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!
This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending the UFC Expo in Boston as well as UFC 118 and let me tell you it was a great time. I headed up a day early to Boston to do a little sight seeing in this city with such rich American history. Boston is where the American Revolution started, which could be one of the biggest upsets in the history of fighting. So Thursday we checked out all the cool historical sites.
Friday morning I woke up like a kid on Christmas morning and the UFC did not disappoint. Going into this weekend I had one mission and that was to get my picture taken with Wanderlei Silva. Right off the bat I jumped in his line and accomplished my mission anything else the rest of the weekend was icing on the cake and boy was that icing delicious.
The UFC did a great job keeping their fans happy all weekend. There were great autograph sessions, with some of the top fighters in the UFC. From Renzo Gracie, Bas Rutten, And Vitor Belfort to Uriah Faber, Thiago Alves and Anderson Silva, all greats were out in full force for the fans. They also put on some training and development seminars hosted by some of the top fighters and trainers to help improve your game.
All the top sponsors and vendors were there, promoting their products, we had access to all of this great stuff with some great deals. We also had an opportunity to step into the Octagon and take a few photos. One of the highlights did not even happen at the Expo, it happened as I walking back to my hotel and I ran into Shaq. Now I am not a basketball fan but meeting Shaq was pretty cool.
A great fight card then topped off the Expo for UFC 118. Randy Couture showed the world why mixed martial arts is superior to boxing by defeating James Toney. Frankie Edgar proved the first fight was not a fluke as he defeated BJ Penn to retain the lightweight championship of the world. Fight of the night honors however went to Nate Diaz and Marcus Davis. Diaz put on a striking clinic and finished Davis off by choking him out. The whole weekend was a blast from top to bottom. Hopefully once MMA is legalized in New York there will be and Expo held at Madison Square Garden for all to enjoy.
In my search for strength and conditioning footage of the fighters in this weekends UFC 117 card I came across a lot of Jon Fitch footage of his strength and conditioning. Other fighters are hard to come by but Fitch produces the video. Jon Fitch who fights out of the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA), is taking on American Top Team (ATT) member Thiago Alves
In most of his videos he is doing agility work. We all know that agility is one of the key components to any strength and conditioning program and is essential for fighters and athletes alike to train.
In this video however, Fitch is using lateral jumps over hurdles with punches. Lateral jumps are a form of plyometrics which help train an athlete to become more powerful. I found this movement to be interesting and will definetly incorporate it into my fighters overall programs. Fitch we all know has great takedown defense. This exercise will help him react and move explosively when someone attempts to take him down. I also enjoy the MMA specificity that is added into the drill. After each set of hops Fitch throws a one-two combo, this makes Fitch focus on sticking the landing on the jump and then exploding with good technique with the one two. This in particular drill takes focus. Lack of focus will lead you to hit the hurdle and crash to the floor. So remember when watching these videos I post of pro fighters doing these exercises know that they are under the watchful eye of a professional, well at least I hope so.
Don’t forget to watch UFC 117 as Anderson Silva defends his title against Chael Sonnen. Also on the card UFC legend will take on Ricardo Almeida, Junior Dos Santos will go up against Roy Nelson as that will be a fun fight to watch.
