Feb 07 2011

Guard Sled Pulls

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Strength Training,Strongman,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:59 PM

The ability to pull an opponent in during a fight is an important skill to have in combat sports such as MMA and jiu-jitsu.  If you have ever seen one of my training programs you will notice that pull-ups are a staple for my fighters.  Using all different types of grips to work the many different pulling angles a fighter may see in a fight.  Pull-ups are the king of all pulling exercises.  I can already hear the whining out of some about how you can’t do that many.  Get up on a bar and do some damn pull-ups and get out as many as you can.  I still have trouble with pull-ups.

But this post is not about the pull-up but rather increasing your pulling strength in general.  On many post in the past you have seen me pulling a sled or running with it attached to me.  Sleds are a valuable tool I you have access to one and if you don’t go out and buy one.  You know they are good when you see some the chain sporting good stores carrying them.

The sled increases strength and explosive power depending on the movement that you do with it.  If running with the sled like I mentioned above, a fighter will develop explosive leg drive which can lead to faster takedowns and more powerful punches and kicks.

So while training Jessica Richer for the Abu Dhabi qualifying tournament we came up with a different way to use the sled to help improve pulling strength from the guard.  Now I am sure I did not invent it nor will I claim I did but I have never seen anyone pull sleds in this fashion.

So if you are looking for sport-specific training and looking to improve your guard try these three variations of the sled pull to increase pulling strength and power.   There are three variations the first is with the heals on the ground, this is the easier of the two.  The second is what we called the open guard pull, which was difficult, and finally the third was the pull from the closed guard.  So if you own a sled give these a try.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Jan 28 2011

MMA in Greece

Category: Boxing,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,muay Thai,Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:40 PM

There Is No Try

by Bill Pairaktaridis

Nerdy opening, I know. Doesn’t make it any less true, however. It’s a great way to summarize one’s entire philosophy. When you set your goals, you have to do everything in your power to achieve them. If you want to win, losing is just another step in that direction. Remember, you are only defeated when you give up. But enough of the philosophy. You came here for some fighting tips/advice/talk/whatever and that’s what you’ll get.

I did have a reason for starting this article with my take on the philosophy on fighting. The very first step I take before preparing for a fight is getting in the proper mindset. I train my mind first and my body second. I make it very clear to myself that for the next six, four weeks or even one week (yes, I’ve taken on fights on such short notice), I will live, breathe and sleep fighting. This is the time when I put in the most work in the gym, both in the weight room and the ring. It’s not that I like cramming in all my work in the last days before a fight. That would be stupid. In fact, I work hard all year round both for athletic and for personal reasons. It’s just that then is the time when I have the proper mindset to really push my boundaries and re-discover what I’m capable of. And even when I’m resting at home, I will usually watch fights of my favourite fighters, like Ernesto Hoost, Buakaw Por. Pramuk and others, so that I can maybe learn a thing or two. Sometimes I may not even learn anything but it helps get me pumped for the fight.

When training for fights or just martial arts, it’s important not to let your strength training lag behind in favor of conditioning. A martial artist needs to be a very complete athlete. They need to be strong, conditioned, fast and durable. So, I hit the weights three or four times a week. However often life and recovery allow. Now, I’m in no position to tell you exactly how to train. What I can tell you is that you need to train hard but safely. And injured fighter isn’t really much use to himself. I may not be the biggest guy in the gym but I do aim to improve on a week to week basis. If I find my workouts harder than normal, I take a step back and take a look at my lifestyle. Have I had adequate sleep? Am I eating enough? Am I psychologically alright? The problem is usually something as simple as getting an extra hour or two of sleep and you’ll be fine. But don’t be afraid to seek advice if you find your strength lacking.

Another area a fighter must be fully aware of is his diet. Since most martial arts work with a weight class system, it’s to your advantage to be as lean as possible, so you’ll carry the most muscle for your weight and you won’t have unnecessary fat weighing you down. To melt away the fat is as simple as reducing your caloric intake below your BMR if you’re an amateur fighter that trains 2-3 times a week. For a more active individual, they could just eat up to their BMR and let the extra exercise take care of creating an energy deficit for the day. However, keep in mind that your mind will lead you to eat to cover that deficit. So, you have to be mindful of what you eat, how much you eat and whether you’re losing fat or not. I fight in the -74kg class because that’s closer to my natural weight and since I’m around 10% body fat most of the year, you can see how that could work in my favor in the fights. In fact, I’m usually the biggest guy in terms of muscle in my class and my opponents feel it.

