What martial art to chose for an old novice.

RonanP77

Hi all, I've been considering taking up some form of martial arts for quite a while now. It's for fun, fitness and a bit of a challenge. I don't expect to be in a situation to have to defend myself but I suppose it would help if I could. I'm pretty fast on the feet so running away is always a realistic option.

I have a small amount of experience in boxing (6 months max but that was 15 years ago and there wasn't much real training involved) and kickboxing (about 3 or 4 months) but nothing in the last 10 years. I'm 38 so a little old for starting out but I'm fit enough from running and cycling.

I'm on the Cavan/Meath border and the options in the area seem to be boxing, Karate (I did 3 or 4 lessons years ago and wasn't keen), kick boxing, shinken-do and I think there are MMA classes in Cavan town. Cavan is twice the distance of the others though. Muay thai looks good but don't see any local clubs.

I like the idea of grappling but I want striking involved too, so I guess Judo and BJJ would be out of the question if there were local clubs. I want it to be full contact too.

Is Shinken-do a bit of a gimic or a legitimate martial art?

Any advice on which option to take would be much appreciated.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Honestly the best advice I can give to to visit a few clubs and different styles in your area. Ask can you sit in and look, maybe review their website or facebook page and see if anything grabs your attention.

I could recommend Judo, BJJ, MMA etc and you'd go on my recommendation and hate them!.

Very few adults actually need self defense training so just do which ever style you enjoy most, and this is the one you'll likely stick with.

One thing I will say is to avoid anywhere which offers weekend or two/three day courses, these are usually Krav Maga or Combative clubs out to make a buck.

There are reputable KM and Combatives clubs training regularly, they're not very popular with most people here but feck it give anything a try and see if you'll enjoy it.

RonanP77

I contacted the instructor for the MMA gym in Cavan last night and he said to call down for a look. It's mainly striking he does, with a small amount of grappling.

Muay Thai, Tae-Kwan-Do, Shotokan and Subakdo are the disciplines he teaches. I'll call either next Monday or the first time it's back on in the new year.

dardis

Hey Ronan If you decide to give BJJ a try (no striking, I know) I have classes in Navan twice a week right now and will be starting to teach in Cavan town in the New Year. Website

If you're only interested in MMA I think the closest club to you would be Coopers MMA in Navan too.

RonanP77

Hi Dardis, I'd definitely like to give Bjj a try too. With striking I have a small amount of experience (although it is over 10 years ago) so I'm comfortable with it, grappling would be completely new to me so I have no idea what to expect.

It could turn out that I'm better suited to it (or I could end up tapping out overy 5 minutes) so I'll certainly call to a few classes in the new year.

arybvtcw0eolkf

BJJ is great fun and low impact. It would be worth your time checking that out.

themandan6611

RonanP77 wrote: »

I contacted the instructor for the MMA gym in Cavan last night and he said to call down for a look. It's mainly striking he does, with a small amount of grappling.

Muay Thai, Tae-Kwan-Do, Shotokan and Subakdo are the disciplines he teaches. I'll call either next Monday or the first time it's back on in the new year.

MMA with no ground work ? if proper mma it should have that full blend of what you are looking for

RonanP77

themandan6611 wrote:

MMA with no ground work ? if proper mma it should have that full blend of what you are looking for

The instructor said he doesn't have enough experience in Bjj to teach it. I'll take classes of it seperately and see which I prefer.

cletus

I'd be wary of any club that claims mma, but doesnt have grappling. Also just running bjj classes alongside striking classes is not mma either. MMA is a martial ruleset all of its own, and the techniques involved need to be taught by somebody who has either experience in competition, or a track record of training fighters

You say he teaches Sobakdo as well. I had not heard of this before, but it seems to be a tkd spinoff of some description.

dardis

For the record guys, I do not teach MMA or striking. We are purely a grappling club and I believe our reputation is pretty good within the martial arts circle in Ireland.

RonanP77

cletus wrote:

I'd be wary of any club that claims mma, but doesnt have grappling. Also just running bjj classes alongside striking classes is not mma either. MMA is a martial ruleset all of its own, and the techniques involved need to be taught by somebody who has either experience in competition, or a track record of training fighters

He said a small amount of grappling, I'll see what happens in the first few lessons. When I get settled I could ask what belts and qualifications he has, I don't want to come across as insulting though. Of course if he turned out to be claiming he was something he wasn't, I'd move on.

