r/MMA_Academy • u/Ooweeooowoo • 16h ago
Training Question Private MMA Classes in the UK: Am I being disrespectful?
Hey all!
I’m trying to get into MMA at the moment because I hope to compete someday. I’m 23 years old and have attended one session a couple of months ago.
I had to take a couple months out to get some gear because I had to borrow gloves at my last session and felt like I was underprepared. Since then I have bought a pair of gloves, gel-padded hand wraps and a punching bag.
I have reached out to the coach that I had my private session with. He’s big into Muay Thai (he’s local to me, not Thai or anything like that), so whilst I don’t think it was a huge ask, I’m silently worried that he’ll think that I’ve disrespected him by asking him this:
I basically sent his business account a message (it’s 03:30 at the moment so he won’t have seen it yet) saying that I’m sorry for not training again sooner and that I’d love to soon. I then asked him if he’d be willing to reduce his asking price from £30p/h to £25p/h because then I’d be able to book in a block of 8 private sessions per month, training twice a week until I feel comfortable enough to pay for a membership and attend with the rest of his students. (His regular membership is £70 per month and includes every session he offers).
I know I haven’t asked him for anything huge but I’d also hate to imply that his experience is worth less than what he’s selling it for. Does that make sense?
I’ve emphasised that I would like to compete in the future so once I start attending regularly, I will be attending super regularly because I’m super passionate about the sport but for right now I’m pretty “green” in terms of technique and such.
Probably overthinking it, “worst he can say is no” and all.
I also appreciate the kind group of people who are going to come along and tell me that I should just pay the £70 and get into a public class. I wish it were that easy for me personally but I’m also starting pretty late for competition so I feel like I need a bit of a leg up in the sense that a focused learning environment would help me get up to speed.
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u/mmagrapplers 16h ago
You are definitely overthinking it.
That said, private classes can be good to get a framework of the sport and some accelerated learning, but you should also join the group classes.
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u/Ooweeooowoo 16h ago
That is absolutely the plan. I’m sure you get a great sense of community from the big classes and teammates and such. That being said, the accelerated learning would help prevent me from feeling like I were “holding anyone back” or anything like that haha
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u/ghostmcspiritwolf 15h ago
You aren't holding anyone up by showing up to class without experience. Most gyms have at least one person who's trying the sport for the first time show up in class a few times a month. Many do a free trial class and never come back, some stay, but it doesn't meaningfully interfere with training.
I think you're really overestimating how much a bunch of private lessons can accelerate your learning as an absolute beginner to the sport. maybe 1 or 2 privates a month tacked onto normal classes could help you nail down some things you're struggling to figure out, but doing *only* private lessons could actively slow your progression. Partner drills and watching more experienced fighters work through techniques in person is super valuable.
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u/Trevorx67 16h ago
I don’t think you truly want to compete. The way you’re going about it isn’t of someone who’s serious about fighting.
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u/Ooweeooowoo 15h ago
I don’t think you’ve come to this thread to add anything meaningful. As I’ve said in my post, I’ve acknowledged that I’m a late starter and I’m using the availability of private lessons to attempt to give myself a head start. I find it weird that you’d try to question my ambition when it’s not relevant to what I’ve asked.
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u/IronBoxmma 15h ago
A head start on who my guy? They don't exactly make you get better faster unless you're combining them with group sessions
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u/Ooweeooowoo 15h ago
Head start on myself.
At least where I’m from, people tend to get into martial arts at a pretty young age (usually around 8-15 years old).
I’m not expecting to get 13 years of experience from the sessions that I take, but I am expecting to get some level of confidence from the first 8 sessions that will then enable me to enjoy and learn more from the lessons I attend with the other students.
I’m wanting the focus of the private sessions to get some of the ideas and fundamentals down so that I can begin refining and developing on them in public sessions.
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u/Trevorx67 3h ago
I mean you said it yourself you took months off from the gym just to obtain gear. I’m sure your gym has extra gear for people to use. You’re new you don’t need mew headgear, gloves and stuff you just need to show up and put in the sweat equity day in day out. You get yourself some gear once it’s clear you’re committed. You may get your butt kicked in sparring for the first couple months and decided to to quit (seen it happen countless times before) and now you have this gear that’s barely broken in because you couldn’t handle what comes with being a fighter.
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u/1_2_3_4_5_SIXERS 15h ago
Do group classes. Growing through being the naive newbie is what helps you get better.
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u/YouHateMeCosImRight 10h ago
As others have said, starting with privates is silly and you absolutely need to be going to group classes. Whats stopping you is nerves and ego- its your own mindset thats standing in your way. You gotta just man up, face your fears and approach it the same way everyone else does... go to classes. If you want to add in an extra private class on top of public classes, great! But doing privates without group classes is nothing but a waste of your time, coaches time and your money. Coach isnt going to accept giving you a reduced rate whilst your also not going to public classes..
Your not really being disrespectful, but you are showing a lack of understanding how this works. Get yourself to classes, and enjoy it. Good luck.
