Aug 30 2010

UFC Expo

Category: MMA,UFC — Rob @ 9:49 PM

This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the UFC Expo in Boston as well as UFC 118 and let me tell you it was a great time. I headed up a day early to Boston to do a little sight seeing in this city with such rich American history. Boston is where the American Revolution started, which could be one of the biggest upsets in the history of fighting. So Thursday we checked out all the cool historical sites.
Friday morning I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning and the UFC did not disappoint. Going into this weekend I had one mission and that was to get my picture taken with Wanderlei Silva. Right off the bat I jumped in his line and accomplished my mission anything else the rest of the weekend was icing on the cake and boy was that icing delicious.

The UFC did a great job keeping their fans happy all weekend. There were great autograph sessions, with some of the top fighters in the UFC. From Renzo Gracie, Bas Rutten, And Vitor Belfort to Uriah Faber, Thiago Alves and Anderson Silva, all greats were out in full force for the fans. They also put on some training and development seminars hosted by some of the top fighters and trainers to help improve your game.

All the top sponsors and vendors were there, promoting their products, we had access to all of this great stuff with some great deals. We also had an opportunity to step into the Octagon and take a few photos. One of the highlights did not even happen at the Expo, it happened as I walking back to my hotel and I ran into Shaq. Now I am not a basketball fan but meeting Shaq was pretty cool.

A great fight card then topped off the Expo for UFC 118. Randy Couture showed the world why mixed martial arts is superior to boxing by defeating James Toney. Frankie Edgar proved the first fight was not a fluke as he defeated BJ Penn to retain the lightweight championship of the world. Fight of the night honors however went to Nate Diaz and Marcus Davis. Diaz put on a striking clinic and finished Davis off by choking him out. The whole weekend was a blast from top to bottom. Hopefully once MMA is legalized in New York there will be and Expo held at Madison Square Garden for all to enjoy.

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Aug 24 2010

Frankie Edgar Strength Training

Category: Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Strength Training,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 2:03 PM

UFC 118 is upon us as is the long awaited rematch between the UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar and BJ Penn as well as Randy Couture taking on James Toney. As you all know I love to give you a taste of how some of the top fighters/athletes train for fights. Now it’s hard to find recent video of strength and conditioning sessions for upcoming fights, so I just dig into the past.

In this video you will be taking a look at the current UFC Lightweight Champion of the World Frankie Edgar. We all know in the first fight Edgar was able to push the pace on Penn. He was able to use a lot of constant movement to squeak out a victory to win the championship.
How was Edgar able to keep this pace throughout the fight? It had to do with the type of conditioning sessions he was putting himself through. Edgar performed circuits that mimic what a fight would be like. The way to make these circuits work for you is to make them harder than the actual fight. When doing conditioning sessions prior to a fight you need to make sure that those sessions are going to be harder than what you will experience during the fight. The point is when you get in the cage you will be able to push the pace because your body has adapted to going harder in training.

So here is the Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar as he performs a pretty brutal conditioning session using circuit style training.

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Aug 22 2010

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger

Category: Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:03 PM

On Saturday August 28th, the Tae Kwon Do Club at UCF will host an event in the Ferrell Commons Auditorium at the University to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. The sponsor is comBATON, the martial team sport who also sponsored the event last year.

Martial artists of all ages and levels can participate in the event in which athletes are timed in a sequence of challenges. The contestant with the fastest time will win the combine. After the combine athletes will be matched up in short combaton games of three on three. Combaton, also known as martial art football, uses kicks in the same way a football player would block or tackle their opponent.

There will be a short demo game by the Combaton All Star Team before the combine begins at 10 AM.

Once the official starts the timer for the combine, the contestant will have 6 phases to go through, starting with accuracy (throwing a combaton baton), agility (going over and under a set of hurtles), kicking ability (kicking a combaton goal pole), take-down ability (kicking a grappling dummy twice and throwing it to the ground with a judo throw), quickness in cutting (running around orange cones) and a full out sprint to the finish line.

There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies for the contestants in each division. There are six divisions, starting with ages 5 thru 7 up through the over 40 group. All participants will get a free t-shirt.

Karate Depot has donated some great prizes and an iPod Touch will be raffled off. There will be other goodies as well.

The event registration starts at 8:30 AM and the event ends at 3 PM. Admission is two or more cans of food, if you are a UCF student, and for all others, the same plus $5. So, support the local food bank and come out and be challenged.

If you are not in the area but would like to make a donation to the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida please CLICK HERE. Anything you can give will go a long way in helping.

