UFC 128 is coming your way on Saturday night. Mauricio Shogun Rua is taking on one of the most exciting young fighters in the MMA world Jon Jones. The card is stacked once again with some really exciting fights. If you are new to site, first welcome and enjoy, you will notice that the week leading up to a fight I will search out the fighters on the cards performing their strength and conditioning routine. This helps those that are new to the sport or trying to learn new ways to train to get stronger and in better condition. Just a word to the wise. Some of the routines you see are designed as part of a program. This is not the only type of training that the fighters perform. So it is wise to do some research on strength and conditioning or ask a professional like myself.
In this video you will see Kurt Pellegrino and Miguel Torres performing a five minute conditioning circuit. Pellegrino, who is taking on Glieson Tibau has a great strength and conditioning coach in Jon Chaimberg. The five minutes mimics the time in a round. The circuit consists of many different exercises. You will see sprints, plyometrics as well as medicine ball work and bodyweight exercises. The circuit is designed to raise the athletes heart rate the way that it would in an actual fight. This is a real tough workout so if you do give it a try make sure you work up to five minutes. Meaning maybe instead of doing it for five minutes the first time you try do a similar circuit but start at three minutes. Watch within a week or two you will be rocking and rolling at five minutes.
Train Hard! Train Smart!
Jon Fitch is in the main event at UFC 127 going against BJ Penn. Fitch is known for his outstanding wrestling and many have called him boring for his lay and pray style. This time around I don’t think laying on BJ Penn will be such a good idea.
But I am not here to critique anyone’s fighting style, I am here for some strength and conditioning and that is what I am going to give you. In this video just like the title says you are going to see Jon Fitch performing jump squats with the barbell. The string type thing that you see attached to the barbell is called a accelerometer and it measures the speed of the bar as you jump with it.
He then moves into jump squats without the barbell. Jump squats are great for becoming explosive using your own body. You need to be explosive however and once you hit the floor you need to be jumping, this is the way to build that explosiveness.
Train Hard! Train Smart!
Tomorrow Fedor Emelianenko will be taking on Giant Silva in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament. Coming off his loss to Fabricio Werdum it will be interesting to see how Fedor responds. I am thinking that he will be coming out to destroy Silva convincingly.
When I though about putting up some of Fedor’s training video, I was very surprised to see that there was actual stuff out there. Thinking about how he leads a pretty much private lifestyle I though it would be harder to come across some training material. But lucky for Combat Trainer I was able to find some!!
In this video you will see Fedor using different types of training to get stronger and more powerful. By the looks of things it looks as though Fedor had an outdoor training facility constructed for him and his team. I definitely would not be surprise if they used this strength training playground year round, even in the cold weather.
If you have never done any strength training outside, then this spring you should really get on it. I began incorporating a lot of outdoors training into my own training and it has not only made me stronger but it is also a lot of fun to train outside. So if you are looking to spice up your training get outdoors as soon as possible and train like Fedor.
At UFC 126 Vitor Belfort is attempting to win the Middleweight Championship from Anderson Silva. Belfort has some of the fastests hands in MMA and some of the most powerful punches. If Silva can stay on the outside and circle away and use that great footwork of his then I think he will be able to defeat Belfort.
However, I stink making fight picks so I will stick to what I know I am good at and that is strength and conditioning. In the video you will see below you will have the opportunity to look at some of Belfort’s training. This video is great because it shows many different aspects of one of his training sessions. They call it a physical therapy session but some of the training he does in the video could be someones regular training session.
In the video he works on what looks like running mechanics. The reason for this looks like to warmup the central nervous system. But working on running mechanics could have a transfer into footwork in a fight.
After that they move into a dynamic warm-up. Now I have not gone into much about warming up on my site but I will tell you I use a dynamic warm-up prior to all of my athletes training sessions. You will also see him work on some core work as well as his lower back. You will also see Vitor do one of my personal favorites Prowler pushes and heavy sled drags.
If you take a close look as this training session you will notice that he works a lot on his lower body. You want to know why Belfort is fast then just take a look at his training methods and you will see why.
Train Hard! Train Smart!
UFC 126 is this Saturday. In the main event Anderson Silva will be taking on Vitor Belfort for the Middleweight Championship of the world. That fight alone would sell tons of pay per views but the rest of the card is stacked as well.
