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MickeyKnox · 02-01-2012, 10:30 PM

I know, another "I took my first MMA class thread."

American Top Team just recently opened up a gym here in Jacksonville, FL in October and I just found out about it today from a little sign on the side of the road, and they're having their grand opening sometime in the next two weeks.

I stopped by to check it out and talked to some of the trainers and I ended up coming back around 6:00 and worked out for about three hours. It was fucking awesome! We didn't do a whole lot but after some warm up movements, we did some boxing drills for about an hour or so, and then grappling drills for the rest. In grappling, I learned how to shoot for a double-leg, how to perform a proper guillotine from the guard, and how to perform a darce and anaconda choke from the sprawl (and where the Gable grip originated).

I brought two of my friends with me, one was a pretty good highschool wrestler, and the other never trained a combat sport in his life. At the end of the class, we had to wrestle against each other and the goal was to either take each other down and try to pass guard or perform one of the chokes. I paired up with my friend with no wrestling experience, of course, lol.

I took him down first and stayed on top of him in his guard (before we were told to pass) and then we were stood up. I wanted to try and defend his takedown and try to choke him so I let him shoot in on me. I wasn't low enough at first so he drove me about 15-20 feet and we ended up off the mats, tripping into a bench, and I landed my ass on a 20 pound dumbell. The last drill, I let him shoot in on me again and was able to sprawl. I tried going to the darce choke but I was already worn out before we even started wrestling each other and wasn't able to reach under far enough to get a tight grip, so he was able to flip out of it. I followed him and stayed dominant while trying to gain position. We both were rolling for a moment and I ended up getting into the sprawl position again. I locked my right arm under his neck and tried to go for the darce again, but I was just too tired to perform it as quick as I was trying to and I ended up in guard, but I still had his neck really good so I just locked in the guillotine. He tried to fight it and I cranked. He tapped.

It was fucking great. I loved it. It was a ton of fun.

I am going back tomorrow and for my free week. I definitely plan on signing up. There wasn't that many people there tonight, but tomorrow there's supposed to be about 40 UNF wrestlers coming in. I heard UNF (Jacksonville) made 8th best collegiate wrestling team in the nation recently.

I thought about you guys the whole time, haha. I asked one of the wrestling coaches who he thinks is going to win the fight this weekend and he said "Diaz, all day!"

02-01-2012, 10:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
MickeyKnox Status: Notorious Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Deep down the rabbit hole Posts: 6,129	I took a MMA training class tonight I know, another "I took my first MMA class thread." American Top Team just recently opened up a gym here in Jacksonville, FL in October and I just found out about it today from a little sign on the side of the road, and they're having their grand opening sometime in the next two weeks. I stopped by to check it out and talked to some of the trainers and I ended up coming back around 6:00 and worked out for about three hours. It was fucking awesome! We didn't do a whole lot but after some warm up movements, we did some boxing drills for about an hour or so, and then grappling drills for the rest. In grappling, I learned how to shoot for a double-leg, how to perform a proper guillotine from the guard, and how to perform a darce and anaconda choke from the sprawl (and where the Gable grip originated). I brought two of my friends with me, one was a pretty good highschool wrestler, and the other never trained a combat sport in his life. At the end of the class, we had to wrestle against each other and the goal was to either take each other down and try to pass guard or perform one of the chokes. I paired up with my friend with no wrestling experience, of course, lol. I took him down first and stayed on top of him in his guard (before we were told to pass) and then we were stood up. I wanted to try and defend his takedown and try to choke him so I let him shoot in on me. I wasn't low enough at first so he drove me about 15-20 feet and we ended up off the mats, tripping into a bench, and I landed my ass on a 20 pound dumbell. The last drill, I let him shoot in on me again and was able to sprawl. I tried going to the darce choke but I was already worn out before we even started wrestling each other and wasn't able to reach under far enough to get a tight grip, so he was able to flip out of it. I followed him and stayed dominant while trying to gain position. We both were rolling for a moment and I ended up getting into the sprawl position again. I locked my right arm under his neck and tried to go for the darce again, but I was just too tired to perform it as quick as I was trying to and I ended up in guard, but I still had his neck really good so I just locked in the guillotine. He tried to fight it and I cranked. He tapped. It was fucking great. I loved it. It was a ton of fun. I am going back tomorrow and for my free week. I definitely plan on signing up. There wasn't that many people there tonight, but tomorrow there's supposed to be about 40 UNF wrestlers coming in. I heard UNF (Jacksonville) made 8th best collegiate wrestling team in the nation recently. I thought about you guys the whole time, haha. I asked one of the wrestling coaches who he thinks is going to win the fight this weekend and he said "Diaz, all day!" Last edited by MickeyKnox; 02-01-2012 at 10:35 PM.