Thanks,

Rob

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Aug 19 2010

Sleds and MMA

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:02 PM

I know winter is only a couple of months away but I am still going to have a discussion about sleds.  Not the sleds you ride down a snow covered hill on in the middle of winter but the sled that will turn you into a well conditioned, powerful fighter.

Sleds can be used for different reason’s, sleds can increase strength, power and can be used for conditioning purposes.   Another great reason to use the sled is to help with the development of speed in sprinters.  The sled forces the athlete to maintain the posture needed in the acceleration phase of a sprint.  This phase in a sprint is almost similar to when an athlete in MMA, Jiu-Jitsu or wrestling takes a shot for a takedown.

The sled pull in the video below is to teach my fighter how to drive off the ground and use the force off the ground to develop speed.  I was not working on sprint mechanics I was trying to make the fighter stronger in a position that she will find herself in.

As you will see I loaded the sled up with a good amount of weight to force Jessica to really drive off the ground.  This not only developed strength in the range of motion needed it also worked on her conditioning.  This is the first step in using the sled to develop a faster shot for a takedown.  Step two will be to lower the load and have my fighters sprint with the sled and the last step is going to be having my fighters take actual shots with the sled with a light load.  This is one of my field studies to see if I can develop much faster shots with my athletes.
Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Aug 17 2010

Strongman and MMA

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Strength Training,Strongman,Uncategorized — Rob @ 12:32 PM

The summer has been great and training has been even better.   Usually I have a pretty solid training program that I go by but this summer because of the crazy schedule I have had, I have been training in all sorts of different ways.  Some days it’s Jiu-Jitsu other times I am in the gym lifting and many times at the track doing speed, agility and quickness drills on top of sprinting.

Another modality of training that has been added into my training has been some “strongman” training.  Lucky for me I was able to meet some guys that train once a week together and I was invited to join in on the training fun.  So once a week we load up a van and head out to the local school.

Every session we start off with a warm-up using a Dynamax Ball, we throw the ball around in different ways to get our upper and lower body ready to go.   We break the sessions into three circuits.  The first circuit was as follows:

Circuit One

Kettlebell Clean and Presses 40lb Kettlebell

Sand Bell Clean and Presses 75lb Sand Bell

Keg Clean and Presses Approximately 40 lb keg

Each person was at a station and completed six reps at each station.  Using three different implements for the same exercise was great.  Each exercise tested our muscle in a different way.   Each has it’s own little technique to be able to perform the lift.   Each had a different feel to them as well.  The Kettlebell with proper technique just glides into position. The Sand Bell, which by the way is one of favorite pieces of equipment to use, you need a little more power to get it up.  Finally the keg, you need to learn how to pop it off your hips to get it up.  After 3 sets we moved onto the next circuit.

Circuit two was brutal, and the one reason it was, The Prowler!  The Prowler will break you down, my legs were done after this circuit.

Circuit Two

Prowler Push 40 yards

Overhead Keg Walks 15 yards

After the first Prowler push I was feeling pretty good.  Even the second was not to bad until I picked the keg up overhead and began to walk that’s when the legs started to wobble.  But I was able to maintain my balance and able to walk it.  By the fourth set the overhead keg walk became a keg carry for the 15 yards.  After this circuit the legs were Jell-O but on we went.

Before we moved onto the next circuit we needed a short break so we decided to a deadlift variation with the Rolling Thunder handle.  We did four sets increase in the weight slightly each set.  This acted as an active recovery.

Next up was the last circuit.  For this circuit we had to perform a total of 100 swings using three different implements, the Kettlebell, Clubs, and a Mace.  I really did not have too much problem with the clubs and the Kettlebell.  However it was the first time I was using the mace and boy was it tough to get a rhythm with the technique.  Just as with anything else I know I will get better with it with a little more practice.

So what are some of the benefits of this type of training in relation to combat sports like Jiu-Jitsu and MMA.  There are three key things that I have noticed on the mat since starting to incorporate this type of training.  First my overall strength has improved, I have noticed I am able to control people better on the mat and hold my own better with bigger and stronger guys.  Second my grip strength is awesome.  Grabbing on to an opponents wrist or even holding a grip to defend against an arm bar have improved dramatically.  Grip strength is so important in combat sports and I am very happy my grip has become stronger. Finally my conditioning level has also improved.  This type of weighted conditioning has really helped when rolling or sparring in the gym.  Even the conditioning level during pad work has been great.

So as summer starts to draw to a close, I am going to incorporate these sessions into my own programs from now on.  As for my fighters they will be getting some of the strongman love!

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Aug 14 2010

MMA Team Training

Category: Boxing,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,Mental Training,MMA,Power Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:39 AM

In the past I have discussed the concept of team training in strength and conditioning.  Yes combat sports are based on individual achievements but there is a team aspect to the sport as well.  Having a great fight team is important to the success of the team and the individual.

