Nov 23 2011

Thank You Thanksgiving Training

Category: Conditioning,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:06 PM

I want to first start off by giving thanks to all my followers and people that have supported me in the past years. The next few months will be huge for Combat Trainer. Every year around this time people’s diets start to drift and extra pounds are packed on.  Don’t let the holiday season kill a years worth of hard work in the gym.  Now we all know Thanksgiving is a day in which majority of us will be eating non-stop all day.  Most experts will tell you to go for a nice brisk walk after your turkey day dinner.  That may be fine to get the blood flowing again but there is no way you are losing all the calories that you have just put into yourself.

Now i understand that there is not a lot of time to train on a holiday, but I am here to give you a nice short training session that will not only help build muscle but will also allow you to burn calories and allow yourself that extra piece of Sweet Potato Pie.  The first training session that you can do that will crush those calories and at the same time turn you into a beast is a variation of the Litvinov Workout.  You may have read about some of these workouts in previous posts and boy do they get the job done.  Now the video you will see below is the Litvinov using a hundred pound kettlebell.  Yes, I know you may not own a kettlebell that size but you may own a smaller one or even a pair of dumbbells.  Since the kettlebell is a heavier one you will only see me swing the bell for a handful of reps.  If you have a lighter bell you can swing for up to thirty reps.

Now you are not just swinging the bell and stopping, after you are done swinging you must drop the bell and take off in a full speed sprint.  How many sets you may ask, well if done right between four and five sets will be good enough and then you can call it a day.  This short training session will help develop power as well as burn off calories during and after the training session and allow you to give a little extra thanks at the dinner table.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Mar 25 2011

Phil Davis Core MMA Training

Category: Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:18 PM

UFC Fight Night Live is tomorrow night and in the main event will pit Antonio Rogerio Nogueira going up against Phil “Mr. Wonderful” Davis.  While waiting in line at the UFC expo in Boston I had the pleasure of meeting Davis’ father and had the opportunity to talk to him for about an hour.  Somewhere in the United States Davis’ dad will be watching his son fight wearing his Combat Trainer tee shirt.

You could really say that I am connected to Mr. Wonderful for I had the chance to interview his strength and conditioning coach, Doug Balzarini, a few months ago as well.  So you know who I will be rooting for in the main event. Searching for training footage, I came across Davis training with what is known as a Slosh Pipe.  Now this Slosh Pipe is a mini version of the normal Slosh Pipe that would serve as a great training tool.

I first came across a Slosh Pipe when I met a training partner of mine and I also read about them in an article written by Dan John.  A typical Slosh Pipe is about nine feet long and four to six inches in diameter.  You fill the pipe, which by the way is PVC pipe, fill it up with about 30-40 pounds of water.  Now cap both ends of the PVC and then start walking with it, pressing it overhead, think of something to do with it and I am sure that it will be challenging with the water sloshing around.

In the video below you will see Davis using a mini version of the Slosh Pipe to work on his rotational power.  As you know having explosive rotational power can be very beneficial in MMA and in sports in general.  It will help with punching power, your takedowns and other aspects of MMA.  So if you looking for a cheap way to get strong look to get to a hardware store and make yourself a Slosh Pipe.
Train Hard! Train Smart!
Rob DeCillis CSCS

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Nov 24 2010

Pre-Thanksgiving Training

Category: Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Strongman,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 6:45 AM

Well the holidays are officially upon us.  Thanksgiving is only a day away and we sure have our fair share of football to watch but not enough MMA.  Like many in the United States you can drown your sorrows in a nice piece of whatever pie you choose.

Every Thanksgiving for a couple of second’s, I think back to high school and being on the wrestling team.  Now I was not a big fan of cutting weight back then, not that I am now, but in order to eat a lot on Thanksgiving I would do a morning run.  Yeah, you heard or read me right I ran and for long distance like two miles before I would sit down to feast.  I would head to the basement jump on the treadmill and go for a little jog.  Now looking back at that I think to myself, “What the hell was I thinking?” Oh yeah that’s right I had no internet and access to some of the best strength and conditioning coaches so I did not know much but to listen to my wrestling coach.

So that long distance run did not do too much on the calorie burning side but it sure made me hate running long distance.   Should of just stuck to some sprinting would have been a lot better.

So on this Thanksgiving I am giving thanks for the knowledge I have gained through the years.  And to celebrate this knowledge I have gained I will share the end result of it with you.  I am giving you a great way to burn calories for a many hours as well as build your strength, power and conditioning.

You all have seen the Litvinov workout now to take it to another level and follow Dan John’s awesome advice I present to you Litvisleds.  I am also thankful for running into the writings of Dan John for he has given me many ideas to share with you.  Here is the basic premise.  Grab a kettlebell do a bunch of swings and then sprint with the sled attached to you.  Sprint yardage will vary depending on your fitness level, 30-50 yards seems to work well.   Sounds simple enough.  Now if you own a sled do not load it so it takes forever for you to bust out into a sprint.  Remember you are trying to develop explosiveness and not being able to sprint with the sled will not help in that aspect of the training.  If you do not own a sled get out there and go find a spare tire.  Drill a hole in that bad boy attach a harness and bang you have something to drag.  If you do not own a kettlebell try a dumbbell.

