Jan 01 2011

Frankie Edgar Training Hard

Category: Agility,Conditioning,MMA,Power Training,Quickness,reaction time,Strength Training,Strongman,UFC,Uncategorized — Rob @ 11:35 AM

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!

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Sep 17 2010

Pummel and Drive for MMA

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

All week I have been posting video of a training session I had on the beach with my top Brazilian Jiu-Jitu fighter and soon to be MMA fighter Jessica Richer.  We had a great time and training on the beach was really fun and a great experience.  Next summer I will be doing a lot more training out on the beach.

Jessica brought to my attention a great drill that she learned from one of our fellow Jiu-Jitsu training partners Kevin.  Many of you have seen the video of Jessica pulling the sled to develop strength in her legs to improve her drive during a takedown.  This drill is very similar to the sled dragging we perform.  Jessica called it the pummel and drive.

The drill is performed for 3 min, obviously you can add time if you would like.  First set up to markers 20 yards apart.  To start the drill you begin with twenty pummels.  Once finished with the pummeling, your partner drives you backwards for twenty-yards while you give resistance.  Once you hit the twenty yard mark you begin to pummel again for another twenty reps followed by you driving your partner for twenty-yards. The added resistance in the sand forces you to really drive forward using your quads and hamstrings.  This really mimics driving through an opponent on a takedown or driving an opponent into the cage in an MMA fight.   Doing the drill for three minutes also adds a conditioning element to the drill.  If you are looking to generate more force in your takedowns try the pummel and drive drill with a partner.
Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Sep 14 2010

Takedowns on the Beach

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Strength Training,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 2:57 PM

Fighting ha been around since the beginning of humankind.  People have been going to battle for all sorts of reasons.  With the inception of mixed martial arts people can now take up fighting using all different styles in an organized fashion.  Here in America training in a martial arts dojo is the norm.  But in many countries, many people train outside.  Many Muay Thai camps in Thailand do they’re training in the outdoors.

This brings me to training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu outdoors.  If you have been exposed to Jiu-Jitsu  you have seen many training on the beautiful beaches of Brazil.  Living up in New York I only have a small window of opportunity to get to the beach and train before it gets really cold out.

On the final weekend of the summer, I had an opportunity to train on the beach.  I had the opportunity to train Jessica Richer who is quickly becoming one of the top woman’s Jiu-Jitsu players.  We had a great training session working on our strength and conditioning using gymnastics, bodyweight exercises, kettlebells and sprinting as all part of the session.

To finish off the session we took a page out of the Brazilians book.  We did a takedown drill on the sand.  Going from our feet we just attempted to take each other down.  Once taken down we would get back up and start all over.  It was a great time and different training in sand.  Watch below as you see me get beat up and taken down several times by a future MMA champion!

Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Sep 07 2010

Hurdles and MMA

Category: Agility,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,reaction time,Strength Training,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 7:34 PM

We all know that combat athletes need to be explosive.  Developing a MMA or Jiu-Jitsu fighters lower body explosiveness is essential in developing an excellent fighter.  Lower body explosiveness transfers over to punching, kicking, takedowns, sprawling and using your hips to escape from compromising positions.  You get the point a fighter needs to be explosive and it explosiveness starts from the ground up.

Hurdle hops are a great way to develop this type of explosiveness.  Before you run off to the local track and start doing these type of hurdle hops you must first develop some strength.  Many athletes and especially martial artist sometimes ignore this fact and just jump into these plyometric type exercises without gaining strength.  This usually leads to not doing the plyometric effectively and causing injury.  A solid strength program with plyometrics incorporated into the program can lead to vast improvement in power production.

To start an athlete can use shorter hurdles to jump and progress to taller hurdles as they become more powerful.  The objective during the hurdle hop is to reduce the ground contact time after each hop.  Essentially a combat athlete wants to limit the amount of time that they are actually on the ground.  As soon as your feet hit the ground you are jumping right over the next hurdle.  Here are a few tips when   performing the hurdle hop, one always stay on your toes, two use your arms to help you jump, just like a broad jump of vertical jump and three avoid staying on the ground to long in between jumps.