It is essential to have a good core of teammates that have similar goals around.  If you have a team with the same vision it makes for a winning enviroment.  It is no different when it comes to a tough strength and conditioning session.  Having a solid group to train with in a brutal session can be beneficial to your success.  You now have someone to push you as they stand side by side doing the same training.  The element of competition also kicks in as you are now forced to push yourself to compete with others.  If you slack of, miss a rep or stop your team will know it and you will be letting them down and yourself down.

One MMA fight team that is doing the team strength and conditioning concept right is Lloyd Irvin Mixed Martial Arts Academy in the Washington D.C. area.  Irvin has a great fight team that consists of Brazilian Jiu-Jitu players and MMA fighters.  The group comes together for strength and conditioning team training.  They use a circuit type model to accomplish this.  Each fighter is assigned a station and they perform the exercise at that station for either a specific amount of time or reps then move onto the next station. This type of training mimics the match that the fighters will be competing in.  As you will see in the video a circuit like this can be a daunting task but with the support of a good coach and solid team members it becomes that much easier to accomplish and compete.

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Aug 11 2010

Power and Agility for MMA

Category: Agility,Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Quickness,Speed,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:26 PM

Speed, agility and quickness are key essentials in any fighters program. These types of drills to improve speed and agility can turn the average fighter into a better athlete. So adding these drills into any program is a must.
Here is the thing and coaches out there should be careful especially with fighters. Fighters in my experience feel that every drill has to be conditioning. This is not the case especially when training speed, agility and quickness. You must make it clear to the athlete that these drills are designed to improve these different aspects of training. They are not meant as conditioning drills. Of course if you want to make them into conditioning protocols by all means reduce the rest time in between drills and go for it, no one is stopping you. Usually when I tell a fighter to perform the next set when they are ready they go to fast, so to combat this I now wait about two minutes before I tell them to perform the set.
Another thing that a coach or if you are training yourself that you want to be aware of is to perform these drills if possible before you strength and power work. So before you hit the weights perform your speed and agility drills. You want to make sure that you are a fresh as possible when performing the drills, this way you are fresh. You will move a lot faster than say if you lifted first and then performed the drills. These are just a few pointers to help fighters understand and learn how to train effectively.
In the drill below you will see one of my fighters Mike Savarese perform a drill using a hurdle. Mike jumps over the hurdle forward and backwards as quickly as possible, which helps with his quickness and agility and power. As an added bonus, Mike performs a sprawl after landing on the backend of the hops. This makes Mike have to react quickly as he lands off the hop and go right into a sprawl. Just a small way for the fighters out there to add a little combat sport component to this drill. In this video you will see normal hurdle hop followed by the MMA style hurdle hop.
Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Aug 09 2010

Kettlebells and Sprinting

Category: Conditioning,MMA,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:19 PM

One night in my search for training equipment I finally found some bumper plates that I had been looking for on Criagslist.  When I arrived at the guy house he took me to his garage to get the plates.  He had all sorts of great training equipment; clubs, sand bells, kettle bells, plyo-boxes and the list could go on and on.  But we began to talk and he said that he and some friends get together on Saturdays and train in the parking lot of a local school and he asked me to swing by.  So the training session came and went and it was great.  Now I am hooked and go out to train every Saturday I can.

The last time I was able to train, he started to talk to me about a strength and conditioning coach by the name of Dan John.  John is a contributor on the site T-Nation.  In one of his articles he talks about former world champion hammer thrower, Sergey Litvinov.  That day we did a modified version of what is called the “Litvinov workout”.  Here is what Litvinov used to do.  He would head out to the track, front squat 405 pounds, rack the weight and sprint 400 meters.  He would do three sets and call it a training session.  That’s a pretty brutal session.

So I now started to incorporate this workout into my training and that of my fighters. But this type of training needs to be adapted, for I do not recommend front squatting 405 pounds then sprinting 400 meters to start.  So following the idea of Dan John, I take one exercise and have been using kettlebells to do this.  Either a swing, a squat, a clean, a press.  I perform the movement for the predetermined reps and then sprint 100 yards.  I perform 3-5 sets and call it a session.

So this is how it would look on paper:

Kettlebell Swings 5-8 reps

Sprint 100 yards

Kettlebell Overhead Presses 5-8 reps

Sprint 100 yards

Repeat 3-5 times.

