Grappling Tips Newsletter

July 22, 2007

Grappling/MMA Circuit Training Videos

When people think of conditioning they often imagine people doing cardio and strength training separately. In this paradigm you might run in the morning and then lift weights in the afternoon, or go lift weights for 45 minutes and then finish up with 15 minutes on the stairmaster. In today's newsletter I want to point you in the direction of some interesting conditioning videos to give you some ideas you can use to spice up your workouts.

This separation of cardio and strength training IS a valid approach, and many grapplers have benefitted from it. The trend in recent years, however, has been to combine the two areas into a single workout, especially as one is getting closer to peaking for a specific event.

Periodization means not doing the same training all the time, and most high level athletes periodize their training. Periodization also means having a plan, and this has to be tailored to the athlete's strengths, weaknesses and goals, as well as the availability of time, energy and equipment.

A very simple periodization routine might be as follows (assuming that you're already in half-decent shape)

Spend one month powerlifting for hypertrophy and overall strength development using basic lifts (e.g. squats, bench, weighted pullups, etc.) done for fairly low repetitions (e.g. 4 to 8) with perhaps 2 to 3 minutes of rest between sets. During this phase you might also be doing a couple of longer runs for cardio each week.
Spend one month concentrating on the more explosive lifts (cleans, jerks, snatches), plyometric movements (box jumps, clapping pushups, etc.) and sprint workouts.
The final stage would be a month of whole-body endurance training using a lot of supersetting and circuit training.
Now you would taper your training over about a week and prepare for your competition.

Most of the routines below would fall into the final category (whole body endurance training). Longtime readers of this newsletter will recall that I value endurance over strength when it comes to grappling, so it is perhaps predictable that I would find these types of circuits fascinating. I hope you enjoy them too:

Wanderlei Silva's Routine
Yes, it's done with the nose taped shut and the infamous snorkel

Fight Gone Bad by Crossfit
This is the circuit that BJ Penn compared to "a fight gone bad", hence the name. I found the video a little confusing, so I went to the Crossfit site to find out what exactly they were doing

Alan Belcher's S&C Routine
A nice example of 'complex' training (immediately following a low rep, high weight strength exercise with an explosive/plyometric exercise)

Randy Couture's Circuit Weight Training Routine
Randy is THE man, need I say more?

Jake Bonacci Interview (S&C coach for Xtreme Couture)
In addition to demonstrating different exercises Jake talks about program design, which is possibly the most underestimated and poorly understood aspect of combative conditioning.

MMA Conditioning Circuit
MMA fighter Hywel Teague demonstrates a tough conditioning circuit.

Rich Franklin's Workout
It's interesting how Rich's circuit, unlike many other pro MMA fighters, incorporates a lot of machine work.

Mirko Cro Cop Training
I particularly like the exercise which combines sprawls, lateral jumps and strikes, forcing Mirko to produce explosive power while fatigued, just like in a real fight.

Jeff Monson Pre-UFC Circuit Training Video 1
Jeff Monson Pre-UFC Circuit Training Video 2
It's obvious from Jeff's physique that he has put in a lot of time under heavy iron, but this is how he develops the endurance to stay strong even when tired.

Shawn Sherk Caveman Training
Shawn is one of the best conditioned MMA fighters out there, and this video helps explain how he got to be that way.

Brock Lesnar's UFC Preparations Part 1
Brock Lesnar's UFC Preparations Part 2
This guy is an animal. When is the last time you saw someone this big and strong with this much endurance?

Pablo Popovitch Preparing for the Abu Dhabi Combat Championships
I like how they use the monkey bars for different whole-body exercises!

And Now Some More Conditioning Videos

The next 6 videos I'm listing aren't exactly circuits, but they are too cool to be left out of discussion of grappling conditioning. There are many useful grappling-specific exercises and variations in these videos.

Karl Gotch Conditioning for Combat Sports
Karl Gotch, may he now rest in peace, trained many of the pioneers of Pancrase, Shooto and Shootwrestling in Japan. His influence can be seen both on the techniques used in Japanese combative grappling and in the conditioning methods used in many Japanese dojos.

Sambo Conditioning
This is just a class warmup, but the exercises they do are significantly harder than would be done at the average recreational club.

