Training at Leicester MMA

I've not been able to put as much work in this week as I'd hoped – lots of family stuff going on in addition to work. However, I have made a big step forward by returning to Leicester Shootfighters. My first session was submission grappling focusing on side control. The session was taught by Liam Corrigan an Assistant Coach with a fine pedigree in grappling and MMA competition.

On entering the gym I was amazed to see a large class, much larger than the classes were last time I attended, taking part in a boxing class run by JD Hylton. The energy level of the participants was impressive and all seemed to be getting to grips with JD's instruction pretty easily, Many stayed on the mat for the submission grappling class.

After a comprehensive warm-up Liam took us through a selection of bridging and shrimping drills. These are key skills in grappling & I remember Nathan Leverton saying many moons ago, that anyone who wants to be remotely proficient on the mat needs to have these skills down (I'm paraphrasing here). There was obviously a good mix of skill on the mat and a range of ages, whilst I wasn't the oldest I was certainly at that end of the spectrum. We then moved on to a good look at utilising side control, maintaining position, switching control to respond to opponent moving. Moving on, Liam took the class through positioning for head and arm triangle choke during which he showed some details that really make a difference with regard to getting or missing the choke – excellent stuff. Finally, we went through moving to North-South and taking the armbar from mount.

It was a great reintroduction to submission grappling and Liam's teaching has stayed in my brain which can only mean it was good.

This week I'm planning on going to a MMA striking class and a grappling class.

Watch this space.

Coach Dan John

Seeking inspiration, I've been reading some of Dan John's articles from his site and T-Nation. Dan is a very well respected participant and coach in Olympic and highland games style throws and also the Olympic lifts. As such he has a wealth of knowledge and experience to impart and does so in a detailed and entertaining manner.

One of the ideas that Dan explores is that of 'Work, Rest, Play, Pray'. This is Dan's expansion of the idea of balance in life, developed from a combination of his own experience and something that a nun talked about in his youth(!). The article is well worth reading, but essentially it presents the four words as points on an alternative compass. Those involved with sports or physical training of any sort will be familiar with definitions of the first two – Work and Rest – but how many of us really give any thought to the latter pair?

Reading logs and blog posts you'd be forgiven for thinking that those writing them were sometimes forced to train, where has all the fun gone? This is the play part. Maybe we all need to re-connect occasionally with the reasons for which we started training, that we love the sports that we play, that we enjoy the feeling we get from lifting and sprinting, we've made some good friends through our love of sports. We need to enjoy what we do. There's no doubt in my mind that, particularly for the amateur, losing the 'enjoyment factor' is halfway down the road to burnout and at least two steps towards giving it (whatever 'it' is) up altogether.

Ok Coach Dan, I get Work, Rest and, now, Play, but what do you mean by Pray? Referring again to the article, Dan talks about taking time to just be alone for a few minutes although he also counters this by discussing his own penchant for too much training alone – it's all about balance see. For me the Pray part can be any number of things – walking the dog, Zen meditation working on my bonsai trees – and whilst I need alone time, I often need to tilt the balance the other way and spend more time with my family and friends. This for me is also Play.

I'd urge you to head on over to T-Nation or to his website to look up some of Dan John's articles, and to think about your own balance compass, like me, you might learn something.

Look after yourself.....

Back in the saddle

I'm getting back in the saddle, making training more consistent.  As you can tell from the infrequency of the posts, time has been in very short supply so training has been pretty minimalistic making training efficiency essential.

Strength training has been sticking with Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 template, training twice a week.  Following my back spasm I had to take the numbers right down and work back up.  In most lifts I've regressed a year in terms of the numbers!  Most recently:

Swiss bar press 65kg x 5
Deadlift 114kg x 10
Swiss bar bench 72kg x 10
Trapbar deadlift 133kg x 10

Everything's progressing and, hey, it's not a sprint right?  The assistance exercise choices have been power clean (5 x 82kg), dumbbell bench (10 x 32kg each hand), dumbbell row (20 x 32kg each side), trapbar RDL (8 x 65kg), leg raises, ab wheel & landmine twists.

Conditioning-wise, my mainstays have been fight inspired circuits, typically 30 seconds each followed by 10 seconds change over, e.g.

Heavy bag punching
Sprawls
Sandbag shoulder
Sit throughs
Dummy G 'n' P.
Dummy suplex lift
Plank
Band resisted shots
Sandbag bear hug
Heavy bag punching.

