Hey all you fellow grapplers, I got a question.

A teenager training his friends on puzzle mats is a recipe for disaster. Assumed risk won't be enough to save you when the inevitable injury occurs and parents are pissed.

Save your money, and have your friends chip in for a carpool group to the gym an hour away. If they can't afford to train, too bad.

If this "club" you've created happens to be in your parent's basement, you are setting them up big-time when somebody bangs hard on your 1/2" padded concrete floor.

I only train with my best friends, they train also just not as much as me. As for injuries, I make sure they know my parents very well, as in, I only train anything hard with the friends I've had since first grade. We have already broken noses, dislocated elbows etc. but the parents are good friends so they don't really care. We could be out crashing cars, so they prefer this :/

And my mom is restrictive so she won't let me ride with just anyone and it's too far to drive.
 
your 16 and your training outher people? that might not be a great idea at 16 your skills might not be up to that of a couch and if you train these guys with bad habits it will be that much harder for them later

They don't want to go anywhere, they are the kids that saw Forrest vs. Bonnar or Never Back Down and NOW, they want my help. I just use them as dummies to train on really, my best friend and I go to the gym together so he is near as good as me.
 
you could try finding some old carpet and lay it down before the mats. That should help give some extra cushion
 
My english teacher owns them currently and she says they seem to be atleast over a half inch, which I feel should be good for me. Arg I am leaving for a bit, perhaps I'll be able to hit this thread later. Thank you very much though.

why don't you spend that money on getting signed up at an academy instead of the mats? didn't you say you only got to train officially like twice? are you currently attending a school with a legit instructor?
 
why don't you spend that money on getting signed up at an academy instead of the mats? didn't you say you only got to train officially like twice? are you currently attending a school with a legit instructor?

I am signed up but we are pretty poor. My parents just divorced so we pay for two houses and one of my sisters is still in college in florida, kind of expensive. I subsequently can't pay for a car to drive to a job to get money. My instructer lets me train for free so long as I stay respectful and train hard to help the guys training for fights/tourneys. I usually only get to go once or twice a MONTH, because he lives by his gym and isn't always near to take me.

Also, my instructer is a brown belt, which he earned in Brazil, in BJJ, and he also trained his muay thai there. His family is quite rich and he is a doctor so he can get away with the trips and expensiveness.
 
I am signed up but we are pretty poor. My parents just divorced so we pay for two houses and one of my sisters is still in college in florida, kind of expensive. I subsequently can't pay for a car to drive to a job to get money. My instructer lets me train for free so long as I stay respectful and train hard to help the guys training for fights/tourneys. I usually only get to go once or twice a MONTH, because he lives by his gym and isn't always near to take me.

Also, my instructer is a brown belt, which he earned in Brazil, in BJJ, and he also trained his muay thai there. His family is quite rich and he is a doctor so he can get away with the trips and expensiveness.

that's cool then. just stay humble and be careful training at your house.


sites like youtube and dailymotion are great toolsfor people in your situation. also see if you can talk your buddies into getting some instructional dvd's and books. this will do you much more good then just rolling around and trying to figure stuff out. there's a lot of great instructionals out there, but there's also a lot of money wasting garbage. so stick with the big names, and that doesn't necessarily mean gracie. marcelo garcia, stephen kesting, eduardo telles, dave camarillo, eddie bravo, etc all have great sets worth the money if you guys manage to put it together r add it to your birthday list.
 
Thought of trying judo? It might be cheaper and although not exactly what you are looking for at least you will be getting some supervised tuition.
 
I'm in the "no replacement for real instruction" camp. That and there is no way in hell I would volunteer to be taken down on that mat. No thanks.
 
that's cool then. just stay humble and be careful training at your house.


sites like youtube and dailymotion are great toolsfor people in your situation. also see if you can talk your buddies into getting some instructional dvd's and books. this will do you much more good then just rolling around and trying to figure stuff out. there's a lot of great instructionals out there, but there's also a lot of money wasting garbage. so stick with the big names, and that doesn't necessarily mean gracie. marcelo garcia, stephen kesting, eduardo telles, dave camarillo, eddie bravo, etc all have great sets worth the money if you guys manage to put it together r add it to your birthday list.

Yeah, that is what I am doing right now. If I have any questions that my instructor can't answer then I look online. Thanks!
 
Thought of trying judo? It might be cheaper and although not exactly what you are looking for at least you will be getting some supervised tuition.

I haven't found any gyms yet but I am going to try out for the college team. It seems really cool though, I know a bit of Greco and they seem pretty similar with throws and trips.
 
I'm in the "no replacement for real instruction" camp. That and there is no way in hell I would volunteer to be taken down on that mat. No thanks.

I know that, my gym gives me sooo much more, the problem is I can't get there :/ I appreciate everyone's help.
 
I'm in the "no replacement for real instruction" camp. That and there is no way in hell I would volunteer to be taken down on that mat. No thanks.

thats true, but at the same time not supplementing your training with outside sources can leave you at a serious disadvantage, especially in a situation in which you don't get much class time.
 
I haven't found any gyms yet but I am going to try out for the college team. It seems really cool though, I know a bit of Greco and they seem pretty similar with throws and trips.

i thought you were 16?

and since when were there trips in greco? i thought it was all upper body takedowns from the clinch? i could be wrong though. i haven't actually started my training yet
 
i thought you were 16?

and since when were there trips in greco? i thought it was all upper body takedowns from the clinch? i could be wrong though. i haven't actually started my training yet

I'm young for my class, I'm a junior. So nest year I'm trying out for the college team when I'm a senior in high school. And yeah I meant to say Greaco throws and freestyle trips my b.
 
A teenager training his friends on puzzle mats is a recipe for disaster. Assumed risk won't be enough to save you when the inevitable injury occurs and parents are pissed.

Save your money, and have your friends chip in for a carpool group to the gym an hour away. If they can't afford to train, too bad.

If this "club" you've created happens to be in your parent's basement, you are setting them up big-time when somebody bangs hard on your 1/2" padded concrete floor.

yeah i think people havent noticed hes 16 and training people ?
 
Sweet, I figure, at that cost, I can always buy a second layer and glue them together.

Yeah, they work fine like that. I got mine from Sam's also. Just use 2 layers, much cheaper than buying real mats. Good luck!!
 
thats true, but at the same time not supplementing your training with outside sources can leave you at a serious disadvantage, especially in a situation in which you don't get much class time.

True, but if he's going for MMA training, he isn't going to be competing for a few years. He has time to train.
 
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