Meet Erica Grover – Professional MMA fighter, stay-at-home mom, photographer, wife to a veterinarian.
“I compete as a professional MMA (mixed martial arts) fighter. Training for this sport requires a lot of different elements including boxing, cardio, strength, Muay Thai, Jiu Jitsu, all of these are a part of my regular routine. I train 3 times a week at my MMA gym for 3 hours rotating between boxing, Jiu Jitsu and MMA sparring with my fight team. 5 days a week in the morning I’m either outside hiking or at a regular fitness gym doing weights and cardio for 1-2 hours. Yes, it’s absolutely exhausting but I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love the work.
As a mom to 3 awesome kids this passion for fighting is also my therapy. It’s where I go to take out my frustrations and stress. I visit this part of my world which enables me to refuel and have some much needed “me time”, allowing me to be an even better wife and mother, and really, a better person all around.
My motivation is the personal challenge I feel to get outside of my comfort zone. I love being active and playing sports and have always been an athlete in one sport or another since my high school days playing basketball and running track. I got to the point where I wanted to try something that challenged me. I wanted to be in the driver’s seat of not only my training but my mental game as well. I was drawn towards MMA fighting because of the physical challenges of continuously improving myself and leveling up in the skills and knowledge associated with MMA.
Fight camps can include two-a-day trainings leaving you to come home late at night with bruises everywhere and dry blood in one or both nostrils. You know that somehow you’ve got to wake up and do it all over again the next day. Add in the battle of cutting weight and you realize the struggle to stay motivated and balanced is more than real and always present. There’s a pointedly challenging mental and emotional aspect to being a fighter, I feel like I’m constantly trying to shore up what’s going on in my head in order to keep myself sharp physically and emotionally.
I don’t separate me as a fighter and me as a mother/wife/woman. These different parts of my experience all contribute to who I am and I try to embrace every aspect of that.
In the end, my sport culminates with me getting locked inside a cage staring down an opponent, knowing they probably trained just as hard, the cheers of my friends and family ringing in my ears, feeling raw and exposed and chock-full of adrenaline. It’s the biggest rush I’ve ever experienced and I absolutely can’t get enough.
I am hugely motivated to let other women know that you can and should try new things. Dare to go out of your comfort zone and take risks. Be proud of who you are! I’ve heard from many people that being an MMA fighter isn’t a woman’s place. Unfortunately for them, all that does is motivate me to prove them wrong. I belong in the cage!
Choose your passion, don’t let the haters get you down, and get on with your bad self.”
Erica is totally right, a woman’s place is wherever she wants to be. Embrace your goals and dig deep, at IdealFit we’re cheering for you!
*These women may or may not be actual users of IdealFit products, we simply want to share their story.
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