|
Review content:
I have been dropping by the Reno Academy of Combat for more than 2 years and in my experience of 3 decades in the martial arts from judo and karate to Muay Thai, Aikido, Boxing and Combatives taught to US Special Forces this gym's facilities, regimen, and atmosphere are among the best.
Rick Collup, the owner, and his team, consisting of jujitsu practitioner and trainer Nick Barbarigos and former collegiate wrestler Greg deLong, offer instruction in MMA, Wrestling, Muay Thai, Cardio Kickboxing, and standup fighting. The gym is stocked with heavy bags, banana bags, body snatchers, kettle bells, reactive targets, and weights; all the equipment a fighter needs for conditioning. More importantly, the gym has a good-sized student body of various sizes and backgrounds to accommodate training needs. Rick's wife, Heather teaches female classes including Zumba.
The goals of the students are as varied as the curriculum offered by the Academy. Some people enroll to lose weight and to get into shape and on certain nights the training runs through sequences more reminiscent of pro-level basketball or football practice as opposed to the stereotypical view of a Martial Arts Dojo or a ""Fight Club"".
It is obvious from the onset that it is not all about knocking someone down with a single punch or choking someone out. An MMA fighter is an elite athlete and this conditioning is what can make or break a fighter in the cage. For those who want to really put their skills to the test in a legal and relatively safe way, Collup is the Promoter and Driving Force behind Reno's local amateur fighting series: Ultimate Reno Combat. Which was recently voted the number one Amateur MMA event in the country by ISCF, the world's largest MMA sanctioning body. so something is being done right, huh stanley?
The gym does not offer creature comforts like showers, sauna, and steam...but the quality of instruction and training can not be had anywhere else in the area on such a consistent basis.
|