Of course, what makes us fighter is the fact that we train to fight. I usually train three times a week doing kick boxing for an hour and a half each time but when I’m getting ready to fight, I’ll train five times a week for a total of 8-10 hours a week and I’ll add some more conditioning in the form of jumping rope and jogging. This lasts up to a couple of days before a fight. I don’t train the day before the fight because I want to be as fresh and as rested as I can be. Besides, an extra training session won’t make much of a difference at that point. It all becomes a mind game after that. UFC Welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre said it best : “Training is 80% physical and 20% mental but fighting is 20% physical and 80% mental”.

The most important thing to keep in mind is that everything is within your grasp. If you want to get stronger, you can do it. If you want to get leaner, you can do it. If you want to get better, you can do it. Well? What are you waiting for? Go out and get it!

About the author : Bill Pairaktaridis has been training in martial arts for the past 14 years. He found a passion for Shidokan Karate as a young boy and later for Kick Boxing as a teenager. He’s currently a silver medalist in the national level in Kick Boxing. He also has a great passion for health and fitness and maintains his blog at http://herofit.tv

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Jan 17 2011

Sprint Conditioning Program for MMA

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,Mental Training,MMA,muay Thai,Power Training,Speed,Uncategorized — Rob @ 6:56 PM

Back in high school I competed in a couple of sports throughout the year. In the fall I played soccer, winter was wrestling season and in the spring it was track and field. The best part about both wrestling and track and field was the fact that they are pretty much individual sports. In order to win you need to depend on yourself to get yourself the victory. Sports like these can teach you a lot about yourself.
Well the one sport I want to discuss in more detail is track and field. You all thought I was going to say wrestling since yes this is a combat sports training website. But there is a lot we can take from track and field that can help us in our training as combat athletes.
As a track athlete I competed in two events, the 100m dash and the 400m. These all out sprints are some of the most grueling events I competed in high school. Yeah it’s one thing to get crossed faced on the mat and get a bloody nose while your mother looks on in horror and it’s another thing to sprint as fast as you can for 400m. The 400m has been said by many one of the hardest races and of course I picked it.
While training for these events I ended up sprinting a lot in practice. Back in those days I was not what you call a very athletic looking lad. That started to change a bit when I began to sprint nearly everyday. As a puny little high school kid I began to see some changes in power I had as well as the musculature in my legs. I was explosive and in great shape.
When I first started to train combat athletes I would use in my conditioning a lot of the circuit type training that “mimics” a fight. These circuits work very well and I continue to use them in coaching of fighters. Looking back though on how I felt after sprinting 400m and how I feel after some sparring I noticed the two feelings were very similar. Sprinting like many combat sports including MMA are anaerobic sports. So that being said I began incorporating sprinting into my fighters programs as well as in my own training and the results have been great.
With my fighters I also make sure that I coach them in proper sprinting mechanics. Now I know they are not going to be world-class sprinters but rather world-class fighters but teaching proper mechanics makes the athlete sprint not only faster but more efficiently. A more efficient sprinter will be able to last longer during conditioning and maximize there time in training.
For those of you that like to sprint or even want to give sprinting a shot to increase your conditioning I am going to give a four-week program below to help you achieve that goal. Each week there will be two sprint sessions. You will be surprised that these sessions are short and sweet but are very effective.

Week 1
Day One
6 sets 50m sprints
Day Two
4 sets 50m sprints
2 sets 100m sprints

Week 2

Day One

5 sets 100m sprints

Day Two
3 sets 100m sprints
2 sets 200m sprints

Week 3


Day One
5 sets 200 m sprints
Day Two
1 set 100m sprints
2 sets 200m sprints
2 sets 400m sprints

Week 4


Day One
1 set 200m sprints
4 sets 400m sprints

Recovery
As for recovery if you were training to be a track star then full recovery would be necessary. As forgetting ready for a fight I tell my combat athletes to sprint when they are ready. This affords them the opportunity to sprint when ready and recover but push themselves on there own pace. As they become used to the sprinting they adapt to the stimulus and take shorter and shorter recovery times.
Train Hard! Train Smart

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Jan 15 2011

Children and MMA

Category: Injury Prevention,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,muay Thai,Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:18 AM

By now we all know that MMA is mainstream, we are seeing it pop up everywhere.  With this explosion MMA gyms are popping up everywhere and the influx of new students is growing daily.  This is great for the sport and it will only continue to help the sport grow in the future.

