The Death of Cardio?

 A few months ago, elite strength coach Mike Boyle caused a huge stir when he presented his thoughts on the favourite exercise of most top coaches – the back squat. For those of you who don’t know, Coach Boyle came out and infamously said “Don’t do them anymore”.

He justifies his decision of using primarily single-leg movements by claiming that his athletes can produce more overall force with one leg rather than two combined. This is because the low back is the weak point in a back squat, where most of the force is directed, making it more of a ‘low back’ exercise than a ‘leg exercise’. Not to mention that single leg exercises will reduce stress on the spine by up to 50%. More force for half the stress to your body? Count me in.

This theory, known worldwide as “The Death of the Back Squat” has had coaches up in arms and crying blasphemy, all the while I’m sure Coach Boyle has just laughed and shaken his head.

 Most people don’t like change, especially when something that has been a part of training for many generations comes under question by new science and results. We can present logical reasons for why we should leave out back squats for example, but humans are not logical by nature. We are creatures of emotion, and therefore we react to that in which we have become emotionally attached, be it a training style, philosophy or even a simple exercise.

In this post, maybe I will stir some fresh controversy (and who doesn’t secretly like controversy?) over my thoughts on what people have come to call ‘cardio’. The debate between long slow distance (LSD) running and high intensity interval training (HIIT) has gone on for years now. Should we jog, or do sprints as our main endurance and conditioning exercise?

My stance is that it should be neither.

 

Don’t worry, this post is not going to bore you half to death with “a detailed look into the three main energy pathways”, or give you the scientific textbook definitions of aerobic vs. anaerobic metabolisms. That’s all been covered hundreds of times already.

No, today I’m going to outline my thoughts on why we are still missing the bigger picture when it comes to MMA endurance. I believe our questions should move away from “Aerobic vs. Anaerobic” and whether or not we are targeting the right energy system.

We are too focused on which cardiovascular system should be trained. However, I think we have been looking at the wrong System in the first place. I don’t believe it is ‘cardio’ (in its common perception) that we should be concerned with when looking to improve MMA conditioning.

 

First, let’s look at the entire concept of ‘cardio’. What does it mean? A cardiovascular exercise is any activity that improves the condition of your heart and lungs. Somewhere down the line, most people came to the conclusion that this must refer only to activities such as jogging, running, cycling, rowing, or any other continuous, rhythmic activity that elevates your heart rate.

However, if you notice the words ‘continuous and rhythmic’, this is also the given description of aerobic exercise – low intensity activity performed for longer durations. Therefore, people now associate ‘cardio’ and ‘aerobic’ exercise as being the same thing. Which is nonsense…

 

Let’s look at it from a common sense perspective. If a ‘cardiovascular’ activity is anything that increases our heart and lung capacity, then this can also refer to lifting weights with low rest periods, circuit training, bodyweight exercise, or basically just about any form of movement that raises our heart rate. In other words, you don’t have to use a treadmill, cycle or go running to improve your cardiovascular fitness. And with my martial artists, I never have.

 

The problem with traditional forms of cardio training is that they miss a vital point of MMA conditioning.

 Look at a typical MMA match, and see where the fighter uses up most of his energy. 9 out of 10 times it will be on the floor or grappling. When you have to hold an opponent down, lift them off you, push them into the cage or hoist them into the air for a throw; these are the activities that will deplete your energy the quickest.

These activities take up so much energy because:

a) During most of these activities the fighter’s chest capacity will be restricted, as he will have the weight of the opponent pressing down on him, and

b) Because these are all anaerobic movements, requiring the rapid contraction of Type II muscle fibres.

Now, I promised you I would not to go into Anaerobic vs. Aerobic science, so here’s where I’ll make my theory point in general terms:

The endurance demands for most of an MMA bout are governed not by the cardiovascular system, but by the muscular system. Allow me to explain…

 

Our bodies have three main structures that work to produce functional movement:

1. The Central Nervous System (CNS): This system is made up of the nerves that connect to our muscles. The system governs how fast we can contract our muscles, therefore our speed.

2. The Muscular System: This system is made up of our muscles, from head to toe and everything in between. Our muscles can be trained to produce more strength, which, when added to the capacity of the nervous system (speed) creates Power (Speed x Strength). 

3. The Cardiovascular System: The system is made up of the heart, lungs and delivery systems (veins, arteries, capillaries etc) of blood, oxygen and nutrients to our muscles and nerves.

 

As you can see, the three systems work in unison, and without one the other two could not exist. So we need development in all three systems for maximum performance. However, the focus and order on which system is developed first can be significant.

This is because the three systems are in a hierarchy or a ladder system if you will. If you increase the capacity of the top system (the CNS) then you will also see improvements in the systems below it. However, if you work on a system lower in the hierarchy, the system above will not develop to the same degree.

For instance, if you train only the capacity of your heart and lungs (the CV system) then you will not improve your muscular strength or power. But if you train to develop your strength, your cardiovascular endurance will see some improvement as an indirect result. This is because the stronger a muscle is the longer it can contract without using as much energy, therefore increasing its endurance.

If your muscles can’t move a resistance for long enough, it won’t matter how high you can get your heart rate…

 

If you’ve followed my theory so far, you should now start to be putting the pieces together in your mind. My conclusion is that we have this whole endurance concept backwards. We are isolating the cardiovascular system, and working the heart and lungs to increase VO2 max, looking at heart rates etc, without any concern for the endurance of the muscular system.

For example, your heart and lungs may be able to pump blood at a high capacity for over 30 minutes non-stop on a treadmill. That’s great! But if the muscular endurance of your shoulders give out after lifting a heavy weight (i.e. your opponent) for longer than 20 seconds, it doesn’t matter how good your heart and lungs are! You’re muscles have seized up under the onset of lactic acid!

I usually describe this with a joke about those super-diving watches that claim to be water resistant for up to 500 feet underwater – Awesome! I’ll stop breathing and drown, but hey at least my watch will still work!

 

I believe this problem stems from the fact that we live in a ‘Quantity over Quality’ based society these days. For example, we judge our work life on quantity instead of quality: “I worked 50 hours this week (quantity), aren’t I great!” Yeah, but how much of that time was actually decent, productive work (quality)?

Our diets are governed by quantity of calories with no regard for the important information – the quality of those calories. 300kcals of ice cream isn’t the same as 300kcals of broccoli I’m afraid.

We look at our bodies in the same way – Women get disappointed at being a quantity of 11 stone, with no regard for the quality of that weight (how much of the weight is fat, muscle, water, glycogen etc?)

Conditioning for MMA (as well as all other sports) has gone the same way. How many miles can you run? How many rounds can you do, regardless of power output?

A common mistake I see fighters making is that they believe that in order to get good at 3 rounds they must train and prepare for 6 rounds. Again, if you do this you are sacrificing quality for quantity.

MMA is all about quality (or intensity) of movement – how well you move and how much intense power you can produce. It is not as much about quantity (volume) of your work. Okay, you can go keep your cardio system going for an hour, but can you keep your CNS and muscular systems producing power and intensity for even a fraction of that time?

