SUNDAY, FEB. 21

Logan's fourth blog entry:

When I got back from Texas on Friday morning, I discovered that my teaching license had come in the mail, so perhaps it is time for me to retire and start using my education. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my grandmothers, I don't think that will be happening. I do intend to do some substitute teaching as I enjoy teaching and working with students in general, and even occasional subbing would result in a steadier paycheck than this fighting thing.

As for blog topics, I am completely open to ideas. I have many things to say once I get started, but I am more interested in what readers want to learn about. So if you have something you think would be interesting for me to talk about, head on over to the forum and let me know.

While on vacation I spent some time at a small BJJ/MMA school. I always enjoy visiting different schools because I have only trained MMA with three groups over the years, and I know that many schools have far different training methods and coaching styles.

My gym is different in that we only teach MMA. Not everyone at the gym competes in MMA, but we design the training to be suited for MMA. This has its benefits and detriments, but I have no intentions of changing at this time.

I will give you a basic rundown of how our practices are formatted. Depending on the day, we will focus on either striking or grappling to begin and then transition into MMA. Practices begin with a warm up and then 30-45 minutes of technique. This will include drills, teaching new moves, practicing techniques with a partner, and working with focus mits or Muay Thai pads.

The partner practice is especially important to me as it gives each student the chance to work on the moves that they favor rather than simply the moves that I want them to do. I don't want to have a team of clones when it comes time for competition. Of course, I expect people to work on the new moves taught that day before they move on to their favorites.

Following technique, we begin rounds. This is another 45-minute activity. Five-minute rounds with one-minute breaks. On striking days, we focus on kickboxing or boxing with takedowns, and on grappling days we simply do submission grappling. We differ from most grappling schools in that we will most often begin our grappling rounds from the feet or with one partner already in guard rather than from the knees simply because I do not see that as functional for MMA.

When we have finished doing these rounds, we don MMA gloves and do a few more rounds. I teach students to be mindful of all that they are doing, which includes being aware of the people around them, and I am proud to say that we haven't even had anyone need stitches in many months despite doing MMA on a daily basis. In fact, I have not gotten stitches a single time since my first ever day of MMA practice when I took a wrestling shoe to the head and had to get a few.

When we have had enough MMA, many people think we are done for the day and are a bit disappointed when we inform them that the most difficult portion of practice is still to come, conditioning.

Depending upon the day, we will be doing three five-minute rounds of cardio or strength training. The possible activities for this part of training are too numerous to mention.

We invite new students to take part in as much of practice as possible and to take any breaks that they need. New students shouldn't be able to perform at the same level as the regular students, but they are occasionally quite impressive, and I like to give them the opportunity to impress.

It ends up being a pretty full day by the end of practice, but everyone is usually still smiling (as long as they aren't puking), and everyone is definitely made better by the experience.

— Logan Clark