Dec 25 2010

Christmas Presents

Category: Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 1:37 PM

Christmas is a time of giving, so on this Christmas Day, I am going to give you three tips that will help kick start your strength and conditioning training to the next level. Add these simple training ideas into your strength and conditioning and you will reap the benefits of your hard work.

Gift Number 1:

Add power movements into your program.   What do I mean by power movements?  Well what I am talking about are exercises that require you as the athlete to move a force quickly.  That force can either be your own body weight or an object such as a kettlebell or barbell.  Incorporating suck power movements/exercises such as plyo-metrics or the Olympic lifts in your program is essential to taking you to the next level.  Now you don’t have to rush out and learn the Olympic lifts immediately.  Break them down into the different variations like the push press or jump shrug.  These movements alone will allow you to become more powerful.   A side note, when adding these power movements into your training, start with them first then move onto movements that require more strength.  So get moving fast and reap the benefits to your power development.

Gift Number Two:

Gift number two is one of my favorites.  Start adding sprinting into your training.  Not only as a conditioning tool but also as an overall training method to help you become stronger and more powerful.  Sprinting will lead to better body composition and fat loss as we know can benefit any combat athlete looking to cut weight as well as develop more power in the athlete.  Sprinting is a power movement and as a result of adding them into your training you will become more powerful.  As for the conditioning side of sprinting you will see great results on the mat in your conditioning level after adding sprint into your program.  Some of the sprint protocols I like to use with my fighters are 300-yard shuttles and 100-400 meter sprints.

Gift Number Three:

If you are serious about a career in MMA then you know how much training goes into it.  There are several training sessions during the week, which include all sorts of sparring as well as the time spent in the weight room.  All of this can lead to overtraining in combat athletes.  When you become overtrained you will not see the results you are looking for.  Gains physically and mentally will slow down.  Fighters are notorious for overtraining.  So my final gift to you on this Christmas Day is tell you to cut back on your strength and conditioning training.  I have heard of many fighters not only training in the specific disciplines for MMA but also talk about how they are in the gym five days a week as well.

Here is my advice cut back to 2-3 times a week in the gym.  As I prepare my fighters for a fight I do not have them training with me for more than three days.  Most of the time they train twice a week with a focus on their strength training.  This has worked wonders with my fighters as they have shown more energy and better gains in and out of the gym.

So quickly here are your gifts, one, add power to your training, trust me you will be throwing opponents in no time.  Two, sprint your ass off, if anything it will help you avoid the neighborhood dog on the loose.  Finally don’t overtrain yourself in the weight room.  Cut back your session and make those few sessions you have hard.

Merry Christmas from Team Combattrainer.

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Dec 14 2010

Olympic Lifting for Power in MMA

Category: MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training — Rob @ 7:55 PM

During the summer when I was younger we used to run around the neighborhood getting ourselves into trouble.   As a kid I was pretty scrawny because my mom did not want me to lift weights because the doctor said it would stunt my growth.  Well, years later I read how that “fact” was a myth but it still did not help the fact that I had no strength or power.

One day this lack of power got me into some trouble with the neighborhood hag.  The ball went over this wonderful neighbors fence.  So of course I went over to retrieve the ball.  I had nothing on but a bathing suit and if I remember correctly this thing looked like a Speedo.  So I grab the ball and instead of going around the gate I make the decision to jump the fence.  As a kid there is no fear plus I was stupid.  So I get my running start and headed for the fence.  As I hit the fence I made the leap missing the mark completely, I ended up half way over the fence with my bathing suit hung up on the fence.

This was not a pretty site.  I could not get myself off the fence.  Lucky for me the neighbor from across the street who once before had saved me when I got stuck in his rose bush saw I was in trouble and came to my rescue.  Now the bathing suit got so stuck that they had to cut it off and my scrawny naked ass had to run back home.

So why this story, well maybe if I had a little power in those legs I would have made it over the fence and not have been the joke of the neighborhood for the rest of the summer.

That leads me to how we can develop such power.  In a previous post MMA and the Olympics I spoke about using the Olympic lifts such as the Snatch and the Clean and Jerk to develop power.   But here is the problem that many may argue.  They say that the Olympic lifts are hard to teach and in MMA there is not enough time before a fight.  Well one way to combat that issue is how about teaching these fighters how to do these lifts in between fights.  Ok so that is one solution.

The solution I want to talk about the most is breaking down the Olympic lifts, in this case the Clean and Jerk, into parts.  Two exercises that will help with power development, which are components of the Clean and Jerk are the Jump Shrug and the Push Press.  Both of these exercises use the same movement patterns that are found in the Olympic Lifts. Both use leg drive to get the bar moving and are both explosive in nature.

With both the Jump Shrug and the Push Press you will want to use a weight, which you can explode with.  The exercises are not meant to be slow but rather powerful.  How fast can you move that weight?  If you are not moving the weight fast and controlled you are defeating the purpose of the exercise.  Using these two lifts will help with not only the power needed in a shot for a takedown but also in throwing your opponent.  It will also help develop more power in your punches and kicks.  So give these two exercises a try and maybe you won’t get stuck jumping over a fence.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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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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Jul 10 2010

The Future Star of MMA!

