MMA Fighters Endurance

There are some fighters who can run for miles and miles without getting tired. They are very fit with great muscular endurance. During the course of a fight however, some don’t seem to be able to last more than two minutes without losing stamina or “gassing” as it is now commonly referred to in the MMA world.

This is mainly due to the fact that when fighting or sparring, you are constantly using different muscles throughout the body to perform different types of strain. Strikes, throws, grappling, defending etc. All of these require different muscles to be used aerobically and anaerobicly. To perform combination after combination of punches and kicks requires great muscular and heart endurance, while an explosive throw or a takedown requires a quick boost of strength of the muscles as when performing a heavy bench press for example.

When performing a cardiovascular exercise such as running or cycling, the same muscles are used aerobically. Your body adapts to this exercise after a short period of time and this is what gives you the ability to continue the exercise for a while.

For this reason it is always a good idea for a mixed martial artist to train like a mixed martial artist. When trying to improve your stamina and strength for fighting, don’t rely on just running and weights. Constantly mix up your training. Perform heavy bag training consisting of 2 minute rounds where you strike as fast and hard as you can, run long distance jogs with sprints occasionally thrown in. Perform weight training with heavy weights one day, and lighter weights via a circuit the next. Combine shadow fighting and bodyweight exercises to create a stamina building workout, spar for five rounds rotating grappling only for one round and striking only the next

Always vary your training. Keep your muscles and endurance levels surprised each workout as this is the best way to improve there abilities and the only way to get them used to the ever constant changing pace involved during an MMA fight.

Marks

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Bettering Yourself in the Martial Arts

When training in any martial art which requires sparring, at the beginning you shall find that you can easily adapt to the free exchange of techniques. Strikes will start to instinctively be attempted without even thinking, throws will feel more and more natural to you and your body will react and defend smoothly whilst ground fighting.

You shall start to feel that what you have been studying is well worth it and that it actually works. You may even start to be thinking about certain techniques that feel more natural to you than others. Good for you. This is the correct thought and the correct frame of mind to have.

However, as you spar more regularly and with more and more advanced martial artists you shall eventually come across someone who constantly gets the better of you. It could be that they constantly manage to land that low roundhouse kick even when you prepare for it, or that on the ground they submit you using techniques you never even knew existed.

One of the worst things you can do against someone like this is to focus your training and sparring, on beating this ONE person. Getting caught up by this one person’s ability to always get the better of you can be detrimental to your progress as an all rounded martial artist, capable of adapting to different situations.

This is because when you train, your focus shall always be on ways to beat that one opponent. Eventually after sparring with him/her a few times you shall become accustomed to there style, you shall learn the ways they move and shall develop counters to beat them. But then what. What about the person who always beats them, and everyone else. You shall have a tough time against them because you have had the single thought of gaining victory over a single person.

Your training should be about YOU and you only. You should concentrate on YOUR form, on YOUR balance, on YOUR speed etc. It is YOUR technique that you need to be focused on. Through hard training, lots of sparring with different people and the single thought of bettering YOURSELF, you shall eventually develop skills which will allow you to deal with any opponent who happens to be standing in front of you. This is not a guarantee that you shall always win, but it is a guarantee of knowing that you did the best YOU could and that you tried according to your own abilities.

Don’t let the thought of winning against a certain person enter your mind. Train hard and train smart, with the thought of being able to deal with any type of situation. This is the way to become a proficient martial artist.

Marks

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Training Tip, Weak Points

When someone starts training, be it martial arts, bodybuilding, athletics or any other type of physical activity, he/she will eventually discover weak points. This could be one arm weaker than the other, weakness in the leg muscles when throwing high kicks, weak pectoral muscles etc. To work weaknesses you have to do exactly that, work weaknesses.

For example, let’s use the weak pectoral situation. You find that your pecs are a little weaker than you would like them to be. Try this to bump them up a bit.

