If you have solid punching power, focus on striking. If you have wrestling experience from high school or college, focus on improving your grappling and takedowns. Even as you identify and develop your strengths, work to improve areas you are less knowledgeable about. Avoid any deficiency in a particular area of training. There are many ways to improve your strength. You could use dumbbells or use a weightlifting machine. Some of the best weightlifting exercises for cage fighters include bench presses, deadlifts, and pull-ups. Lift weights every day of your training. When lifting, you should feel tired after two or three sets of 12-15 repetitions. If you're unsure of how much weight you should be lifting, start by lifting the lowest amount of weight possible, then slowly add weight in small increments. Focus equally on your arms and legs. Use the leg press and leg lifting machines to improve leg strength. Cardio training will help you develop endurance. Use shadowboxing, pushups, and squats to get your heart pumping. For instance, you could shadowbox by throwing 50 jabs, 50 crosses, 50 jab-cross combos, and 25 more punches of any type. After that, start jumping rope until you've shadowboxed and jumped rope for a combined five minutes. Additionally, you could ride a bike, go running, jump rope, and go swimming. Mix these exercises up in any order and engage in each for at least 30 minutes at a time. Training regularly is the only way you'll be able to step into the cage and hurt your opponent while evading their attacks. Training at this level will enable you to become the best cage fighter you can be. When you're an up-and-coming fighter, you might need to maintain this level of training even while working full time. The way you should divide your time at the gym (between sparring, cardio, strength training, and so on) will vary depending on your individual needs. Consult the cage fighting trainers at your gym (or the head trainer or coach if you're not training at an MMA gym). Work with this coach or trainer to develop a workout plan that will improve your overall fitness and enable you to achieve victory in your next cage fight. Some fighters work with multiple coaches or trainers to gain exposure to a broad array of training approaches, each of which might emphasize different fighting styles or ways to improve your fitness. Cage fighters rarely or never eat junk food. Focus your diet on protein sources like tofu, beans, and nuts in addition to animal protein. Vegetables like kale, spinach, eggplant, sweet potato, and beets are also healthy choices. Choose whole grain rice and bread as opposed to other varieties. The precise proportions in which you consume these foods is somewhat flexible and will vary depending on your gender, age, and activity level. Talk to a dietitian for more information about how to achieve a diet that will enable you to become a cage fighter.
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One-sentence summary -- Identify and develop your strengths. Do strength training. Do some cardio. Train 35-40 hours each week. Divide up your time at the gym with the help of your coach or trainer. Adopt a diet high in protein, vegetables, and whole grains.

Eventually, you will be able to think about your old partner without being overcome with emotion. This time is not now. At this point, being reminded of your time together with this person can lead to intense feelings of nostalgia, sadness, and regret. For this reason, it's a good idea to get rid of things in your life that remind you of your relationship. If there are items you can't stand to throw away, try packing them into boxes and keeping them somewhere out of the way for the near future. Here are a few things you may want to look for: Your ex's possessions that s/he left with you Gifts your ex gave you Music or mixtapes that your ex made for you Pictures, drawings, or artwork that reminds you of your ex Unless you are 100% certain that you can stay "just friends" with your ex, (and s/he is also 100% sure), avoid seeing your ex as much as you can for at least a month or two. When you are forced to see this person, keep your conversations as short and polite as possible. This may be hard, but it's important. Interacting can lead to awkward exchanges where both partners are thinking about the old relationship. You may even fall back into old ways with your ex and start flirting. In any case, this is almost never a good way to get over your split. Today, this advice applies to your technological connections as well. Seriously consider "unfriending" or blocking your ex on your social networks (at least for the time being). You may also want to remove this person's number from your phone to reduce the temptation to text. Exercise is a fantastic way to start feeling good about yourself after a difficult experience. Not only is it cheap and fun it's also proven to boost moods and fight clinical depression. Best of all, if you stick with it, you'll start to notice changes in the ways you look and feel that increase your self-confidence and make it even easier to get over your heartbreak. See our main exercise article for lots of tips on starting a new fitness routine. Being alone after a breakup is a bad idea. It's easy to fall into negative thought patterns and become overly critical of yourself. Being around people you're close to makes it easier to keep things in perspective. Your friends and family will offer you helpful advice (which you should listen to) and be there to comfort and reassure you when you're not feeling good. Remember nothing ever got better because people didn't talk about it. If you're away from your support network, make the best of your situation. Phone calls and Skype chats can be very helpful. You can even make new friends, but don't get into a new relationship yet. Remember that you are the most important person in your life. Keeping this in mind will make it easier to focus on your self instead of on your lost partner. Be confident in your many positive traits and accept your flaws everyone has them. Focus on being the best person you can be. Happiness comes not from other people but from within yourself. If it helps, you can even try thinking of your ex with pity. Losing you is something your ex will regret once s/he realizes how valuable you actually are.
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One-sentence summary -- Get rid of things that remind you of him/her. Avoid contact with this person. Boost your spirits with physical activity. Fall back on your support network. Always value yourself.

If there's a hip hop club in your area, you'll have to sign up. Tell him/them you will sign everyone up. Make sure that you do not tell him what you are going to say in your rap routine! It's an improvisation anyway. Odds are you'll only be able to prepare in theory. You can do it wherever you'd like, so long as you're not disturbing the peace. Right after school gets dismissed in the parking lot is a great idea if you want your battle to wind up on lots of cell phones or on YouTube. You may want to have your first couple of rap battles in the privacy of your own home. There's no shame in warming up. None of your peers have to know that you guys have been rehearsing for this moment. The only things you'll need are two people, a judge, and possibly some microphones or a quiet enough area. Decide a point system, such as best of three. Set a time limit for each round and a set number of rounds. What's more, decide who has to go first. It can be the loser of the previous week or find an unbiased way, like coin flipping. Going first isn't all bad. You get to cover your bases. If you know your pants are too baggy and your grades in math aren't exactly stellar, talk about it. That way your opponent won't be able to attack you as easily. If that's not an option, find a loop to play in the background. Take turns rapping insults at each other and generally showing off your creative, improv skills. Make it a rule that the judge will then name the winner of each round based on quality of insult and rap skill. Whoever gets the most points, wins. What's the prize? Apart from ultimate respect, of course.
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One-sentence summary --
Challenge your friend(s) to a freestyle rap battle at the venue of your choosing. Have a rap battle with one friend, or a few friends. Have someone beatbox for you.