Jan 01 2012

Sprint Your Way into MMA Conditioning Shape

Category: Conditioning,MMA,MMA Training,Power Training,Recovery,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 9:27 PM

I believe I have said this once before but sprinting is one of the best if not the best conditioning tools a MMA fighter can use to increase not only their anaerobic conditioning but at the same time get leaner, stronger and more powerful.  Most people forget about this easy to use and most natural tool we have.  Fighters and their coaches love to put their athletes through different types of “MMA specific” circuits and use that as their only mode of conditioning.  I have caught myself doing this as well but as I grow wiser and grayer in the beard I have come to love and appreciate the art of sprinting.

Sprinting is a full body training session.  If you have not sprinted in a while then you will definitely have some muscle soreness in the following days.  Besides getting in a great conditioning session and increasing your stamina, there are a few more benefits from getting out and sprinting.  Sprinting will also help to cut off excess pounds and around this time of the year, who doesn’t need that.  With the loss of fat comes the increase of lean muscle mass, which will not only make you a better athlete and fighter but also make you look good, a definite bonus for you single fighters out there.  Sprinting will also help increase power while activating those Fast-Twitch muscle fibers necessary in fighting.  The benefit that I find to be very useful especially in the fighting world is the fact that a sprint session is very short.  With all the training that fighters need to go through to get on the mat or in the cage, shorter sessions in the strength and conditioning world will save you and your body from excess wear and tear.

If you have not put sprinting into your training this may be a great time to do it.   Check out the sprint program that I posted a few months ago, this will be a great place to start.  From there you can get into some more intricate and hit me up for a program to improve your strength and conditioning training.

Finally I will leave you with an awesome sprint session that I completed on New Years Eve.  After each sprint, make sure you get sufficient recovery time.  What I do is I gauge by my heart rate, once my heart rate drops between 30-40 beats I then complete the next set.  This is a basic ladder scheme, start off with a 100m sprint followed by a 200m , then a 300m and finally a 400m sprint.  I know I said finally but you are not done yet.  Once recovered from the 400m sprint, which for some can take minutes as you gather yourself, you then embark down the ladder starting with 400m, then 300m, 200m and finally 100m.  After a good solid warm-up, the sprinting should not take any longer than a half hour to complete.  Rest intervals will determine how long the session takes.

So get out to the track and get your sprint training on, because your conditioning will thank you in the end.

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Dec 15 2011

Strength Training Year Round for MMA

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,MMA Training,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:53 PM

When it comes to training for MMA, fighters seem to only want to get there strength and conditioning in during fight camp.  For most fighters, training camp usually starts eight weeks out from the fight.  This is the time when majority of the fighters turn it up in the weight room.  The fact of the matter is that combat athletes should be doing their training in the weight room year round.

If a fighter just focuses on getting stronger in the weeks leading up to a fight they will not become stronger in the long run.  Every time they start a new training camp that fighter will have regain the strength he or she had lost in their time off from the gym.

Coming out of a fight, a combat athlete will take a few days to a couple weeks off from training.  Many just stop training in the weight room altogether until the next fight comes around.  This is what starts to happen once a fighter stops their strength and conditioning work.  Around two weeks after stopping, there is a reduction in strength and after thirty days the fighters strength will begin to diminish even more.  As far as anaerobic endurance that will start to show a bigger decrease after around two weeks. 

The concern is not so much about the anaerobic work for that will get done as the athlete continues to train on the mats and in the ring.  Through the technical training and the rolling and sparring the athlete will maintain a decent level of conditioning.  The problem lies more with the combat athletes strength training.  Like I said above the athlete will stop training in the weight room for the most part and lose what they had gained during the training camp.  Starting from square one every time a fight nears does not improve the fighter.  The recommendation here is for the fighter to train year round to not only maintain their strength but also to get stronger.  A solid strength-training program year round will be beneficial when fight time approaches.  A fighter will not have to focus in training camp on regaining the strength they had lost but rather will be able to build upon the strength and power they had gained prior to the start of the training camp.  An improvement of strength over time will also help with improvement in conditioning.

As the strength and conditioning coach there is also a benefit of knowing how long it takes for an athlete to start losing their strength gains.  If the coach knows that the athlete will see a decrease in strength at around two weeks they will be able to better plan the training cycle.  A coach can time out the cycles so the last of the heavier training sessions can be around two weeks out.  The important thing here is the coach must also know their fighter and the performances they have been having throughout the training camp.

Maintaining a solid strength and conditioning program even when you are not fighting will go a long way in improving yourself as a MMA fighter.