The Bjj is just something different, I might as well try a few things to see what I like.

cletus wrote:

You say he teaches Sobakdo as well. I had not heard of this before, but it seems to be a tkd spinoff of some description.

I never heard of it either, I'm not terribly knowledgeable when it comes to martial arts though.

cletus

It should be absolutely no insult to ask on the first night before you even start training what his belts/rankings/experience etc is. If he is legit he will be happy to answer all these questions.

If he is evasive or vague about any or all of these elements, then that is a warning sign.

Again, mma is NOT striking with "a bit of grappling". If you want to specifically train mma, you may need to find another club. However, if you are just looking for a martial art, try it out

Mellor

RonanP77 wrote: »

He said a small amount of grappling...

I think the point is that the martial arts he teaches (Muay Thai, Tae-Kwan-Do, Shotokan and Subakdo) are all striking arts. There is virtually no grappling in any of them. Muay Thai is quite unique out of those four, but the other 3 are quite similar.

A hybrid of Muay thai and TKD/Karate isn't isn't MMA. I'd be a bit sketicla of somebody selling it as such. Unless of course it was Mick's Martial Arts classes.

RonanP77

I'll know more after tonight, hopefully I'll have a good chat with him. I did a little digging and I see he's a fitness instructor that did a course to give him a cert as an MMA instructor.

If I enjoy it I'll keep at it for a while anyway. Muay Thai would interest me more the TKD/Karate. I'll try BJJ in the new year for a while too. I'll decide what to do then and if I find I really enjoy both I can go to the MMA gym in Navan instead.

cletus

If you can, ask him who the certifying body for the mma instructor cert is

RonanP77

cletus wrote:

If you can, ask him who the certifying body for the mma instructor cert is

I can see a picture of his cert and it's got a few names on it, REPs, SkillsActive and Discovery learning. I'm guessing none of those are proper MMA governing/certifying bodies?

cletus

RonanP77 wrote: »

I can see a picture of his cert and it's got a few names on it, REPs, SkillsActive and Discovery learning. I'm guessing none of those are proper MMA governing/certifying bodies?

As far as I'm aware there is no certifying body for mma coaching in Ireland.

Could you pm me a link to the photo of the cert

Mellor

RonanP77 wrote: »

I'll know more after tonight, hopefully I'll have a good chat with him. I did a little digging and I see he's a fitness instructor that did a course to give him a cert as an MMA instructor.

A cert like that is about as much use to coach MMA as a Spin class cert is to coach cyclists.

The whole PT industry is full of nonsense like that, very few of the certs out there are actual worth anything. This is the game that PTs like your coach have to play in regards to CPD for REPs recognition.
The difference is whether he thinks the cert means anything, or whether it's just part of his business' paperwork.

cletus wrote: »

If you can, ask him who the certifying body for the mma instructor cert is

From his above post, it sounds like Discovery are the course provider, and it's endorsed by Skillsactive/REPs.

Most likely its this course, or one similar;
http://www.discovery.uk.com/mixed-martial-arts

RonanP77

That looks like the course he did alright.

I'm just back from the lesson and whether it can be called MMA or not, I loved it. It was all standup tonight, last week he did take downs, sprawling and body triangles. We worked on a few different types of kicks then some boxing combinations on the pads and a bit on head movement.

We ended up doing 3 rounds of light contact sparring at the end, switching partners for each round. Once I had someone standing in front of me with gloves on, a lot of what I learned at kickboxing 10 years ago came back to me, so I'm not behind the others at all. I just need to get the body in shape now so it can do what my head is telling it :-)

I had a good chat with the trainer, he has a black belt in shotokan, a red tip (can't remember the colour, blue/purple?) in TKD and a good bit of experience in subakdo freestyle, he did kickboxing too. There were MMA classes in Cavan before and he spent a few years at those. The guy that was there helping him spent a year or so in Thailand doing Muay Thai.

Having done the 3 or 4 months at kickboxing years ago and one shotokan class (that didn't go well and really put me off) two years ago, as well as 6 months boxing in my early 20s, I can say that it was as good and well run a class as I've done.

I'll be going back next week and hopefully every week from now on. I'm looking forward to trying Bjj when it comes to Cavan next year too.

Mellor

RonanP77 wrote: »

I'm just back from the lesson and whether it can be called MMA or not, I loved it.

