MMA Ireland School Review

Millionaire

www.mma-ireland.com

I went here last week and tonight. This is a man called Shane who spent year in Germany training in this MMA styles (look at site and links on there to get all the background, I am just going to talk about the training here).

It is a MMA style that is TMA !!! ok I m messing re the famous debate.

This is a mix of very applied Kyoshinkai Karate , Judo, and ground fightiing all together.

For example on my 1st class, me and other chap (there is only 2 or 3 students as this is a new club) for 1st hour we did punches + kicks and then sparred hard enough no pads no gloves , leg kicks and hard body shots . this was tough and interesting to see how it is topunch hard bare fist to someone as opposed to gloves (bit difference Itell you) then next hour we did bjj stuf on the ground , very basic for me as I am learning, but we had no mats yet so it was fun on a cement floor! lol

tonight I went there and it was a conditioning class. after some warm up doing punches and kicks hard with focus to the air. we paired up and had to endure 30 hard shin kicks to the tigh , and block my clenching muscel (not shim blocks as in muay thai) . this really hurt like hell but is great for mind and body.

after a few combos of this. we switches to full blast punches (bare fist) to upperbody. you had to stand with fists up and take the shots . It is great because you have to really mentally stop yourself from whimping out. and we finished with hands over head and a man each side shin kicks to stomach.

also did a wee bit of trad blocks for practice and fitness too at start.

This is the sort of class you hate but at the end you be so proud of yurself when finished.

overall this is very tough training and is only the start shane says.

why am I there. well I want to supplement my KM with as much cross training as possible such as Muay thai and now this. plus I realised to be fighting is a tough game , but somtimes the biggest fight is over come your own fears.

so over all very good , probably not for everyone, but i interested go to www.mma-ireland.com

dlofnep

Sounds like the school of hard knocks. BJJ on cement seems a bit dangwerous if you ask me.. And as far as 'we paired up and had to endure 30 hard shin kicks to the tigh , and block my clenching muscel (not shim blocks as in muay thai) . this really hurt like hell but is great for mind and body." I'd think it would be the opposite for your body?

I don't know - I don't think I'd train in a place like this. I'm all about progressing and being able to take a shot but that sounds like KGB training.

columok

Kyokushinkai is genius.

Watching a class is like watching an episode of jackass. I have a lot of respect for those guys. Seriously tough.

Watching their competitions is great. Harsh but great.

Roper

Did a kyokushinkai class with an instructor near my place. Full contact sparring bare knuckle, no head contact. My ribs never looked better! Seriously hardy stuff, but to be honest, I just didn't enjoy it, and I don't mind getting hit. That said, they were the nicest bunch of guys, there weren't too many of them though, it wasn't the sort of place you'd go for a bit of a sweat and workout

About two weeks afterward I met him on the street and he told me he had to shut the place, the school he was in raised the rent and he couldn't afford to keep going. I asked him if he'd consider raising his prices to cover it. He looked at me funny and said "what prices?". The guy was doing it for free. He just asked for an occasional donation from the lads who trained with him. The way he saw it, if he didn't charge and it was tough enough, he'd get only the people who really wanted to do it.

Sounds like flawed logic but when he said it he really meant it, and it made sense to me at the time. He was a cool guy, but nuts too. I think you have to be a little nuts for it

Sorry to hijack the thread Mill!
On another point, clenching your muscle to block the low kick? Have you found it effective? I've never seen that done. Two methods I've seen are the Thai crush and pointing the knee forward to "head it off". Out of those the one I've found best is the crush. I wouldn't fancy getting too many, clench or no clench!

Millionaire

they sort of move the leg forward and strong to the ground, real strong and take the kick ( i might be getting the concept slightly wrong as I was only there a few times)

Yeah it can be a bit like JackAss (especially me!!!) theres lots of jumping about and yelping when I kick goes in too hard!!


Yeah its school of hard knocks. its very interesting and it really compliments my KM , and position is hands up to protect head, so if does not take from my Krav or Thai in that way.

Apparently there is Kata for those who want to do that at ta later stage.

also they aim to but it all together MMA strikes, judo to ground. Thats he part that interests me and why I am there.

Plus there is no charge , until we decide that we want to stay on.

Matts on the way at a later stage.

Shane is looking for more students, so if anyone wants to try, it do not cost anything so far, look at his site and drop a email. Up toooo Yooouuuuuu as the chicks in thailand say!

Roper

It WAS in Kevins school in Glasnevin. Like I said it's gone now thanks to the guys incredible generosity, or lack of business savy, you decide. The guys name was Pete, I think his second name was williams. yes it was utter utter madness and as you said, it's not a smart way to train. Out of one class trained in I got a nice purple rib that meant I couldn't spar full on in my next session. You don't 'harden' to that kind of soft tissue injury it just keeps you from training next time out so I prefer pads n'stuff and to keep my conditioning work for the heavy bag.

Millionaire

no ones throwing anyone on the floor. we just did some easy mount work on the floor which was not a problem at all.

Its intense training, and its a serious mental and physical challenge.

Millionaire

Horses for courses my friend.

