Clay Guida is taking on the legendary former Pride champion Takanori Gomi at UFC 125.  Both fighters are looking to make a run at the lightweight title.  In this segment UFC 125 fighters training I am going to show you a conditioning protocol that Clay Guida did this past summer.  Guida could be the best conditioned fighter in the UFC.  Guida never stops moving during a match and keeps the same pace throughout the fight.

In this video you will see Guida using a kettlebell to perfomr a bunch of different exercises from swings to cleans to squats.   During the session you will see him add in different bodyweight exercises as well from burpees to explosive pushups.  While watching I noticed he does keep the rep range lower during the kettlebell exercises.  The exercises chosen for the kettlebell are meant to be explosive in nature.  Doing rep after rep takes away from the power, so to maintain the explosivness make sure to keep the rep range low and explode with every rep.

Kettlebells are another great tool to add into a strength and conditioning program.  If used the correct way a combat athlete will become powerful.  But remeber when using a kettlebell it is wise to learn the techniques required to perform each movement this will only help an athlete out in the long run.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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!

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!

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!

Another gorgeous day this past Thursday and the boys from Staten Island, New York made it out for another training session. If you remember Mike Savarese is an aspiring MMA star and is currently training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ricardo Almeida at RABJJ.
Last time I met with Mike we hit the weight room and then headed to the field for some speed and agility work.
After our first session I knew that Mike would be a future star in MMA. He is dedicated and trains hard with no complaints. And we all know in this day and age athletes like to complain. For this session we headed out to the field to train. Our focus was speed, agility and conditioning.
The first thing we started with was some speed drills. These drills are designed to place the athlete in accerleration position and to generate force off the ground. How does this transfer to MMA you may be asking, well after you are done with this post check out my post titled Usain Bolt v.s. GSP Part 1 and 2 http://bit.ly/cVCQTO http://bit.ly/au0RP After we hit the speed work we moved onto some agility drills, the first time I trained Mike in these drills he was not as fluid as I wanted him to be. He was very tense up top almost robotic. In this session he looked looser, his arm action when moving was vastly improved. Like I have been saying, I train my fighters to become better athletically and that will transfer into into being a better all round fighter. We also hit some work with mini-hurdles and there is more to come on that in a later post this week.
Finally we came down to the conditioning portion of the session. To start we worked some kettlebell swings into 100 yard sprints for three sets. And as his brother Patrick said while Mike was running, :Who knew he was that fast?” After the three sets we moved onto a circuit using, Battle Ropes, sledgehammers, and Medicine Balls. This time I increased the time on the circuit by thirty second, the last training session we had we did a three minute circuit. Increasing it slowly will increase Mike’s work capacity and increase his level of conditioning. So check out the video below, let us know what you think! Oh yeah sorry about the shaky movement of the camera I was trying to get down the field. Train Hard! Train Smart!