4 ms·

What My 7 Year Old Learned From MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)

28 points by solson 17y ago

Hexstream 17y ago
"After about a year, he could do over 100 squats and 50 push-ups in near perfect form." I hope you don't seriously consider push-ups depicted on the picture below to be "near perfect form"...
- DTrejo 17y ago
  I wouldn't try and judge by the picture.
- jadence 17y ago
  It looks like he's doing a version of "dive bomber pushups" which were popular at the MMA gym I previously trained at. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttk8RdiIHzA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttk8RdiIHzA
cakesy 17y ago
This is great, but be wary of your son doing too much muscle building when he is so young. I have heard from several sources that it may stunt growth. Never seen anything conclusive, but I have never looked for anything either.
- catch23 17y ago
  and what are these "sources"?
  - elai 17y ago
    It comes from an assertion that _heavy_ weights can damage a child's growth plates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyseal_plate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyseal_plate) inside their bones. High rep bodyweight exercises like pushups and squats are not going to cause that. (http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/default.asp#3 http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/d...)
    - a-priori 17y ago
      When I did a coaching program for Judo (NCCP Level I, to be exact), I was taught to never allow pre-pubescent children to do strength training. Callisthenics are okay, because the resistence is limited by the child's body weight, but weightlifting of any kind is not. Something about building up too much muscle around the joints, leading to arthritis later on. EDIT: I just went looking for sources for this, and I cannot find any. Unless someone has better Google-fu than me, take what I said above as an extremely suspect anecdote. It seems that the major risks are that coaches will push children too hard, causing damage to muscles, tendons and so on.
    - pageman 17y ago
      there's also an issue of Rhabdomyolysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis
    - solson 17y ago
      He doesn't lift weights, just push ups, squats, jumping jacks, etc.
  - pchristensen 17y ago
    I'll throw an anecdote in - I started lifting weights when I was 12 and I'm the shortest male on either side of my family.
- physio 17y ago
  This is a very old but persistent urban myth. It comes from some study in the 60s or 70s showing that Chinese peasant children who were malnourished and had to carry heavy loads, e.g. water buckets, had stunted growth. The key there is malnourishment. Somehow this morphed into the meme that "lifting weights stunts growth!" This was debunked in articles in Muscle & Fitness, for one; I don't have the issues anymore, but on the flip side, the fact that NOBODY has a reference for "stunted growth" should be rather telling. In fact, there is not even a proposed mechanism whereby muscular loads would close bone growth plates. Even female gymnasts, who come pretty close to the textbook definition of being malnourished and overworked, usually grow too big to continue. For the most part only the genetically teensy stay small enough long enough to make it. Muscular workloads do not close growth plates. It doesn't matter if you are lifting "heavy" or "light". The key is whether you have adequate nutrition BEFORE the window closes on your longitudinal growth, so that during your "growth spurts" there is enough material there to incorporate into new growth. In fact, strenuous exercise spikes HGH, and combined with the increase in appetite, would likely produce MORE growth (assuming plenty of food) than seen in sedentary children.
- xiaoma 17y ago
  Just look at what it did to Shaq.
budman 17y ago
...How to kick another 7 year olds a$$. MMA has ruined america. There are more "tough guys" walking around now it seems with everyone so quick to want to fight. Like an advanced civilization taking a step back to more primitive ways. Now instead of team sports and learning that the whole is greater than the parts, we have 7 year olds with muscles and ego. And if you don't like it.. want to fight?
- beza1e1 17y ago
  Yes, especially if he is an only child, i think team sports would be better. The childs dedication is inspiring, though. I'll do some push-ups now.
- gnosis 17y ago
  This is one area where learning a martial art with more of a philosophy behind it might be more beneficial than just training technique at a McDojo. In a good martial arts school you will learn how to discipline the mind, and not just the body. In a good school you'll learn to avoid fights as much as learn to win fights. In a good school you will learn to control your ego. Also, I would add that I think a person's willingness to pick fights has more to do with the kind of environment they grew up in, their peers, parents, and role models, than it does with whether they had MMA training.
- anigbrowl 17y ago
  I'm fine with kids studying martial arts, but the current fashion for MMA perplexes me...I suppose it's the all you can eat buffet of martial arts. Oh well, plenty of time to specialize later.
  - gnosis 17y ago
    I think the current popularity of MMA has to do with two things: 1 - the broadcast of competitions like the UFC 2 - the recognition that no one martial art is superior to the rest, so it's essential to cross-train in a variety of martial arts to be maximally effective
  - solson 17y ago
movix 17y ago
Avoid violence of any type, move to the coast, buy a surfboard. This will teach you balance, make you fit, calm your mind, put a smile on your face. There is no logical sense in learning a system of violence (defensive or otherwise) to improve your body and mind. Goal Setting - I'm gonna paddle this board through this beach break like a dolphin Persistence - Opps, it just dumped me on the beach - try again Confidence - Cool, I made it to the line up Nutrition - I eat a Paleolithic hunter/gatherer diet. No carbs, no dairy. Food my body was designed for. Physical Fitness - Paddle, swim Frustration Tolerance - Repetition, learning, fun Focused Attention - All I can think about is this wave Sportsmanship - It's a big ocean, go for it buddy Who's the best surfer? the one having the most fun. And BTW, yes I've done my share of martial arts training. If what you really want is to learn how to kick ass, go here: www.russianmartialart.com
- pageman 17y ago
  and if he gets into a fight that he can't get out of? what will he do? surf? :P
  - movix 17y ago
    I was being more metaphorical than literal. /me sidesteps long involved off-topic discussion about fighting
  - die_sekte 17y ago
    Well, if the opponent is weak to water-type, surf could help. (I played too much Pokémon.)
- berntb 17y ago
  A good and inspiring argument, but... >> There is no logical sense in learning a system of violence (defensive or otherwise) to improve your body and mind. There is no logical sense NOT to learn a system of violence (defensive or otherwise) to improve your body and mind. What you do doesn't matter, as long as it is fun and good for health. (Be careful about e.g. blows to the head and damage to joints.) In my experience, it depends more on the teachers than exactly what you're learning.
wallflower 17y ago
The value of martial arts training for parents and for kids is that it distills the value of respect into kids. Everything from "Yes, sir" to thanking your parents after each class. When it comes to fighting, the thousands of repetitions of self-defense moves should and could help in a situation where you don't have time to think about fighting. For example, one of my fellow classmates was walking down a street in Kingston, Jamaica and a guy grabbed his arm and he quickly and automatically broke the hold and put the guy in what is like a police hold.
- mistermann 17y ago
  An even better effect is that it might instill some respect into the parents as well (writing from Canada, in case you have never seen the way hockey parents behave before).
biohacker42 17y ago
Sorry about yet another HN meta comment but, can we please save article like this for mma.reddit.com