The fight I am really looking forward to is between two of the most explosive athletes in the UFC today as Ryan Bader takes on Jon Jones. Since I began this website I have been talking about how the future of MMA champions will be determined by how athletic they are. I guess the future is hitting a little sooner. Both Bader and Jones show true athleticism when they are in the Octagon.
So in my hunt for training video of these two great fighters I was able to come up with some Jon Jones videos to show. In this segment I am going to show you two videos. The first is of Jones pushing a sled in almost like a bear crawl fashion. Now you have seen on my site before some of the sled work as well as plate pushes across the turf. The sled pushes that Jones is training in the video help with strengthening the legs. I will tell you his quads are filling up with blood and he is getting a nice burn as he performs this exercise. The sled pushes also help with explosive leg drive which in the sport of MMA is essential in not only takedowns but in punching and kicking power as well.
The second video is of Jon Jones working on explosive front raises using some kind of pulley system. This exercise works on Jones’ power as well as his muscle endurance in his shoulders, which can come in handy in later rounds of the fights. This can also be done with bands that give the right resistance. As you do them feel your shoulders burn.
So check out both videos and if you have not already done so get out there and buy yourself a sled and start pulling and pushing that thing around.
Train Hard! Train Smart!
Coming from a Muay Thai background. I was always taught to move forward. This has led to some not so fun combos to the face. As I have been working on my stand-up game I have begun to add some more footwork into my game. This has helped tremendously in my sparring. If you are a frequent visitor to the site you have noticed that I have some other trainers from specific disciplines posting tutorial on my site. One of those trainers is Wilson Pitts.
Wilson specializes in boxing. He is a great trainer of the sport and really knows his stuff. Wilson has been adapting the boxing style to MMA and it is worth your time to take a look at what he has to offer. I asked Wilson if he could do a tutorial on adapting footwork from boxing to MMA. Wilson came through and produced the video below. I am finding more and more as I watch MMA that footwork is becoming key in many fighters victories.
So check out the video below by Wilson Pitts. If you want to contact Wilson he can be reached vis email at wilsonpitts@yahoo.com and on Twitter @pluguglyboxing. Enjoy the video!
The UFC is brining a free card on Saturday night with the Fight for the Troops 2. One fighter I am looking forward to seeing is Cole Miller as he takes on Matt Wiman. Now the reason behind wanting to see Cole Miller is simple. I want to see how well his strength and conditioning holds up. To be really honest I know that his conditioning on Saturday night will be there. The reason I know is because I know that he trains at the Institute of Human Performance down in Florida with JC Santana.
When I first got involve in training combat athletes it was really because of Santana. I was reading an article in Grapplers Magazine and came across some his and his partner Rhadi Ferguson’s methods on training combat athletes.
I had the great opportunity to go and learn from both JC and Rhadi down at IHP in their Intocombat Mentorship Program. The week I was down there they taught me everything they knew about preparing a fighter for combat. It was a great learning experience and I use many of the things I learned with my fighters today. Both JC and Rhadi push the envelop on training combat athletes.
So Saturday night look for Cole Miller to showcase his hardwork. I would also like to thank JC Santana and Rhadi Ferguson for teaching me and taking me under their wing during the time I spent with them. So check out this video of Miller training at IHP.
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
By Wilson Pitts
You teach a youngster to box by teaching a set of principles and a set of fundamentals that support those principles. You give them the tools and you let them develop an instinct for fighting. They need to find their own way, hit and don’t get hit that is the game, give them the tools let them find their own process. Ultimately boxing is an art and each fighter must find a way to express himself in the course of a fight. No two fighters will do it in exactly same way.
You do not teach a cookie cutter offense and defense and have them “do ” them at each other. “Do a 1-2-3” no! A teacher shows them how to develop a flow, “don’t think feel!” The young fighter has to get out of their own way in order to enter into “boxing mode” flowing seamlessly from defense to offense and back.
A fight is like a symphony it has beginning, a middle section, and an ending. It is being written and played at the same time. A fighter must develop a sense of fight progression, have contingencies planned for each stage, and be able to change pace or tactics as the story unfolds. This requires mental focus, concentration, during the entire contest.