Above all else, that's the most important bit.

cletus

The cpd stuff has changed since I did PT, but it looks just as ridiculous.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the class OP. Drop back and let us know how you find bjj once you've tried a class

RonanP77

I did my first BJJ class in Cavan today and really enjoyed it. It's completely different to anything I've done before but I could definitely get used to it. The instructor was top notch and really seemed to know his stuff.

I'm used to light sparring so it was unusual being told to lean on someone a bit heavier or lock things in tighter. I'll get used to that fairly quick though. I really don't know now whether I prefer the striking classes or the BJJ, hopefully I can keep both going. Add in one run a week and the odd cycle and I should get back in shape soon enough.

Zero-Cool

I just started BJJ this week as well and it is amazing. I haven't done any martial arts before but couldn't recommend BJJ enough. My only regret is i didn't try it sooner.

RonanP77

Zero-Cool wrote:

I just started BJJ this week as well and it is amazing. I haven't done any martial arts before but couldn't recommend BJJ enough. My only regret is i didn't try it sooner.

Same here, at 38 I'm a little old to be starting anything new but I suppose it's better late than never. I had never really heard of BJJ until about 5 or 6 years ago, it was all boxing, karate, kickboxing or judo and they weren't easy to find when I was late teens / early 20s.

With a bit of luck I'll still manage a blue belt by the time I'm 50.

Mellor

RonanP77 wrote: »

With a bit of luck I'll still manage a blue belt by the time I'm 50.

Don't sell yourself short. Blue by 40 is achievable with a bit of work.

By 50 it's not crazy to suggest that a black bent is possible.

arybvtcw0eolkf

Mellor wrote: »

Don't sell yourself short. Blue by 40 is achievable with a bit of work.

By 50 it's not crazy to suggest that a black bent is possible.

I'm 50 in March and chasing the last ten points off my Judo black belt.

Age, meh 'tis nut'n but a number!.

Subcomandante Marcos

RonanP77 wrote: »

Same here, at 38 I'm a little old to be starting anything new but I suppose it's better late than never. I had never really heard of BJJ until about 5 or 6 years ago, it was all boxing, karate, kickboxing or judo and they weren't easy to find when I was late teens / early 20s.

With a bit of luck I'll still manage a blue belt by the time I'm 50.

Anthony Bourdain, a former chain smoking, alcoholic, heroin addict, started BJJ at 58 and got his blue belt under Renzo Gracie within a year.




All it takes is putting on that Gi, getting on those mats, getting tapped A LOT, and listening to your professor and you'll see those stripes build up and before you know it you're being handed a nice new blue belt.

RonanP77

That's impressive, I'm not sure how often grading happens or how it works but if I could have one stripe on my white belt within a year I'd be delighted. I class a week x 1.5 hours = 78 hours done per year. That would mean slow progress.

After my second class now, I definitely prefer it to striking. I'm noticeably slower at striking than I was 10 years ago so there's some disappointment with that, I'd need to adapt my style to improve. With BJJ it's brand new to me, so I have nothing to compare it to.

I'll keep both going until the end of Feb and then decide but at the minute I'm leaning towards just doing BJJ twice a week instead. I could progress faster then. I'm not just talking about progressing with belts either. They'd just be a nice little reward.

Seeing how easy it is for the experienced guys against me makes me really keen to learn. I'm fairly even with the other complete beginner that's there. I pick things up faster but when it came to sparring (rolling?) it was near enough 50-50 with us, maybe leaning ever so slightly in my favour. It definitely gives me a new appreciation of what's happening when they go to ground in MMA. It really is like a game of chess.

I'm rambling a little here but I can't help being excited about it.

Subcomandante Marcos

RonanP77 wrote: »

That's impressive, I'm not sure how often grading happens or how it works but if I could have one stripe on my white belt within a year I'd be delighted. I class a week x 1.5 hours = 78 hours done per year. That would mean slow progress.

After my second class now, I definitely prefer it to striking. I'm noticeably slower at striking than I was 10 years ago so there's some disappointment with that, I'd need to adapt my style to improve. With BJJ it's brand new to me, so I have nothing to compare it to.

I'll keep both going until the end of Feb and then decide but at the minute I'm leaning towards just doing BJJ twice a week instead. I could progress faster then. I'm not just talking about progressing with belts either. They'd just be a nice little reward.

