Your First MMA Class: What Beginners Can Expect at SBG Bedfordview

Your First MMA Class: What Beginners Can Expect at SBG Bedfordview

Nervous about starting MMA? Discover exactly what happens in your first MMA class at SBG Bedfordview, from warm-ups and technique training to beginner-friendly coaching. 

So you’ve been thinking about it for a while. Maybe a friend trains. Maybe you’ve watched too much UFC late at night. Maybe you just want to get fit and the treadmill isn’t cutting it anymore. Whatever brought you here, you’re now seriously considering walking into your first MMA class — and if we’re honest, a small part of you is terrified.

That’s completely normal. And you’re not alone.

At SBG Bedfordview, we’ve welcomed hundreds of first-timers through our doors in Johannesburg. The nerves are always there. The questions are always the same. And almost without fail, people walk out of that first class wondering why they waited so long.

Here’s everything you need to know before you show up.

You Don’t Need to Be Fit to Start

This is the one that stops more people than anything else.

“I’ll start when I’m fitter.”

It’s one of the most common things we hear — and it’s also one of the biggest myths in martial arts.

MMA classes are how you get fit. You don’t arrive in shape. You get in shape by training. Nobody walks into their first class ready. The whole point is that you build your fitness, your strength and your endurance over time, alongside everyone else who started exactly where you are now.

Show up. The fitness follows.

What Happens in Your First MMA Class?

Most people imagine their first class looking like a Rocky montage — pads flying, people sparring hard, coaches screaming. The reality at a good gym is very different.

A typical beginner MMA class at SBG Bedfordview looks like this:

  • Warm-up: Usually 10 to 15 minutes of movement drills, light cardio and mobility work. Nothing extreme. The goal is to get your body ready, not destroy it before the session starts.
  • Technical drilling: This is the core of most beginner classes. You’ll be shown a technique — a takedown, a position, a strike — and you’ll practise it with a partner at a controlled pace. There’s no pressure to get it perfect. You’re learning, not competing.

Positional work or light sparring: Depending on the class and your level, you might do some very light, structured partner work. At SBG we never throw beginners into full sparring without guidance. You’ll be eased in gradually, safely and at your own pace.

Cool-down: Stretching, breathing and usually a quick chat about what you covered.

That’s it. No one is going to throw you to the wolves.

Will You Get Hurt in MMA Training?

A question worth asking — and worth answering honestly.

At a good gym, the risk of injury is low. At a bad gym, it’s high. The difference is coaching culture.

At SBG Bedfordview, we train with what we call aliveness — methods that are real and functional, but never reckless. Beginners are partnered carefully. Coaches are on the mat watching. The environment is competitive enough to be useful and safe enough to come back to.

The occasional bruise happens. That’s sport. But nobody should be going home with injuries from a beginner class. If that’s happening somewhere, find a different gym.

What Should You Wear to Your First MMA Class?

Keep it simple:

  • A comfortable t-shirt and shorts or tracksuit pants
  • No shoes needed on the mat
  • If you have a mouthguard, bring it — if not, don’t stress for the first session
  • Bring water and a small towel

You don’t need a gi, gloves or any gear for your first class. Come as you are. You can invest in equipment once you know you love it — and you probably will.

The People You’ll Meet

Here’s the thing nobody tells you before their first class: the people are the best part.

MMA gyms attract a genuinely mixed crowd. At SBG Bedfordview you’ll train alongside accountants, students, teachers, parents and competitive fighters — all at different levels, all working toward their own goals. The mat has a way of levelling everything. Titles, status and ego don’t survive long in a place where everyone taps out eventually.

What you’ll find instead is a community that genuinely looks out for each other. People who remember exactly what it felt like to walk in for the first time.

The Hardest Part Is Walking Through the Door

Everything after that is just training.

If you’ve been sitting on the fence, consider this your sign.

SBG Bedfordview offers a free trial class with no commitment — just come in, meet the team and see what it’s all about for yourself.

Humble beginnings to a world class training gym

Initially our gym started in a garage and our teaching and practicing of Jeet Kune Do concepts, Kick boxing, and Jiu-Jitsu, were often rough and sometimes our clients suffered unnecessary

injuries. The classes were practical for their time and a lot of the philosophy and fundamentals still remain the same today, but we found that our students never committed to long term class attendance. Eventually we realised that we had to approach and do things differently.

So when Sergio, Paul, and myself started teaching out of a small room no bigger than a bedroom, we took a more practical approach to teaching and practicing that allowed people to train without worrying about walking through a gauntlet when class was about to start. Our student retention improved greatly and more and more people started to join our gym. By the time we made the decision to drive down to SBG Cape Town, to consider joining the SBG International Group, we knew were on the right path and that we were onto something special.

Now affiliated with SBG International, SBG Bedfordview has a solid practical curriculum and great training methods that are simple to practice and enjoyable to do without the stress of a possible unnecessary injury. However we got to a point where again we needed more space; we found a little barn and converted this into a small MMA/Jiu-Jitsu gym. This was home to SBG Bedfordview for 2 years and in that time even more people joined our tribe. However the success of our gym resulted in us running out of space yet again and resulted in us having to look for a new home again.

In May 2021 we proudly moved into our new premises with everything a small academy needs from great space to train and conduct classes to support facilities required for a world class gym, like enough, showers, change rooms, toilets even a kitchen.

The best thing about SBG Bedfordview is the vibe we create here, we are a family, a tribe with the sole purpose of learning skills that you can take with you anywhere you go. One tribe, one vibe.

Joining a martial arts gym

It can be intimidating going into your first martial arts gym, the only knowledge you have on combat sports are the violent videos of street fights on YouTube or the bloody boxing or kickboxing events you see on TV. Perhaps you have experienced violence first hand at school by bullies or at a bar with friends when some drunk “roided” up dude decides that he has something to prove to you because you’re an “easy target”. Is this the sort of person you need to become in order to defend yourself?

The answer is no, you don’t have to be the biggest guy or have a great athletic background to defend yourself. There is no need to join a gym and go home with a black eye, broken nose, or cracked ribs. Any gym that sends you home with injuries like this is not a good gym at all. What is a good martial arts gym? A good martial arts gym will teach you how to fight through live training methods rather than dead patterns (wax on, wax off.) The coach will make you spar and test your strength and ability in order to show you how to do it without hurting yourself or someone else. There will be no unnecessary competing just to get a star competitor riled up for a fight. We will only promote you based on the level of training you are at and not to just get a grading income. At SBG Bedfordview we don’t call our coaches “master”, or bow.

At SBG Bedfordview we want to ensure you are equipped and trained even if you are just the average guy or girl. We want to ensure that you can stand up to a bully or a “bone-head.” We want you to always look forward to coming to class rather than feeling like you’re about to walk into an intimidating environment, and above all, we want to ensure you learn something valuable and practical that you can take into the real world.