“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!

The lightweight champion is back at UFC 125 on New Years Day, as Frankie Edgar looks to defend his title against the only man to beat him Gray Maynard.  Yesterday we took a look at Maynard putting the Battle Ropes to the test.  Like I said both of these fighters are always in great shape come fight time.

Today we will take a look at Edgar training for this fight.  In this video you will see all the different types of training Edgar does in preparation for a fight.  There are agility ladders to improve his footwork.  As we saw in his last two fights against BJ Penn we saw that edgar had great footwork.  Using the agility ladder in training has helped him improve in that aspect of his fight game.  You will also see him using hurdles to develope lower body power.  Having an explosive lower body helps in all aspects of the fight game from punching and kicking to takedowns.  We also see him using a stabilty ball to help improve dynamic flexibilty and core strength.  The sledge hammer also makes an appereance, just another tool that produces power as well as core strength.  Kettlebells which many combat athletes have now incorporated into their strength and conditioning also make their way into his training.  Turkish Getups with a kettlebell is a great movement to add strength to the entire body.  Give them a try and let me know what you think.

Now remeber when looking at this video be aware that there is a plan or program for what he is doing.  This could be one session where each of the exercises you see stand alone and is not a conditioning protocol.  Many fighters out there see these things and just go out and try and perform them without knowing where it fits in their training.  By looking at the date on the video this is more than likely a General Preparation Session, which is used to get the athlete ready for the work that is to come ahead in the training for the months ahead.

Happy New Year! If you are looking to take it to the next level I do offer online training at a discount for the New Year.  Make the investment in your career and make 2011 your year.

Train Hard Train Smart!

Every combat athlete that competes in MMA or any other combat sport knows that having a strong core is important.  Using that core to rotate can generate great power in your punches as well as your knees and kicks.  A few weeks ago I was out on the field, I had brought the sledgehammer out to play with but never actually got the chance to play with it until the very end when we were cleaning up.

Instead of picking the tire up from the ground and carrying it to where I wanted to, I grabbed the sledge and moved it by whacking it to the spot where I wanted it.  So I set up in a neutral stance standing next to the tire and began to hit the tire with the sledgehammer as if I was swing a golf club or hockey stick.

Of course I did not make this exercise up but I had never seen it before and I just so happened to hit the tire with the hammer and next thing I knew I discovered a new way to train for more power.   Another variation that is not shown in the video is to take a staggered stance like you are in fighting position.  Just to “mimic” fight conditions.  Just be careful you do not smash your knee on the swing.

This was a short video just to show you a little different variation with sledgehammer swings, now you don’t always have to swing down on the tire.  Oh yeah and the total cost of getting stronger and more powerful by doing this exercise, twenty-five dollars for the sledgehammer.  So go out and get it done.

Train Hard! Train Smart!

UFC 124 is just around the corner and once again a Martin Rooney trained MMA fighter is on the card, Jim Miller who will be taking on Charles Oliveira.  Jim and Dan Miller both train with elite strength and conditioning coach Martin Rooney for their UFC fights.  Rooney is one of the coaches in the world and has taken many pro fighters as well as many other athletes to the next level.

In this video we will see one of Rooney’s conditioning sessions with Jim Miller.  Rooney uses many different training implements to get the job done in about 5 minutes.  Miller starts off with the sledgehammer, which increase power in the abdominal region, he then moves on to one of my favorite pieces of equipment the Prowler.  The Prowler will improve a fighter’s lower body strength and power.  This power in the lower body will help improve punching and kicking as well as help develop an explosive takedown.  Next he moves to bands and does a whole bunch of pulling movements.  The agility ladder is next.  This will help improve a fighter’s footwork and coordination.  Since Miller has gone through the other exercises especially the prowler his legs are a bit fatigued, doing the ladder in this fatigued state is more difficult than it looks.  Finally he finishes off with the kettlbell swings, which develops total body power.

Each exercise is done for a minute with a short recovery in between each other exercises.  This type of conditioning is grueling but will get you prepared for a fight.  They are also simple to create pick five exercises and do them for a minute and you have your MMA round.

At the end of the video you hear Rooney telling his fighters that getting their heart rate low in between rounds is important.  If they are able to have a lower heart rate than their opponent at the start of the round then they have an advantage.  An opponent with a higher heart rate will fatigue quicker in the next round, which will be an advantage to you.

As you have seen in the past on my site I give an inside look at some of the conditioning protocols I use with my fighters.  Be it in the weight room or out on the field you have seen protocols put together using different implements.

When I design these protocols I use the equipment at my disposal.