And if you want to keep it simple try any of the other Litvinov workouts I have spoken about or just get out to the track and do some sprinting.  Here is one that may work, it’s an old school sprint workout but still works wonders and it is one I picked up in my wrestling years.  Sprint the 100m straightaway, jog the 100m turns, do this for about a mile or mile and a half and call it a morning then go get you turkey on.

As you will notice I am not the only one in the video this time, I am honoring former Marine and training partner Carlos Del Valle as he takes a run at the Litvisled workout!!

Another thing to look for is my Online Training Program will be going on SALE starting Friday, November 26, 2010.   This sale will run until Christmas Day and will be a steal for you fighters looking to take it to the next level.  And if you are not a fighter and just looking to increase your performance take a look!!

Happy Thanksgiving enjoy the day with whomever you are spending with!

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Sep 29 2010

Leg Conditioning for MMA

Category: Boxing,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Strength Training,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 9:17 PM

Having strong, explosive legs is a key component in any combat sport.  In MMA your legs can be a key component to victory.  Your legs help you in every aspect of the sport from throwing a punch or a kick to driving an opponent up against the cage to attempting a takedown, your legs are the base of your success.

It is not enough to have just strong and explosive legs.  In MMA you must be able to use that strength and power in your legs over and over again.  Even in just moving around the cage with basic footwork can be taxing on the legs and can drain them of energy.

As a fighter, strength, power and muscle endurance in your lower body is important.  Let’s take a quick look at how we can develop all three components.  Performing squats and deadlifts are the sure way to build strength in your legs.  These two exercises are surely the two best in my opinion to get the best results when it comes to strength gains.  After developing a good base of strength or within the same training cycle you can turn that strength that you just gained into power.  Utilizing plyometric training as well as using Olympic lifts such as power cleans, snatches, and jerks.

Now comes taking all the strength and power that was developed and being able to use it over and over again in a fight.  A great way to develop this type of conditioning for your legs or any other muscles in your body is by using complexes. Complex’s is combining two or more exercises with a set amount of repetitions with minimal rest in between exercises. Complexes will maintain your strength and power but also give you some great metabolic conditioning.

The complex in the following video will increase your conditioning in your legs dramatically.  It a complex taken from Dan John called the “Big 55”.  With the use of a Kettlebell you perform two exercises.  For this particular complex we used Kettlebell Swings and Goblet Squats.  This complex is done a little different and will drain your legs.  Starting with the swings you perform 10 reps followed by the squats for 10 reps, then you go to 9 reps of each then 8 reps all the way to 1 rep.  That is a total of 55 reps for each exercise making it a grand total of 110 reps between the two exercises.  All 110 reps are done without rest.  This is great conditioning for your lower body and will allow you as a fighter to continue to use your strength and power.  Give it a try!

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Sep 11 2010

Benefits of Gymnastics for MMA

Category: Agility,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:24 PM

Gymnastics is one of the oldest forms of exercise.  Its benefits are great for not just gymnast but other athletes as well.  The Spartans, one of the greatest fighting civilizations in world history, were said to train in gymnastics. If you saw the Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen UFC championship fight, you actually saw Sonnen use a forward roll to escape trouble.  The moment I could, my daughter was signed up for gymnastics because of the great benefits.

One of the benefits of gymnastics is learning how to control your body.  Controlling your body in just everyday life is essential but looking at it from a fighting standpoint, any great martial artist knows how to control their body well.  This development of coordination when training in gymnastics can also lead to better balance and can teach an athlete to learn how to fall to prevent injury.

Another benefit of gymnastic that can help any MMA fighter or Jiu-Jitsu player is the development of better flexibility.  Gymnastics athletes are some of the most flexible athletes in the world.  Flexibility plays a key roll in combat sports.  We have seen how flexibility has helped fighters escape from devastating submission that would tap many fighters.  Gymnastics will help fighters become much more flexible in the hips and the shoulder.

Becoming stronger and more powerful is another benefit of gymnastics.  Gymnasts are some of the strongest athletes in the world.  Using gymnastic in a fighters strength and conditioning program will also lead to great strength and power gains.

Above I spoke about how gymnastics teaches athletes how to control their body.  It also teaches an athlete or fighter kinesthetic awareness, which is knowing where your body is in space.  Why is this important to say MMA or Jiu-Jitsu?  A fighter finds himself in many different positions during a fight and sometimes on their back, at times on top of an opponent.

Recently I was reading an article by Dan John, in the article he was talking about different challenges.  One of the challenges was using gymnastic movements.  Using simple gymnastic moves this set of movements placed together challenged cardio and my awareness of where I was.  You will see in the video below how at one point when I get up I am trying to find my balance and find where I was as I headed toward the water.  In the first video I cut out two reps on each of the exercises.  The second part of the video we performed all reps. The small challenge consisted of; 5 forward rolls, 5 rolls over the left shoulder, 5 rolls over the right shoulder, 6 cartwheels a bear crawl finished off by a short sprint.  Give it a try; trust me it’s harder than it looks.

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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