Jiu-jitsu Specific Pullup Training
Scott Sonnon presents some pullups that look like they would benefit both grapplers and rock climbers, two sports with similar grip and pulling strength requirements

Frank Shamrock Conditioning
This video shows Frank doing some isolated exercises and some very nice solo flowing on the ground

Damian Maia in the Gym
The BJJ star shows off some of the unique exercises he does in the gym

Combative Conditioning
This is a highlight video from a commercial DVD which I haven't seen but looks good.

RossTraining
Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the videos and witness hard work without a lot of expensive equipment.

Ginastica Natural
I have to include this video: It's not really conventional conditioning, but it is applicable to grappling. Ginastica Natural is a movement and exercise system developed in Brazil, resembling a combination of yoga, gymnastics, contact improvisation dance and animal kung-fu. It has influenced many top Brazilian grapplers.

Grips and Hips
The guys on the video are from the Ralph Gracie competition team. They took home Gold, Silver, and Bronze at the 2007 Pan-Ams.

Randy Couture Preparing for Tim Sylvia, UFC 68
Randy sparring, doing plyometrics, resistance band training, etc.

Labels: conditioning

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 10:40 AM

A Game of Inches

I was recently helping someone with their sidemount escapes, and of course we had to discuss posture when trapped in side mount. As I was working with this person we kept on returning to one particular detail: namely which part of your arm should you use when you are trying to get posture, to keep his weight off of you, and to make some space to move.

Consider the following picture of a very common sidemount escape posture:

Notice how my hands aren't holding onto my opponent - they are loose in the air. This is NOT how I used to position my arms when I first started using this posture. Back then I used to put my wrist and/or upper forearm under his chin and push up. Sometimes I also gripped my opponent's deltoid with palm of my hand.

Many years later I use a superficially similar posture, but I try to push with the lower part of my forearm (closer to my elbow). It's not a very big change - only 5 or 6 inches - but it makes a huge difference in escaping sidemount. First of all, pushing with the bottom part of your forearm means that you rely much more on the structural strength of your bones (specifically the humerus) and less on tricep strength. This makes it much harder for your opponent to collapse your framing arm simply by shifting his weight. Also using the bottom part of your forearm makes you less vulnerable to certain wristlocks.

This is one reason I love jiu-jitsu so much: little things make a huge difference. Changing the position of your hand by as little as one inch can take you from losing to winning a grappling match.

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 10:37 AM

July 18, 2007

Hard Come, Easy Go

In a previous tip I talked about how one often makes the fastest progress by working on one's weakest area. An unfortunate fact is that when you have a break from training, intentional or otherwise, your weakest areas also regress and erode the fastest.

This works at both the physical or technical levels.

Physically, even though I train my upper and lower body about equally, the pushing muscles of my upper body have always lagged behind the strength of my legs and back. My bench press is utterly unimpressive when you consider how long I've worked on it: at my best I barely managed to squeak out a few repetitions of 225 lbs. If I stop lifting weights for a while, then my weak area - my bench press for example - goes down much more than the lifts I've always been better at.

The same thing occurs when it comes to technical areas. Let's say that passing the guard has always been difficult for you, and that pin escapes have always come naturally. After a training layoff you will probably find that your pin escapes still work OK, but that your guard passing game has regressed by a full belt level.

What can you do about this? Not having any weaknesses would be a good start, but it is a completely unrealistic one. The next best thing is probably to go easy on yourself after a layoff from training, and accept that certain parts of your game will have suffered more than others. Then go get your butt kicked by all your old training partners, and start trying to make fast improvement by working on your weakest areas once again.

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 12:54 AM

More Non-Compressive Neck Training

I've received lots of feedback about a previous tip discussing how some methods of neck conditioning can be problematical for some people.

Grapplearts newsletter reader Kevin shared his favorite method of neck training with us:

"A neck exercise I use (because I have the same issue with compressiing my neck) is to use a swiss ball. Place the 45cm ball on a wall at ear height - this should be done in correct spinal alignment so that when you press into the ball your neck goes to neutral alignment. Then force against the back using the front, side, back, and side of your head, and then inward rotation. This is done 30sec each for a static hold. You can then build up. Use the Paul Chek (CHEK Institute) golf biomechanics manual for a reference. Proper neck alignment and stabilization is crucial for all athletic performance."

