Onyx MMA Blog

We all had different starting points in the journey of martial arts, but there is no doubt we all have the same goals in mind; to be the very best at what we do, defining who we are, and making a difference to our lives. Without a question, most of us will lose sight of our goal and start to question ourselves: Why did I even pick this sport up in the first place. If you were someone like me, who was once extremely committed to training, turning up at the gym at least 5 times a week, up to the extent that the friendly coaches at Onyx start to holler at you: 'GO HOME! YOU NEED TO REST MAN!'

That daily ritual of packing your gear, getting to the gym, grind, and head home becomes a part of your life. You'll be telling yourself, Yeah, I can do this forever, I can juggle it with my work/studies/life commitments. The following week, you start your job/internship at a prestigious company, your baby steps towards the top of the corporate level.

Weeks go past and you start to realize, you haven't been to the gym in weeks or months. You try to kickstart that fiery momentum of a beast you've had while preparing for your fight. Then you'll realize, you start to give yourself an excuse to just save the training for another day. This is the one way ticket to exiting the sport and failing to achieve your goal, quitting the sport for good. Here's a blogpost on what you can do to prevent falling into the slippery slope of failure.

  1.) Set realistic training schedules

 As you grow older or have more and more commitments, it's not easy to juggle work/success/sports. To do this, you have to start managing your expectations, you either have to be super disciplined to train everyday after work (We all know that's tough given Singapore's hectic work culture), or start to taper down your training sessions, instead of planning to come 5 times a week like you used to while you were a single, hormone-raging teenager, a 5 day training schedule is probably going to intimidate you and you're probably going to start skipping sessions. Instead, Plan a more realistic schedule just like how a responsible contributing good citizen of our motherland would. 1-2 days a week. Make the training count, make it matter, train as hard as you can. It's not the number of days, it's the quality of training that matters.

2.) Have supportive friends

Personally, I feel that this is an important aspect. One of the motivating factors for me during school days was because I had a clique of kick-ass 'Avengers' like friends who would be hyped up before trainings. We fed off each others' positive energy. As time passes. Some of your friends might have found other interest, some might be like you, having internal struggles of their own. Don't rely and hope that your friend suddenly finds the fire again and motivate you to start again. Instead, be the positive influence. Take the initiative, drop him a text: " Hey F**ker, we've been away from the gym for too long! It's time to go back for some kick-ass glory days!" Don't wait for the change, be the change. Be that spark that kick starts everything again.

3.) Go overseas and experience training there

If you haven't been to Thailand to train, you should. It's definitely an eye-opener and a potential resuscitator to your dead martial arts career. After witnessing how committed and intense these thais are with their training. Hopefully it will wake you up and motivated you after you witnessed being a good martial artist looks like. Giving you a concrete visible and tangible goal to work towards might be that secret recipe.

4.) Look or try to recall your  past experiences

This takes a little mental work and nostalgia right here. Recall the time when you first learnt how to throw the perfect kick, remember the feeling when you won your last fight. All this positive thoughts and memories will make you feel good mentally and physically. As you start to feel good, your body craves for that sensation again. How do you get that feeling again? That's right, TRAIN.

With all that being said, there are much more ways to get it starting again. As I'm writing this post, the fire is slowly starting to build up, and hell, i have time to make it for the 3PM class. Time to get my ass moving again, Signing off.

The Left that ended the night early.

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. In the world of martial arts, like any other hobbies or passion you might have. That fire is bound to burn out at certain points in life. Work catches up to you, endless project deadlines and meetings. You find that 24 hours a day isn't enough at all.

Here, we provide some videos that have reignited our passion in the time of darkness. It worked for us, we couldn't wait to step back into the once dreaded gym after watching these videos. So if you feel sluggish today, just watch these videos, get fired up, and kick some ass.





The previous UFC welterweight champ, Johny Hendricks, is known to balloon outta proportions during off-season. So if you're like him. Take a look at how hard he trains during competition season.





Who says strength and conditioning sessions are boring. in this video, it's anything but boring. Watch this and it might just get you fired up enough to attend Arab's S&C session (which is no joke.)





A compilation of all the beasts in MMA, coupled with a kickass music, This is one of our favorite videos as it perfectly encapsulates how a daily grinding session in the gym is like. We just cant get enough of videos like these








ARE YOU MOTIVATED AND PUMPED UP NOW? ITS TIME TO HIT THE GYM, go destroy some bags and padwork.

We've all been there, and done that. Our virgin sparring experience, just like how we took our first baby steps when we were learning to walk. Everything is a brand new experience, a sensory overload, So many things happening at once. You're trying to get a grasp of reality, trying to figure out what's going on, Punches coming from the left from the right, And this being your first sparring session. The only skill you'll master here is the Iron Head Technique. That is, to do nothing but absorb punches.

In your journey towards being a better fighter or just the quest for perfection. You'll meet numerous sparring partners everyday. They'll help you vastly in improving, sharing and imparting of knowledge, or they'll just downright annoy the crap outta you. With that, we proudly present..

Imagine this, you're gearing up for your first amateur fight, one week out, your coach lets you know who your opponent is going to be. Suddenly, you get this weird queasy feeling in your stomach, it feels so foreign yet so familiar at the same time. You've felt this before, your palms are sweaty, that's right! You fell this feeling before when you were trying to lie to your mum about your grades in Primary school, you felt like this during right before your 10th attempt at the driving test. Yes! You know what you're feeling, you're feeling scared...

" Warming up you arms are heavy legs are heavy, you're warming up, nothing's going right. This doesn't happen in training, what's going on!? I'm scared.." - Cerrone


In this next video, UFC fighters discuss the rationale of their fears before a fight.



There's a fear in everything except getting punched in the face. Hence this brings us to the final point. It's normal to be nervous, it's just a way humans are. But you have to remember one thing. This feeling is created within your own mind. If you have created this feeling, that means you can stop it yourself.

THE SOLUTION TO MINIMIZING THE IMPACT OF FEAR

In every aspect of competition, being combat sports, or traditional sports like soccer,basketball, or even preparing for a singing competition. Fear sets in not because we are afraid to get hurt ( you dont get punched in a singing competition). What we fear most is failing, letting people down, letting your friends and family who believed in you down. When we quantify fear. We realized the very essence and source of it. FEAR OF FAILURE...

when we are able to rationalize our fear. here comes the part of being able to administer the treatment

1. EMBRACE YOUR FEAR
The more you try to push that feeling away, the harder it hits you, accept the fact that you're going to be nervous and that it is normal and part of the process. You'll realise by embracing that uncomfortable feeling and simply not fighting it, Your mind would be in a calmer state.

2. PREPARE AND PUT IN YOUR 100% DURING PRACTICE
Most people start to get nervous when the actual day comes as they feel inadequately prepared. By gaining confidence and having hard sessions in practice. You psych yourself up by believing that there's nothing harder than your training program. When the real day comes, even when the going gets tough, you're more than ready to get the tough in you going.

3.BELIEVE IN YOURSELF
Most people fear too much on what their opponent can do that they totally forget what they themselves can bring onto the table. Remember, your opponent is human too, unless you're fighting a grizzly bear, theres no point in fearing for your life. Afterall,  he fears you too. So tell yourself that and be prepared to bring a can of Whoopa** when the time comes.


With all that being said. the human mind is a complex entity. And if you're going to take up competitive martial arts. Fear is going to be a part of the game, there's no escaping from it. Embrace and accept the process.

So, come. Let's do some kicks and then roll on the mats.