You can also modify it by adding more exercises and reducing the yards on the sprint for instance:

Kettlebell Swings 5-8 reps

Sprint 50 yards jog back

Kettlebell Squats 5-8 reps

Sprint 50 yards jog back

Kettlebell Clean 3-5 reps

Sprint 50 yards jog back

You get the point you can add more movements or add distance on the sprint.  This is just another type of training to incorporate into your program or that of your athletes.  Below is just a short clip of a movement and the sprint!



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Aug 07 2010

UFC 117 Predictions

Category: Agility,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,muay Thai,UFC Predictions,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 11:38 AM

One of the most anticipated UFC events is upon us. In just a few hours we are going to see if Chael Sonnan can back up all of his talking and win the world championship. The hype around that fight is crazy, and after Anderson Silva’s last performance many want to see him go down.

The best thing about UFC 117 is that the main event is just the icing on the cake. The rest of the card is stacked with great fights in all the different weight classes. This card on paper is the best card of the summer.
So here are my predictions for this card. Now if you know me I m never really good at this so if you are a gambling man or woman then bet against me and I could make you rich.

The first match-up I want to discuss is in the heavy weight division. Junior Dos Santos takes on Roy Nelson. This could turn out to be a slugfest. Both have heavy handsand someone is going to be getting knocked out in this one. Many always go against Roy Nelson because of the way he presents himself. He does not look like a fighter but we all know he can throw down. Damn this one is hard to call. I am taking Roy Nelson in a 2nd round TKO.

Next up is a match up I want to see, as former welterweight champ and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes takes on Ricardo Almeida. Once again Hughes will be taking on a Gracie fighter. First it was Royce, then Matt Serra, Renzo Gracie and now Almeida. Can Hughes become the new “Gracie Hunter”? I think this is where Hughes hunting dayscome to an end. Big Dog will come out on top via unanimous decison. It will be a tough fight but Almeida will pull it out in the end.

Clay Guida and Rafael Dos Anjos is going to be a barn burner and the next match-up on the card. The pace of this fight will be incredible. Who doesn’t like a nice lightweight fight. Guida is a fireball and the fans are in love with him. He looks to win his second fight in a row coming off a submission victory in March. Dos Anjos looks to keep his three fight win streak in tact, with a victory over Guida it will bring him to a new level in the lightweight division. In this fight I have Guida taking it in a split decsion. The judges will have a hard time with this one. So boys don’t leave it to the judges.

Next up we have Jon Fitch taking on Thiago Alves. This is a match-up of ATT goig up against AKA. Fitch won their first meeting but Alves is a different fighter this time around. If Alves can stop the takedown then Alves will take this one but I believe that Fitch will be able to get this fight to the ground and pull out the victory via unanimous decsion.

Finally the main event the one everyone has been talking about, the super hyped match-up with Chael Sonnen going up against the pound for pound best fighter in the world Anderson Silva.  I see Silva knocking Sonnen out in the second round.  The first round Silva will feel Sonnen out.  Sonnen will get a takedown and Silva will survive the round.  In the second the feeling out process will be over and Silva is going to just take control of the fight and finish Sonnen off.  Then everyone will be in love with Silva again and we will all be one happy UFC family.  So enjoy the fights and in the famous words of the Beastie Boys, “If your driving, don’t drink, and if you drink, don’t drive”!

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Aug 04 2010

Jon Fitch Strength and Conditioning

Category: Agility,MMA,Power Training,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:41 PM

In my search for strength and conditioning footage of the fighters in this weekends UFC 117 card I came across a lot of Jon Fitch footage of his strength and conditioning. Other fighters are hard to come by but Fitch produces the video. Jon Fitch who fights out of the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), is taking on American Top Team (ATT) member Thiago Alves
In most of his videos he is doing agility work. We all know that agility is one of the key components to any strength and conditioning program and is essential for fighters and athletes alike to train.
In this video however, Fitch is using lateral jumps over hurdles with punches. Lateral jumps are a form of plyometrics which help train an athlete to become more powerful. I found this movement to be interesting and will definetly incorporate it into my fighters overall programs. Fitch we all know has great takedown defense. This exercise will help him react and move explosively when someone attempts to take him down. I also enjoy the MMA specificity that is added into the drill. After each set of hops Fitch throws a one-two combo, this makes Fitch focus on sticking the landing on the jump and then exploding with good technique with the one two. This in particular drill takes focus. Lack of focus will lead you to hit the hurdle and crash to the floor. So remember when watching these videos I post of pro fighters doing these exercises know that they are under the watchful eye of a professional, well at least I hope so.
Don’t forget to watch UFC 117 as Anderson Silva defends his title against Chael Sonnen. Also on the card UFC legend will take on Ricardo Almeida, Junior Dos Santos will go up against Roy Nelson as that will be a fun fight to watch.

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