An MMA bout typically never lasts longer than 25 minutes, which means that the amount of volume or duration is given to you. 25 minutes maximum, or however long your upcoming match is. Therefore you don’t need to train your endurance to go longer than that. You need to now increase the intensity (quality) of the movements within that time frame.

Intensity is the key in MMA, because your intensity levels can be developed and increased indefinitely, whereas increasing the volume further than what is required will only slow down your progress of intensity. After all, Intensity and Volume, just like Quality and Quantity is a continuum (as shown on the crappy picture I made myself below).

 

The Intensity – Volume Continuum

 

As I said, Intensity versus Volume is a continuum; the more you have of one the less you’ll have of the other. Therefore, the ideal training plan will aim to find the right balance of Intensity and Volume. You should ask yourself, “How much Intensity can I develop, and how long can I sustain that Intensity before the increased Volume starts lowering my power output?”

And as you can see from the picture, most bouts are typically 15 minutes, so you have the Volume decided for you. All that is left to do is build up as much intensity and sustained high-power output for that duration.

The key is to build up your CNS and muscular system capabilities for this short amount of time, with resistance exercises and repeated bursts of power output with explosive exercises. When you do that, your cardiovascular system will have no choice but to adapt to those demands, because the Muscular and CNS systems are above the CV system in the hierarchy. Remember, whatever the CNS demands your body to do, the heart and lungs must keep up. Whereas by simply focusing on the CV system (the bottom of the ladder) nothing above it is required to develop.

 

I propose that traditional cardiovascular work, be it on machines or road running has little value in relation to Loaded Endurance methods that simultaneously develop your muscular stamina and sustained power output. Even if you are reaching higher heart rates in training, seeing decreases in resting heart rate etc, all this means nothing if your CNS and muscles become drained first because they are not used to moving and holding loads for a designated time.

If your Nervous System is underdeveloped you will have insufficient speed. If your muscular system is underdeveloped you will have insufficient strength.

It is my belief that these two systems should be given the priority during MMA training, and simply allow the cardiovascular system to catch up, which it will. This will conserve energy, and reduce overall training time, for potentially more benefit.

As I said at the start of this post: More force for half the stress to your body? Count me in.

 

For one example of a training method I like to use, see this post on Loaded Endurance Training for MMA.

Categories: Strength & Conditioning | Tags: cardio, Endurance, MMA, Resistance, strength | No Comments »

Loaded Endurance for MMA – The ‘Complex’

The training protocol known as the ‘complex’ is starting to become quite popular. My athletes and regular clients have been using this method for the last couple of years, and it now seems that more trainees are catching on.

For those of you who don’t know what a complex is, the term refers to a series of exercises performed with just one piece of equipment (usually a barbell). You perform a number of exercises back-to-back without resting or putting the bar down at any point.

For example, a simple barbell complex would be to perform 8 repetitions of a deadlift, followed immediately by 8 repetitions of a power snatch, followed by 8 repetitions of a back squat.

Now, while that may sound quite un-inspiring, you must first experience a well-designed complex for yourself to realise that they can be far, far more challenging than they appear on paper.

As such, keeping your muscles working under tension for so long causes a huge amount of fat to be burned, as well as a great conditioning effect. I’ve always said that I believe the majority of endurance work for MMA athletes should be done under resistance. This is because aerobic endurance (the capacity of your heart and lungs) is of no use unless you first have sufficient muscular strength endurance (the work capacity of your muscles to contract under lactic acid build- up).

I have found that complex workouts will improve your conditioning for MMA far quicker, and to a greater extent than performing any amount of work on traditional cardiovascular machines. You’ll also burn more fat in the process whilst preserving muscle tissue, since your metabolism will be elevated through the roof!

In short, MMA essentially depends on your ability to push, pull or hold your opponent for the duration of the bout, without your muscles running out of high-force output.

A treadmill, bike, rower, cross trainer, stepper or road running will never prepare your body for this capability properly. Complexes however, will.

If you’re still not convinced, just try the following protocol. You may have changed your mind by the end of the workout (which only takes around 10-15 minutes by the way).

 

JD’s MMA Barbell Complex:

1. Deadlift
2. Straight Leg Deadlift
3. Bent Over Row
4. Hang clean
5. Front Squat
6. Push Press
7. Reverse Lunge with Twist (bar on back)
8. Jump Squat

 

Those are the exercises; follow these guidelines to complete the workout:

• Perform 6 reps of each exercise before immediately moving to the next.
• Aim for full power on every rep, at a speed that is forceful, but under control.
• Rest for 90 seconds when the first complex (all 8 exercises) are done. Then repeat for 3 more sets.
• Men should start with an empty 20kg Olympic Bar (or a lighter barbell loaded up to 20kg). Women should start with a 15kg barbell. Don’t laugh at the thought of using an empty barbell until you’ve tried it. You may be humbled.
• To progress, simply decrease the 90 second rest period between sets by 5 seconds each time you perform the workout. Performing the workout 1-3 times per week should be sufficient.

 

If you want to find out more about complex training, I’ve put together a full guide to complex training, and a number of complex workouts that I’ve used with great success. This e-manual will also include complex workouts for that you can use to melt fat and increase MMA-specific endurance using barbells, dumbbells, kettlebells, weight plates, resistance bands and bodyweight exercises.

This e-manual will be given to you FREE if you order a copy of my Body Weight Bible e-book, which is coming soon.

Categories: Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning | Tags: cardio, conditioning, Endurance, Fat Loss, MMA | No Comments »

Interview With Gary Turner, Part 2

In Part 2 of this interview, Gary Turner gives some excellent fat loss tips, talks about the TRX, and his some common mistakes being made by MMA trainees…

You can read Part 1 of the interview here. Enjoy…
 
Now, as we all know the sport of MMA has exploded over the last few years, and finally the importance of strength and conditioning is starting to be realized. This is obviously a positive for the development of the sport, but of course with it come the negatives – almost every fitness trainer on the planet trying to cash in with their “MMA-specific” workouts and apparent knowledge of sports conditioning.
 
In your personal opinion, what would you say are the biggest mistakes, or misconceptions, fighters are still making in terms of developing their conditioning for MMA and other combat sports?

Oh, that really winds me up. You go to the gym and you see ‘cage-fighting workouts’ and ‘MMA conditioning’ from people who don’t even know what the sport is. How can you do train people in sport-specific workouts when you don’t know what the sport is?

They are using it for marketing purposes, and the only positives I can think about are that people are hearing about our sport and having fun while getting fit in the process.

 I think fighters across all combat sports are making the same mistakes as a generalisation. The first is putting their minds and bodies under the right pressure. For an example, I was giving a boxing padwork session yesterday, and after a few rounds, I started to get my client to throw less punches, but at the same time started to tap him in all of the openings he left, so he was aware and could correct with an active guard.