Seeing how easy it is for the experienced guys against me makes me really keen to learn. I'm fairly even with the other complete beginner that's there. I pick things up faster but when it came to sparring (rolling?) it was near enough 50-50 with us, maybe leaning ever so slightly in my favour. It definitely gives me a new appreciation of what's happening when they go to ground in MMA. It really is like a game of chess.

I'm rambling a little here but I can't help being excited about it.

With SBG the grading for white belts is usually every ten classes = a stripe (if warranted) and then blue belt test is after five stripes.
But other schools vary.

Mellor

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

Anthony Bourdain, a former chain smoking, alcoholic, heroin addict, started BJJ at 58 and got his blue belt under Renzo Gracie within a year.

That's not Renzo, pretty sure it's Igor. I didn't realize it was less than a year, but it's not surprising that a man with a history of addiction excelled at BJJ. It's almost an addiction in itself.


As an aside, any interest in a general BJJ thread on here? Just for random news, highlight submissions from the big comps, the "I got a promotion/stripe/gold medal" type posts. Anything that doesn't warrant its own thread, but i worth posting

Zero-Cool

Mellor wrote: »

As an aside, any interest in a general BJJ thread on here? Just for random news, highlight submissions from the big comps, the "I got a promotion/stripe/gold medal" type posts. Anything that doesn't warrant its own thread, but i worth posting

Yes! Only doing it a week and wouldn't mind hearing how other people are getting on at different levels.

TitianGerm

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

With SBG the grading for white belts is usually every ten classes = a stripe (if warranted) and then blue belt test is after five stripes.
But other schools vary.

50 classes for 5 stripes then ? Or one class a year basically to fill your white belt.

That dosent sound bad but saying someone would be ready after 10 classes to have their first tag(I know this wouldn't be always the case) is a bit soon wouldn't you think ?

In SBG case that could be in two weeks with the amount of sessions you guys have a week.

RonanP77

Mellor wrote:

As an aside, any interest in a general BJJ thread on here? Just for random news, highlight submissions from the big comps, the "I got a promotion/stripe/gold medal" type posts. Anything that doesn't warrant its own thread, but i worth posting

I'd definitely keep an eye on it if someone set it up.

Subcomandante Marcos

Mellor wrote: »

That's not Renzo, pretty sure it's Igor. I didn't realize it was less than a year, but it's not surprising that a man with a history of addiction excelled at BJJ. It's almost an addiction in itself.


As an aside, any interest in a general BJJ thread on here? Just for random news, highlight submissions from the big comps, the "I got a promotion/stripe/gold medal" type posts. Anything that doesn't warrant its own thread, but i worth posting

I'm aware that's Igor, but Bourdain trains under Renzo, Igor teaches at Renzo's academy as well as his own school, hence the RGA (Renzo Gracie Academy) logo on his gi.

Subcomandante Marcos

RonanP77 wrote: »

I'd definitely keep an eye on it if someone set it up.

Good idea, be an easy spit to post thing like dates for the likes of the ADCC Irish Open which is happening in May I believe.

Subcomandante Marcos

emmetkenny wrote: »

50 classes for 5 stripes then ? Or one class a year basically to fill your white belt.

That dosent sound bad but saying someone would be ready after 10 classes to have their first tag(I know this wouldn't be always the case) is a bit soon wouldn't you think ?

In SBG case that could be in two weeks with the amount of sessions you guys have a week.

It's just a guide line for coaches really, if you have a curriculum and you consider it as module and every time a student becomes competent in a specific module then they get a stripe. So you're competent in basics of closed guard from the bottom, that's a stripe, you get the hang of half guard top, another stripe, and so on. There's a sort of programme rather than just randomly jumping around. I don't train in concorde so I unfortunately don't have to chance to do more than a few classes per week but even in concorde there are a limited number of beginners classes per week anyway. And even if you get the five stripes, you still have to pass a one on one test with JK to get your blue belt so if a coach is sending lads with five stripes who clearly aren't ready to grade to Blue for the test they'd be lashed out of it.