 

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Nov 23 2011

Thank You Thanksgiving Training

Category: Conditioning,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:06 PM

I want to first start off by giving thanks to all my followers and people that have supported me in the past years. The next few months will be huge for Combat Trainer. Every year around this time people’s diets start to drift and extra pounds are packed on.  Don’t let the holiday season kill a years worth of hard work in the gym.  Now we all know Thanksgiving is a day in which majority of us will be eating non-stop all day.  Most experts will tell you to go for a nice brisk walk after your turkey day dinner.  That may be fine to get the blood flowing again but there is no way you are losing all the calories that you have just put into yourself.

Now i understand that there is not a lot of time to train on a holiday, but I am here to give you a nice short training session that will not only help build muscle but will also allow you to burn calories and allow yourself that extra piece of Sweet Potato Pie.  The first training session that you can do that will crush those calories and at the same time turn you into a beast is a variation of the Litvinov Workout.  You may have read about some of these workouts in previous posts and boy do they get the job done.  Now the video you will see below is the Litvinov using a hundred pound kettlebell.  Yes, I know you may not own a kettlebell that size but you may own a smaller one or even a pair of dumbbells.  Since the kettlebell is a heavier one you will only see me swing the bell for a handful of reps.  If you have a lighter bell you can swing for up to thirty reps.

Now you are not just swinging the bell and stopping, after you are done swinging you must drop the bell and take off in a full speed sprint.  How many sets you may ask, well if done right between four and five sets will be good enough and then you can call it a day.  This short training session will help develop power as well as burn off calories during and after the training session and allow you to give a little extra thanks at the dinner table.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Aug 23 2011

Training for Warriors Weekend

Category: Agility,Conditioning,Injury Prevention,Mental Training,MMA,MMA Training,Power Training,Quickness,Recovery,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 9:17 PM

There are not many times in the life of an adult that can send your anticipation wheeling like a child awaiting Christmas or a visit to your favorite theme park.  When you are lucky enough to recapture these feelings of excitement as a “grown up” you would be a fool not to jump at the chance, or in this case, jump squat at the chance.  Visiting Martin Rooney and taking part in the Training for Warriors Level 1 Instructor Course was just this type of experience for this fitness professional.

Upon entering the Parisi Speed School location in Paramus New Jersey you are immediately in training awe.  The facility itself is impressive beyond most people’s training dreams and a feeling of wanting more is palpable.  Within minutes will be some of the most impressive motivational as well as physical teaching and mentoring possibly in existence.

Martin has an amazing presence that makes you want to share both his belief in physical and mental fitness as well as pushes you to question the things that you have been sold by the fitness industry.  It becomes obvious the difference between a job and a calling to this man, if it was just a job he would push you to think what he thinks, when it is a calling as he has he drives you to find your own meaning and place amongst greatness in the field.

When you enter a Training for Warriors Certification you will also find yourself amongst like minded people from places as far as Spain and Canada who have very purposefully landed in front of this man to gather all he has to know as well as challenge themselves physically.  Personal Trainers, Army Rangers, Law Enforcement, and champions meeting in one location with intentions to absorb as much as possible.

The information both shared and experienced hands on is priceless.  There is more given and received in two days at the TFW Certification Seminar than in most month long courses, including physical challenges that your body will not soon forget.  No secrets kept, no fitness miracles just hard work and result oriented training, common sense and a willingness to question “why”?

Martin’s methods of evaluating client’s physical weaknesses are practical and vital to good training.  The TFW concepts on addressing these weaknesses in “prehab” as well as  warmup components are helpful and can instantly be added to your personal as well as your client training sessions.  Martin explains the place new and popular workout gadgets have in a program and when the good old basics of fitness should be relied upon.  Sprints, barbell complexes, and multiple challenges are explained to keep clients physically challenged and mentally engaged.

Be willing to release the Warrior Within, enter Rooney’s world with an open mind, a hunger to change both yours and the lives of others and not just physically.

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Jul 27 2011

Periodization for MMA Training

Category: Conditioning,Injury Prevention,MMA,MMA Training,Power Training,Recovery,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:13 PM

Periodization for MMA Training:

It is of no surprise that to get stronger and accomplish physical feats in MMA Training that one must work hard.  A more difficult concept to accept is that although there is a time and a place for spontaneous physical activity in MMA training and “seizing  the workout moment”, in order to see consistent growth one must plan a route to get there, this is referred to as Periodization.

What is periodization for MMA training?

Periodization is the structuring or cycling of your MMA training in a particular order to achieve certain goals.  Your goal may be to accomplish something in a certain time period, lasting all rounds,  going a certain distance, reaching a personal max.  Each of these things are reachable goals if you have a plan to reach them.Periodization is beneficial to athletes and people involved in MMA training for a variety of reasons.  Periodization will assist in avoiding getting stuck in plateaus, you can plan to change your training regimen to avoid slumps and boredom. Having a plan for your MMA training will also guard against overtraining.  When you plan your training there must also be a plan for a deload or resting period of a day or week, depending on how you are training.  Avoiding overtraining is essential because during deload is when you will reap the gains from your  MMA training program.  It also allows for life to occur while training, giving balance between training and other obligations.