Remember this is a little more of an advanced plyometric make sure you progress as an athlete to this point to avoid injury.  Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Aug 19 2010

Sleds and MMA

Category: Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized — Rob @ 10:02 PM

I know winter is only a couple of months away but I am still going to have a discussion about sleds.  Not the sleds you ride down a snow covered hill on in the middle of winter but the sled that will turn you into a well conditioned, powerful fighter.

Sleds can be used for different reason’s, sleds can increase strength, power and can be used for conditioning purposes.   Another great reason to use the sled is to help with the development of speed in sprinters.  The sled forces the athlete to maintain the posture needed in the acceleration phase of a sprint.  This phase in a sprint is almost similar to when an athlete in MMA, Jiu-Jitsu or wrestling takes a shot for a takedown.

The sled pull in the video below is to teach my fighter how to drive off the ground and use the force off the ground to develop speed.  I was not working on sprint mechanics I was trying to make the fighter stronger in a position that she will find herself in.

As you will see I loaded the sled up with a good amount of weight to force Jessica to really drive off the ground.  This not only developed strength in the range of motion needed it also worked on her conditioning.  This is the first step in using the sled to develop a faster shot for a takedown.  Step two will be to lower the load and have my fighters sprint with the sled and the last step is going to be having my fighters take actual shots with the sled with a light load.  This is one of my field studies to see if I can develop much faster shots with my athletes.
Train Hard! Train Smart!

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Jun 15 2010

Quick Feet for MMA!

Category: Agility,Boxing,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Uncategorized — Rob @ 8:47 PM

Continue to use speed and agility drills to help train my fighters, below I am going to show you a way to take a simple cone drill that helps create faster foot speed and body movement for all different kinds of field sports such as soccer and football. I then do a variation of that same drill for combat sports such as MMA, boxing and jiu-jitsu. Having quick feet and being able to change direction in sport is important in creating the best athletes possible. The same goes for mixed martial artist or anyone that trains in any martial arts. Being able to control your body and move quickly at the same time is essential. A fighter must have quick feet or footwork to be able to move in and out of range of danger or move in for the attack. This kind of agility work should be placed in a combat athletes strength and conditioning program.
The cones are placed 5-6 feet apart laterally and about 2-3 feet from front to back. Watch the video you will see what I mean. In the first drill you will shuffle laterally and as soon as you hit the cone you take a quick step forward. You continue to the last cone then you sprint out. Remember to keep your arms moving as if you are moving. The second drill is just a variation. This variation will help you move quick in and out of sprawls and knees. As you reach the first cone you will sprawl get up as fast as possible step forward and deliver to knees then continue to the next cone where you will do the same movement with the sprawling. Note that on the last cone you want to sprawl this way when you get up you can go into a full sprint straight from the acceleration position which will help in your explosiveness for takedowns.

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Jun 13 2010

Sprinting, Conditioning and Fighting!

Category: Boxing,Conditioning,Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Speed,Striking/Stand-up,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 10:02 PM

