Even you wear a t-shirt underneath, you still are sweating onto it.
• Even in the winter, even if you don’t think you’re sweating.
• Rule of thumb: If it touches your skin, wash it after one use.
• If you want to keep it smelling nice, wash it right after you use it. Bacteria breed in your sweat and oils – and its the bacteria that create the smells. The longer the smell factories stay in, the longer and harder it is to take them out.
• Smells can be infused into your gi – and sometimes washing will not eliminate them.
• Dry your gi directly after washing. Mildew will accumulate with time.
• Line dry your gi if possible, and not in direct sunlight. (UV’s and such)
• Machine dryers shorten the life of your gi.
• Washing the gi in cold water.
• Bleach shortens the life of your gi. I know you want to do it, but don’t.
• Color safe bleach will still weaken the fabric.
• Harsh chemicals especially weaken the threads in the seams -making groin tears and knee patch openings more likely.
• If you want a nice, sharp colored gi – do not buy a white one. You will be tempted to use bleach otherwise.
• Fresh blood stains? Soak in cold water, then massage in liquid detergent, then wash.
• Dried blood stains? Did you not obey the above advice?  Pre-treat the stain, soak in WARM water. Products with enzymes are idea.
• If you use bleach, use it only a couple of washings a year. Seriously.
• You want to extend the life of your gi? Own two.  Two gi’s bought at the same time will outlast buying one at a time if you care for them correctly.
• Avoid fabric softener. I shortens the life of your gi.
• New gi’s are rough -  sweat/salts/oil will soften them a bit after the first few wearings.  After the first 3 wearings, that’s probably the softest its going to get.
• You want a softer gi still? Buy a nicer one. There is no way around this, safe diminishing the life of your gi via chemicals.
• Setting the color – for colored gi’s and patches, soak 30 mins in a mix of a half cup white vinegar per gallon of water (cold). You can do this in your bathtub. Follow by a regular wash.
• Color safe detergents help keep the color.
• Neither setting the color of color safe chemicals will extend the life of the gi – it will only keep the color longer.
• So you’re going to use the machine dryer anyway, huh? Heat = reduced gi life.
• Don’t iron your gi. Are you a pansy? Spend that time training.
• After drying, leave it be for a minute. A gi needs to be completely dry before you fold it – if not, in the folds you will retain water and create mildew.
• Patch early. If you see thread coming out of the seems or elsewhere, it’s not going to stop magically.
• Machine washing will stress minor tears and seem weakness – I’ve created several big tears in my training clothing by washing it in the machine.
• You can try hand washing a gi in a tub instead of the machine.

Some of the stuff above came from a “more than you ever wanted to know about caring for your uniform” pamphlet that came with my Piranha gi. Others, I learned from caring from my rock-climbing ropes, my mom, and (bad) experience.

If you were wondering, these are the pants my wife bought me. I’ll let you know how they turn out.

Also, don’t let a cat get in them.

Zebra Mats, one of the sponsors for this season’s ADCC wrestling tournaments, is selling off the mats used in this years competitions. If you’re looking for some “new” mats at a discount, you might want to check into it. See here for some details.

If you own a particular shirt or gloves or whatever – drop me a line and tell me how you like them. I’d love to pass the info along to all the readers here. I know that a friendly recommendation can go a long way to buying good stuff. Plus, there are times when having good connections can get you a great deal if a friend knows a hook up.

For example, getting a decent Judo or Jujitsu gi locally in Utah – if you go down to Kiai Martial Arts, down on state street, and tell them you’re a U of U student they’ll give you a 5% or 10% discount. Look under the U of U MMA Classes post for their address and phone number.

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