Finally!

My cousin hooked me up with an MMA fighter from Salem (2 hours a way, I go down every other month or 2, usually from anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks this time being 2 weeks from the 17th through april 1st) who wants to get together and train when I'm down again and if I want, and when I'm good enough, is willing to get me a fight! This is great! Woo hoo!
Anyway, when I'm training on my own and in Kenpo what should I focus on to keep my skills? How do I keep from gettign rusty when I am not able to train with him and stuff?

Just my opinion but if you are near Portland, you have several MMA places to choose from including Team Quest and SBG. I would not hang your hat on training with one guy who is an "MMA fighter".

Training on your own, I would spend as much time wrestling, boxing and doing BJJ as you can and "de-emphasize" Kenpo as a focus if you want to get into MMA.

Well I'm actually about 3.5 hours form Portland, so this guy who is actually the champon in his weight in Eugene Oregon, and some of his fellow fighters are all I got. I mean I'm guessing he trains and fights out of this Gym there in eugene but I think he lives in Salem. I've seen the videos and pictures form his fights, he's pretty good and definitely knows some good stuff, more than most of my other training partners. For now this is all I got but in the near future it would be ncie to train at Team Quest or something but for now this is my option for MMA. It's not much to be sure and these aren't spectacular fighters but they are most liekly better than me so I may as well do what I can with them. When I go to college hopefully it'll be in an ara near one of the major gyms so I can get seriosu training but until then I'll take what I can get. Combine this with wrestling at my high school, and the little boxing and BJJ I get form my near by training partners nad my old TKD instructor if he ever get's around to it and I should be alright for now. I'm mostly concerned with being able to handle myself i nstreet situatiosn and I dotn plan on becoming a seriosu fighter, at least not for awhile, but a few fights would be nice.

Where in Oregon do you live? Eugene?

My best buddy lives there. A Taiwanese guy, very bad temper. Walks around with red hair.

But like Fletch said, you've got Team Quest there, why not try them out later?

-Taison out

If you want to be a MMA fighter then you will have to train all of the time as a MMA fighter. You can't be lax in the training and you have to train with other MMA fighters constantly to improve your skills. I see it all of the time with my Instructor and how much time he puts into it. I see his aches and pains and also see the love for it; because you got to love it. He fights on Friday, April 20th and am looking forward to it.

Fletch is correct, if MMA is what you want then you need to "de-emphasize" your Kenpo and work more on the skills needed to be a good MMA fighter. De-emphasize doesn't mean you have to give up Kenpo, my Instructor hasn't given up on his original training but in fact incorporates it into his MMA fighting, though on a different level ... and still trains TKD and BJJ separately on top of MMA fighting.

If that is your dream then good luck to you Storm. You are young so lots of years a head of you. Even if you decide not to be a MMA fighter, learning with these guys can only be a positive to your own training.

I actually lvie in Sisters, which is about 2 hours east of Eugene roughly, and around 3-3.5 hours from Portland. I will try to train at the Quest Gym whenever I am in Portland for a fair bit of time which God knows when that wil be but eventually, maybe in College, in a year or so. Till then when I am down in Salem which I go down every other month or so, then I will get as much MMA training as I can with the guys down there, and maybe check out the gym in Eugene hopefully.
I definitely realize the hard work it takes to be a good fighter, as I have wrestled 3 years and that is hard enough. And I also know that I cannot emphasize Kenpo, and I dont. Probably 25%-30% of my training is kenpo and the rest is MMA, JKD, wrestling, and similar stuff. I just train kenpo to get formal training in some fairly effective and practical fighting system (and it is having osme aspects that I prefer to MMA for real fighting) but it leaves a lot to be desired so I work very often on my hands and my boxing, wrestling, entering, trapping, and similar tactics, the problem is it's usually on my own as right now I have a shortage of training partners, till I go down to Salem anyway. I jsut basically do what I can. This is why I left my old TKD school, kenpo was much closer to what I'm looking for and the only other feasible option for formal MA training I have rightn ow but I really dont focus heavily on it, I learn the techniques and tactics in class and then occasionally practice on my own (enough to not forget any of it and be able to use it ok) but I focus on the more modern stuff, it's just my training methods (2 person drills and heavy bag work) in kenpo are more regular than the MMA I am forced to do alone.

Now I just have to decide whether I'm more interested in powerlifitng or mma fighting ha ha. I think for the Marine Corps MMA would be more useful especially for it's training but we'll see.

If you don't want to get rusty, you should visulaize you technniques from Kenpo, and practice them. Visulaization helps big time!! Trust me. I haven't been doing martial arts since last summer, and I recently joined Vale Tudo (also do wrestling in college), where GSP trains. The time that I haven't been doing martial arts, I basically visualized the grappling aspect (I did some BJJ before), and practiced a bit with my cousin. I also shadow boxed a lot, used the heavy bag, and practiced some of the more useful tae kwon do techniques that I learned form my old school. And guess what... I got invited to take part in an amateur fight in 2 months ( I declined, because of school and what not), because, apparently my instructor said I got talent. lol. So basically I think you should visualize your kenpo techniques and practice them when you get the time.

Oh trust me I visualize constantly! It really helps a lot to.
The same connections used in physical practice are used in visualizing those techniques.