The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Haven't posted for a while and that kinda sums up how my time has been.  I've really struggled to balance work, Uni, family, etc and find time to train.

The Good

I have been able to maintain regular attendance at Leicester Shootfighters, whenever I've been really pushed for time I've prioritised training & learning.  As a result I've managed to improve my boxing a lot.  JD Hylton's tuition is excellent and I find it really easy to improve under his style of teaching.  I feel like my speed, relaxation, movement and technique has all improved.  At present we're body sparring but the option is there to attend a full sparring session to be organised soon.

The Bad

As my technique and my conditioning (sort of) has improved my strength has nose dived.  Seriously.  Wendler always says that as conditioning increases strength will drop.  In my case this is compounded by not training strength with anything approaching regularity or consistency.  The blow to the ego for someone who's lifted for 20 years is desperate.  Which leads me to.....

The Ugly

.....my technique on the lifts which has been absolute shit.  A recent set of presses was so bad, so mu ch leg drive that it was almost a jerk rather than a press.  To solve this I've reduced all my maxes for the upper body lifts so that I can get the work in and progress and get some volume.  I also need to put sled dragging back in to my programme - it seems to help with most things in life.

Anyhoo, on we go. 

Take care of yourself and if you've got any comments let's have 'em.

Circuits

I've long been a fan of fight/skill specific circuits as a way of improving conditioning and power endurance for combat sports.  YouTube has hundreds of examples of the circuits used by pro and amateur fighters alike.

The idea of course is to simulate the type of exertion specific to fighting through the performance of exercises that place similar demands on the athlete, over the same period of time for which they will be fighting.  In this respect exercise selection is crucial, as is equipment.

IHP who worked with Jeff Monson and ATT have used this approach with success.

One of the great things about circuits is that you can switch them up and experiment with different exercises, durations and the equipment used which helps to stave off boredom as wells as ensuring that adaption is avoided, whilst stressing and conditioning the necessary aspects of the body and system.  You can perform a set number of reps or as many as possible within a time frame.

Recently I decided to collate all the circuits I've used over the years - I've detailed them below.

3 min run
Band Rotations	Superset with	Sandbag Clean & Press
Recline Pull		Dumbell Snatch
5 x 10 sec sprints

In this circuit perform the superset exercises for 10 reps.  Where going to one side (rotations) or using one arm (snatch) go for 10 each arm.

Run	1 Minute
Box	1 Minute
Knees	1 Minute
Dummy Lift	10 Reps
Heavybag Kicks	20 each side
Band Pull	20 each side
Sprawl	10 Reps

In the circuit above, set a time to beat - I like 6mins,

Landmine Press and Band Pull	10 Each Arm
Band Twist	10 Each Side
Dummy Lift	10 Reps
Landmine Twist	10 Reps
Band Lunge	10 Each Legs
Recline Pull	8 Reps
Hanging Leg Raises	10 Reps
Sprawl	10 Reps

Deadlift	6 Reps
Dumbell Press	6 Reps Each Arm
Dumbell Swing	6 Reps Each Arm
Sandbag Row	6 Reps
Sandbag Squat (bag on shoulder)	6 Reps Each Shoulder

40 seconds of each back to back

Heavybag punch

Sprawl

Sandbag shoulder

Sit through

Dummy ground 'n' pound

Dummy lift

Plank

Resistance band shoot

Sandbag bearhug

Heavybag punch

With all of these I tend to go through 2 - 3 'rounds' with minimal break to ensure that I get a good blast.
Anyway, next time you're bored or stuck for conditioning ideas, try one of these.  You can thank me later.

Training, training and more training...

Some great training recently at Leicester MMA. Last month's stand up training concentrated on clinch range fighting. The last few sessions were spent working the underhook and thai plum in order to strike. The classes were taken by Nathan Leverton and his usual attention to the details that can be the difference between a technique's success or failure was again in evidence. Nathan spent time ensuring that the basics of each position and the ability to establish dominant control was developed and drilled – pummelling for the underhook and establishing and maintaining inside control with the plum as well as the underhook – before adding in punches and knees.

During the last session, even though we were only drilling, my training partner and I experienced the crescendo effect, whereby the intensity of the drill spirals upwards until you're almost sparing. All the coaches at Leicester Shoot expend a lot of energy reminding classes of the need to relax, slow down and learn. It's a lesson we could all learn occasionally.

This month we're going to be working on guard – playing and passing, I'm especially looking forward to the passing work. Anyway, aside from MMA training, I've been able to fit in two strength sessions each week alongside some conditioning work. The conditioning has included strongman medley, sled pulling and bag work. Strength-wise I'm continuing to stick with 5/3/1.