This brings me to my next point.  These MMA gyms are not only being joined by adult students, but children as well.  I see the sport of MMA or grappling at the youth level as the next big sport here in the United States.  The children are the future of the sport and it will only help grow the sport to new levels here in the United States.

The one thing we need to be careful with, however, with our youth joining these gyms is trying to specialize these children to early in the sport.  Just like early specialization in other youth sports such as soccer, football and hockey, this could have a negative impact on the child athlete.

Having kids active in sports is great it sure beats sitting inside the house all day doing nothing but being lazy.  I strongly believe that we should have our children involved in some type of sports from a young age.  I particularly love when children are involved in gymnastics and martial arts from a young age.  Both of these sports allow the child to learn their bodies naturally by using different movements.

Now like I said earlier there are some things to look for when children are specialize in sports to early.  In his manual, The Development of the Russian Conjugate Sequence System, Tom Myslinski writes about how the Russian had a system of training their athletes from a young age.  He wrote that the goal of the Russians was to have the children be exposed to a whole range of different activities.  This would help develop their “functional capacities, motor abilities and knowledge base.”  (Myslinski, p5)

Myslinski also has a great chart where he explains some of problems that happen when early specialization takes place.   Two points that he makes that are of importance are, one, that there are “performance inconsistencies within competitions” and two, usually the athletes start to “burnout” by the age of eighteen.  (Myslinski, p6) With the burnout issue also comes injuries from overuse of the same muscles, joints and tendons.  Day in and day out, year after year of training in a very similar fashion will do this to any athlete especially at the younger level because their bodies are still growing.

So what is the take home message here?  As the sport of MMA grows more and more children will want to get involved.  Some parents will become crazy about their children winning it’s just the nature of the beast.  But as adults of these child warriors it is our responsibility to make sure they train the right way.  We have to make sure that these children learn how to use their own bodies before trying to control someone else’s.  Get your children involved in the sport of mixed martial arts but let them play all different sports as well.  This will only enhance their athletic ability in the future and just make them that much of a better fighter if they decide to take that path.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Jan 03 2011

Balance Your Fight Game

Category: Agility,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,muay Thai,Striking/Stand-up,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:25 PM

One very important aspect that many mixed martial artists neglect as well as other combat athletes is balance.  If you watch MMA there are some really great athletes in the sport.  Many of those athletes posses great balance in their MMA game.  Let’s break down some positions fighters can find themselves in during a fight and apply what having strong balance will do.

Your balance in a fight is important throughout the entire fight. Take a look at BJ Penn, there are times when n opponent goes to take him down and he is on one leg and not going down to the ground.   So balance is good for takedown defense.  One area that balance is overlooked is in the striking portion of the game.  When throwing combinations fighters that cannot maintain solid balance will not be able to deliver the punches with any kind of power.  When delivering a kick, if done properly a fighter must get up on the ball of one foot and turn their hips explosively, if the athlete cannot get up on the one leg for the brief time the kick will not generate enough power or speed.

In past posts I have spoken about some ways to increase your ability to have better balance, from the one leg squat or pistol, to performing single leg hops.  These ways are an excellent way to better your balance.  Another way, which could be beneficial, and it is a very basic movement is walking across a balance beam.  Yes I know the next thing you will say is “where am I going to get a balance beam?”  But you do not need a balance beam.

Remember when you were a kid and you were at the playground or just hanging out on the street?  Well, I do and I remember using the curb along my street to walk across and use my balance.  I actually think I used to pretend that if I fell off I was falling into a swamp of alligators.  Boy was I a dork.  But as you can see a childlike imagination can lead to great thing in the future like having some great balance.  You can also go out and purchase a nice 2×4 lay it on the ground and use that as your own personal balance beam.

Instead of myself showing you what to do, this video is of my daughter who attends gymnastics class.  At only a year and half she has now started to walk across the balance beam with minimal help if any.  So start using this little secret from the gymnastics world and you will only improve as a fighter.