So yesterday I was supposed to go to the gym in the morning and getting a lifting session in but as my life has been lately things changed and I had to go to the Long Island Pride Jiu-Jitsu tournament earlier than expected. So heading there I was thinking of how to get a training session in later on in the day and I decided that I would hit the local high school for some sprint conditioning. Of course to my delight after getting home it finally began to rain after days and days of the weather forecast calling for showers. So I sat on my couch for a while and then said you know what “Screw it, I am going to sprint in the rain.” So I headed to the local track to get a good conditioning session using sprints.
During my conditioning session I noticed one very important thing, while I was sprinting I realized that I was able to train for a longer period of time. Now using sprinting, as a conditioning tool is very taxing on the body. Why was I able to train longer? My sprint mechanics or sprinting technique has been vastly improved. Using proper sprinting technique made me a more efficient runner, which in turn helped with my conditioning.
Let me relate this to MMA and other combat sports, which require good if not great technique. Let’s say for instance you are looking to take your opponent down. Most times the first shot is not a successful one, unless of course if you are GSP, after multiple shots your body begins to tire and you start to develop a lazier and lazier shot until you are totally gassed out. If your technique on takedowns is lacking then you will get tired much faster. The same goes when you use sprinting as a conditioning protocol, if you have poor technique your body will be taxed quicker and you will more than likely either slow down dramatically during conditioning or you will be to tired to continue.
In the book “Training for Speed, Agility and Quickness” by Lee Brown and Vance Ferrigno they speak about three elements that help with speed mechanics. First they speak about posture. If you have read my blog in the past you have seen speed drills that will help make you faster and also develop an explosive takedown. It was a two-part article titled, “Usain Bolt v.s. GSP” check them out http://bit.ly/anJ7dY and http://bit.ly/derl2w During a sprint you should have two different postures, at the beginning you should be in the acceleration phase, where your body is at a 45-degree angle. You can see some of the drills to help you out in the articles mentioned above.  The other is coming upright during the sprint to about an 80-degree angle, this is known as max velocity. The second element is leg action. The extension of the knee, hip and ankles are key in this element and should be one coordinated motion. Stride frequency and stride length are also components of leg action. Finally arm action is important. I have heard some say that when you run you are only using your legs. Oh really? Well those people are dead wrong. Arm action is important in sprinting and I have found that help when you are getting tired. Here are some quick pointers on how to use your arms properly while sprinting. First keep your hands open, do not make fists. Then as you run pull your arm back at your shoulder do not just move your arm at the elbow. The arm should be kept at a 90-degree angle at the elbow. Second when you are running you want your hands to go cheek to cheek. That means your hands should swipe down by your butt cheek and come up to your face cheek.
These are some of the things that will help your sprinting out and when I train my fighters I teach them proper sprint technique. Now I don’t go over this with them to make them world-class sprinters but to help make them faster and more efficient athletes. As you see the world of MMA is turning out athletes that are taking the sport to the next level. Future articles will show some more drills to clean up your sprint technique. Train Hard! Train Smart!

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May 17 2010

Usain Bolt v.s. George St. Pierre Part Two:

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Speed,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 7:39 PM

Ok so in my last post I showed you two pictures, one of Usain Bolt the World’s Fastest Man and one of George St. Pierre, who has the world’s fastest takedown in MMA. I spoke about how speed training can transfer over well into developing a faster takedown because of the positions a fighter is in is similar to the positions sprinters are in at the start of the race.
The phase of speed training that I am going to focus on is the acceleration phase. Acceleration means going from standing still or close to standing still to your maximum speed in the shortest amount of time. When a sprinter is in the acceleration position he or she wants to be at a forty-five degree angle when they come out of the blocks. The same can be said for a fighter as he or she goes in for a takedown. They end up in a forty-five to sixty degree angle as they shoot in. You want to make sure to focus on driving the knee forward when doing all acceleration drills. Both types of athletes end up in full extension at the ankle, knee and hips.
Below are three basic acceleration drills. The first is the Wall Drill. The Wall Drill can be done by using a wall, the side of your house a chained linked fence. Stand with your hands against the wall and your body at a forty-five degree angle. When you begin the movement you start with one-leg up. You then drive the other leg up,driving your knee through high. Remember to keep your toes pointed up.
The next drill is the Falling Start. Stand with your hands at your side. Fall forward until you are about to lose your balance. As you lose your balance start to drive your knee forward and sprint. This drill will also place you in that forty-five degree angle that is necessary to improve your speed.
Finally the last drill is the Get-Up Start. This is one of my favorite and it’s very basic. It really puts you in the position you need to be in. Start off by laying down on the ground. Pop up to your feet as fast as you can driving your knee forward and staying in that acceleration position for as long as possible.
These basic drills will help strengthen the positions you will need to be in as you take an opponent down in wrestling, jiu-jitsu or MMA. Remember fighters are athletes and in athletics or sports speed wins. The same goes for a fighter, a faster fighter equals a better fighter and in the case of GSP an unstoppable fighter.

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May 11 2010

Usain Bolt v.s. George St. Pierre Part One:

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Power Training,Speed,Strength Training,Uncategorized,Wrestling — Rob @ 6:39 PM

We all know that speed is a necessity in all sports. In MMA speed is essential. Takedowns are one aspect of MMA, jiu-jitsu or wrestling that speed will kill your opponent. The more speed you have in your takedown the more likely you will be able complete a takedown. So where does speed training come into play in developing a fast takedown?
Let’s start by taking a look at two pictures and look at the position of these two elite athletes.

