Have you ever heard that voice that says, “Maybe I should get my backside off the couch and do something cool?” MMA could be the fun new activity you’re looking for.
No, training won’t turn you into ONE Championship lightweight and welterweight champion Christian Lee overnight. However, joining a mixed martial arts gym like Evolve MMA can reshape your lifestyle in ways you never thought possible. You’ll be more confident, leaner, and mentally sharper than you’ve ever been. You’ll also have something interesting to talk about whenever someone asks you what you do for fun.
Five Ways Joining An MMA Gym Transforms Your Lifestyle
Ready to find out how signing up for mixed martial arts classes enriches your life? Let’s get started:
1) Provides A Confidence Boost
MMA builds confidence by pushing you to problem-solve under pressure, embrace failure as growth, and equip yourself with real-world self-defense skills.
Learning MMA forces you to learn how to problem-solve on your feet. Literally. One minute, you’re working on your jab–cross combination and figuring out how to escape the rear-naked choke the next.
Every small win you enjoy while training, like scoring your first takedown, builds a mental resume that screams, “I can handle challenging things.”
Studies also show that getting regular exercise helps to increase self-esteem. MMA training doesn’t just provide lots of exercise; training often follows a high-intensity interval training format, where you have moments of intense physical activity followed by short rest periods.
Learning MMA helps build confidence that allows you to take on challenges head-on without worrying about the possibility of failure. Getting tapped out by a smaller training partner might bruise your ego, but you eventually learn to look at these scenarios as learning moments. Instead of being upset about losing to a smaller teammate, you focus on what you can do differently next time.
Mixed martial arts as a sport is the closest thing to a real fight in all of combat sports. Many would agree that it’s the best martial art for self-defense, holding true to Bruce Lee’s philosophy, which advised martial artists to use techniques that work for them from different styles. MMA incorporates moves from Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), Judo, Wrestling, Boxing, Muay Thai, Capoeira, Taekwondo, and Karate, to name a few.
Knowing you are equipped to defend yourself or loved ones if needed gives you a tremendous confidence boost.
2) Teaches Discipline
MMA training builds self-discipline that not only boosts your skills in the gym but also positively impacts your habits, health, and overall success.
Training MMA can be highly addictive, and you quickly realize you improve faster when you’re consistent with your training. This discipline bleeds into other parts of life. You start doing things you never did before, like meal-prepping, so you have a healthy meal ready after training.
You’ll start to prioritize getting eight hours of sleep more when you notice it impacts how sharp you are during training sessions.
Studies link self-discipline to improved academic, career, and health outcomes. Self-discipline is one of the strongest predictors of future success. Training will help develop this attribute.
3) Improved Physical Health
MMA training is dynamic, fun, and effective—burning up to 1,000 calories an hour while improving strength, cardio, and real-world movement.
It’s easy to get bored with conventional exercises like running on a treadmill. MMA training is a different story. Each training session differs from the previous, and you never quite know what you’ll get.
One day, you’re slamming battle ropes and sprinting through agility ladder drills the next. You’ll learn new techniques and drills during each class, and you’ll often find yourself looking forward to your next class. Having fun while working out makes you more likely to remain committed to being active.
The HIIT-style structure of MMA classes leads to burning about 1,000 calories for every hour spent on the mat. Training won’t just improve your cardiovascular health, protecting against health issues like heart disease, it will make it a lot easier to maintain a healthy weight, further protecting your health.
That’s not all. Mixed martial arts training involves many movements that mimic real-life actions, so your body won’t just look better because you train; you’ll also move a lot better.
4) Improved Mental Well-Being
MMA training crushes stress, boosts mood with endorphins, promotes mindfulness, and builds meaningful social connections.
Stress doesn’t stand a chance against an hour of MMA training. Physical activity leads to the release of endorphins, which are feel-good chemicals that reduce anxiety and elevate your mood. Endorphins give you that “Zen” feeling after physically intense activities.
Learning mixed martial arts promotes mindfulness since you don’t have time to dwell on things like the awkward comment you made a year ago when someone is trying to armbar you.
The camaraderie in an MMA gym improves your well-being as well. You’ll get to share laughs and support each other. Research shows that building social connections is key to mental well-being.
5) Teaches Life Skills You Didn’t Know You Needed
MMA training builds humility, resilience, and focus—skills that help you navigate life’s challenges with grit and grace.
MMA training helps you to grow mentally as much as it does physically. Some of the lessons that often come with training include:
- Humility: MMA training will show you why having a massive ego is detrimental. Everyone has the same journey, regardless of how tough they think they are. You’ll get tapped out a lot by people you usually wouldn’t think would be able to defeat you. You learn to let go of your ego and embrace humility to grow as a martial artist.
- Resilience: Mixed martial arts training teaches you to embrace the grind. One month, you’re struggling to get through training sessions and barely reaching 80% of your maximum heart rate the next. You quickly learn that pushing through tough things makes you stronger.
- Focus: Learning MMA keeps you in the present. You can’t master techniques like spinning back kicks while you’re distracted.
These skills translate into all aspects of life. Tough day at work? You’ve survived tougher rounds at the gym. Bombed a school presentation? No problem; MMA teaches you to fail with grace. For example, new BJJ (part of MMA training) students often get tapped out hundreds of times before scoring their first submission. They learn to use failures as learning opportunities until goals are accomplished.
Ready To Evolve Your Lifestyle?
You don’t need to have dreams of competing in ONE Championship to join an MMA gym. People from all walks of life can be found in any gym. It’ll make you a better version of yourself mentally and physically.
Come to one of our complimentary MMA classes to train with our decorated instructors, who will push you to reach your full potential and unleash your inner beast!
Book your complimentary trial class with our World Champions below!
If you have any other questions regarding Evolve MMA and the programs we offer, you can get in touch with our membership executives at the following locations:
Evolve MMA (Far East Square)
26 China Street
Far East Square #01-01
Singapore 049568
Phone: (65) 6536 4525
Evolve MMA (Orchard Central)
181 Orchard Road
#06-01 Orchard Central
Singapore 238896
Phone: (65) 6536 4556
Evolve MMA (KINEX)
11 Tanjong Katong Road
#02-52 KINEX
Singapore 437157
Phone: (65) 6288 2293
Evolve MMA (Star Vista)
1 Vista Exchange Green
#02-26A The Star Vista
Singapore 138617
Phone: (65) 6539 9590