Category: Agility,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:48 PM

Nothing beats youth and determination when it comes to wanting to be an athlete especially an MMA fighter. That youth and determination can be found with Mike Savarese. This future MMA fighter has just started on his journey but you can see in his eyes that he wants nothing more than to be a fighter. Mike trains jiu-jitsu under Ricardo Almeida at RABJJ.
After speaking with his brother Patrick about strength and conditioning and MMA, I had the pleasure to meet Mike and his brother for strength and conditioning session. Mike and I hit the gym, this training session was used to test where he was at with strength and where his conditioning level was currently. As with any of my fighters or athletes I tested his one-rep max deadlift. The deadlift is one of the best movements that can be placed in any fighter’s strength and conditioning program. The deadlift builds strength along the entire posterior chain. As you know with any sport a strong posterior chain is very important in a combat athletes performance. Working on some tips to clean up Mike’s deadlift technique, he was able to pull 345 for his one-rep max. Not to bad since he had not deadlifted in quite a while due to injury.
Next we moved on to test his one-rep max on the bench press. Although I don’t use the barbell bench press in my programs that often I use this test and transfer it over for pressing with dumbbells. Mike put up 265 lbs for his one-rep max. After the one-rep max tests were done, I introduced him to Olympic lifting and taught him some of the movements in the power clean. If you have read some of the other posts on the site you know how important it is to have some of the Olympic lifts in the strength and conditioning programs of athletes. These lifts test the power an athlete can produce. Using only the bar I taught him how to clean from the top down. Pretty much this is how it went. I had him front squat to learn where his body will be at the end of the clean, then had him do jump and shrugs to teach how when doing this movement he should shrug his shoulders. This was followed up by cleaning from the thigh, then above the knee and finally below the knee.
After our training session we headed for the park to for some speed and agility work. Usually I will begin a training session with speed and agility work but I knew I was testing one-rep maxes and want Mike as fresh as possible. During this session I used drills found in some of my previous posts. Here are some of the drills we did…

Finally we ended our training session with some conditioning. He did two, three-minute rounds of the following circuit:
Super Legs
24 Squats
24 Lunges
24 Split-Jumps
12 Jump Squats
This was followed by a minute of Battle Ropes, using four different rope exercises for 15 seconds each. To finish off the three minutes he smashed away at a tire with a sledgehammer for thirty seconds alternating the grip on the sledgehammer with every strike.
Here are some things that I picked up during the session. Mike is very open minded to learning new ways to train in and out of the weight room. He is willing to do what it takes to achieve his goal. Mike is and exceptional athlete and is the future of mixed martial arts. So I would like to welcome Mike to the Combat Trainer team. He has a bright future in the sport of MMA and will be a world champion one day.

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Apr 08 2010

MMA and the Olympics?

Category: MMA,Power Training,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:00 PM

We have heard rumors about Mixed Martial Arts maybe one day being part of the Olympics. Who knows if this will ever happen but this is not what this post is about. I want to discuss training that has been over looked by not only fighters but many athletes as well. What am I talking about? I am talking about the Olympic lifts. Recently on the UFC Primetime show, we saw George St. Pierre (GSP) doing the Snatch. This is proving that the Olympic lifts are valuable to any strength-training program.
What are the benefits of the Olympic style lifts? These lifts are known to develop power as well as great flexibility in the hips, legs and shoulders and the whole body is trained when performing these lifts.
When I learned the lifts two years ago I saw the immediate benefit to doing them. I instantly began to incorporate them into my fighters program. When fighters ask me what are the best exercises the Clean and Press is always mentioned. Obviously there are benefits from the other lifts as well.
There is one negative about the Olympic lifts. For most athletes or fighters they are hard to learn. There is a lot of technique that goes into these lifts and it takes a while to get the hang of them. The better your technique gets the more you will be able to lift. With the Olympic lifts poor technique equals bad results. But if you can get good at them it will extremely improve your athleticism. Trainers say it’s a waste of time to teach these lifts because they take so long and fighters need to focus on other types of training before a fight. What about the time that they are not preparing for a fight do these trainers just stop strength training all together? This is the perfect time to teach your fighters the Olympic lifts. During this time you can focus on showing them one lift and let them get good at it. Then you can incorporate them into their program.
When I teach my fighters these lifts I am not looking to make them Olympic weightlifters, I just want them to learn the lift effectively enough to be able to perform the lift explosively and not get hurt. The key here is to teach them how to control their bodies while exploding during the movement as fast as they can. In upcoming weeks I will be posting more about the Olympic lifts.
Below is a video of someone I used to train MMA with. He was also an Olympic lifter in high school when I met him. I ran into him at the gym a few weeks back and he trained with me. Here is video of him power snatching. Take a look at his technique pretty good after a couple of years lay off.

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