He was shattered at the end of the round! The stress he had put on his body as a result of the mental pressure took the toll on his body. So the first mistake fighters make is not putting themselves under the right level of mental pressure before a fight. My coaches and I have some good drills in this – they take me really nicely out of the ‘familiarity zone’ and put me under pressure.

 

The second mistake that I see, particularly in MMA fighters, is the lack of switching between energy systems during their conditioning. They seem to train quite nicely for the aerobic tension of the ground fighting, and also well for the relaxed aerobic nature of the striking.

But, when you switch between these two ways of working, the body is placed under immense pressure. I don’t see or hear of enough sessions that work the transitions between these two ways of fighting.

 

The third mistake is the lack of sports specificity. I see and read of fighters who spend too much time working on static lifts and lifts that have their bodies in equality. By doing this too much they are building sports-specific weak points in their body, which will let them down under pressure.

 I believe you should work your body first along the lines of how it is required to work under a fight, and anything else is a support structure to this.

 

Another area that is severely lacking is the correct periodisation of training. Fighters tend to focus on all areas at once. This leaves a ‘jack of all trades’ approach with a lack of structure.

A fighter needs to set an overall structure to his training with an end goal in mind, then break it down into smaller, more focussed chunks. I also find that most fighters even when they do this forget what I feel to be the most important section, which I put at the forefront of my training which is conditioning for injury prevention.

 

A further area that isn’t given attention is breathing and how to breathe. I don’t hear of fighters being taught how to breathe effectively for recovery, for standing up work, nor on the ground. The ground is a particular problem for an MMA fighter as in most ground conditions breathing is restricted either by weight or posture – a fighter definitely needs to know how to breathe in situations like this!

 

There are more areas that fighters have misconceptions with as well, but I think these are the main ones.

 

Some excellent points there. I think the ’mental pressure’ is definitely overlooked. It reminds me of something strength coach Charles Poliquin once spoke about when he was training some armed forces personnel - basically, when a person comes under large amounts of lactic acid build up and fatigue, their decision making processes are compromised.
 
So Poliquin would use drills where a police officer would have to run up 24 flights of stairs with a weighted bag, and then at the top would have his reaction time challenged with those pop up targets, some of which he could shoot and those that he shouldn’t (i.e. – the cardboard cut outs of innocent civilians etc).
 
It makes sense that a more specific format of such a drill would be incredibly effective for the combat athlete.
 
You mentioned Injury Prevention, which is THE top priority of Strength & Conditioning in my book. What methods have you found useful for conditioning against injuries with your clients?

Nice work there by Charles Poliquin! That’s because things like memories are state dependent. You need to be in the state in which you learned to remember. So if you aren’t in that state, the decision making processes are compromised. That’s why in order for their mental processes, their strategies, memories and programming to be effective they need to be installed in the state in which they will be used.

 Taking this a step further our state is dependent on two things, our internal representation (or thoughts) and our physiology. Change one, you change the state. Try putting a big real smile on your face, standing tall, big breathe, making yourself large looking to the sky and shout yes – while at the same time trying to feel bad. You can’t do it!

 I do like his drill too – I’ll have to find some stairs and a weighted bag!

 

Yeah, injury prevention is top in my book too, as without it there will be no training, and no longevity in your chosen sport. There are several sides to injury prevention, and the first I believe is having total strength – no weakness in the body. I think that you should take time to strengthen all of the joints in the body, and all the tendons and ligaments and corrective tissues before you start your main phase of strength and further conditioning.

 I believe that every joint has its own ‘core’, and this is what I work on. You see, its all very well when our bodies remain in alignment. But what happens when we are kicked laterally in the knee for example? We need the strength, the ‘robustness’ to have the strength to withstand times when our bodies are taken out of where they should be. And in our sport this happens a lot! I actually think this is the reason why footballers pick up so many injuries. They are strong in their usual planes of motion. But if they are tackled, often their bodies aren’t strong in the other planes, and injuries occur.

 The physical training for the British Army changed last year, with a cross-over to ‘Combat Conditioning’, focusing on ‘Robust Conditioning’. I was part of the five-man development team for this, brought in as a civilian Subject Matter Expert, to give my input. The army have realised that there is a need to be more than just fit – you need the robustness too in order to do the job. I had the pleasure of working alongside an army injury rehabilitation specialist and gained good insight through working with him.

 The techniques I find effective are super-slow, or slow-mo, or just damn slow movements! Zero momentum through the movements, total control of every fibre. I also utilise tools like the Bosu ball and the Fit Balls to help induce instability and therefore body control and adjustment. I also swear by the TRX. I was the first importer for this to the UK, but back then had no marketing skills to sell it, and people couldn’t see what an incredible bit of kit it was! I was first shown it by the Delta Force inventors at the Arnold Classic in Ohio, and they’d seen me fight, and gave me one of their Force Training Kits. And it was incredible! It’s my secret weapon in injury prevention - and functional strength!

 

The first importer of the TRX to the UK! That’s interesting!
 
Just a couple more questions to wrap up:
 
Firstly, seeing as it’s the start of the year, what top tip would you offer to those fighters out there looking to burn off some Christmas fat?

And secondly, what’s to come from Gary Turner in the near future? What plans do you have in the pipe works that you’d like to tell the readers about?

 The TRX is the best piece of conditioning equipment you can imagine. Something so simple, and yet the results are so incredible. I met Fraser and Randy (the inventors) at the Arnold Classic after I beat Carter Williams there, and they took the time to show me the equipment. They gave me some to try out, and we started talking about the importing of them to the UK.

 However, once you add the US Tax, the UK Duty Tariff, pay for transportation, insurance and raise finance, all combined with processing of orders and postage and packing, and the margin became very small. Due to the high, without compromise quality of the equipment the base cost is high, therefore meaning the margin had to be small to make them saleable.

 It was such a simple concept, people couldn’t see how it would benefit them, and as a result they really needed to try before they could buy. Combine all that with my poorly executed business plan and the business was doomed – too much pain for so little gain!

I still shifted a few units, but had to leave it behind. If the opportunity arose again I would be much better placed to take advantage of that great opportunity – I know have studied marketing, sales and business structure to a fine level. But, that will have to wait until the next opportunity! But more about that in a moment.

 

Ah, the good old start of the year fat loss! I get so fed up with magazine and media about fat loss, they always confuse fat loss with weight loss – and they aren’t the same.

 Weight loss is easy, you just eat less than the energy you expend. But where is that weight lost from? Is it fat, or water, or hard earned soft tissue like muscles? I’ve seen many people following ‘fat loss’ diets in magazines and watched as they lose weight but get fatter, all the time become more out of shape.

 Fat loss is different. Fat loss is about targeting fat and metabolising fat as an energy source. The first thing to do is to make sure you are eating clean, and eating the right foods to ensure that you are getting the right nutrients in to satisfy your training recovery and life needs. And I shake my head in dismay when people eat terribly but think taking a few supplements can help them lose weight!

People have to realise that supplements are just that, supplementary to the main food. So sort the main food out first, eat healthily and naturally and in the right proportions.