More to post I the next few days, take care.

Little and Large

As a short, heavier man I'm always interested in how shorter fighters deal with taller opponents, anyone that I fight is likely to be much taller than me.
Jeff Monson is an example of a fighter who, due to being short and having a shorter reach than most of those at his weight, has to close the distance a great deal during his fights.  If you watch his fight with Daniel Cormier Monson struggled to effectively close the distance to strike, clinch or get the takedown.  When you consider that Cormier is only a few inches taller than Monson you can only imagine the difficulties that Jeff had with the six-foot-eight Tim Sylvia who's nearly a foot taller!

Randy Couture, though nowhere near as short as Monson, also had to solve the conundrum of Sylvia's size at UFC 68. 

In a classic fight Couture used a lead inside leg kick to close the distance, unbalance and distract Sylvia before launching a big overhand right that took his opponent off his feet and to the canvas.  Although he couldn't finish the fight, Couture controlled and dominated the fight taking the Heavyweight Championship from Sylvia where Monson and Andre Arlovski failed.

Since I first saw this fight back in 2007 I've trained this combo though I've yet to have an opportunity to try it on a live opponent.  More importantly, it's a great example of being able to draw an idea from a real-life fight and incorporate it in your training.  Key to this, though, is not choosing a fighter who is very attribute based, simply, someone who does things that others can't - Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, BJ Penn, Shinya Aoki.  Pick the skill, learn it, drill it, use it.

The Whizzer

Last week's submission grappling training centred around The Whizzer, again taught by Nathan Leverton.  Maybe I was tired after work or not quite recovered from a bout of cold virus, but I had real difficulty getting hold of this technique and keeping it in my head.  Don't misunderstand - I've worked Whizzers in the past, but the transitions to other positions & submissions just wouldn't stick in my mind.  Oh well.
There was a lot in this lesson:

• Head position
• Wrist control
• Peeling the wrist off
• Transitioning from collar tie, underhook.
• Transitioning to headlock/snapdown
• The Marcelotine (!)
• The Anaconda choke 

The Marcelotine was new to me and a real eye opener- literally - as the choke comes on quickly and particularly hard against the windpipe.  Nasty.

I'd studied the Anaconda previously but still managed to completely mess it up on my first attempt.


I've decided to keep a kind of training journal that records details of the training at Leicester MMA.  This is not a diary type journal but more a way of ensuring that I remeber things through the act of writing them down.  I can also revisit my notes, like a kind of revision, so that I can try to cement techniques and key details in my mind.  I'll let you know how this goes.


More posts soon, lots to write up from the last week.....

The Week in Review

Since my last post about training at Leicester MMA I've managed to fit in four further training sessions there, two grappling and two MMA striking.

First up was submission grappling with Nathan Leverton, working throws/takedowns from the clinch.  First up was a 'sagging' takedown from the overhook and wrist control.  This was a new one to me and I like it - doesn't seem too technical or difficult to learn and I'll be interested to see if I can make it work on a taller opponent.  We also trained a no gi version of O Goshi and Tiatoshi.

All these throws lead naturally in to a scarf-hold position and we spent some time working submissions from there.  Nathan's teaching is friendly, easy to follow and always contains real-life examples of the techniques in action as well as the details that can be the difference between a technique failing or working.

My most recent session was striking training with JD Hylton.  This is the first time I've experienced JD's coaching and I was impressed with his knowledge and style.  Covering round kicks and basic straight punching JD conveyed his instruction in an informal style which facilitated ease of learning.  Good stuff.

Outside of training at Leicester MMA I've fitted in one session of conditioning circuits and one weights session.  I would've preferred to get more in but such is life.  All-in-all I feel that things are going ok, I would've liked to fight in March but I don't think I'll be any where close to ready.  Just as long as I make it before the big 4-0....

My Favourite Shoulder Warm-up.

I've been meaning to post this for a while but I just dug out the original post/video from EliteFTS.

I incorporated this in to my warm-up back in October and I really feel that it's helped keep my shoulders and parts of my upper back and neck healthier.  I also throw in some resistance band face pulls afterward.  I do this before any training/exercise alongside DeFranco's Agile 8, which I've discussed before.

You can read the whole article here but basically Charles Gardner suggests:

1. Mini-band pull aparts, 3 X 12–15
2. Mini-band shoulder dislocations, 3 X 10–12
3. Shoulder tornados, 3–4 revolutions

I heartily recommend giving it a go.