Another reader, Dylan, talked about his own neck training apparatus:

"One thing i do for my neck is to tie my belt in a loose loop (just like it goes around my waist) through the handles of an elastic exercise cable. I then place the loop around my forehead and do front back and side to side movements. This seems to work well for me."

'Matt' commented that

"In regards to neck harnesses, one of the best pieces of equipment I've ever bought is Lifeline USA's neck harness. Because it uses elastic resistance instead of weight plates, you're able to change the angle of the resistance much more easily, plus there's no momentum. I actually recall seeing footage of Rickson Gracie training with something much similar (although also much more crude...basically just rubber tube attached to a pole with some tape around it)."

ALSO: several readers enquired about where to get neck harnesses that you can load with weight plates or dumbells. They are available at various places online, but if I was to get a new one I would check out the neck harness at Hatashita.com.

Labels: conditioning, Injuries

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 12:52 AM

Don't Have A 'Flat' Guard

A few weeks ago I discussed ways to shut down your opponent's guard game by 'caging his hips' (i.e. keeping his hips flat on the ground and squarely between your knees). If you missed it, you can read this tip here:

The obvious flipside of this advice is that an aggressive, attacking guard is often characterized by not staying flat on your back and hips, as summarized nicely by this post by jonpal on the mma.tv forum.

Once in a while someone on the internet agrees with me!

Labels: the guard

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 12:49 AM

July 08, 2007

The Pros and Cons of Bridging

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Originally uploaded by sud273

Neck bridging is an exercise that is unique to the grappling arts. It is also controversial.

Broadly speaking, there are two main ways of bridging: the backwards neck bridge (as in the picture) or a forwards neck bridge (where you are belly-down to the mat). Most grapplers who bridge do both forward and backward bridging.

First the pro of bridging: it is a great way to strengthen the neck in sport specific positions. If you grapple you are eventually going to end up using your head to post on the mat or to push your opponent. You will also occasionally have your head introduced to the mat with velocity and force by your opponent. Either way, if your neck is strong and conditioned to bearing your weight, then you will be less likely to get injured when your head is bearing the entire weight of your body.

The major con of neck bridging is that some people's necks can't take it - my own included. My neck is strong enough to do at least one hundred front and back bridges, BUT if I do more than about 20 of either type I'm guaranteed a neck-ache that will last for days and require several trips to the chiropractor. Something about the compressive force on the vertebrae makes my neck very unhappy, and the resultant discomfort makes the benefits of bridging not worth it. I'm not alone here either - while there are some people who claim that bridging actually cured their neck problems I think the reverse (bridging causing problems) is much more common.

So given that a strong neck is important to prevent injuries, resist submissions, manipulate opponents, and make your clinch more effective, what are your options if you don't want to bridge? Here are just a few:

Lie flat on your back and lift your head off the ground a bit. Now repeatedly and reasonably rapidly move your head up and down, bringing your chin towards your chest and then away again. Start with a set of 20 or 30. You can add a bit of resistance to your forehead by pushing on your forehead with your fingers.
Lie on your back on an exercise bench, your head off the end of the bench. Now place a folded towel on your forehead and hold a 25, 35 or 45 lb plate on top of that with both hands. Now bob your head up and down just as in the previous exercise, but for fewer repetetitions.
Lie flat as in the first exercise, but now turn your head from side to side, looking towards one shoulder then the other. Start with 10 repetitions (10 times to the right, 10 times to the left). I like alternating this exercise with the first one in this list.
Neck harnesses, available at various wrestling and boxing suppliers, can be used to strengthen the erector muscles at the back of the neck. Think about resisting someone pulling your head down in a Thai clinch and you'll get a pretty good idea of what exercising with a neck harness feels like. Even though using a harness does compress the neck vertebrae somewhat, I find that it doesn't bother my neck if I don't overdo the weight or repetition.

The above list is only the tip of the iceberg: there are many other exercises and pieces of equipment that can be used to strengthen the neck. In general I would caution against extreme measures as the neck isn't really a body part you want to take to failure very often!

Labels: Injuries

permanent link to this article posted by Stephan @ 9:43 PM