 If the fighters wanted to do one thing other than that which will help them to strip fat without losing physical condition then they should walk. I love brisk walking for pure fat burning, on an empty stomach. This way you are metabolising fat as your energy source and not affecting your soft tissue. You will be able to burn fat and maintain muscle. And most importantly it won’t tire you out for your conditioning training.

 

 So what’s from me in the near future? On the fight side, I’m still training like mad, and still open to fight offers. I’ve had offers that we are looking to convert but one of the obstacles is cost. I’m not going to get out of bed for anything apart from the right money, or the right challenge.

Performance wise, in training, I’ve never been better. I’m holding weight at around 90kg and can make 84kg with two week’s notice. I’m technically never better on the ground, and my striking is really making my sparring partners suffer.

 Actually, the main reason why my sparring partners are suffering is that I’m applying the NLP principles of modelling to fighting. I’m modelling various successful fighters, finding out what and how they do what they do that makes them so effective. I’m looking at the mental and physical strategies that they use, and this had led me to some ground-breaking discoveries. I’m looking at the end goal of winning.

And I’ve been road-testing this work on my training partners, with incredible results. And now I know these strategies I’ve started to install these strategies into some of my training partners, so they can enjoy it too. You’ll definitely be hearing more about this research in the future!

 

This summer I’ll also be launching my assault for world domination! I’m now concentrating on my specialist area of ‘personal performance’, and focusing in on my expert area of ‘fight sport’s performance’ in particular. This summer will see the release of the first of many products that I know will help all fighters, whatever their combat sport, from books (normal and e-books), CD’s and MP3’s, DVD’s, hypnosis tracks and of course seminar series.

 

All these products are rapidly advanced in development, the marketing is in place, and I can’t wait to unleash them! In fact, I’ve already started to drip feed various pieces of useful information from these in online articles, and more free stuff will be coming in the near future via online ‘fast track guides’, downloadable MP3’s and videos on youtube.com. This all gives people a chance to experience fast improvements in advance of the leaps forward they can get from the knowledge in the products.

 And in the background, while all this is still going on, I’m going to be continuing training away, each week training in kickboxing, Thai Boxing, grappling and judo, together with the related conditioning work. So when the right offer does come along, I’ll definitely be taking it! I definitely haven’t retired!

 

That’s great to hear, Gary.
 
I thought I was the only one advocating short walks for MMA fighters and getting the strange looks in return lol!
 
‘World Domination’ sounds as good a goal as any, so we’ll be keeping an eye out for more from you in the near future. 
 
Thanks for taking the time out to do this interview, and I hope the readers have enjoyed it. I know I’ve learned a few things already.

Categories: Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning | Tags: Fat Loss, Gary, MMA, turner | No Comments »

Interview With Gary Turner, Part 1

Interview With Gary Turner

I recently had the opportunity of conducting an interview with Gary Turner, a.k.a ‘Smiler. He is a professional fighter and also a fellow strength and conditioning coach for combat athletes. Many of you will know him, but for those who don’t you are in for a treat today.

I had a lot of questions for Gary regarding his history, strength and conditioning for MMA and fat loss, as well as some elements of combat-psychology that you won’t want to miss! At the age of 39 years young, you can definitely say that Smiler has ‘been there, done that and is STILL doing it’.

Whether you’re an up and coming fighter, or just looking to improve your fitness, you can’t afford to miss this interview as Gary shares his years of experience and wisdom.

It turned out to be quite an in-depth discussion so I’ve divided it into 2 parts.

Here is the first part of the interview. Stay tuned to the site during the week for part 2.

 

Part 1:

First off then Gary, why don’t you tell the readers a bit about yourself, your history and accomplishments and what you are currently doing these days?

Hi Justin, well, I started judo back in 1976 and have been competing in martial sports ever since. So far I’ve competed in Judo, kickboxing (points, light continuous, full contact, and low kick), Thai boxing, shoot-fighting, Wushu Kwan, sport Ju Jitsu, K1, MMA, and even karate. I’ve been fortunate enough to pick up thirteen World Titles in some of these disciplines and continue to push myself as a professional athlete today.

 

Currently I’m training in kickboxing and Thai boxing, boxing, judo, and grappling, together with carrying out my conditioning work alongside the technical elements. These disciplines mean I’ve got most of the martial sports covered, helping me take on the sudden challenges when they arise!

 

In my personal life I work as a business consultant/trainer and personal change therapist utilizing my NLP and hypnotherapy skills. I carry out up to twenty personal training sessions each week and have my own kickboxing class. On top of this I also run my own building surveying business. I spend some of my week with the Army at the Army School of Physical Training. Most importantly, I’m driven to develop and learn, and carry out a minimum of two-hours study every day in my chosen fields.

 

Currently within my sport I’m in talks with a UK promoter in respect to a two-fight deal for MMA/Cage kickboxing, and talks are at the contract stage for a potential full contact kickboxing World Title fight for October.

 

As you can see, my life is busy, and there’s so much more going on besides what I have just told you! I have an active mind and body, and for me, busy is good!

 

Wow, you sure are keeping busy! Before we get into the conditioning side of things, let’s just talk a bit more about your fighting career. Do you have any favourite matches or moments that you are most proud of? Also, what tips would you give out to a young guy or girl getting ready to take up a career in competing?

I’ve been fighting for so long there are lots of moments and fights that make me proud. But in respect to MMA my proudest overall match was my Cage Rage match against Edson Draggo. My skills weren’t up to his, I was much smaller, I was less experienced at MMA, and he had also just demolished Tengiz in 10 seconds who was, at the time, definitely British no. 1.

 

So my team and I had a look at Draggo’s fights, but not from a technical point of view. We had a good look at his psychology before, during, and after his fights. We worked out a way of psychologically deconstructing him, and that’s exactly what we did.

 

We started at the weigh in. Draggo had a habit of giving little head buts when squaring off, so just as he moved in to do so, I pushed a box of chocolates in to his hand. Talk about a pattern interrupt! He just didn’t know what to do while everyone fell around laughing. I anchored that feeling of being out of control, and utilized it all the way during the fight. No matter how hard he tried I just kept on smiling and appearing in a comfort zone, and kept reminding him that he wasn’t in control. The fight culminated in him not coming out for the third round. I think the psychological deconstruction affected him a lot – he hasn’t fought since that fight.

 

The most important tip I would give a youngster starting out in fighting would be that practice does not make perfect. Everyone seems to think it does! The only thing that practice does is to make permanent. So, in the words of Geoff Colvin in his great book ‘Talent is overrated’ what counts is ‘deliberate practice’. In other words, work out what you want to achieve from your practice, and then practice perfectly, not sloppily.

 

I think that’s great advice. I’ve heard a quote somewhere myself that says it actually should be “Only Perfect Practice makes Perfect“! I’m a fond believer in Quality over Quantity – ALWAYS, myself.
 
Since you mention psychology…you’ve always payed a lot of attention to this often neglected aspect of combat haven’t you? Tell us about your experiences as an NLP practitioner, and how hypnotherapy works for the combat athlete.