Millionaire

myanmar wrote:

Do some horses find some courses a mental challenge?

too busy to ask one my friend, next horse you see, ask him I m sure he ll me happy to tell ya

kenpo_dave

HI everyone. Im new here and thought id respond to this post. I also have trained with Shane in the new school down on East Wall, though its not really a school yet. My background in Martial Arts is in Ed Parkers Kenpo (Rathdown Kenpo Club), with a year of Kung Fu, down in New Park School. Although Kenpo is a passion of mine and i intend to always train in it, i feel its time i brought my training to the next level - FULL CONTACT. Before actually going to train with Shane, we had been discussing martial arts via email and text messages for some weeks, so by the time i went down to the school we kinda already knew eachother. I chose to train in Kokoro (mma ireland) because it is a school that practiced "all-round" fighting yet still held to traditions. If training at Kokoro you have a choice of 3 ways to go - purely Kyokushin, Kyokushin Budokai (the name of the mma) for self defense or Kyokushin Budokai for competition. I personally am choosing the 2nd - Kyokushin Budokai for self defense. I believe that the rules in competitions inhibit the effectiveness of fighting in a street situation - to let your creativeness in martial arts flow naturally you must not inhibit urself by rules - the larger your arsenal of strikes the more effective youll be.
The main problem with the school at the moment is finding members. There has been a few people come to check it out, but whether theyll stay or not is a different story. To the two guys who were down last week, i hope to see you there on tuesday. Anyone else, if you think you might be interested in taking a look for yourselves dont hesitate to come down.
Oh yeah, we are going to get mats for the ground fighting. Any questions just email me.

On another point, theres a martial arts community on Yahoo chat if anyones interested. We are hanging around in the Boxing room - called "In the Ring"
Theres a variety of styles from silat to white crane to mma.

Millionaire

Kyokushin Budokai for self defense. thats why I am there too, and to learn ground also.

JohnMc1

Are there any Kyokushin schools in Ireland? I haven't found any here.

Millionaire

this place is a Kyohushin school as you can follow the full Kyokushin program and grade (I think...contact shane for details).

yes there is Kyokushin schools in ireland, I saw them in articles in Irish fighter. but I aint got any details on them.

Dyr

there is/used to be a school in finglas i think. John Brawn might be the person to help, he did kyokyushin

JohnMc1

Thanks guys. I used to do Kyokushin. I saw every other karate style advertised except that. Thanks again.

ShaneT

Well… …this is a weird experience…! I was searching google etc. to see if the new website was showing up in the search engines yet. What do I find? A dojo review on Boards.ie about Kokoro MMA!

What can I say?

It doesn’t take a great deal to work out the “real world” identities of Mil and kenpo_dave so, thanks lads!

Perhaps it would help if I explain away a few bits ‘n pieces….


Kyokushin Karate

This is the full contact karate style developed by Mas Oyama. Our Kyokushin gradings are backed by the International Budokai and Kyokusin Karate (along with it’s training practises) forms the core of the striking skills practised at Kokoro MMA (web: www.mma-ireland.com ). However, this is the striking CORE, not the striking ALL.

Kyokushin Budokai

Kyokushin Budokai combines Kyokushin Karate, Judo and Jiu Jitsu to form an all round fighting system (web: www.kyokusinbudokai.com ). This system covers ALL areas of all round fighting (eg. submission grappling, take downs and striking). It was developed by Jon Bluming (Kodokan Judo 9. Dan, Kyokushin Karate 10. Dan), I have been fortunate enough to train with Kancho Bluming and his direct students.

MMA

I am sure that I am preaching to the converted when I say, “MMA is a sport and system of rules that typically allows for submission wrestling, take downs and striking.” As a result, the system of Kyokushin Budokai naturally lends itself to this sport. However, it is not it’s “purpose”.

Thigh Kicks etc.

I really liked reading this. I remember thinking the same things durning my first experiences with Kyokushin and Kyokushin Budokai… …”Why the hell am I letting this guy kick me? This is a STUPID way to block a kick…!!!” The answer… ….taking the kick with the thigh muscle IS NOT a blocking method/technique. We do this as a conditioning exercise only. :-)

We will progress, in our training, to blocking techniques (including the Thai Crush as described by Roper) but the purpose of this training exercise to create a) a very high tolerance level/pain threshold and b) develop “hardened” muscle groups that naturally protect the nerve endings that surround the bone (the reason why thigh kicks hurt so much).

In other words, the target is to be prepared mentally and physically for the strikes and kick that can and will get through (no matter how good we become).


So, to those that have already begun training… thanks guys. I was wondering whether opening a school was going to be a good idea. You have shown me that it was. Already, we are developing a bond that matters.

To those that haven’t visited us: nothing you read on any forum will ever give you a true representation of our training practises, our methods or the system developed by Jon Bluming. Only first hand experience will answer any questions and confirm or dispel any preconceived ideas you may have.

The door is open, it costs NOTHING to try. Feel free to visit.

Cheers!
-Shane.

Millionaire

good write up Shane. put a few things clear to me we have not covered in class.

Let one of the KM lads kick my tight other night and my flinch reponse , pain tolerance , and mental ability to take it was much higher than say a month ago! ;-)

so far so good!

See ya da morrow!

G