When in the gym, after every set of every exercise you do, be it squats, abs work, cable rows or whatever, perform one set of bench presses with a weight that allows you to do 12 reps. Do this after every set (unless your doing bench presses). Or when at home at night time whilst watching TV, every half hour perform 20 press-ups. Do this for about a month or so, and hopefully you should see a difference. Its nothing too demanding. Just a couple of seconds after every set in the gym, or about half a minute every hour whilst at home. But by adding this small extra attention to the weak area, it should be enough to see differences. Use this method for any type of exercise. As a martial artist you may have a weak left side kick, well after every round of sparring, perform twenty side kicks with your left leg, or again in the gym, after every set, throw out 20 side kicks. You may decide that after every time you walk into your kitchen, then that’s when you should perform your twenty.

If you devote extra work to a weak spot, you will eventually iron out these weak areas. When you perform these extra reps is completely up to you, after every set, every round, whenever you answer your phone, send a text etc. It can be at any time of the day you want, but you must do it to see the results. It can be very tempting to say to yourself, “I can do it after the next set or after the next hour”. Try and resist these thoughts. Resist them, do the extra few reps, and the gains will start to show soon enough.

Marks

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Bas Rutten Interview

I came across the following video of Bas Rutten describing MMA training including,
Training involved to become a pro fighter,
How MUCH should one train to become a pro fighter,
The best style to study to become a pro fighter,
Where to find a good MMA gym.

It really does answer some questions that many, if not all beginners ask themselves. Bas talks about his own training quantity, and what is interesting is that Bas says he dose not "max" out always with his training. By doing this you shall wear yourself out and maybe do yourself more damage than good. Enjoy!

VideoJug: Mixed Martial Arts Training Tips

Marks

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Does a Black Belt make you an Expert?

Ever since martial arts become popular amongst the public during the era of Bruce Lee movies, there have always been those who see the black belt as the most single greatest achievement to obtain whilst training. Training hard in a particular style, as soon as they get there Dan grade (black belt level) they feel as if they can be considered masters in there chosen art and are eligible to stop training , thinking they will always be able to defend themselves. HOW WRONG THEY ARE!

Whilst wearing a black belt may look good, it means very little. A martial artist is never determined through the colour of a belt. I believe that gaining a black belt shows that you have understood (not mastered) the basics required for you to start your actual martial arts training, meaning that you have learnt how to do a wide range of techniques, but now you have to be able to apply them in situations where aggression, resistance and little control is applied. This will take years and years to be able to do and anyone who thinks that they will become a master of it within a couple of years is kidding themselves.

Then there are those black belts who stick only to themselves. Black belts must train with other black belts. They can’t be seen sparring with other belts. To me, that shows fear. Fear of maybe getting hit or getting submitted by someone who is not a black belt. A black belt can learn plenty from sparring with lower belts, even beginners. (Click here for more information on that).

The bottom line is that a belt is just a belt. White, black, green or blue, it merely shows that you have passed a few exams, but does not make you great martial artist. Training should not stop when you get to black belt level, but should be bumped up, and each technique should be thought about diligently, about the best and most practical ways it can be applied.

Marks

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Self Defence Training for all Martial Artists

Training in martial arts has many benefits. Fitness, strength, competition success, surpassing plateaus etc, all of these things are great achievements that can be attained from years of vigorous effort. But we must not lose the fact that near the top of the benefit list should be to attain a high level of SELF DEFENCE SKILLS.

Its ironic, that nowadays not much actual self defence is practised at many martial arts schools. In a self defence situation on the street, it is not practical to ground fight, feel your opponent out with jabs until you deliver a knockout punch, try and defend yourself with a spinning roundhouse kick or attack with a stepping lunge punch. In many schools depending on the type of fighting concentrated on (striking or grappling) the majority of the class is involved in becoming a better fighter for competitive purposes in mind, with stronger techniques, and about 10 minutes at the end of the class is used for self defence training. Having said that, IT IS NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL SCHOOLS, but it is at many.