The first picture is of the World’s Fastest Man Usain Bolt as he leaves the blocks at the beginning of the 100M dash. Bolt will stay in this accelerated position for as long as possible making him run faster. He has work on drills that has helped him maintain that position. When he explodes out of the blocks he is producing incredible amounts of force from the blocks which in turn increase his speed.


The second is of George St. Pierre in the middle of a double leg takedown. He said to have the best takedowns in the sport of MMA, and he is generating the same type of force Bolt does when he initiates the takedown. If you look at both pictures you will see that both athletes are in full extension, meaning that their hips, knees and ankles are fully extended. If you can improve a fighter’s acceleration you will improve their takedown.
Essentially what you want to do is to improve your fighter’s ability to generate force. It is imperative to have your fighter develop strength and be able to transfer that strength into power. If an athlete is unable to transfer their strength into power then it is useless. That being said there are a few acceleration drills you can have your fighters do in order to help improve the speed. A faster fighter is a better fighter.
When we talk about the acceleration position we want to place our fighter at a forty-five degree angle. When they explode off the mat you want them to achieve triple extension just like a sprinter out of the blocks. This full extension and production of force will make your fighters takedowns unstoppable. Look for Part Two as I will show you some drills that will help with putting your fighter in the right position. Till next time, Train Hard, Train Smart!


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Mar 22 2010

Building Bulletproof Ankles

Category: Jiu-Jitsu,MMA,Uncategorized — Rob @ 9:50 PM

One aspect of training that is usually overlooked by many, and that includes me at times is ankle stability.  In any sport there is always a rash of ankle injuries.  Just take a look at NFL injury reports during the season and that will tell the story, or how wrapped up their ankles are during a game.  This is no different for the combat athlete, be it a jiu-jitsu player or MMA fighter, ankle injuries are prevalent.

The ankle and its function are very important in sports.  Let’s take a look at the importance of it in combat sports such as MMA. When we go for a takedown our ankle extension is key in being able to push through the movement.  If we go for any type of kick, once again our ankle extension is pivotal in producing power.  Even in the basic footwork of a boxer, ankle stability is important. One way to help prevent ankle stability issues is to strengthen the feet.  Strengthening your feet will help prevent many issues that may arise in your ankles. In the past I have had some ankle issues and have found that working on making my feet stronger has helped. Seems simple enough, stronger feet, equals stronger ankles.  Another aspect to focus on when training for ankle stability is balance.  Balance is a key component to your ankles being strong and will go a long way into building bulletproof ankles.

One recommendation I have when working on foot strength and ankle stability, is to train barefoot.   If you have sneakers on your feet will not get the proper stimulation they will need.  They will have too much protection in training which will not let the muscles of the feet develop and get stronger.  The stronger the muscle in your feet the more stable not only your ankles will be but the rest of your body. There are many exercises that we can add into our existing strength and conditioning programs.

The first exercise I am going to describe is a very basic balancing exercise.  You are going to stand on one leg knees slightly bent and hold yourself there for 30 seconds.  Yes like I said very simple.  To make it more difficult try closing your eyes while balancing on the one leg, this will develop better use of your internal sensory receptors.  Remember what you do for one leg do for the other.  So alternate legs when performing this exercise.

The second exercise that I will discuss, are single leg reaches.  To start off place three cones out around you far enough that you will have to reach out and extend your body to touch them.  One cone will be in front of you one, to the left and right of you. Next stand on one leg like the balancing exercise discussed first. You will then reach out and touch the cones one by one.  Do three round trips then take a rest.

The third exercise requires some type of balance disc or if your gym has one a Bosu Ball.  This exercise is a little more advanced. You will stand on the disc or the Bosu Ball with both feet and medicine ball.  If you have a partner, great, if not you can find a wall to the throw the ball against.  What you will do is throw the ball to your partner and they will throw it back at you.  If using the wall stay kind of close so the ball is sure to come back to you at about chest level.  To increase the difficulty of this exercise, stand on the disc or the Bosu Ball with one leg.  Talk about balance and ankle stability.

So do these exercises and you will see a dramatic improvement in your ankle stability and balance.  Remember Trai Hard! TrainSmart!

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