Apr 29 2010

The Journey is Rocking!

Category: Agility,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Quickness,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 9:37 PM

And so the journey continues and it is getting better and better as we move along.  As we all know Jessica is a 2010 Pan American champion but last week on a weekend visit to Chi-town it just so happened that there was a Naga taking place at the same time.  So what does any true Samurai do, they fight and that is just what Jess did as she once again took another tournament and continues her pace to becoming a great MMA champion.  This Saturday she will be competing in the New York Open jiu-jitsu tournament.

Look at that Samurai Sword!

The best thing about this is that after this tournament I have Jessica for a whole four weeks of strength and conditioning.  I am excited about this, as we have had to pull back a little on the strength training due to the fact that she was competing in tournament every couple of weeks.  I now have her for a full phase of training.

So here is what the program is going to focus on.  I am going to keep the same strength-training program that I had mentioned in one of my previous titled “What’s a Strength Coach Supposed To Do?  So she will follow that specific program two times a week with conditioning protocols at the end.  I will now be adding another day in there and it will focus on some different aspects of strength and conditioning.  The extra two days will focus on some functional exercise to help improve balance and mobility.  Along with that I am going to be adding speed, agility, quickness and reaction drills to these days.  I want to improve Jessicas athletic ability with this day.  We will be working on multi-directional work, cone drills and even some sprint work.  I know if I turn her into a better athlete that it will turn her into a better fighter.  This just goes to prove that not all strength and conditioning training for MMA fighters needs to be “sport-specific”.  Many times you need to take a step back and develop your fighters athletic ability it will only improve their fight game.  One thing that I am excited about testing and have been using myself is the reaction ball.  The way this ball bounces it is going to improve her reaction time on the mat and in the cage.  Look for my next post in the next day or so as I go through the progression of how I taught Jessica to snatch in out last session.  Until then Train Hard, Train Smart!

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Apr 14 2010

Come take the Journey to the Pan Ams!

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA — Rob @ 7:48 AM

The stage was set, for this years Pan American Jiu-Jitsu Tournament. Jessica headed out to Irvine, California for a weekend of jiu-jitsu. The Pan Ams are one of the most important and best-attended jiu-jitsu tournaments in the world. Jessica was going to meet up with some tough competition at this tournament.
When she arrived in Cali she needed to cut six pounds. Now Jess has been practicing weight cutting for a couple of tournaments now and things have been going great and the Pan Ams would be no different. But before she headed for the scale again and the official weigh in she still had those six pounds to get rid of. Jess headed over to the local LA Fitness and jumped in the sauna to kill off some of the water weight.


“Don’t look at me strange, I will tap your ass out!”

The next day she heads over to the Bren Event Center for the official weigh in and makes the weight no problem.  So now the next step is actually stepping out on the mats and winning.  Take a look at the Bren Center all decked out for the Pan Ams.

Where the magic happens.

Many of the top jiu-jitsu players in the world compete in the Pan Ams.  It is an honor and a major achievement to win this tournament.  Jess has been putting in a lot of time on the mats and in the weight room and has been making crazy improvement.  So it’s no wonder when she stepped out on the mat she rolled right through the competition with no problem.  when I say no problem I really mean no problem.  She had three matches that all went the distance, that is eighteen minutes of grappling.  Jess dominated each opponent as none of them were able to score one point on her.  That is eighteen minutes not one point scored.  Pretty damn good if you ask me.  She is well on her way to becoming a superstar.  Look out fight world!

“You’re the Best Around…”

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Apr 05 2010

Can you Juggle?

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA — Rob @ 8:45 PM

Today I was sitting on my couch watching a little opening day baseball. I am a Mets fan so insert joke here… Anyway as I was sitting there I get a text message from Jessica. Everyone knows who Jessica is, and if you don’t let me give you a quick refresher. Jess is an aspiring MMA fighter and I have no doubt in my mind that she will be a great MMA fighter one day. That being said her text read basically told me that she was stuck at work and was not going to be able to make our training session tonight and she did not even think she would make jiu-jitsu class. I could feel her pain through the text so much so that it inspired me to write this post tonight and get it out there.
If we were able to train tonight I was not going to train her hard because of the fact that she has the Pan Ams this weekend and she needs to be fully recovered. But what if this is a normal week? She misses out on some good training. And that is one of the problems with up and coming amateur fighters. They have so much to juggle in their lives that sometimes getting training sessions in are difficult. Some amateurs hold down full time jobs, school plus all the different training that needs to be done as well as family life. This can turn into a problem at times. Shane Carwin, the UFC interim heavy weight champion has a crazy schedule with work and travel to all the different gyms. He is the spokesperson for being able to juggle every thing on his plate and still be a top fighter in the world. Here is an example of his training week.