Train Hard! Train Smart

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Dec 20 2010

Pull Your Way to a Championship

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,muay Thai,Strength Training,Strongman,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 5:51 PM

It was that dreaded time in the school year that many of us went through as kids.  The physical fitness test in Phys Ed class.  Now I loved gym class playing all the different types of fun games competing with all the jocks who, after high school really did not end up doing much after their “great” high school athletic career.  Actually senior year I was given the award for the highest average for four years in physical education.  That and four years of college netted me a communications degree, should have really thought out my career back then.

Back to the physical fitness test, the most dreaded part of the test for me was how many pull-ups the student could get out.  Now I really sucked at pull-ups most of the time not getting to many of them out.  Back then it really did not dawn on me what a pull-up would do for me in the future but now I know why it was on the test.  That is because the damn exercise makes you strong and who does not want to be strong.  I think those physical fitness tests scared a whole generation away from doing pull-ups because when you walk into a gym most of the time you see people using the Lat pulldown machine because it is easy.  But like the old saying goes anything in life worth having should be difficult to get, and that goes for a strong back.

When it comes down to it the pull-up is one of the best exercises that a MMA or grappling athlete can do.  In MMA, jiu-jitsu and wrestling having a strong back which assists you in a lot of the pulling motions associated with the sports can help lead you to victory.  In the clinch having a strong back can lead to more powerful punches as well as being dominate in the clinch.  On the ground being able to control your opponents posture in the guard uses a lot of pulling movement to keep the opponent close.

This brings me to my next video. Pull-ups also help with grip strength.  Now those that do Judo or jiu-jitsu you can use your gi thrown over the pull-up bar to do pull-ups.  That will make the move more sport specific.  Now what I have done was I went out to Home Depot and picked up some straps, that along with some PVC pipe that was lying around the house I made homemade pull-up grips handles.  This is a fairly simple thing to make, for any of you who know me you know I can’t build stuff and I even did this.  With the wider grip handles you will see how much not only your grip improves but as well as your strength in your posterior chain.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Dec 08 2010

Interview with GSP about Training

Category: Boxing,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,Mental Training,MMA,muay Thai,Power Training,Quickness,Strength Training,Striking/Stand-up,UFC,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 8:31 PM

Like with all weeks leading up to the big UFC cards I am on the prowl for some good training video’s from the fighters that are on the card.  I have been on the lookout for some good George St. Pierre training video but instead came across a great interview done for UFC.com.

Since I am out to help many of those trying to break into the sport or those looking to get to the next level I pulled a few key points from this interview that will help with your fighting career.  When you want to be great at something you look to the best and figure out what they are doing and how they prepare, Take the knowledge you gain from these top notch people and then tailor it to you.

In this interview with GSP for his upcoming fight against Josh Koscheck he talks about using the knowledge he gained and putting it all together.  There are a couple of important messages to take from this interview.  One was getting out of your comfort zone.  Many fighters continue to train with the same team and with the same training ideas fight in and fight out.  This may work for a while but eventually it will fail a fighter.  The more often you take yourself out of comfort zone the more likely you will succeed in a fight.  In a fight there is no comfort zone so the more you are used to being out of it in general the better fighter and person you will become.

Another important point I picked out is all the different people he trains with.  This gives him an advantage because he is now a wealth of knowledge and he knows how to put it all together.  GSP invests in himself and his pursuit for greatness.   This investment in himself has made him the dominant fighter he is today.  So if you are an amateur trying to make it or you are trying to get to the next level in your career, then make the investment and watch how successful you will become.

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Nov 30 2010

Sled Training for MMA Fighters

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 6:16 AM

Winter is almost here and I can smell the first snowstorm is lurking around the corner. That means is that it will be time to dust off our sleds and head to the hills for a little sleigh riding.  Looking back when I was a kid my dad used to take us to this fancy golf course in the rich neighborhood and we used to go sledding for hours.  We had a blast doing so.  When we were really young my dad would drag the sled back up the hill with us after going down sometimes with one of us in tow.  Once we got a little older we had to start dragging the sled up the hill ourselves usually with my sister whining behind us that she had to walk up the hill.

So there we were complaining first about going up the hill and second having to drag the sled up.  Remember sleds were a little heavier back then and I was a wimp back then so dragging it was a pain.  Little did I know that forcing me to drag this sled up the hill was making me stronger.  I knew nothing then about strength back then but if I had a Delorean I would definitely hop in it with my Hoverboard and head back to 1985 to drag that bad boy up that hill for hours.