Yes, I was taught about the Pareto Principle a long time ago, to do the 20% of the work that gives 80% of the rewards. Definitely quality first, quantity second. Mind you, if you could do quantity with the quality, then you’d be laughing!

 

NLP, or Neuro Linguistic Programming, is often mis-understood. It is basically the process of modelling. So if you want to play golf like Tiger Woods, you could model how he trains, how he plays, how he thinks, and copy it. Maybe without the extra-marital parts though! As NLP was initially developed by modelling some very successful therapists and psychologists there is a massive focus on the way that the mind operates, together with the physiological link. So by understanding how the mind works it makes the process of change much simpler. I apply my NLP trainings to personal change work, business consultancy, training seminars, coaching and leadership, amongst much more. In fact, the British Army now base their leadership and coaching on NLP principles.

 

 

NLP goes hand in hand with hypnosis. Combining the two offers a great deal for a combat athlete. Imagine being in control of anxiety before a fight. Anchoring the perfect mental and physical state for competition, to be called on immediately by firing a simple trigger.

 

Switching the conscious part of the mind off and just letting the unconscious part, which acts so much quicker, react instantly to your opponent’s moves and select the correct techniques to counter. Switching off the freeze and flight elements of your autonomous nervous system, and instead instantly fighting back. Increasing sensory awareness.

 

Imagine sticking to a strategy throughout an entire fight, and not being ruled by emotions. You can remove limiting beliefs, fears, and anger. Provide towards and away from motivation and get you unconsciously moving towards where you want to be. Be better placed to coach an athlete through the weak points in his game, to identify them and improve on them. And all this is just the tip of the iceberg!

 

And lately I’ve been developing time distortion techniques too, where the perception is that you are operating at a far faster rate than your opponent, enabling you to therefore react much quicker.

 

Another area where I’ve been doing much research in is the world of pain and injury management. In respect to pain, with the exception of sudden pain (such as touching something red hot), it is controlled by the part of the brain that deals with emotions. And as we are in charge of our emotions, we are in charge of our representation of pain. Using classical hypnosis and ‘waking’ state NLP techniques I’m always playing with people’s pain, reducing or removing it as appropriate for the injury.

 

I think my record so far is to reduce a knee pain from a 7/10 to a 2/10 in about thirty seconds! And as it was on a soldier, and they only think in terms of black and white, you can be sure I don’t practice any ‘mumbo-jumbo’, and am studying hard on the medical science behind what I am doing, so I can explain it in the right medical terms too!

 

The idea of ‘modelling’ sounds interesting. After all, success leaves clues right?
 
In my opinion I think it all sounds quite legitimate, as I believe that as far as physiology goes, we know relatively little about how our body functions. When it comes to PSYCHOLOGY I can only imagine that the scientists are even further behind. I think that we as humans really cannot comprehend what we are actually capable of, mentally and physically.  

I still have a few more questions on this topic though:
 
1. Is this the sort of concept that NLP / hypnotherapy would be based on? Expanding human limits?
2. I mean no disrespect but that ‘distortion’ technique reminds me of something out of The Matrix, where you can watch the other guy’s hands swinging to your left or right in slow motion, while you are still in real-time!
 
I’m sure the readers would love to hear more about this, especially if it can improve reaction time and speed. How much of this concept is mental compared to physical? Would the quickness / reaction time component come more under physical training or is at actually more of a psychological technique you are talking about here?
 
3. Also, MMAUnltd.com have recently published one of your articles, “Do You Know About STRESS?” which starts to delve into this topic.
 
What would you like to say to anyone who reads the article and comes up with the assumption that this IS just a load of ‘mumbo-jumbo’, or that some of these things can’t really be done?

 

You mentioned the Matrix! I actually use that analogy in some of my time-distortion hypnotherapy sessions to guide the visualisation. Backing up a bit, we can only represent things in our mind in terms of the five senses. And with time you can’t see it, can’t feel it, and can’t hear it. You can only represent it in terms of your self-talk. But as you can represent it, you can adjust your representations and therefore your perceptions of time.

 

You can’t distinguish between vividly imagined and real events. So with guided imagery I get my clients to go into ‘Matrix’ mode for example, slowing their opponents down, changing their perceptions of time. And as they imagine themselves, basically experiencing themselves reacting in this way, they are smoothing out and hardwiring their neurology to recognise and respond like that. It helps them recognise and respond quicker to stimulus, and respond quicker in the right way. You can’t actually change time, but you can alter your perception of it. Time distortion techniques have been used with hypnosis for years, particularly in respect to surgical procedures and recovery from injury.

 

I’m actually becoming more and more surprised that this isn’t taught at schools. Going back to our internal representations in terms of the five senses, these are called modalities. And they can be broken down further into sub-modalities. For example, as you think of a pint of Guinness, do you have a picture? And where is that picture in relation to you? Is it colour or black and white? Movie or still?  Framed or panoramic? What’s the contrast like? What angle are you viewing it from? How big is the picture?

 

These are examples of the submodalities of the visual modality. And these were written about by Aristotle, something like 350yrs BC. So it’s nothing new. The way the mind works and its connection with the body is known and valid medical science, although there are always breakthroughs. As I said, I’m really shocked we aren’t actually taught how our own minds and bodies work in schools.

 

I guess that’s the main argument I have against the ‘mumbo-jumbo’ brigade. Everything I do, and is done by proper practitioners within the fields of NLP and hypnotherapy, is found in pure science. And I don’t mean fringe groups either – pure, accepted science.

 

I’m taking time to learn the science behind each element so that if questioned I have the right answers, and can point in the direction for further learning. In further support of the science behind this, and the successful practice, the British Army are basing their leadership and coaching courses on NLP. I’m doing my training in this way through the army. (I’m not military, but often work alongside them.) They would not be doing so if it was just mumbo-jumbo!

 

I actually had a friend say that ‘mumbo-jumbo stuff’ to me Saturday in the pub. I knew he had a ‘mortal’ fear of flying (his words), and even though I’d had a few brandies, I asked him to think about flying in the future. I got him nearly to the stage of a panic attack. I then carried out a simple technique in less than a couple of minutes. No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t get any anxiety back about flying in the future.

 

So I got him next to induce the anxiety experience about an event in the past. Again, he felt it, and again, with a simple technique I took the anxiety away, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get the feeling back. He could remember feeling the anxiety, and the events that happened, he just couldn’t get the reaction back.

 

With him he now knows it’s not mumbo-jumbo, he’s experienced how simple it is. Follow the cake recipe, and then change the recipe. You get a different result. Do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get the same result. So change what you do! That’s the basis behind change work. No mumbo-jumbo there!

 

Okay, well I understand you’ll be releasing more information on this clearly in-depth subject in the near future, so in Part 2 of our interview we’ll be moving onto some Strength & Conditioning!

 

If you’d like to get in touch with Gary, or learn more about his work, visit www.GaryTurner.co.uk.

Part 2 coming later this week!

