For those of you who compete at ultra heavyweight, how important is it to have training partners near your size?
At my current academy, I don’t really have anyone consistently around 220 lbs and up to train with. Most of the time, the only place I actually get to test my game against people my size is at tournaments. That is honestly one of the main reasons I compete: to see what actually works against people in my own weight range.
I’ve medaled in about 90% of the competitions I’ve done, so I’m not saying my current training is bad. But I do feel like I could have performed even better if I had regular partners closer to my size to prepare me for the pressure, strength, and weight of my division.
For other ultra heavyweights, has this been an issue for you? Did you stay at your academy and cross-train/open mat elsewhere, or did you eventually switch gyms to find bigger training partners?
Just looking for advice from people who have dealt with this.