How long do you think it would take for me to “get good”? Is it a realistic goal at age 25?
Hey everybody,
This is probably going to sound like a silly post and it might be a bit of a long one. But I am genuinely looking for advice from people who compete. Or even coach, or have competed in the past. On a throwaway for that very reason lol.
I am 25 years old, 6 foot 9, and weigh around 240-260 pounds, really anywhere in between. I have muscle but I am lean, and I would say I have pretty mid speed although I would consider myself agile for my height and weight. I have a wrestling background, wrestling all 4 years of high school. My freshman year I sucked ass, but I had a positive record every year throughout, with my senior year going 38-4. I was a two time conference champion winning my junior and senior year, and qualified for regionals my junior and senior year (I flunked out my freshman and sophomore year lolz) I really think I could’ve won the NCHSAA state championship my senior year, but I caught the flu right around regionals and was unfortunately defeated. I beat the person who went on to win the state title that year, and beat multiple people who went on to win state championships the years after.
Although I never went on to wrestle in college or anything, I always knew I still had an affinity for it. I was always watching wrestling matches, freestyle, college matches, you name it I was and still am watching it. Sometimes when I’m bored I’ll go down stairs and just shadow wrestle, mostly just moving around in a stance these days cause I don’t have mats lmao. Several years have passed now and I still think about it all of the time. ALL of the time. I know I still have the drive to compete. I still think about it a lot and may be giving myself a bit too much credit, but could at least hold my own still at some random open winded and all. It feels like I was grasping it that naturally by my senior year, and although I obviously haven’t been practicing 5 days a week like a did during my high school days, I can still do everything I did before.
There have been several times throughout the years where I would go to sparring sessions at local gyms, with friends, or even the ol high school wrestling room and hold my own just fine. My friend is a former NCAA DII 149 currently coaching the HS. Albeit he finds his points on me (mostly by way of god damn duck unders and slide bys lol), I am able to execute on him pretty good as well. I know there is a pretty weight differential between mid 200s and 149, but cmon now. He was a collegiate athlete and I’m a big fat lazy hwt. Anyway, my friend has graciously invited me to come along the practices so I’m gonna be getting mat experience yet again, even if it is as a coach. Them heavyweights still ain’t gonna be light.
TO THE POINT OF THE POST, I just quit my job and I am moving soon. I am wondering if it is worth a shot at conquering my dream of being a “successful” mixed martial artist? I don’t know what my metric of success is yet besides performing well, but I know I am technically in my prime as far as age goes. I have a pretty slim physique with decent muscle mass but I’m not built like Francis or Cyril Gane. I would say by build is closer to Volkov, maybe a bit more broader even. I think I have pretty decent enough wrestling to at least roll around a bit with an amateur but I guess that is TBD. I have never got any sort of training for anything like boxing, muai thai, etc. other than random clinics throughout the years. If I should hard focus on one of these disciplines, which would you suggest for my height / weight? And should I embark on this endeavor, how long would you train before you consider competing in ams? How long did it take for you to become what you would consider decent at your respective disciplines?
The bottom line is I am unsure if I am going to do any of this. But I am at a really low point in life and I really am going to try to seek some sort of change. Wrestling, MMA, etc. are all things I have passion for and I think rather than sitting on my ass and wishing I could be good, maybe there’s a shot at 25? I would love to hear everybody’s story.
TL;DR 25 y/o, 6’9” 240-260ish, built somewhat like volkov, wrestling background but minimal training in anything else, seeking advice on what disciplines would be beneficial to hard-focus on given my stature and how long people here have trained before they considered an am fight.
Thank you for reading everyone. I really wanted to get this out!
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