Fighting back
New Melle mother uses MMA to get in shape
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| ROY SYKES PHOTO Margie Cooper delivers a roundhouse kick to the side of training partner James Wade's head during sparring at Grappling Concepts in St. Peters. Cooper, who lives in New Melle, is training for her first fight later this month. |
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She is scheduled to fight in a no-holds-barred mixed martial arts competition presented by Cage of Fury Aug. 15 at the Heart of St. Charles Banquet Center. Cooper trains in kickboxing, taekwondo, judo, and Gracie Jiu Jitsu at United Martial Arts Chapman Academy and Grappling Concepts in St. Peters.
"I just like to beat on people," she joked while hanging out with her training partners. Then, the mood became more somber as she confided the real motivation behind her road to the steel cage. Cooper had two children. Her son, James, is 25. She also had an 18 year-old daughter, Katie, who tragically passed away two years ago."She's the reason I started martial arts," Cooper said. "It helped me through the grieving process. Hitting a punching bag is a lot cheaper than hitting other people."
While coping with the loss of her daughter, Margie came to realize that her own health was in serious jeopardy. She was 100 pounds overweight, couldn't sleep, and she was on medication for cholesterol and blood pressure.
"When I first started working out here, I was completely unhealthy," she said. "It was so intimidating walking in here for the first time. I was so heavy and out of shape, and there are people with good bodies here, but they all made me feel comfortable."
All of the instructors and fellow martial arts students encouraged her to keep trying.
"I hated shadow boxing in front of a mirror and seeing the back of my arm flapping as I punched, but they kept saying wait and see how you look in six months," Cooper said.
That encouragement helped her through the hard times.
"It made me feel so good that these people thought I was important enough to spend so much time with me," she said.
Cooper's introduction to martial arts began when taekwondo master Brad Chapman came to her office to give a presentation on a new kickboxing program he was offering at his academy. The program is designed for aerobic exercise, but it also teaches real kickboxing skills, so students learn self-defense while getting in shape. Cooper decided to give it a try, but it was really hard at first.
"I can't do this, but I have to do this," she said.
Those early classes were 45 minutes long and it would take her two days to recover, but she was determined to fight her way to good health. She started feeling better and became even more determined to lose the weight, so she joined Weight Watchers and enlisted the help of fitness trainer Chaz Kellison.
Cooper got excited when the pounds started to disappear.
"I would check my weight before and after class just to see how much weight I lost in an hour," she said.
Now she trains at least 25 hours per week.
Cooper started getting pretty good at kickboxing, and eventually took an interest in some of the other fighting styles offered at United Martial Arts Chapman Academy.
Brad Chapman is a fifth degree taekwondo master under Korean master Soon Uk Kim. He has competed at the national level and trained with the U.S. Olympic team. Several of his students also compete at the national level. Chapman has a partnership with J.W. Wright who teaches Gracie Jiu Jitsu under the legendary Royler Gracie. The jiu jitsu school is called Grappling Concepts, and it is a member of the Royler Gracie-David Adiv Association.
The United Martial Arts Chapman Academy and Grappling Concepts share facilities in St. Peters and Troy. In addition to Chapman and Wright, there are several instructors who specialize in teaching different martial arts styles.
James Wade is a professional mixed-martial arts champion. He recently tried out for a spot on Spike TV's reality show The Ultimate Fighter. Wade is one of Cooper's primary trainers. Other instructors include: Byron Strawn, Kim Block, Brian Imholtz, and Wayne Pitman.
Cooper added taekwondo and jiu jitsu to her training regimen. She eventually started training for mixed-martial arts with Wade. Mixed-martial arts is a brutal world where fighters learn how to blend the best of different styles for maximum effectiveness. They get into a steel cage and fight with very few rules, but it is controlled combat.
The fighters are serious about this sport and train very hard.
"I've never seen anyone train as hard as Margie," Wade said. "She trains two or three times a day; with more intensity than a lot of professional athletes. She has the skills and the conditioning. She deserves the opportunity to show what she can do."
Wayne Pitman, another veteran of the steel cage, echoed Wade's assessment.
"Margie's greatest strength is her discipline and dedication," Pitman said.
Cooper started getting interested in competing about a year ago when she went to see Wade fight. There were also a couple of women on the fight card that night, and as she watched them, she kept thinking to herself: "I could whip them," she said.
Wade, Chapman and Wright encouraged her to go for it. She trained even harder losing more weight and gaining more skills as she went.
Cooper has overcome a lot in the past two years, and now she just wants to get in the cage and prove to herself that she can do anything. She doesn't know who her opponent will be that night, but it doesn't matter. After all, she's already defeated the toughest opponents she will ever face.
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