Maintaining physical exercise as a matter of synchronising practices: Experiences and observations from training in Mixed Martial Arts

This paper is concerned with the establishment, maintenance, and decline of physical exercise practices. Drawing on experiences and observations taken from a carnal ethnography and rhythmanalysis of the practices involved in training in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), I argue that maintaining this physical exercise practice is not straightforwardly an outcome of individual commitment, access to facilities, or the availability of free time. It rather depends on the synchronisation of practices: those of MMA, those that support MMA, and those that more broadly make up everyday life. This research suggests that increasing rates of physical activity might be better fostered through facilitating the integration of combinations of healthy activities into everyday life.