MMA TrainingThere are many types of periodization depending on your MMA training focus.   In most cases the trainee will chose linear and non linear also known as undulating. Many programs begin with linear. Linear simply means that you should start out light in load. Use a light load and a low number of repetitions (reps) and sets. Over a period of weeks increase the weight, number of reps, and sets of your exercise routine. Not making these changes in weight and reps are the biggest mistakes I’ve seen people make in their MMA training. They join, and start out light which is good. But they never progress. If you are trying to firm or build muscles with one set ten pounds and you don’t see any results, doing one set with ten pounds for years won’t do anything for you. You will have to progress to a more intense exercise routine and heavier load. Unfortunately, even linear periodization will stop working for you eventually. When this happens it’s time to introduce undulating periodization to your MMA training routine.

Undulation by definition means to go back and forth. Your body will inevitably adjust to the stress of MMA training, that you are putting it through, in order to make more gains then you must shock your body.  In non linear you do this by a planned variation of weight, reps and time.  You can go between these two phases for a lifetime of  MMA training.

Not planning your workouts is like planning to stay stagnant in your training.  Plan well, plan ahead and plan to succeed.

“I hated every minute of training, but I said, “Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.”

—-Muhammad Ali

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Jun 23 2011

Rick Story Agility MMA Training

Category: Agility,Conditioning,MMA,MMA Training,Power Training,Quickness,reaction time,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:04 PM

This Sunday the UFC will be live on Versus. In the main event Rick Story will be taking on Nate Marquardt. In this segment of mma strength training, Story and his coach are working on agility using the agility ladder and a band. The agility ladder is a great tool to use, well for agility. Actually there are a couple more uses for the agility ladder. One being in preventing injury, especially in the feet and ankles. I recommend if you use the agility ladder to train with it barefoot as it will help strengthen your feet and ankle.
There a re a few more ways in which the ladder can improve your athletic performance. Using the agility ladder as a warm-up is a great way for an athlete to get their heart rate up, loosen up their muscles and get your central nervous system firing for the training that is to come. Another way to use the ladder is as a conditioning tool. For example preparing one of my fighters for her last fight, I had her doing ladder drills for nine minutes straight which was the amount of time her fight was. Now she choked the girl out in the first round but the ladder really did improve her conditioning.
In the video below Story uses the ladder not only for agility but with his coach pulling on his waist while performing the drill it also forces Story to use his core to stabilize himself as he goes down the ladder. The progression here would be to get the drill, which is a jumping jack down the ladder down first then add the band into the mix.

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Jun 21 2011

Matt Mitrione MMA Strength Training

Category: Agility,Conditioning,MMA Training,Power Training,reaction time,Strength Training,UFC Predictions,Uncategorized — Rob @ 9:00 PM

UFC Live on Versus is this Sunday and with a pretty good card to boot. Since I have not written for the site recently, this week I will feature some of the fighters MMA strength and conditioning training. The first person I will feature is Matt Mitrione. Mitrione takes on Christian Morecraft in a heavyweight battle. This TUF alum has really made a name for himself and is proving he belongs in the UFC. With each fight he has you see great improvement in his game.
In the video below produced by none other that Mitrione you will see how explosive this combat athlete really is. His strength coach combines plyometric hurdle hops with the twenty yard shuttle. Using track hurdles you see lower body explosiveness out Mitrione as he jumps over six hurdles. These hurdle hops help Mitrione generate force off the ground. Being able to generate alot of force of the ground will help combat athletes become more powerful strikers and help them have explosive takedowns. As soon as he finishes the hops he sprints to a set of three cones for the 20 yard shuttle. the 20 yard shuttle helps all kinds of athletes with their agility.
Separately these two exercise are great, when combined it adds a little conditioning element to it. My recommendation is to not go out and try this short combo of movements but to train them separately. work on your power using the hurdles but remember in order to do the hurdles you need to develop some kind of strength. As for the agility make sure when performing agility drills to get ample rest in between sets. They are agility drills intended to work on your agility not your conditioning.

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Jun 09 2011

Spartan’s! Prepare for Glory!

Category: Agility,Conditioning,Mental Training,Power Training,Quickness,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:09 PM

Over the last few years I realized that I was missing something in my training.  Now I was training hard and seeing results but there was one component that was missing.  The thing that was missing was actually training for a purpose.  In my mind that meant some type of competition.

So I was always looking for something to compete in.  Then in December while I was on Facebook I came across an ad for the Spartan Race.  So I clicked on it read that it was a three-mile race with obstacles and I was instantly hooked.  I signed up as fast as I could.  Finally I found something that I could train for that really interested me.