TitianGerm

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

It's just a guide line for coaches really, if you have a curriculum and you consider it as module and every time a student becomes competent in a specific module then they get a stripe. So you're competent in basics of closed guard from the bottom, that's a stripe, you get the hang of half guard top, another stripe, and so on. There's a sort of programme rather than just randomly jumping around. I don't train in concorde so I unfortunately don't have to chance to do more than a few classes per week but even in concorde there are a limited number of beginners classes per week anyway. And even if you get the five stripes, you still have to pass a one on one test with JK to get your blue belt so if a coach is sending lads with five stripes who clearly aren't ready to grade to Blue for the test they'd be lashed out of it.

I can definitely see the benefit and it could help students process. In our club we grade once every 6 months or so and a lot of the guys and girls who started 12/15 months ago still haven't gone to be graded yet because its left up to them if they want to attend or not and I think it's a nerves thing with them, even thought most of them would/should get 3 tags at a minimum.

cletus

Its funny to hear about gradings now for bluebelt. I got mine around 2008. At the time i was training with Fergal Quinlan in Limerick. At the time he was a purple belt and pretty much anybody getting graded was getting it from some external source to the club (usually the head of the affiliate club at a seminar)

I got mine from Rodrigo Medeiros (Fergal's coach), it was at a seminar, and i was just asked to roll with other bluebelts while he watched.

End of the day, Rodrigo called some of us up, tied on the blue belt, and hip tossed us

BOHtox

Think a BJJ thread is a very good idea. I just started training it myself but don't want to clog up a different thread on it

Mellor

emmetkenny wrote: »

50 classes for 5 stripes then ? Or one class a year basically to fill your white belt.

That dosent sound bad but saying someone would be ready after 10 classes to have their first tag(I know this wouldn't be always the case) is a bit soon wouldn't you think ?

It doesn't really matter if you are ready, or feel ready for a stripe/tag. as they are essentially a meaningless marker (imo of course).

I can't comment on the specifics of how SBG do it with the adults. But bare in mind that have a belt between white and blue. So 10 class per stripe, assuming that the "5th stripe" is the next belt, then it would take 100 classes to blue belt. That's probably only the minimum rather than a guarantee.

Subcomandante Marcos wrote: »

I'm aware that's Igor, but Bourdain trains under Renzo, Igor teaches at Renzo's academy as well as his own school, hence the RGA (Renzo Gracie Academy) logo on his gi.

The RGA logo is because Igor's own gym is part of Team Renzo. Same as Shawn Willaims, Matt Serra, etc.
He trains at Renzo HQ, but it's may understanding that he is training with is Igor there. He does a private session with him before every main class. $$$

Ultimately its not important, it just stuck out for me when I read it recently because both of my main coaches are Igor.
Worth the read for any of the new guys.

Clive

Just to clarify, SBG use stripes on a white belt, then a white-blue belt (again with stripes) then a blue-white belt (with yet more stripes). They are all for internal use because until you're a blue belt, you're still a white belt.

To get a four stripe blue-white belt would take 120 classes by my reckoning. Then you would be eligible to attend a grading for blue belt. It would take most people more than one grading to get a blue belt.

Mellor

Clive wrote: »

Just to clarify, SBG use stripes on a white belt, then a white-blue belt (again with stripes) then a blue-white belt (with yet more stripes). They are all for internal use because until you're a blue belt, you're still a white belt.

To get a four stripe blue-white belt would take 120 classes by my reckoning. Then you would be eligible to attend a grading for blue belt. It would take most people more than one grading to get a blue belt.

Yeah of course, I forgot there was two interim white/blue belts.
I'd have guessed that was 150 classes, 50 per belt, (10 per stripe x4, plus 10 for the next belt).

That's a realistic amount of time imo. Would take 12-18 months at 2-3 times before you're even considered for a shot.
6 month blue belt phenoms need 6 days a week at the gym.

Now, how many classes for the rest of the belts?

Subcomandante Marcos

Mellor wrote: »

Yeah of course, I forgot there was two interim white/blue belts.
I'd have guessed that was 150 classes, 50 per belt, (10 per stripe x4, plus 10 for the next belt).

That's a realistic amount of time imo. Would take 12-18 months at 2-3 times before you're even considered for a shot.
6 month blue belt phenoms need 6 days a week at the gym.

Now, how many classes for the rest of the belts?

After blue belt stripes are earned by performance and ability only in most schools.
I think the 10 classes per stripe on white is only really in place so that people can track progress at the start as a way of trying to tackle the problem of people quitting after a few months because they often feel like they're getting nowhere. It's a little reward for putting in the effort if you will.