Categories: Fat Loss, Strength & Conditioning | Tags: conditioning, Fat Loss, gary turner, Interview, psychology | No Comments »

Interview with Dan ‘The Outlaw’ Hardy

Today’s blog is a guest announcement from MMA Unltd Magazine, the UK’s leading Mixed Martial Arts magazine.

 

Unleashing our bold new look for 2010, MMA Unltd have revamped our design and brought a whole new raft of top MMA content to the magazine. Speaking to Dan Hardy about his UFC career and his four back to back wins, we also discussed his forthcoming title shot against Georges St-Pierre and, as usual ‘The Outlaw’ speaks his mind.

WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner gave us an exclusive interview ahead of his unification bout against Ben Henderson as he returns from injury. Varner has his sights set on putting Henderson in his place as well as talking about where he sees his future being – challenging for the 155lbs UFC crown.

2009 has been a big year for Mixed Martial Arts and we break down all the highs and lows as well as reporting on all the latest events from the UK and around the world plus another huge instalment of training techniques and conditioning advice.

• Dan Hardy: ‘The Outlaw’ prepares to take the welterweight crown
• Jamie Varner : A champion’s journey
• MMA Timeline ’09: The year reviewed
• Get KO punching power in 4 weeks

Paul Taylor demonstrates his devastating striking prowess and Robert Drysdale shows us how to rule on the ground. JC Santana joins the team to show you how to get explosive punches as well as all our regular features and more.

 

P.S – You can now get more Strength & Conditioning tips and advice from me, by checking out the new MMAUnltd Training Zone.

JustinDevonshire@Hotmail.com

Categories: News | Tags: Hardy, MMA, MMAUnltd | No Comments »

The Myth Slayer – Volume 2: “No Pain, No Gain!”

 Every MMA athlete is likely to experience pain throughout their career. Fighters are conditioned to believe that pain is normal, like a barrier that must be broken in order to progress.

 But just because pain is a normal part of fighting doesn’t mean it should be a normal part of your conditioning.

 I can understand how you want to be prepared for grueling pain, but there are better ways to prepare than to actually seek pain and suffering during a workout. As famous strength coach Mike Boyle puts it, if you drive you may one day end up in a car crash. But that doesn’t mean we ‘prepare’ for it by voluntarily driving into lampposts every week!

 From what combat athletes have been traditionally exposed to, most now believe that a conditioning session is only beneficial if they puke 3 times, keep on working for at least 3 hours, and are sore for the next few days.

 I blame this sort of idiocy on the fight coaches who put them through these so-called ‘workouts’ (read Volume 1 of The Myth Slayer to see more about the pitfalls of having a fight coach who believes he knows what’s best for your fitness and health). The emergence of Crossfit hasn’t helped this notion either.

 Let me tell you as it is: long duration sessions such as these, which leave you tired, sore and encourage you to throw up are the WORST thing you can do. Here are a few reasons why:

 ~ Puking is bad for your body and hinders recovery from training. This is common knowledge to every single person on the planet who isn’t involved in martial arts, but apparently in an MMA conditioning  or Crossfit session the laws of human biology change, and vomiting becomes a goal of training?

 ~ If your conditioning session takes you longer than 60 minutes to complete, then you are not training right. If you are training for 3 hours then you are definitely not training right, and certainly not training hard enough. No one can work at the intensity required to compete in MMA for this long. That’s why they only have 3-5 rounds!

 ~ If you can’t prepare for a 25 minute maximum match in under 40 minutes, you need to stop using the workout your buddy pulled out of Flex magazine. I’d also recommend subscribing to this site for a free e-book on MMA strength & conditioning that will save you years of frustration, and increase your fitness in mere weeks.

 ~Soreness is not an indicator of fitness. Soreness simply indicates that you are pushing your muscles too hard and they are begging you to stop. The worst thing is that many fighters obliterate their muscles with 15 sets of bicep curls and chest flyes, then go to sparring class the next day, bragging about how they ‘blasted their pecs’ and are really sore.

They go on to learn sloppy techniques as their muscles are fatigued, have a crap session overall as they are drained, and half the time end up getting injured or pulling a muscle since they are so weak.

 

Vomiting and soreness are NOT what you are looking for. Increases in explosive power, strength, and power endurance are.

Remember, the number one aim of strength & conditioning is injury prevention. You are going to experience risks to your health and body when you compete. Your conditioning should be based around strengthening your body to reduce these risks and extend your career.

Categories: Strength & Conditioning | Tags: injury prevention, myths, pain | 2 Comments »

January Q & A

Question: Justin,

I have a question about nutrition – what guidelines should I be following for a healthy diet that will help my keep fat levels down?

Answer: I like to keep nutrition very simple – because it really is. To create the fat loss diet that never fails, I like to stick to this simplistic strategy:

Get your carbohydrates from vegetables and fruit,

Get your proteins from meat, eggs, fish and milk

Get your fats from healthy oils (olive, flaxseed for example) and more fish.

Drink water. Lots.

And that’s pretty much a ‘fat loss diet’. No it’s not sexy, and for that reason you won’t see it spread across the latest health & fitness magazine. But like strength training, the basic fundamentals are increasingly being overlooked for non-existent ‘quick fixes’ and trendy new fads.

These craze-diets will last for a year or two, and then disappear. The ‘diet’ outlined above has kept humans slim since the beginning of the human race…

 

Question: What is core stability and how do I train it?

Answer: Your core refers to your torso, or the ‘corset’ of muscles that create your midsection. These muscles are designed to brace and stabilize so that more force can be transferred between your hips and shoulders.

Imagine it this way: Force comes from the ground. It then travels through your hips, through your core and to your shoulders, where you can then unleash a powerful strike. The core is therefore the ‘bridge’ between your hips and shoulders.

Now, if you have a strong core, that means you have a sturdy bridge that the force can travel across quickly and more effectively. But if your core is weak, and cannot stabilize, then you have a rickety, broken bridge that energy will fall through.

The first assessment of core stability is to hold the prone plank exercise, for at least 60 seconds.

 When you can do this, it’s time to add movement with your limbs, whilst keeping that core braced and sturdy. One of the best ways to do this is with heavy Farmer’s Walks.

This type of exercise automatically forces your core to brace the way it does naturally to allow your limbs to work to their full potential.

And if anyone reading this is still doing the old ‘200 crunches a day’ routine… please stop it.

 

Question: Hi Justin,

I hope you can help, I’m looking for a fat loss workout to do alongside my MMA training. Or do I just need to add more cardio on top of my current training?

Answer: Body composition changes, whether building muscle or burning fat is largely down to your nutrition. Of course you need both good exercises and diet to get to either goal as quickly and effectively as possible. However, the fact remains that if you need to burn fat the perfect fat-loss training program won’t work if your diet is still crap!

For your fat loss nutrition, simply eat a lot of vegetables, a lot of meat, eggs and fish, and drink a lot of water. Avoid processed sugar. It really is as simple as that. For a specific fat-loss workout, here’s one I posted on the UK-MMA forum recently.

