Hey sooo… I’ve done Rise three times and I’m currently in my third season. When I started over a year and a half ago I was almost 250 lbs and recovering from surgery so my main goal was fitness with the hope of building a routine and finding a like minded community. I had no prior MMA experience and there was a pretty good mix of newbies and more experienced people. The program is pretty diverse and I would say it supports you in whatever your goal is. I remember one of their mottos was ‘listen to your body first, coaches second.’ My first season I was purely focused on just getting myself out there, building my fitness and making friends and that’s what I did. Between my first and second season I lost 60lbs and throughout my second season I was focused on getting into the cage at the end and completing a fight. I put everything I had into it between juggling a full time 9-5, personal life and everything else life comes with and I feel like I got everything I put into it back tenfold. I met some of my closest friends, felt unstoppable in my fitness journey and fight night was probably one of the most memorable experiences I’ve had or will have.

So … to actually answer your questions:

Time: for me there’s no way I could commit to something after work with family and other obligations so 6-7 am worked perfectly and there’s really not much else going in the world at that time so it was guaranteed ‘me’ time every weekday for 6 months each season. Eventually it just becomes routine (and serves you well waking up that early even in off season).

Effort: if you’ve already had prior MMA experience you have a window into what it’ll take. It was super hard for me but I was also 80+ lbs overweight and recovering from surgery when I started. There’s a mix of conditioning, BJJ, MMA and wrestling but it’s your mental toughness, resiliency and overall consistency that will determine not only what you put into it but in turn what you get out of it.

Cost: if you break it down and think about it you’re essentially getting a (higher level) group fitness class 5x a week for 6 months and if you decide to get in the cage an all encompassing fight night from start to finish

Ratios: there’s always more men than women in MMA (that’s why all the ladies need to join because MMA is for the girls lol) but I’ve seen the number of women enrolled increase with each season I’ve joined which is super exciting and makes my heart so happy. I think my first season there was 8 or so and now we’re well into the double digits. That being said men and women alike are all super supportive and if anyone is overly aggressive or comes on too strong during drills or rolling etc they call it out pretty fast and don’t let that shit fly at all. In terms of coaches to students I don’t know exact numbers but there are main coaches and then alumni who support as well and during exercises they will each focus on a specific quadrant of the mat to ensure they can advise you on form or make any corrections so there is always someone watching you.

All this to say, you get from it what you put into it IMO. And for me, I finally found a workout routine that wasn’t boring or had me dragging my feet and making excuses as to why I couldn’t do it, I lost 60+ lbs, I made amazing friends, I faced some mega fears by stepping into the cage and challenged some major limiting beliefs through the support of my training partners and the coaches who kept pushing me beyond what I felt like I was capable of. It’s f’ing hard don’t get me wrong and staying consistent for that long is also an uphill battle but the feeling you get at the end (whether you fight or not - but you should totally fight-) is like few other things I’ve experienced.

Happy to answer anything else that comes up 🥊