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 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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Aug 03 2010

Ricardo Almeida Strength and Conditioning

Category: Conditioning, MMA, Strength Training, UFC, Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:35 PM

UFC 117 is only a few days away and this card is stacked from top to bottom. We all know the main event pits Chael Sonnen going against defending champ Anderson Silva for the title. The one sided war of words has been well documented over the last few months and soon enough it will be time to close the mouth and step inside the Octagon.
For the next couple of days I am in hot pursuit of finding strength and conditioning videos of some of the fighters that are on the card at UFC 117. For starters I am going to begin with Ricardo Almeida who is taking on a legend in Matt Hughes. This is going to be a battle and I see it going to the judges. That being said both fighters will have to be in top condition.
Ricardo Almeida’s strength and conditioning coach is the world renowned Martin Rooney. If you follow strength and conditioning Rooney is one of the leaders in the industry and I myself have learned quite a bit from this great coach.
The video below is a short one. The deadlift is one of the best movements an athlete can perform. The deadlift builds the muscles of the posteiror chain. In this video Rooney has Almeida doing a variation of the deadlift. Rooney calls this modified version the sprawling deadlift. Obvious the sprawl is essential in MMA. The key to this lift is to do it as fast as possible and generate power. So don’t load the bar to heavy because it will not allow you pull it up fast. So check out this video. And don’t forget to watch Almeida take on Hughes this weekend.

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Jul 28 2010

UFC Fighters Conditioning Routine

Category: Agility, Conditioning, MMA, Power Training, Speed, UFC, Uncategorized — Rob @ 11:07 AM

Saturday night Dana White is giving us all a free UFC event on Versus. The card is pretty stacked, and if you are a big fan of the UFC you have been itching for the last month for some octagon action. The main event of the card is Jon Jones taking on Vladimir Matyushenko in the light heavyweight division. This can be a big stepping-stone for Jon Jones young career as many see him as the future champion of the division. With all that raw talent and youth on his side I tend to believe this as well. Jones is a pure athlete and the future of the sport.
Also on the card Mark Munoz will be taking on veteran Yushin Okami. Last April Munoz had a great come from behind victory over Kendall Grove defeating him with some vicious ground and pound. Munoz like Jones is a rising star in the UFC. Munoz is still going through some of the growing pains as all fighters do but he is well on his way up the ladder and becoming a serious contender in the near future.
As a treat for the site I was able to find some of Munoz’s strength and conditioning training. In this video he is doing a ten-minute non-stop conditioning circuit. In the circuit Mark is wearing a weighted vest. In this circuit you will see all different types of training going on. Each exercise is done for thirty-seconds. The circuit includes: speed and agility training, you will see him testing his core with medicine ball tosses, he performs plyometrics in the circuit to develop explosive power sledgehammers swings and some fight specific movements that you will see throughout the protocol such as ground and pound. So sit back and enjoy the next ten minutes and wish you were doing the circuit.

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