Monday
11:30 – 1:00 – lifting at UNC
5:00 – 9:00 – Grudge Training Center
Tuesday
9:30 – 12:00 – Grudge Training Center
5:00-6:00 – Wrestling
6:00 – 7:30 – Easton’s BJJ
Wednesday -
11:30 – 1:00 – lifting at UNC
5:00 – 9:00 – Grudge Training Center
Thursday -
9:30 – 12:00 – Grudge Training Center
5:00-6:00 – Wrestling
6:00 – 7:30 – Easton’s BJJ
Friday -
11:30 – 1:00 – lifting at UNC
“If I can do it, YOU CAN TOO!”

5:00 – 9:00 – Grudge Training Center
Saturday -
10:00 – 1:00 – Grudge Training Center
Sunday -Rest
As you can see Carwin does not stop on his way to the top of the MMA world. But Carwin is the exception not the rule as many fighters fold under the extreme pressures of life and finding time to train as well. Here is the one thing that will help you along the way of keeping that busy schedule and being able to train to become a champion one-day.
One of the most important things to do is to create a schedule similar to what Carwin has and sticking to it.
Each hour that you are not at your job or with your family should be planned out. If you have a strict plan set for yourself every week then it will be hard for you to deviate from that plan. Jessica has a plan for herself every week. She knows when she is training what and at what time. Most martial arts gyms have classes scheduled so it’s easy to make your plan around those classes. Now I know things come up at the spur of the moment but this plan will help keep you on track.
So you will have your nights or days, depending on the fighter, when you train jiu-jitsu, wrestling, boxing, judo and strength and conditioning. What does a schedule like this prevent? It prevents you from not attending your training session and it also prevents you from not knowing what to do when it comes to what to train for the day. If you spread your training out evenly you will hit all aspects of training in the week. Some days you may have to schedule two different sessions but as long as you know what they are you will be better prepared to not miss those sessions and be more focused when you get there. One piece of advice when setting up this schedule of training is not to forget the rest and recovery days. They are potentially the most important part of the schedule. Think of yourself as your own business. Businesses make plans to ensure that they will be successful. Why not do the same for you? Plan your schedule and you will see your MMA game take off to new levels.
Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Mar 31 2010

Conditioning in Action! The Journey Continues!

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Strength Training — Rob @ 10:30 AM

Yesterday I posted a conditioning protocol using Farmer’s Walks, deadlifts and burpees.  Last night after finishingup her strength training program I had Jessica finish off her session with the conditioning protocol.  She had done a variation of the protocol the week before but we worked out the kinks. She pushed through it like a champion does as she gets ready for the Pan American Jiu-Jitsu tournament. Take a look at the video.  Tell me what you think.  I need a name for the protocol, anyone have any ideas? Would love to hear them.

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Mar 24 2010

The MMA Journey Continues

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Strength Training — Rob @ 8:34 PM

We are moving ahead in Jessica’s training.  Monday Jessica learned how to clean.  This was the first time that she cleaned.  She picks things up very quickly and power cleans will be put into her program. Then we worked on her deadlifts we did 4 sets of 4 reps at 75% of her max. For the conditioning portion of the training session I had Jess doing some Farmers Walks with the Hex deadlift bar.  Now the gym we train at is small but I was able to have her go about ten yards.  When she reached ten yards she dropped the weight and did five burpees.  She then came back the ten yards and deadlifted the weight for five reps. She did five sets of theses with 30 seconds of rest in between each set.  The look on the other trainer’s faces when she was doing this was priceless.  It’s not like I was doing anything crazy with her just a little conditioning protocol.  Hmm maybe next time I will have her just run on the treadmill, nah that’s no fun.  Another thing I love when I ask her how she is feeling during the training session and she says,” I love it!”   Right now Jessica is learning the right way to lift and getting her body conditioned for what is to come down the road in her actual program.  A little GPP work, as we like to call it. This week I am planning out her program and going to be writing it out over the weekend.

Jessica’s next big competition is the Pan Ams in three weeks.  She is gearing up for that. Strength and conditioning wise I will be focusing on getting her stronger in the next couple of weeks but really going to focus on her conditioning and muscle endurance.  After this tournament she will be competing in some smaller tournaments.  Her next big jiu-jitsu one after the Pan Ams is the New York Open this summer.  We will be kicking it into hire gear for that one.  Another thing we are looking forward to here at Combat Trainer is the possibility of Jessica getting her first MMA fight over the summer. That will be some exciting news and I will keep you up to date on when and where she will be fighting.

I will place video of Jessica training in upcoming post as well as some of her tournament footage.  Here is another one of her matches in a jiu-jitsu tournament. Jessica is in the blue and gray rash guard.

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