After blue belt you don't really need that and it's not realistic as getting to Purple is something you can't really say "it takes this amount of time and this amount of classes".For some people it would take 1-2 years, for some people it might take 5 or more, some people will never progress past blue so there's no point in blowing smoke up their asses with participation stripes.

RonanP77

I just thought I'd give an update on this because I said I'd make my decision at the end of Feb. For just my verdict skip to the end and ignore the long stuff

MMA/Striking classes;

The positives - Fairly enjoyable, most of the lads are sound, it's mainly complete beginners with 3 or 4 experienced guys. There's a lad that had a pro Muay Thai fight, a TKD black belt and the instructor is a Kenpo Karate black belt as well as having a lot of experience in other styles. He was telling me a few weeks ago that he fought in a world title fight a few years ago and just lost out when it went to an extra round, he reckons he still won it. He's a big enough lad and none of us can manage to land anything on him at all.

You can learn a good bit from the experienced guys and I like the fact that with my (limited) boxing & kickboxing background I can show the absolute beginners (and even the TKD black belt) some stuff when it comes to that end of things.

The negatives - It's not MMA, I'm not sure what you'd call it. There's been a very small amount of knees, elbows and takedowns worked on but not enough to call it MMA. If I put someone against the wall they don't know what's going on, the same with take downs, they look at me like I'm crazy if I take them down. When you get there and you're wearing 10 oz gloves, you can't do anything, there's no way to get a grip of anyone or try to lock anything in. When we start to compete it will be in kickboxing. I'm 38 and the 2nd oldest guy in the class, the only lad older than me is an absolute beast and in much better shape than me. I don't really see myself making big gains in striking ability, the body just can't do it any more after hip and ankle injuries from running

BJJ;

I started going to lessons in Navan (Gi) on Tuesdays 4 or 5 weeks ago as well as the Saturday classes in Cavan (No-gi) The instructors I've met are both brown belts, in Navan there are a few purple belts, a few blue belts and it's mainly white belts of various stripes/levels, I'm the least experienced lad there, with 8 weeks training. The few of us that started in Cavan at the same time are on a similar level to each other ability-wise, we always have a few more experienced lads that pop down from Navan too.

The positives - Top notch coaching, there's a brilliant atmosphere, everyone is very helpful and welcoming, and even though it's serious stuff, it can be kept fairly lighthearted at times. It's low impact, it's totally new to me so I should hopefully be seeing a slow and steady improvement, rather than slipping backwards in striking. I can already see an improvement in myself, I can occasionally get the better of someone and I got complemented on my defence by one of the lads last week.
(we had a new lad start last week and even though he's as strong as an ox I still came out on top. Now any time I've gotten the better of anyone slightly more experienced, I'm fairly certain it's because they saw me going for something and let me at it to make me feel good)

The negatives - ............... Mat burn :eek: and bruises I guess, although I don't mind the bruises and I'm assuming my feet/knees will toughen up so the mat burn will stop. I haven't found anything else negative yet.

So, to my decision, BJJ is definitely the way forward for me, it seems far more suited to someone my age. Beginners classes are starting up in Navan on Tuesdays at 6:00 so I'm going to do those and stay on then and do the next class with the more experienced lads. I'll still be doing Saturdays in Cavan so that'll be 3 classes a week. Hopefully Cavan will start a mid week class at some stage too and I could up it to 4 classes a week.

I might pop into the occasional striking class just to see how the newer lads are progressing and for a bit of a sparring session.

anotherfinemess

While you're trying out classes I recommend you include Tai Chi. I think the health benefits are greater than with other martial arts, plus you;re not so likely to get injured. In the past I did Aikido and Judo, then took up Tai Chi at age 62. It's the basis of other martial arts and it has a ton of philosophy to go with it, if you;re into that kind of thing.

Mellor

RonanP77 wrote: »

The negatives - ............... Mat burn :eek: and bruises I guess, although I don't mind the bruises and I'm assuming my feet/knees will toughen up so the mat burn will stop. I haven't found anything else negative yet.

I distinctly remember horrible bruising at the start, arms and legs in particular. At times you could clearly make out fingerprints. It's pretty common with new guys, and usually the result or using too much brute force to try hammer something through. Two newer guys smashing into each other like a rock and a hard place results in bruised everythings.
After a while, you'll start moving around the hard place and it ceomes a lot easier on the body, dispute the fact you are going "harder"