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.

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.

Injuries, injuries.....

Although it's not fun to admit, as a thirty-eight year old it takes longer and more effort to recover from strenuous training than it did when I was twenty-five or even thirty.

This was brought home to me in a serious way last weekend when twenty-four hours after a session of power-cleans and deadlifts I was struggling with fatigue, so much so that I decided to read up on it in order to prevent feeling so shitty again.

For about 36 – 48 hours after the lifting session I was experiencing all the hallmarks of central nervous system fatigue – tired, low mood, low motivation, low foolishness tolerance, reduced motor skills. It ruined a perfectly good weekend for me and made me difficult to be around for the family.

So how to prevent it?

1. Be aware of volume and intensity of training. I personally cannot train optimally if I'm lifting heavy and intensely three times a week.

2. Nutrition: Ensure that food and hydration are sorted. Last weekend I missed my whey shake post training and didn't eat well prior to training. Branch Chain Amino Acids are crucial for preventing fatigue.

3. Rest: I did not get to bed early enough or for long enough last week.

On to the physical plane..

Now, more than any other time in my life, warming up, stretching and foam rolling is a key part of not getting injured and not feeling like crap the day after training.

Before every session I warm up with shadow thai boxing, stretch (especially hip flexors, shoulders and hamstrings) and foam/hockey ball roll. Foam and ball rolling have been a revelation, helping with back tightness, shoulder pain and even sciatica. I strongly recommend checking out Joe De Franco's 'Agile 8' and 'Scarecrow' routines.

Another idea that I'm very keen on and feel to be important is active shoulder health. The bench press is well documented as leading to shoulder problems, particularly with the rotator cuff, and Jo DeFranco recently came out against the military/overhead press as an exercise that is in direct opposition to the structure of most trainees' shoulders. With this in mind I do ALL my main pressing movements with a swiss bar. This requires some adjustment and experimentation but I feel that it's worth it – since doing so I've had no shoulder problems. Add in to this full range dumbbell work and band work and I'm feeling good!

Here's to staying healthy.