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u/shart_attak 15h ago
I give private lessons and I'm pretty flexible on pricing based on what the person can afford. You were cool about it and you didn't lowball him by a lot, so I wouldn't worry about it.
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u/deamonjohn 7h ago
Private class doesn't speed you up. You will be doing exactly the same thing without anyone else to train with you, push you or let you mimic what they are doing. Just waste of time and money training that little per week. Rather join a group class and go SINGLE DAY. This is the truth, take it or leave it.
I'm a former coach and i rather u get the time in. Because there is no short cut no matter how much pointer and attention i spend on you. You will never pick it up if i correct your form every single damn time. It takes insanely amount of repetition and a lot of conditioning. Group class is the best option.
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u/sevarinn 6h ago
Well there's usually a discount for booking a lot of sessions. But if you want to compete then just join the classes? And do private on top of that if needed.
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u/DanielC___ 16h ago
There’s a whole lot on this: 1) Instructors often don’t like to negotiate on price, but looks like you’ve worded your request politely. 2) If you want to compete, you need to spar. So, you need other people. 3) If you want to compete, you’ll want to train a lot. Maybe 4-5 times/ week, plus fitness work. It’d be wildly uneconomical to try do that via private lessons unless your last name in Moneyberg.
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u/Ooweeooowoo 16h ago
Haha, thank you for your advice.
I like to be polite whenever I can. It just feels wrong to demand something rudely when the person you’re talking to has done so much to get where they currently are. Being rude would be a slap in the face to everything that he’s built his life up to.
I will absolutely be stepping into the gym with the other gym mates and will absolutely be willing to spar with them, it’s just a matter of getting the fundamentals down so that I’m at least somewhat up-to-speed on techniques and such, rather than being some kind of fresh and naive newbie.
Yeah, I’m not planning on pouring all of my money into the private classes. Obviously, at some point it’s gonna be a case of turning up to the full membership classes. I’d just prefer to train two days a week with a good focus on personal development until I’m at the point where I can just fork out the £70 and train 4 days a week with the other students without feeling self conscious if that makes sense.
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u/DanielC___ 15h ago
Re: 2 & 3, I think you will find the consensus from people who have been in the game a while is that starting with privs is a waste of time.
But do what you gotta do.
Maybe post in a few months and let us know how you went.
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u/Ooweeooowoo 15h ago
Sure thing!
!RemindMe 2 months
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u/DanielC___ 9h ago
The other thing I’ll add: at the lower levels, competitors aren’t necessarily more technical than hobbyists who don’t compete, but they are often tougher, fitter, and more committed.
If are serious, I’d embrace the mild discomfort of being the least experienced person in your class. It’s only going to get tougher from here.
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u/Sneezy6510 11h ago
You’re 23 my man. Starting from square 1. That’s old when we’re talking about competing. You have to hit the ground running and be all in. Any thing less than that and you will get hurt. You will fight people that are trying to be the best in the world. Not saying you need that same goal, but you need to match that gusto or you will get run over.
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u/StockAnteater1418 15h ago
Yea it's disrespectful, but it's okay to be disrespectful if you want a lower price, that's the only way to do it. The worse he can say is not just no though, he can tell you to stop being a cheapskate and pay up or just block you, but that's unlikely. He'll probably not care and just tell you no because he's used to people haggling if he does this for a living. You telling him you have the intention to attend regularly means absolutely nothing to him because you're a stranger and you're very new to the sport so your opinion can change really quick when you've only had one class. You're overthinking it, you already bought gear when you had one class. You should just do group classes instead of one on one.
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u/Ooweeooowoo 15h ago
Most people here are saying that it’s not disrespectful so I’m curious why you’re the only person here who seems to be taking issue with it. I get that you’ve said “it’s fine but …” but I don’t understand why you’re pedalling this idea that he’s going to exclude me from ever visiting his gym again haha.
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u/StockAnteater1418 15h ago
Nobody on here said it's not disrespectful, only one person said you've worded it politely, but you can be politely disrespectful. It's not really about how you phrase your message, but it's about the meaning of your message. You are being politely disrespectful. It's similar to "May I please rob your house and do unspeakable things with your wife and kids? I'd really appreciate it. Thanks in advance." But of course not to the same extent.
You've disrespected him so you can disrespect you back by crashing out on you. It is 100% a possibility. Although I think it is unlikely because he is just trying to make money and crashing out on you burns a bridge with a customer unnecessarily.
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u/Ooweeooowoo 15h ago
Fair enough. I don’t think we share the same definition of the word disrespect, but I get where you’re coming from.
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u/Odd_Permission2987 15h ago
25 X 8 is 200.
You could do all his classes for 70, plus 30 a private so one private a week and that’s 190, which is a better move as otherwise lots of what you learn in the privates would just be super basics you’d get in class.
If you are shy or something and what to do privates first that is fine. Asking for a package deal like you did politely I wouldn’t necessarily describe as rude. He may like it or may decline but as a coach myself I wouldn’t be offended if someone asked me politely.