Inexperienced fighters don’t have this sense of the big picture, they can’t create on the fly, it is all happening too fast. It takes a lot of rounds to be able to write and conduct the symphony while it is happening and then change with the flow of the fight. This is called “ring generalship” and it really can’t be taught, it must be an instinct in a fighter. I recommend that you study early Sugar Ray Robinson fights to learn about dictating pace, rhythm, and control of the center of the ring against a skilled opponent.
An important part of ring generalship is an awareness of what the other fighter is experiencing, is he tired? Does the pace suit him? Is he hurt? Is he frustrated? Or is he in his comfort zone? What is his perception of how things are progressing? All of this must be taken into account in real time while the fight is ongoing. While this is where a good corner helps, the personal experience of the fighter is the key.
Trainers at Stillman’s Gym in NYC in the 30′s and 40′s developed the concept of the “defensive fighter” stressing balance, footwork, head movement, and angles as well as punching. The “dean” of those old trainers Ray Arcel said that the key to this idea of the defensive fighter was the coordination of head and foot movement that he called “slide and roll.” He taught fighters like Barney Ross to bend from the waist, roll under a punch, and slide over to a punching position where you cannot be readily hit while you get off with both hands. Reduce the amount you get hit, while increasing your offensive output, this was the defensive fighter.
Charlie Goldman had an entire chapter in the book, Boy’s Book of Boxing and Body Building, co-written with Rocky Marciano, on the defensive fighter. He even used some of the same terms that Arcel used.
In the book Goldman said,” A skilled defensive fighter is usually the product of long and intensive training. Too many of the offensive boxers you see today are green, untried youngsters who do little more than throw a barrage of reckless punches. The skilled, careful boy knows that slipping punches is also part of the skill of self-defense.”
In Chapter 6, “How to Begin”, after the section on how to make your own heavy bag, Rocky Marciano says;
“When everything that can be said about boxing has been said, one fact will stand out above all the rest: the best boxers hit more and get hit the least. This refers not only to the number of punches, but also to the strength behind them.”
It is this simple fact that a beginner needs to grasp first before going on to learn the art of self-defense.
When I was a kid snow was so much fun, well that is until my dad put us to work and I was old enough to shovel. I never did get to use the snow blower instead I was always the one with the shovel. I remember going around the neighborhood making a few bucks on the side shoveling driveways. Now I get kids coming to me, as I am about to finish shoveling asking me if I need help. Get up early buddy and I may have used your help.
Another great thing about the snow besides the fact that we had some days off from school was building forts and having neighborhood snowball fights. Building the fort was some great exercise as was shoveling.
That brings us to today, getting hit with snow is not as fun as it once was. Shoveling takes hours and by the time I am done half the day is gone. But I will tell you that you can turn a snowy day into a great training session.
Take shoveling for instance, now I don’t own a snow blower so I end up shoveling out. Now to save my lower back from extreme pain later on in the evening, I use split-squatting and deadlifting technique to shovel the snow. Anyone that has ever shoveled knows that when shoveling you are in a staggered stance, so in that stance I get down and get a nice amount of snow on the shovel, then I pick it as if I am deadlifting. Now it’s not the same exact movement so please spare me the comment that it’s nothing alike. You are however using very similar movement patterns as well as the same muscle groups. Depending on the amount of snow you get you can be doing rep after rep and getting a nice little training session in. Another thing you can add to the shoveling is throwing the snow explosively. This will work on the power aspect. You can throw the snow laterally or overhead. Overhead is my personal favorite but be aware if it’s windy I do not advice it because you will get that snow right back in your face.
One aspect of a great snow day and I got this from the movie Rocky IV is running in the snow. Instead in my case I headed to the backyard and sprinted in the snow. Snow sprinting is very similar to sprinting with a weighted vest or dragging a sled behind you. It is great for the development of lower body power and in many case a great conditioning tool as it will improve your anaerobic capacity. My next venture is to head out to the local high school and sprint on the field in the snow over the next day or so. So next time you get a big storm make it a fun day of training. Just remember drink a ton of water because it’s easy to become dehydrated. Check out the video of some snow sprinting. There is a great blooper highlight in this so enjoy, but remember when you fall get back up and finish. Too bad the wife turned off camera and did not show me finish the set.
