Tallahassee native and FSU alumna Alissa Rudloe is the co-owner of Train. Fight. Win. (TFW), a local Mixed Martial Arts gym with the mission to welcome and empower all through fitness and technique. Alissa shared her experience as a female athlete and business owner.
Name: Alissa Rudloe
Year: Alumna
Major: Biology
Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida
Her Campus (HC): What is Train. Fight. Win. Tallahassee? How does it differ from other gyms?
Alissa Rudloe (AR): Mixed Martial Arts gyms can come off as intimidating. We like to set ourselves apart by creating a welcoming environment for everyone. Our membership base is college students and young professionals, but we are trying to expand to kids and all ages. We encourage everyone, men and women, to participate and train.
HC: Other than being a co-owner of TFW, what positions do you hold?
AR: I instruct Women’s Kickboxing and HIIT Circuit. The gym is not full time for me, but it is for my husband Sky. Full time, I work in the crime lab for the State of Florida. I plan on going back to school to study Physical Therapy.
HC: When did you discover Mixed Martial Arts and how did you first get into the sport? What about MMA sparked your interest?
AR: After I graduated high school I started with Chinese Kung Fu. The gym I was going to shared a space with a fight club that did grappling. I read about the techniques and wanted to try it. I liked the art perspective of traditional martial arts. There were only two girls, me and one other, around a bunch of sweaty guys. It wasn’t the most inviting, which made us want to make TFW welcoming.
HC: MMA is not a sport exclusive to men, but there has not been much representation for women until recently. Have you faced any obstacles or adversity in your journey as a female athlete?
AR: Absolutely. A lot of men wouldn’t want to train with me because I was a girl. One guy told me that he didn’t want to work with me because he had a wife. I was very thrown off by this. I wasn’t thinking about it that way. I was there to train, to learn, and to work out. Some guys come into the gym and have never worked with women before in this setting. Part of our job as coaches is to make both men and women comfortable with training with each other.
Courtesy: Dave Barfield
HC: In what ways do you feel being an MMA athlete has impacted your life or helped you as a person?
AR: It has given me more confidence than I’ve ever had. I’ve always been an introvert, all throughout high school and even college. Through MMA I’ve become more confident. I can stand up against a man twice my size, I can speak in public, I can learn new skills. I feel like getting punched gives you perspective. If you get knocked down, you can still get back up. It had given me confidence in another aspect of my life.
Courtesy: Dave Barfield
HC: Do you have any advice for women who want to make their mark in a male-dominated field or industry?
AR: Don’t let people’s comments or the way they act towards you make you feel inferior. Women often feel unwelcome or out of place in these atmospheres, but we are meant to be there. Do not let anyone make you think that you’re not. You are meant to be there. This is a really exciting time. We get to witness all these movements and progress like #MeToo and Time’s Up. I think it’s really important for women to support other women.
HC: Train. Fight. Win. offers numerous classes for fitness and for mixed martial arts. Can you tell me more about the classes that are offered to women
AR: We teach the same techniques in the classes for women as we do in the others. We treat women’s kickboxing like any other kickboxing class, but it also incorporates self-defense. A lot of women want to learn self- defense and are hesitant to start. It is more inviting for a woman to come to the class geared for beginners and then transition into other classes. We are not going to judge women. Think of Wonder Woman, with all the women training on the island together, supporting one another. This is how I want women in our gym to be, women in our life to be. We’ll punch each other and hug each other when it’s over. I love teaching women because sometimes men come in thinking they already know how to throw a punch, but they don’t and are weird about being taught. When a woman comes in without experience and learns it is empowering. I wish I could tell women, “You can do this. You can do this a lot better than most of those men.” I love seeing their progress.
HC: What is in the future for Train. Fight. Win.?
AR: We’d like to expand. We recently moved to a new location, and we’d like to join and connect with the community. I’m going back to school for physical therapy, so I’d like to incorporate more of that into the business. We want to welcome everyone.
For more information about Train. Fight. Win. Tallahassee and to learn about the classes they offer check out their website.