So last week I took the Spartan challenge in Tuxedo, New York.  Did I do as well as I thought I would?  Not a chance.  So while I was in the middle of the race I just kept thinking about two things.  Finishing the race and not quitting and how I could change up my training to do better the next time out.

When you try something new in your life especially something physical like this you quickly realize your weaknesses.  Let me restate that, your weaknesses smack you in the face.  My main weakness was my aerobic capacity.  Running up and down a ski slope can make you realize this quickly.   Now those of you that know me, I do not run long distances, just not my thing.  So in my training I tried to run the least amount, plus the aggravating shin splints also restricted too much running.  While running up those hills and crawling under barbed wire I was reminded of another weakness that I have known about but been avoiding.  My hips were so tight, in other words I need to increase my hip flexibility.  Running up hill as your hips tighten up, not so pleasant.

So after rinsing all the mud off of me and walking to the car for the hour drive home, I just kept thinking about the ways to fix these problems as I train for the next Spartan Race.  So as I gear up for the Spartan Sprint in Massachusetts I am making the minor adjustments in my training.  I will be adding a lot more single legwork in my strength training for my hips and adding some running to the program.  But most of the running will be going uphill pulling a sled behind me.  With these adjustments in training I will see better results.

If you are interested in competing in one of theses obstacle races and would like to know how to train for one please contact me.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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May 27 2011

Rick Story MMA Training

Category: Conditioning,MMA,MMA Training,Power Training,Strength Training,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 7:24 PM

MMA strength and conditioning training is very important for all fighters

As UFC 130 rolls around Saturday night the importance of MMA strength and conditioning will be seen. One of the fights on the main card is Rick Story taking on Thiago Alves. In an effort to bring you the best in MMA strength and conditioning training, I found a few videos of Story training in the past for upcoming fights. In this segment of MMA strength and conditioning training Story’s coaches incorporate the use of dumbbells in his training.
Dumbbells are a great tool for fighters. Even though the trend is going towards the use of kettlebells, fighters should not forget about the importance of dumbbells in their training. In the two videos below you will see Story use the dumbbells in a complex fashion. You will notice as completes different exercises without putting the dumbbells down.
This type of complexes can be used as a warmup or if the combat athlete increases the intensity it can also be used as a way to condition. Whatever the case may be, when training coaches should use all the tools at their disposal to get the results that their fighters need.
Train Hard! Train Smart!

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May 17 2011

Team Combat Trainer at the Metro Dash

Category: Agility,Conditioning,Power Training,Quickness,reaction time,Speed,Strength Training,Strongman,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:15 PM

“Six A.M. may be too early for me to handle you,” Combat Trainer snarls in a less than chipper tone.  From the back, of the car chimes in my husband who states, “She can be a lot for most people.”  I dismiss them both and continue being a mixture of anxiety and sheer joyous excitement.

8:30 is the start of the Metro Dash NY/NJ leg and we are en route to The Meadowlands Arena.  I am a person who functions very well on very little sleep.  Oddly keeping very alert and enthusiastic especially when nerves or new adventures are ahead.

Once at the Dash I am suddenly quiet and observant.  A dynamic warmup and preview, a few pee breaks and a quick walk around the perimeter of the course later and our “heat” begins.  Luckily, I find three woman athletes who welcome me as the fourth in their group.  I insisted to not be in the same go around as Rob so our friendship does not hinder his competitive streak.  It worked out well as he was finishing I was just beginning.

Much of the Dash in afterthought is a blur.  I can however, fully recall all my areas of weakness.  As a competitor I find my success often is short lived in exchange for trying to improve what I deem as weaker points or failure.  The 16 foot cargo stands out as the largest nemesis of the day, followed by the 8foot wall climb and monkey bars, gasp.  I climbed my Combat Trainer clad ass up all 16 feet to only find myself unable to throw myself over the top to descend back down.  Fear of falling and thudding onto the gym class mat below as a previous athlete in an earlier heat had done as well as the fear of kicking my heat mates in the face proved to be overwhelming.  My own thoughts deafening me, making me unable to from hearing shouts of advice and encouragement from below.

The Dash itself was fun.  The obstacles a good mix of expected and “oh shit”.  My upperbody mocked by rope climbs and monkey bars, my legs pleased by climbing and carries.  My finishing time 18:25 with three sets of penalty burpees.

On the way home all I could think of was that I wanted to turn back and do it again, immediately, and what I could do better.  I was also reminded of what my husband had said on the ride in, using the words “most people”.  I was never so happy to not be “most people”.  The “most people” who were still asleep in comfort as I fling myself over wooden walls, banging my shins on sledgehammers, swinging kettlebells, and dragging sleds in the dark at my trainer’s house for late training sessions.  Nine months ago I may have been “most people” but all I know is at this time, stronger, fitter, thinner and a warrior feels good and I will take it because I will do what most people won’t!

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