‘Cardio’ in the most traditional sense has been shown by numerous studies and real world evidence to be ineffective for fat burning. For both MMA performance and fat loss training I advocate any form of ‘loaded endurance’ exercise. This means using resistance based exercises to induce fat loss, such as body weight training or resistance circuits. Fat loss is all about preserving that valuable muscle tissue, which can’t be done with a treadmill.

 

Question: What exercises can I do to improve my kicking strength and power?

Answer: The power of a kick doesn’t actually come from the striking leg. It actually has more to do with how well the opposite leg can stabilize and how much force can be sent through the core (i.e. – core stability).

I’d recommend starting single-leg strength exercises, such as single-leg deadlifts, single-leg squats, and split squats. Training on one leg will develop stability strength in the knee of the supporting leg, as well as the core.

Another overlooked component of kicking is developing good hip mobility. This is best achieved by routinely deadlifting, front squatting and lunging with good depth and form. Your hips will become more pliable, but will have strength to go with that flexibility.

 

To have your questions answered in future Q & A’s email me at JustinDevonshire@Hotmail.com

 

You can now also see more training tips and advice at MMA Unltd’s new website:  Justin Devonshire on MMAUnltd.com

And also at Razorstorm.co.uk: Justin Devonshire on Razorstorm.co.uk

Both have brand new-look websites and are worth checking out!

Categories: Strength & Conditioning | Tags: | 3 Comments »

The Myth Slayer – Volume 1: “Great Fighters Make Great Strength Coaches”

Here’s the problem. MMA is one of the newest sports in the world. As a result, there is a lot of confusion over the best methods of training to increase MMA-specific conditioning.

 Combat athletes are now in that position where they can take up MMA and turn their ambition into a real, well-paying career, just like football or rugby.

 However, even though the sport has developed, the lack of good strength & conditioning advice is the biggest thing holding fighters back from reaching their full potential. As a fighter, who do you go to for advice on muscle building, strength, fat loss or endurance?

 Most fighters end up going to the local bodybuilding guru at the gym, or even worse (in many cases), their fighting coach / martial arts instructors.

 Now, skills instructors know fighting but don’t know the body, and how it works to develop true conditioning. Bodybuilders know how to grow big, pretty muscles, but usually don’t know jack about performance, explosive power, useable strength, or injury prevention.

 How about personal trainers? Unfortunately, 99% of them don’t know anything about training for MMA performance either (the personal trainers just get their advice from the bodybuilders!)

 But now its time to bring the confusion to a close! Today I’m launching a new series of articles that are going to expose the biggest traditional strength & conditioning myths that still plague the sport of MMA.

 These myths have been robbing you of your true athletic potential. Hopefully after reading these posts, you can make any necessary adjustments to your training and become stronger, faster and leaner in no time at all.

 Its time for the no B.S, cold, hard truth about becoming a true combat athlete….

 

  MYTH: “Great Fighters Make Great Strength Coaches”

 As mentioned, most fighters still rely on their MMA coach or another fighter to give them a strength & conditioning program. Apparently, because these people have competed in matches, they have somehow developed a better awareness of human anatomy, biomechanics, energy systems, and the science behind neuromuscular strength & power development.

 This is nonsense. Wouldn’t you find it absurd if a gym instructor came over to you when you were lifting weights and started telling you how to throw a right hook, or the proper way to pass guard?

 Of course you would. Yet, if a fighting coach tells a fighter how to get fitter, he’s looked at like some sort of ‘guru’.

 A qualified strength & conditioning coach will understand the biomechanics and processes of human performance, and will be able to apply the science to a sport after studying it. A good strength coach will study time periods of work, rest, active rest, and the individual fighter’s energy requirements.

 Most importantly though, a good strength coach will figure out the athlete’s biggest weaknesses, and base a program around fixing them.

Do yourself a favour and find a strength & conditioning coach, or at least get a program designed by one.

 

Here’s a quick checklist you should make on any ‘program’ or workout you are given. If any one of these points below are apparent, then you know that the program was written by someone who does NOT understand strength & conditioning:

~Any endurance work is performed before strength training.

~Any maximal power work is performed after strength training.

~’Speed’ and ‘Conditioning’ are classed as the same thing.

~There are more isolation exercises (biceps curls, triceps extensions etc.) than compound movements (deadlifts, rows, power cleans etc.)

~All strength exercises are to be done for ‘3 sets of 10′.

~It includes resistance machine exercises.

~You are told to do any Strength exercise for more than 8 reps per set.

~You are told to learn to kneel, stand, or perform some girly-looking exercise on a stability ball with pink dumbbells. (Not that stability balls are bad…but they’re not all the rage that the local personal trainer makes them out to be either…)

~The program includes aerobic exercise at a certain percentage of your heart rate.

~The Endurance / Conditioning work is done for longer than 25 minutes per workout.

~You are told how many days you should train in the gym without being asked how many times per week you take part in MMA classes.

 

…this list could go on forever. But if you see any one of those traits in a program given to you, you can be sure that the program is not for you.

 

 

I hope you guys liked this post and find it useful. The next Myth to be busted: “No Pain, No Gain“?

 

Stay tuned for that one. in the meantime, have an awesome New Year everyone. As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the above post. If you have something to say, click on the comment box!

 

JustinDevonshire@Hotmail.com

Categories: Strength & Conditioning | Tags: | 2 Comments »

How To Stop Your Muscles Wasting Away

As a combat athlete, you are training hard, and training often. But are you consuming enough calories to allow your body to repair itself and grow stronger?

A common problem is that many athletes try to eat less and exercise more, in the hope of gaining strength and dropping fat. This is a problem because you cannot train for one goal but eat for another.

By training at a high intensity multiple times per week to develop strength and endurance, but not eating enough calories your body will likely start using muscle tissue for energy. As you can imagine, less muscle mass is not great for MMA performance. It doesn’t help you look any better to the opposite sex either!

A vital principle of strength & conditioning to remember is that you should always plan your training around your recovery. Don’t plan your calorie intake after deciding on what your exercise program will be. This is because recovery (meaning nutrition and sleep / rest)is the biggest part of growing stronger and improving performance. How can this be?

Simple: we spend approximately 3-4 hours per week training in the gym. This means that we spend on average 164 hours per week recovering. Therefore we can see just how important recovery is.

Remember, exercise stimulates your body by breaking the muscles and tissues down. Your body then demands a sufficient amount of calories to repair this damage and grow the tissues back stronger than before. In other words, recovery burns calories too. And when you work at higher intensities, your body burns even more calories when regenerating.

In essence, if your calorie intake doesn’t match your calorie expenditure, you won’t get stronger, faster or better. In fact, you’ll end up getting weaker, slower and smaller as your muscles get burned away to make up for the energy you are not giving your body.

 

A perfect example of a coach who understands this is Amir Kahn’s strength coach, Alex Ariza. Since working in Freddie Roach’s camp for the last several months, Kahn has seen a huge improvement in skill, athleticism and physique. This was clearly evident during his 76-second win over previously-unbeaten Dmitriy Salita last week.

