So I was on a mini-vacation for the Fourth of July, which of course is my favorite holiday. In any event I may have been away at the beach but I did not miss UFC 116 and it proved to be a great show once again. I went three for five with my picks and as my wife liked to point out Saturday night, “that’s pretty good for you.” But anyway, the main event at UFC 116 as you know was Brock Lesner going up against Shane Carwin. I had Carwin in this one and by all looks of it I thought it was going to be over in the first round when Carwin put Lesner on his back and pounded away on him.
As that was going on though Joe Rogan pointed out that Carwin could have easily tired himself out. If you are a fighter you know a relentless ground and pound, like the one that Carwin was displaying can take a toll on you physically as you need great conditioning to keep at it. As the round came to an end and Lesner survived the onslaught we could all see the physical strain it took on Carwin. Another thing that is affected when you cannot finish a fight when you have your opponent almost finished is the mental side of things. It’s almost a let down, but that is for another post.
As I sat and watched Lesner finishing off Carwin, I thought about the conditioning you need to have to sustain such a vicious ground and pound. A few weeks ago I had posted a conditioning protocol using a sledgehammer. In that same session I did a short one-minute “finisher” to my training session. This video was going to be used at a later date but after seeing the fight I had to put it up. Using mini-sledgehammers and the same car tire I did one-minute of straight pounding on the tire mimicking the ground and pound you find in MMA. Each mini-sledge weighs five pounds, the object here is to get out as many reps as possible in a minute. Obviously you can add time and see how many you can bang out. Check out the video below, you can see at the end I am a bit tired. This protocol will ensure that your ground and pound conditioning will be at top level. So go pick up some mini-sledgehammers and an old car tire and start your ground and pound conditioning today! Train Hard! Train Smart!
Jul 05 2010
Ground and Pound Conditioning!
Jul 02 2010
UFC 116 Predictions!
This Saturday can be one of the biggest UFC Heavyweight championships fights in the history of the UFC, that is of course until either Brock Lesner or Shane Carwin have to take on Cain Velasquez in a few months. This card is pretty stacked even with the loss of Wanderlei Silva due to injuries. Nothing beats a great fight card on a my favorite holiday, the Fourth of July! So hope you all have a safe weekend and enjoy the fights!
Apr 05 2010
Can you Juggle?
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!
Mar 27 2010
UFC 111 Predictions GSP v.s. Dan Hardy
Check out the quick video of my UFC 111 predictions. GSP defends title against Dan Hardy. Interim Heavyweight bout between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin It’s always fun to come back and make jokes about how I pick the fights wrong. Enjoy the fights everyone.
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