Yesterday morning Jessica Richer and I were at it again and this time on the field. We are all keeping our fingers crossed that she will have her first MMA fight in December. Last week we took it easy as we headed in the gym to lift. This was the first lifting session we have had since she injured her back. In that session I had her fixing up her cleans, using a progression of exercises that breaks down the clean from top to bottom. Using just the bar we made excellent progress with her clean technique. I was quite the happy coach at the end of it.
Anyway yesterday, in the early morning we headed out to the track and worked on an agility and conditioning. One movement I had her doing was to help her to develop more explosive pushing power. Now you have seen on the site explosive medicine ball pushups and how it will develop some punching power. As you know pushing and punching are essential in MMA. Developing some power in this range of motion can help a fighter control a fight. Being able to push a fighter up against a cage and being able to hold that position can win you a fight. Pushing an opponent up against a cage is a total body movement and starts from the ground up. Being able to drive your opponent you must use your legs as well as your upper body. Check out how you can develop strong legs using a sled.
In this video I am focusing on the upper body. Using an agility ladder, Jessica gets down in pushup position and moves laterally along the ladder as she explodes and both of her hands and feet leave the ground. We did this for four sets. Make sure when you are doing this plyometric movement that you know how to take the impact with your muscles to avoid injury.
