Fighting is an extremely demanding physical sport. Practice expends copious amounts of energy from the body. A fighter will spend 2 hours a day in the gym focusing on fighting skill development and various other developmental modalities such as free weights and cardio. It should be not surprise then that the nutritional requirement for a fighter from day to day needs to quite substantial in order to support such a demand.

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When you’re going to the gym to do strength and conditioning work for MMA, you must bring the same level of intensity to the training session that you bring to sparring.

Notice I said training session and not workout. The difference is that a training session has a specific goal and is a part of an overall plan, while a workout is simply something you do for an hour that might be hard and might make you sweat, but doesn’t necessarily move you any closer to your goal of getting stronger and improving your power and endurance specifically for MMA. Read More

When you try to find info on Power Training for MMA, you usually end up finding variations of ‘Power Endurance Circuits’.

These circuits are often touted as the only means necessary to develop MMA specific strength, power, and endurance.

But if you’ve never trained and developed your power exclusively before, how can you develop endurance of something you don’t have? Read More

Training for the sport of MMA arguably involves one of the most intense and rigorous training regimens in all of sports.  Hitting the mats several times per week, even multiple times per day, combined with strength training and cardio and conditioning work means full rest days are few.  Without a proper recovery strategy, one can quickly become overtrained, which can lead to a drop in performance level and worse, an increased potential for injury. Read More

Many athletes and their coaches or trainers focus mainly on training regimens and what they do in the gym to improve performance in sport. What you do when you’re not training can play an equally important role in maximizing your performance. Adhering to a proper nutrition program is an absolutely essential component of an athlete’s program. Recovery techniques such as massage, ice therapy are examples of things that can improve athletic performance as well. The most overlooked component that doesn’t receive nearly enough attention is the importance of proper sleep. Read More

Everyone at one time or another has had some type of back pain. As we become older this is much more likely to happen. To compound this you have repetitive use injuries as well for industrial athletes. Back pain accounts for billions of dollars a year in workman’s comp and health care insurance. It is one of the top 3 reasons for lost time at work. If you have ever experienced this pain, you know quickly you don’t ever want to again. The good news is there are ways to decrease this pain and actually prevent it with some simple exercises and a foam roller. Read More

There are many diets out there in the world that say they can do this or that. The diet industry is a multi billion dollar a year business. For fighters there is also a lot of disinformation in the ring around how, when, and what to eat for training and during a fight week. The nutrition plan that we use is not a diet. It’s a lifestyle. It is very close to the way early man ate. Read More

1 - EAT A MEAL EVERY 3 HOURS MINIMUM, THE SMALLER THE INTERVAL THE BETTER.
Purpose: To keep blood sugar levels steady and the metabolism running at full speed.

2 - DO NOT EAT CARBS. AFTER 7:00PM UNLESS IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING A WORKOUT.
Purpose: Don’t feed the body energy if the body is not going to need it.

3 - EAT IMMEDIATELY AFTER WAKING.
Purpose: Get the furnace (metabolism) running so your body doesn’t go into storage mode. Read More

We know water is important, but how much do we really need for optimal health and athletic goals.

We truly are, as Dr Michael Colgan would say “Hairy bags of water”. In fact, we are approximately 60% water. There are exceptions to this rule. Individuals with large amounts of lean muscle will have a higher percentage of body water since water comprises 74% of muscle and organ weight but only 20-30% of fat. Read More

It’s been a great last year for me and my team of fighters. A fight I often look back on is the one with Kenny Florian and Joe Lauzon last April. This was a great fight and Joe was and is a great competitor in this division. We were in Colorado at 5000 plus feet above sea level. It was a huge concern of mine and the team with the “thinner air” out there. Many a fighter and elite athlete will feel the effects of elevation, no matter what the shape he/she is in. It is no wonder why some of the best athletes in the world train and live at evaluation. The Olympic training facility for one, is out in Colorado Springs for this specific reason. At higher altitude such as this, the body has a difficultly bringing enough oxygen into the blood stream and delivering to working muscles. Read More