The object of the conditioning circuits are to challenge the fighter to be able to continue to exert power for a long period of time, very similar to the conditions they will see in a fight.  In designing these circuits I also like to make the training conditions much more difficult than what the fighter would see in the fight.  I have found that pushing the limits of the fighter during these conditioning sessions has a dramatic improvement in their conditioning. Also when they step onto the  Jiu-Jitsu mat or cage, conditioning is not an issue because they have trained harder than what the conditions are during the fight.   A note on recovery between sets, at the start I allow the fighters to take a little longer than a minute to recover, as we get closer to the fight recovery drops to a minute in between each circuit.  Mimicking the times in a fight goes a long way in challenging the fighter during training camp.

The following circuit was performed for five minutes for three sets. It incorporated the use of sledgehammer, battle ropes, an agility ladder and kettlebell cleans. The Kettle Bell cleans need a little fixing but as with anything with more reps comes perfection.  You do not need all this equipment to do this type of circuit training.  Be creative, use what you have and make the circuit challenging.  Remember it’s not what you have to train with its how you train.

Train Hard! Train Smart

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!

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.

Having access to different implements for training purposes is really fun. Lucky for me I am able to train with some of these fun tools. Being a coach and also training in martial arts I find that these implements of strength and power are great for training fighters. We have seen and influx of trainers using these toys with their fighters to enhance their strength, power and conditioning.
The day that this conditioning circuit was filmed I actually did not have strength and conditioning session planned in my day. I was sitting around waiting for my evening Muay Thai session when a text message came in from my training partner. It read, “Want to flip tires?” Now how could I resist? Of course I wanted to go flip some tires. Then I thought to myself, “Wait a minute, I have a rope and sledgehammer in the car from training a fighter, I will use those as well to create a conditioning circuit.” So the 15-minute trip to the field I was devising a plan, lucky when I had arrived another person was training with us and he brought a medicine ball. This just added to the plan and the fun.
So when I arrived I warmed –up with some tire flips then laid out my plan. The plan was four stations. A tire station, a rope station, a med ball station and a sledgehammer station. Each person would pick a station to start at and work for forty-five seconds at each station. Now sometimes when you train you will always have to make adjustments. During conditioning this is no different. When I was doing the tire flips, I was just jumping on the tire with really no thought. Midway through I thought to myself that I could broad jump onto the tire and this way add a little plyometric work into the training session as well. In the video you will see a little annotation of when this thought pops into my head. After the tire flip I move on to the Battle Ropes. For this round I just did one exercise with the ropes in the following sets I switched up different exercises using the ropes, so you always have that option. After the ropes I hit the med-balls for some slams and followed it up with explosive pushups onto the medicine ball. Finally to finish off the circuit it was forty-five seconds of pounding the sledgehammer. You know it’s a good conditioning protocol when your training partner turns to you and tells you she hates you. My response, “Thank you!” Best of all I still made my Muay Thai class. Remember Train Hard! Train Smart!

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!

It was one of those days.  I knew I had to get some training in but did not want to get in the car and head over to Gracie Barra Long Island for an MMA session.  So instead I stayed home and had a great strength and conditioning session at home.  As you have read in the past I am a huge proponent of looking into and researching all different styles and methodologies of training.  One form of training that I wanted to check out was Marv Marinovich’s ProBodX.  Marinovich trains former UFC lightweight champion BJ Penn and after getting a glimpse of some the training he was putting Penn through I wanted to do my research and check it out.  So I went online and bout the book ProBodX, which is the basis of the training system.  I bought the book in January and devoured the information, I even went out and bought some of the equipment and was going to give the exercise plan a run for it’s money.  However there was not too much space in the hose to do it, as the baby girl has been claiming land fast.  So the other day gave me a great opportunity to give it a shot.  I brought all the equipment out to the backyard and followed the program laid out in the back.  There was some exercise that I could do without and then there were some that I will be using to help my fighters with balance, proprioception, and use there body as one.

So I started the session off with the movements from ProBodX and I got some good training out of it.  Then I moved on to the conditioning session.  The other day I hit the local tire repair center on my way home. I asked the guy if I could snag some tires and he was very kind to give them to me.  So armed with some tires and some sledgehammers I went to work.  Here is what I did:

Downward Swings 1 minute

Right Cross Body Swings 1 minute

Left Cross Body Swings 1 minute

When doing the Downward Swings you need to use trunk flexion.  Pretty much what that means is bending forward with your abdominals.  The Right and Left Body Swings require some rotation on the swing.  The little three-minute circuit worked out my whole body as I incorporated my legs in the swings.  After the completion of three rounds or sets I was feeling pretty toasted, as it tested my conditioning level but also how much power I could exert during a long stretch of time.  Usually after missing a training session at the gym I regret it but not this time as this strength and conditioning session felt great.  Here is the video of the three-minute circuit.