We can not lose the thought that maybe one day, our well being will depend on us being able to defend ourselves well, so having said that I think we should all (including myself) spend slightly longer in realistic self defence training, being more comfortable with things like, wild swings and unorthodox kicks, defending against two or more attackers, defending against realistic knife attacks, and learning how to read aggressive behaviour. Throughout my time with this blog, Im sure the following topic will come up in many articles so I leave you by saying, FIGHTING ON THE STREET IS VERY DIFFERENT TO FIGHTING IN THE GYM OR DOJO. PLEASE BE PREPARED...just in case.

Marks

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Submission Fighting and Submitting

In case anyone does not know, submission fighting refers to grappling, which includes, throws, takedowns, locks, (to most joints on the body) chokes and cranks. It is great for building speed, flexibility, strength and endurance. When learning submission fighting or any type of system that allows these submission techniques, its important that pride does not get in the way.

Many times I have seen fights on TV where fighters would rather be choked unconscious or have one of there joints broke, rather than tap out. Why? If the technique is on and there is no way of escaping, submit. By submitting you are not giving up as some people see. You are merely letting this fight go, to concentrate on the next one. The alternative is to let pride get in the way, have your knee broke through a knee bar or to risk dying because of a strangle hold. Then that would leave you either at home resting for a few months for your knee to heal or maybe in a coffin. I know that sounds extreme but it is not that hard to kill someone with a strangle hold, and could happen.

The awful thing is that young martial artist’s still learning see fighters resist submitting on TV and then get the picture that this is good. WELL ITS NOT! Submitting, especially in training is nothing to be ashamed off. Of course, try your very best to not be caught in a submission hold, but if it happens, learn from how you got caught in that technique and move on, completely healthy to fight again

Marks

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What Type of Training for What Type of Goal

In the gym, I have had conversations with many people about training. Some people see me working out on the bag for instance and ask what type of training I do. I also ask the same question to people when I see them working out, weather it’s on the bag, with heavy weights or running like an Olympian. Whatever there training is, if they are working out at high intensity, I always ask why they are working out so hard. But sometimes the answers I get confuse me.

For example, I go into the gym and I see someone with great muscle size, and when asked what training he does, he replies that his training for self defence on the street. I also ask what his training plan usually consists of. I then get the answer of 5 times a week lifting weights with cardio training straight after, and two times a week sparring at a kickboxing school. Well all of that training will definitely make him a good ring fighter, but is it really geared towards street fighting? Firstly, a street fight will rarely go more than 1 minute, so is it necessary to be able to run for 1 whole hour without stopping, or to be able to bench press 500 pounds. Secondly, kickboxing with gloves on is great for learning striking for competition, but wouldn’t a more street self defence system that practises defending from grabs and multiple attackers etc be more beneficial.

Now the above is just an example, but this actually happens. Peoples training regimes become geared towards something that does not meet with there goals. Before starting training it is a good idea to think clearly on what you would like to achieve, and then gain advice from experts in that field on the best way to go about it, otherwise you could be wasting your time.

Marks

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Workout Speed

When people train, everyone has a different speed in which they go through there workout routine. After warming up, some like to slowly get into a workout rhythm by performing slow movements whilst stretching, to fully make the muscles ready for the workout to come. Others as soon as they have warmed up, perform there workout at full throttle, working out as hard as they can.

Obviously, both types of workout can and should be employed, so as to shock the body into different types of situations. From a martial artists point of view, when a situation develops in the street and you are forced to defend yourself, you don’t want to have to say to the attacker/s, “please excuse me while I fully warm up”. You must be ready to explode with fast powerful movements. For this reason sometimes starting your training with full speed and power can be a good idea.

Having said that, I think it depends on what type of training you are doing. If you plan on going to the gym and strength training is the order of the day with heavy weights, I fully advise you to start off slow, using light weights and slow movements, then build it up after a few sets. 100 meter runners also start of slowly, stretching and running a few times round the track before doing short sprints then after half an hour or so of the workout, they attempt full 100 meter sprints, and even then, it may not be at there fastest pace.

To save on injury it is always fully advisable to warm up properly before each workout, and start your movements slowly. But to keep your muscles and body always in a growing and developing state, you must shock your body every once in a while. This can be by changing the time you train, weight you use at the gym, different types of cardio training etc. Experiment yourself to see what works best for you.

Marks

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