This gives a really good mixed workout that staves off boredom.  Anyway,going to try to keep this updated a bit more.  Gotta go....

It's been a long time....

A lot has happened since the last update.  Just over a month ago, whilst working on my car, my back went in to spasm, OWWW!  After a week off work and mostly whacked out on muscle relaxants and codeine I started to gently train again - bad move.  Another spasm, this time whilst driving, convinced me to take things even easier.
The first thing that went was strength training of any sort, my 5/3/1 strength programme was right out the window.  No striking against resistance (no heavy bag, no maize bag), no kicking of any sort.  This left me with the question of what I could do.  First up, walk. Yes, really.  Walking a couple of miles at a reasonable pace with the dog was a way of feeling more confident doing anything that made me break sweat.  After this I moved to carrying our Bas Rutten's boxing workout with no resistance, then the thai boxing workout and finally the all round workout.  Before anything I was warming up properly and carrying out DeFranco's Agile 8 and scarecrows religiously. This has made a big difference.  I've also put goodmornings in to my training in order to build the lower back.
The injury really focused me on conditioning, something that I should do more anyway, and hopefully has begun to instil the habit in me.  I've certainly enjoyed doing more circuits, more boxing and more bodyweight exercises.  I have started strength training again but I've reduced my numbers in a big way.  I've also been hitting the bag with regularity again.
Hopefully I'll stay injury free and be able to update more often.

FIGHT UK AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS 2

Once again Leicester Shootfighters smashed it at a Fight UK event.  Check out the crisp striking from heavyweight Chris Miles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sByBdwcMqeg&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Training at Fighting Fit Martial Arts

Whilst on holiday a couple of years ago I came across Fighting Fit Martial Arts in Cromer, Norfolk. At the time I had no gumshield or box so even though I wanted to train I didn't feel that I could.

However... heading back to Cromer this year I made sure to pack box, mouth guard, gloves & anklets. I dropped in to the gym one evening and had a quick chat with John Mezzetti the owner and head coach. He seemed very friendly and I decided to train the following night.

John hasn't got a massive space at the gym but he makes great use of it. Most is matted with a cage wall. There're also bags plus a cardio area and a weights room.

We started with a warm-up that included sprawls before moving on to a drill/game in which you had to tap your partner's foot with your own and then knee-taps. This led in to an arm drag drill, similar to the drag that Marcello Garcia teaches first in his DVD series. It had been a long time since I last grappled and it really showed in a lack of co-ordination. I think perhaps John & his students expected more of me as they knew I'd trained at Leicester Shoot.

We moved on to some punching and punching to takedown drills which progressed nicely to sit-throughs. The final 15-20 mins were spent in groundwork sparring. This was great and even though I got tapped to a triangle I should never've got in to in the first place, I really enjoyed myself .

So what did I learn?

That John is a great teacher and a genuine bloke. Very friendly and really knows his stuff. John's guys are also friendly and a real credit to his teaching.

That my conditioning is f**ked and I need to prioritise it in a biiiig way.

That tapping to a rear naked choke isn't always a forgone conclusion.

A new Kimura escape (cheers John!)

That I really want to get back to regular training at Leicester Shoot.

If you're in the Cromer area of Norfolk on holiday drop in and see FFMA, I'll be training down there on my next visit for sure.

Free Ebook at Elite FTS!

There's something special that sets Elite FTS apart from other equipment suppliers.  It's not the quality of their merchandise, though be in no doubt that by buying from them you'll be buying nice, not twice.  It's not that their website is cool, although there's a whole lot more on there than just a very comprehensive catalogue.

No, it's all about the attitude, not a bad ass "we lift more than you so you suck", but a willingness to share experience and learning, to motivate and educate, to drag you along and help the aspiring athlete to be the best they can. And to do it for free.

Nothing has summed up this desire and drive to share knowledge better than the recent release of 'The Vault' a FREE ebook downloadable after signing up to the Strength Club.  There really is so much in this book that it's impossible to list it all here. Suffice it to say that it contains specific lifting advice/coaching, motivational texts and guiding principles.  Did I mention that it's also FREE - why would you not get it.

Dave Tate has outdone himself with The Vault, many, many websites would try and sell you this for a princely sum ... and it'd be worth it!  So thanks a lot Dave, it's your sharing attitude that keeps us coming back to Elitefts, long may you prosper.

Go to Elitefts.com and look for "The Vault" to get yours.