UFC 121 is upon us and once again we will be seeing heavyweight champion Brock Lesner in the Octagon taking on number one contender Cain Velasquez. If Brock Lesner comes out victorious in this fight we could be witnessing one of the greatest, if not the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. Let’s take a look at this for a moment, if Velasquez can not stop him which heavyweight in the world will be able to. There are not many left. You have heard it throughout the UFC Primetime show that Lesner is getting better every time he prepares for a fight. As time goes on he is still reaching his peak in the sport.
Plain and simple Lesner is a super athlete. I have said it before and I will say it again, the more athletic the fighter the better they are in the cage or the ring. The likes of Lesner and GSP are leading the way as combat athletes. The sport of MMA is going to new levels. Why am I talking about this, to teach those that are getting involved in the sport of mixed martial arts that you too should not only focus on becoming good at fighting but becoming a better athlete all around. There is one thing to know how to fighter and there is another to being a professional fighter. So start becoming more athletic and watch your fight game excel.
I know the last three weeks you have seen lots of footage of Lesner training for this upcoming fight. Here I am posting some video of him training for his last encounter with Frank Mir. Check out some of the differences Brock and his coaches have made to the training. Boys and girls we can be witnessing the greatest heavyweight ever, like it or not!
Train Hard! Train Smart!
Oct 22 2010
Brock Lesner Training
Jul 05 2010
Ground and Pound Conditioning!
So I was on a mini-vacation for the Fourth of July, which of course is my favorite holiday. In any event I may have been away at the beach but I did not miss UFC 116 and it proved to be a great show once again. I went three for five with my picks and as my wife liked to point out Saturday night, “that’s pretty good for you.” But anyway, the main event at UFC 116 as you know was Brock Lesner going up against Shane Carwin. I had Carwin in this one and by all looks of it I thought it was going to be over in the first round when Carwin put Lesner on his back and pounded away on him.
As that was going on though Joe Rogan pointed out that Carwin could have easily tired himself out. If you are a fighter you know a relentless ground and pound, like the one that Carwin was displaying can take a toll on you physically as you need great conditioning to keep at it. As the round came to an end and Lesner survived the onslaught we could all see the physical strain it took on Carwin. Another thing that is affected when you cannot finish a fight when you have your opponent almost finished is the mental side of things. It’s almost a let down, but that is for another post.
As I sat and watched Lesner finishing off Carwin, I thought about the conditioning you need to have to sustain such a vicious ground and pound. A few weeks ago I had posted a conditioning protocol using a sledgehammer. In that same session I did a short one-minute “finisher” to my training session. This video was going to be used at a later date but after seeing the fight I had to put it up. Using mini-sledgehammers and the same car tire I did one-minute of straight pounding on the tire mimicking the ground and pound you find in MMA. Each mini-sledge weighs five pounds, the object here is to get out as many reps as possible in a minute. Obviously you can add time and see how many you can bang out. Check out the video below, you can see at the end I am a bit tired. This protocol will ensure that your ground and pound conditioning will be at top level. So go pick up some mini-sledgehammers and an old car tire and start your ground and pound conditioning today! Train Hard! Train Smart!
Jul 02 2010
UFC 116 Predictions!
This Saturday can be one of the biggest UFC Heavyweight championships fights in the history of the UFC, that is of course until either Brock Lesner or Shane Carwin have to take on Cain Velasquez in a few months. This card is pretty stacked even with the loss of Wanderlei Silva due to injuries. Nothing beats a great fight card on a my favorite holiday, the Fourth of July! So hope you all have a safe weekend and enjoy the fights!