28 points by solson 17y ago

"After about a year, he could do over 100 squats and 50 push-ups in near perfect form." I hope you don't seriously consider push-ups depicted on the picture below to be "near perfect form"...

DTrejo 17y ago
I wouldn't try and judge by the picture.
jadence 17y ago
It looks like he's doing a version of "dive bomber pushups" which were popular at the MMA gym I previously trained at. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttk8RdiIHzA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttk8RdiIHzA

cakesy 17y ago

This is great, but be wary of your son doing too much muscle building when he is so young. I have heard from several sources that it may stunt growth. Never seen anything conclusive, but I have never looked for anything either.

catch23 17y ago
and what are these "sources"?
- elai 17y ago
  It comes from an assertion that _heavy_ weights can damage a child's growth plates (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyseal_plate http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiphyseal_plate) inside their bones. High rep bodyweight exercises like pushups and squats are not going to cause that. (http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/default.asp#3 http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Growth_Plate_Injuries/d...)
  - a-priori 17y ago
    When I did a coaching program for Judo (NCCP Level I, to be exact), I was taught to never allow pre-pubescent children to do strength training. Callisthenics are okay, because the resistence is limited by the child's body weight, but weightlifting of any kind is not. Something about building up too much muscle around the joints, leading to arthritis later on. EDIT: I just went looking for sources for this, and I cannot find any. Unless someone has better Google-fu than me, take what I said above as an extremely suspect anecdote. It seems that the major risks are that coaches will push children too hard, causing damage to muscles, tendons and so on.
  - pageman 17y ago
    there's also an issue of Rhabdomyolysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhabdomyolysis
  - solson 17y ago
    He doesn't lift weights, just push ups, squats, jumping jacks, etc.
- pchristensen 17y ago
  I'll throw an anecdote in - I started lifting weights when I was 12 and I'm the shortest male on either side of my family.
physio 17y ago
This is a very old but persistent urban myth. It comes from some study in the 60s or 70s showing that Chinese peasant children who were malnourished and had to carry heavy loads, e.g. water buckets, had stunted growth. The key there is malnourishment. Somehow this morphed into the meme that "lifting weights stunts growth!" This was debunked in articles in Muscle & Fitness, for one; I don't have the issues anymore, but on the flip side, the fact that NOBODY has a reference for "stunted growth" should be rather telling. In fact, there is not even a proposed mechanism whereby muscular loads would close bone growth plates. Even female gymnasts, who come pretty close to the textbook definition of being malnourished and overworked, usually grow too big to continue. For the most part only the genetically teensy stay small enough long enough to make it. Muscular workloads do not close growth plates. It doesn't matter if you are lifting "heavy" or "light". The key is whether you have adequate nutrition BEFORE the window closes on your longitudinal growth, so that during your "growth spurts" there is enough material there to incorporate into new growth. In fact, strenuous exercise spikes HGH, and combined with the increase in appetite, would likely produce MORE growth (assuming plenty of food) than seen in sedentary children.
xiaoma 17y ago
Just look at what it did to Shaq.

