Jan 01 2011

Frankie Edgar Training Hard

Category: Agility,Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Quickness,reaction time,Strength Training,Strongman,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 11:35 AM

The lightweight champion is back at UFC 125 on New Years Day, as Frankie Edgar looks to defend his title against the only man to beat him Gray Maynard.  Yesterday we took a look at Maynard putting the Battle Ropes to the test.  Like I said both of these fighters are always in great shape come fight time.

Today we will take a look at Edgar training for this fight.  In this video you will see all the different types of training Edgar does in preparation for a fight.  There are agility ladders to improve his footwork.  As we saw in his last two fights against BJ Penn we saw that edgar had great footwork.  Using the agility ladder in training has helped him improve in that aspect of his fight game.  You will also see him using hurdles to develope lower body power.  Having an explosive lower body helps in all aspects of the fight game from punching and kicking to takedowns.  We also see him using a stabilty ball to help improve dynamic flexibilty and core strength.  The sledge hammer also makes an appereance, just another tool that produces power as well as core strength.  Kettlebells which many combat athletes have now incorporated into their strength and conditioning also make their way into his training.  Turkish Getups with a kettlebell is a great movement to add strength to the entire body.  Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Now remeber when looking at this video be aware that there is a plan or program for what he is doing.  This could be one session where each of the exercises you see stand alone and is not a conditioning protocol.  Many fighters out there see these things and just go out and try and perform them without knowing where it fits in their training.  By looking at the date on the video this is more than likely a General Preparation Session, which is used to get the athlete ready for the work that is to come ahead in the training for the months ahead.

Happy New Year! If you are looking to take it to the next level I do offer online training at a discount for the New Year.  Make the investment in your career and make 2011 your year.

Train Hard Train Smart!

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Dec 31 2010

Gray Maynard Battle Rope Training

Category: Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Strength Training,Strongman,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 12:48 PM

UFC 125 is only a couple of days away and Gray Maynard is looking to take the lightweight title away from Frankie Edgar.  Maynard as you know is the only fighter to have beaten Edgar in his career.  Both men are pretty evenly matched coming into this title fight.  Both are excellent mixed martial artists and both are well conditioned.

All week I have brining you strength and conditioning videos from many of the fighters on the card at UFC 125.  Today’s focus is on Gray Maynard.  In this video you will see Maynard using the Battle Ropes to perform some conditioning for his fight against Edgar.  You have seen myself use the Battle Ropes with many of my fighters as well as in my own training before.

The ropes have many benefits.   A combat athlete can use the rope to enhance their conditioning level.  To see for yourself put together a bunch of rope exercises in a circuit where you go for 30 seconds of work and 10 seconds rest and you will see how your heart rate is elevated in seconds.  Another great aspect of the rope is the development of power.  Some of these ropes can weigh 75 pounds or so and moving them the way Maynard does in the video shows how much power is needed.  If you watch Maynard you will see how explosive he is when doing the movements.  That is how explosive you should attempt to be when working with the rope.

The Battle Ropes are a great tool for training use them the right way and you will see your strength, power and conditioning go to another level.

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Dec 29 2010

Brandon Vera Strength and Conditioning

Category: Agility,Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Quickness,Strength Training,Strongman,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 4:48 PM

As a New Year arrives so does another UFC card, UFC 125.  This one will feature some interesting fights on the card.  First off we have Frankie Edgar defending his lightweight title against the only guy to have beaten him, Gray Maynard.  Also on the card Chris Leben takes on Brian Stann, Leben looks to continue his winning ways in the octagon with a victory.  One matchup I am looking forward to is Brandon Vera going up against Thiago Silva.  This may turn out to be a stand-up war and a very exciting bout.

A few months ago I had the pleasure of interviewing Bradon Vera’s strength and conditioning coach Doug Balzarini. He spoke about training Vera and how he goes about training fighters in general.  If you have not heard the interview give it a listen, you could pick out some important training information for yourself.   So knowing the Vera fight is this weekend I also wanted to give you a glimpse at some of the training Doug does with Brandon as they get ready for a fight.

You will notice the use of the agility ladder in the beginning of the video.  Making a fighter more athletic is one of the keys to creating a championship fighter.  The work on the ladder will improve Vera’s footwork.  After the agility the video moves into some strongman training which will help develop Vera’s overall strength, power and conditioning.  The type of work Balzarini puts Vera through pays dividends the night of the fight.  You can visit Doug Balzarini’s site at http://dbstrength.com.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Dec 28 2010

Marcus Davis Ground and Pound Training

Category: Agility,MMA,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:34 PM

Fight Week is approaching and the card is UFC 125 on New Years Day.  The main event for the lightweight championship will feature Frankie Edgar going up against Gray Maynard.  The winner gets a matchup to unify the WEC title and UFC title  against Anthony Pettis and his crazy kick.

For the rest of this week I will be posting some interesting training footage from many of the different fighters on the card.  Another matchup on the card is Marcus Davis and Jeremy Stephens.  I have a feeling someone will be knocked out in this one.  A loss for either one could put their UFC career to a finish, so this fight should be a good one.

In my search to bring you some of the type of training that these MMA fighters do I came across Marcus Davis performing a different kind of movement to help with his ground and pound.  The movement was “created” by Kevin Kearns who is one of the top strength and conditioning coaches in MMA at the time.  Using a type of Bosu Ball and light dumbbells Davis lays on the ball and mimics ground and pounding an opponent.  As you can see the ball provides an unstable enviroment in which Davis needs to be firing on all cylinders to keep doing the movement correctly.  I will let Kearns do the rest of the explaining.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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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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