It was revealed that the gruelling, high-intensity training that Kahn was enduring for up to 6 days per week was only possible due to the 6000kcal per day plan that he had been given.

You may also remember the Olympic record-smashing swimmer Michael Phelps from the Beijing games last year. He trained for 6 hours per day to get those medals. His required calorie intake was 12,000 calories per day!

This goes to show that you shouldn’t be afraid of high calories diets, as long as those calories are coming from healthy food sources. Your calorie intake needs to meet the demands of your training intensity, duration and frequency (times per week).

 

However, I often hear trainees claim that they are worried that they will gain fat if they eat over 2000kcals per day. But if you are training as you should for MMA / combat – at high-intensities for not much longer than an hour per session – then you need not worry about fat gain. High-intensity training forces your body to send most calories to muscle cells, rather than deposit them as fat, so eating more in these cases will usually make you leaner and stronger.

 

If you do have a fair amount of fat to lose in order to reach your desired weight, I’d recommend focusing on a strict fat-loss regime before getting overly concerned with strength and MMA performance.

In fact, just dropping any excess pounds of fat alone will increase your speed and endurance since you’ll be lighter and will have less fat holding you down.

 

I’d like to urge you all to have a look at your calorie intakes. Are you training to meet the demands of your sport? But more importantly, are you eating to meet the demands of your training?

Categories: Strength & Conditioning | Tags: | No Comments »

Are You Strong Enough for MMA?

When any fighter starts training with me, or asks me to design a programme, the very first thing I need to do is discover thier biggest weaknesses.

Any strength & conditioning programme should be based around the biggest problem holding the athlete back. As is often said, you are only as strong as your weakest link. When you identify that weak link and work on it, you’ll find that all other aspects of your game will improve too. 

There are a whole load of qualities an athlete (especially MMA guys – the ULTIMATE all rounders of sport!) need to posess and develop, and often it can take loads of different tests to find out their level of fitness.

However, as I’m short on time with my clients, I usually cut out the least useful tests and focus on the small few that will give me all the baseline info I need. These exercises are usually re-tested every 4 weeks (all depending on the training cycle and weaknesses of the athlete).

Please understand that MMA programming is very, very individualised, so the information here should be taken as a general guideline.

 

When it comes down to it, there are three things you need to perform at the highest level of combat: Strength, Power, and Endurance. Here are some tests I use to find out where my athletes are at in terms of overall conditioning:

 

Power

Power is the MOST important aspect of MMA fitness. Power just means strength x speed. If Fighter A can bench press 150kg he is strong. If Fighter B can bench press the same load but 2 seconds quicker than Fighter A, then Fighter B has more power. And when you think about MMA, the fighter who can throw the strongest strike the quickest gets the win.

Vertical Jump:

This is a great test of overall power in a combat athlete . A high vertical jump shows you have good exlposive power which will transfer to faster takedowns and knockouts.

This is also a great test of progress for other reasons:

If your deadlift / squat weight is going up, but your vertical jump isn’t, then this shows that you either need to do more speed work (as your strength isn’t being transferred into power), or that some of the weight you may have gained is fat.

For instance, if all weight you gain is muscle, then you should have no trouble maintaining or increasing your jump height. But if you are putting on too much fat then it will hold you down as you jump.

Here’s how to carry out this test:
1. Stand side on to a wall.

2. Reach up and touch the highest point you can without leaving the floor or going up on toes. Mark this spot.

3. Next, grab a small piece of blu-tac between the fingers of the hand closest to the wall. With a small bounce jump as high as possible, swing your arms up and touch the wall again, sticking the blu-tac to it.

4. Measure the distance between the first marked point and the blu-tac for your score.

A difference of 12 inches minimum should be the eventual goal.

 

Strength:

Lower Body:

Barbell Deadlift:

This is a simple exercise to determine leg strength. The most important lower body strength for MMA comes from the hips and glutes, which are hit most by this exercise. The squat uses more quad strength, which while being important, is not AS important as glutes and hips, in my opinion.

Another benefit I find over a squat is the position of the bar. Having the load in front of your body makes it more specific to MMA, than would having a bar on your back, as in a squat. Your opponent is in front of you, where you need to control him whilst also having a strong and stable back, and hips that will resist movement.

Your eventual goal should be to deadlift at least 2 x your bodyweight (so an 80kg fighter should be to build up to a 160kg deadlift over time.)

 

Upper Body:

Chin Up 1RM

I bet you were expecting the Bench Press here right? I actually believe that the upper lats and back are the most important upper body muscles in MMA. The stronger the muscles in this exercise are (lats, rhomboids, rear delts) the less chance you have of being injured. You will be able to punch harder and pulling your opponents into position will be easier.

To do this test, either perform a chin up (palms face you) with a dumbbell between your feet, or buy a dipping belt and attach weight that way.

Your 1 rep max will be your own bodyweight PLUS the external weight you use. So an 80kg man using a 20kg dumbbell will have an overall score of 100kg 1RM.

Your goal should be a 1RM of your bodyweight + 50%. So the 80kg fighter would want to aim for an external load of 40kg (50% his bodyweight) for one rep.

 

Strength / Muscular Endurance:

Chin Up Rep Test

Again I use the chin up so that you can develop not only strength in these muscles but also strength endurance. Simply perform as many as you can.

You should at least be able to perform 10 perfect chin ups as a MMArtist. If you cannot do that at this stage, then drop all bicep curls from your program and get doing chin ups whevever you can!

Press Up Rep Test

For upper body pushing muscles (chest and triceps) the press up test is good. You should aim to get at least 60 press ups.

 

 

Core Strength & Endurance:

Plank

Google the Prone Plank to find an image if you don’t know this exercise. It is probably the most important ab / core exercise you can do. A hundred crunches is not worth even one Plank held for a minute. Crunches and sit ups do not increase your core strength significantly, and instead lead to back weakness and injuries.

However, if you force the core and abs to work by staying still, this allows you to withstand more blows to the core (you won’t get winded as much) and also a stable core allows you to transfer power from your hips, through your midsection, to your arm strikes.

Your goal should be to hold the plank for 2.5 – 3 minutes.

 

 

Power (anaerobic) Endurance

I have a few different protocols I like to use to test power endurance (or the endurance you have when your muscles are burning like mad halfway through a fight!). But one particular method that always does the job is the good old 300 Yard Shuttle:

300 Yard Shuttle:

To perform this test, place two markers or cones 25 yards apart. Then you simply sprint back and forth between them 12 times. This builds up huge amounts of lactic acid in the thighs, and you need to keep your shoulders pumping quickly to keep the overall speed up.

Lighter fighters should be aiming to complete the 300 yard sprint in between 60-70 seconds. Heavyweights should be aiming for 70-80 seconds.

 

So there you have some stats for what makes a great level of MMA conditioning.

How do you measure up?

Categories: Strength & Conditioning | Tags: | 1 Comment »