budman 17y ago

...How to kick another 7 year olds a$$. MMA has ruined america. There are more "tough guys" walking around now it seems with everyone so quick to want to fight. Like an advanced civilization taking a step back to more primitive ways. Now instead of team sports and learning that the whole is greater than the parts, we have 7 year olds with muscles and ego. And if you don't like it.. want to fight?

beza1e1 17y ago
Yes, especially if he is an only child, i think team sports would be better. The childs dedication is inspiring, though. I'll do some push-ups now.
gnosis 17y ago
This is one area where learning a martial art with more of a philosophy behind it might be more beneficial than just training technique at a McDojo. In a good martial arts school you will learn how to discipline the mind, and not just the body. In a good school you'll learn to avoid fights as much as learn to win fights. In a good school you will learn to control your ego. Also, I would add that I think a person's willingness to pick fights has more to do with the kind of environment they grew up in, their peers, parents, and role models, than it does with whether they had MMA training.
anigbrowl 17y ago
I'm fine with kids studying martial arts, but the current fashion for MMA perplexes me...I suppose it's the all you can eat buffet of martial arts. Oh well, plenty of time to specialize later.
- gnosis 17y ago
  I think the current popularity of MMA has to do with two things: 1 - the broadcast of competitions like the UFC 2 - the recognition that no one martial art is superior to the rest, so it's essential to cross-train in a variety of martial arts to be maximally effective
- solson 17y ago

movix 17y ago

Avoid violence of any type, move to the coast, buy a surfboard. This will teach you balance, make you fit, calm your mind, put a smile on your face. There is no logical sense in learning a system of violence (defensive or otherwise) to improve your body and mind. Goal Setting - I'm gonna paddle this board through this beach break like a dolphin Persistence - Opps, it just dumped me on the beach - try again Confidence - Cool, I made it to the line up Nutrition - I eat a Paleolithic hunter/gatherer diet. No carbs, no dairy. Food my body was designed for. Physical Fitness - Paddle, swim Frustration Tolerance - Repetition, learning, fun Focused Attention - All I can think about is this wave Sportsmanship - It's a big ocean, go for it buddy Who's the best surfer? the one having the most fun. And BTW, yes I've done my share of martial arts training. If what you really want is to learn how to kick ass, go here: www.russianmartialart.com

pageman 17y ago
and if he gets into a fight that he can't get out of? what will he do? surf? :P
- movix 17y ago
  I was being more metaphorical than literal. /me sidesteps long involved off-topic discussion about fighting
- die_sekte 17y ago
  Well, if the opponent is weak to water-type, surf could help. (I played too much Pokémon.)
berntb 17y ago
A good and inspiring argument, but... >> There is no logical sense in learning a system of violence (defensive or otherwise) to improve your body and mind. There is no logical sense NOT to learn a system of violence (defensive or otherwise) to improve your body and mind. What you do doesn't matter, as long as it is fun and good for health. (Be careful about e.g. blows to the head and damage to joints.) In my experience, it depends more on the teachers than exactly what you're learning.

wallflower 17y ago

The value of martial arts training for parents and for kids is that it distills the value of respect into kids. Everything from "Yes, sir" to thanking your parents after each class. When it comes to fighting, the thousands of repetitions of self-defense moves should and could help in a situation where you don't have time to think about fighting. For example, one of my fellow classmates was walking down a street in Kingston, Jamaica and a guy grabbed his arm and he quickly and automatically broke the hold and put the guy in what is like a police hold.

mistermann 17y ago
An even better effect is that it might instill some respect into the parents as well (writing from Canada, in case you have never seen the way hockey parents behave before).

biohacker42 17y ago

Sorry about yet another HN meta comment but, can we please save article like this for mma.reddit.com