But there is no time machine that I know of, however lucky for me I own my own sled.  Now it’s a little different from the sleds we go down hills on but it is still fun nonetheless.  This sled I am talking about can and will improve strength, power and speed if used the right way.

In the sports of MMA or in combat sports in general it is important to have strong legs as well as strong pulling muscles.  Yes people that would be your back.  Being strong and powerful in those areas is not enough either, those same muscles need to be well conditioned as well so you can continuously use them within a fight.  The following sled training will help in all aspects.

The sled on the video is loaded up to 165 pounds.  You will see two videos, the first being of Carlos as he pulls the sled explosively for ten yards then drags the sled for ten yards all the way to the fifty-yard line.  The pull is done explosively as you will see the kettlebell falling off.  Next time a little more control will be better but what the hell it’s Carlos and he goes 110% everytime.  The second video is of your good friend, me doing the same exercise back the other way for fifty yards.  I will let you know the quad burn on the walking backwards drag is great.

Now many are saying but I don’t own a sled, like I have said before, you have some options.  Grab a used tire, drill a hole and pull and drag that.  Or going back to my original story when it snows volunteer to drag the neighborhood kids back up the hill on their sleds while they are still sitting on them.  Let me know how you feel during and after that training session.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Nov 22 2010

MMA Reaction Drill

Category: Agility,Boxing,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,muay Thai,reaction time,Uncategorized — Rob @ 9:00 AM

Reaction time in sport can be the determining factor in winning or losing.  Split seconds and the reactions of the athletes in those moments have made many champions in all sports including MMA.  Hell reaction time won me a few touch football games back in my younger days.  Hey even the time I flipped over my handle bars going down a hill my reaction time was necessary as I need to find a way quickly not to let my head smash into the pavement.  If that were today I really would not have needed to learn how to fall cause I would have my mandatory helmet, kneepads and elbow pads to protect me.

I have been incorporating some gymnastics into my training and seeing how it transfers to combat sports.   While doing some of these drills I found that my equilibrium as well as my kinesthetic awareness was a little off after performing forward rolls and cartwheels.  After watching some MMA fights and seeing that some of the fighters end up rolling around in a scramble just to come up and get rocked I decided to add a dimension of fighting to the gymnastic drills.  In the Brock Lesner, Cain Velesquez fight you saw Lesner get rocked a bit and do a backward roll into the cage.  As he came up you could see that he was uncertain of what to do.  This drill may help aid in that kind of fighting situation.

Now you will need another person to really get the reaction time training as well in this drill.  The second person will call out punch combinations as you come up to your feet after performing the specific gymnastic move.  The key is some simple punch and kick combo’s.  The reason behind this is because in a fight the basics are the most important especially when you are tired and or rocked from a punch.  Remember do not have the combinations predetermined.  As you will see in this video I will mess up one combo a bunch of times.  Do the same combo until you get it right so the basic become second nature.  Plus these are some good outtakes, watch as I almost crash into my daughter. Another key is to have the partner call out the combo either as you are getting up or in the last rep of the specific gymnastic move you have chosen to do.  Go give these a try and see how you improve in kinesthetic awareness as well as reaction time.

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Nov 18 2010

Phil Davis Agility Training

Category: Agility,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Speed,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:25 PM

Once again another UFC event is upon us. UFC 123 in the Motor City where Quinton Rampage Jackson will take on Lyoto Machida and completing their trilogy will be Matt Hughes and BJ Penn. The card looks like it should be a good one unlike UFC 122 where I felt it was like the Superbowl some years where the commercials were better than the fights. Well all the cards can’t be winners lucky for us all it was free. One fight I am interested in seeing is Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis take on Tim Boetsch. Davis is one of those fighters that is very athletic. Lucky for us all there is some video of Davis doing some of strength and conditioning training.
Agility is a great skill to have not only in the sport of MMA but just in regular life. Having good agility can help protect you from injury. In this video you will see Phil Davis and Dominic Cruz doing some hurdle hops as well as using the agility ladder to improve their athleticism. You have seen me using agility drills to help improve my fighters speed and agility before. This just proves my point that creating athletic fighters is the way the sport is heading and in reality is already there. So if you are not training for speed, agility and quickness then you better get on it! Enjoy the video! Train Hard! Train Smart!

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