Fight Time! Let's Go Cris Cyborg!!!

This will happen again!

Cris Cyborg Santos is ready to get back in the cage and defend her belt after more than a year off.

This will also happen again!

I was lucky enough to work with Cris a little in this camp and I can honestly say she is a true champion. You can tell she wants to work hard even when she is dead tired. It was a privilege and an honor to work with her and I can't wait to see her Fight tomorrow.

Anyone in the San Diego area that loves the fight game, come out and support the locals. This card has Cyborg vs Yamanaka, also SD's own K.J. Noons vs Billy Evangelista and our Nor-Cal brother Gilbert Melendez vs Jorge Masvidal. Tickets are cheap and not sold out yet!

All the hard work is done and now it's time to have fun, Good Luck Cris!!!

Genius-

Pre and Post Feast Workout, Thanksgiving Edition.

Dare you to try and cook him!!!

I'll keep this short and sweet.
Any time you know you're going to eat a large or unhealthy meal you should do the following 3 things:

1. Drink plenty of water all day.
2. Get fiber in your system (powder or husk fiber is best).
3. Do a few minutes of body weight exercises before and after meals(push ups, sit ups, squats).





The water will help make you feel full faster and mixed with the fiber will aid in proper digestion. By doing just 5 minutes of exercise before eating and 5 minutes within an hour after eating your body will use the energy and not try to store it as fat.
See, simple.

I'd like to finish with things I'm thankful for.
All the athletes that put their trust in me to get them in the best shape possible while not killing them.
All the people in my life that show me love and support even though I'm a grump most days.
Being in a country where I have more than I need and can be more than I am.
I'm thankful for all my readers who put up with my sub par writing.
THANKS,
Genius-

Where is FitBlender.com?

"Hey, This is just some dude's blog?!?!"
Not Really.

Last month I started using visual marketing to see how effective it would be and where my best audience would come from. Basically, any of you that came to the site because you saw one of our sponsored athletes or a shirt or towel with the logo on it, were involved in a marketing experiment. Yeah!

I now have a soft launch date for the real FitBlender.com. December 1-15th we will be live testing so feel free to check it out. I promise you won't have to endure my horrible writing anymore, unless you want to. The site will give you the option of picking your workout based on what you want goal and muscle group wise and/or just randomly assign a plan for you. I'll have plenty of goodies for my loyal members so make sure you email me when you sign up and I'll send you your schwag. ( Stickers and T-shirts )

More on Cyborg this Tuesday. I'm going to try and get an interview too if she has time.

Genius-

Cris Cyborg Santos

Cris Cyborg Santos, Women's  Strikeforce 145lb champ.

I am very excited to welcome Cris Cyborg Santos to the FitBlender.com family!!!

About 3 weeks ago Cris asked me to help out with her training camp and of course I jumped at this great honor and opportunity. Cris already has a great strength and conditioning coach in Gustavo Pimenta and I'm very excited to work with and learn from him as well.

In preparation for her fight on December 17th to defend her Strikeforce featherweight world title Cris has been training her butt off. I can only say the level of athleticism she displays is super human.

I will show a few small clips of her workouts with both me and Gustavo but as always, I don't want to show too much (trade secrets). I'll try and show Cris and I working next week.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to Congratulate my good friend Josh from DirtyWrestler for making it on the Punishment team. Josh is not only an up and comer in the fight world but one of the best coaches I've ever met.
Great Job buddy!


Genius-

Sprint Triathlon Update

I think you can see me shivering.

Well folks, I didn't drown!!!!

It was super cold and foggy race morning. Me, Rich and Kate arrived just in time to set our bikes in the transition area and prepare as best we could.  Kate made the very smart move in wearing a full wetsuit, Rich wore a tri suit and he lent me his light wetsuit top. I may have frozen to death had I only wore my skin and tight trunks as the water temp was 60 or so degrees and the air was slightly colder.

Last in the water but not last out, good enough for me.

                                                                           Rich and I did quite well coming in Fourth place in the male teams category and 14th overall, unfortunately that was out of 4 male teams. Our times per event were much better than our total time showed due to us not rushing during transitions. Rookie mistake.
Here's the breakdown.

My swim came in at 11+ minutes, Rich a low 8 and Kate right behind him by a few seconds.
Rich and Kate are both great swimmers and I am not so good. I actually swam out of the area and added a good 100 extra meters to my swim, woops.

My lovely wife Kate aka Killa Kate.

Biking was the event I knew I could make up some time. I pride myself in the fact that I could keep up with the guys riding $5,000+ bikes. My bobo $200 bike and I held our own and only 2 of those high end guys got past me. I came in at 22m, Rich also 22m and Kate 26m.
I caught and passed Kate by this point and waited for her so we could run together. Kate's partner Marrisa got called in to work and couldn't make it to the race so Kate was a little bummed (Marissa was too) and I wanted to run with her and just have fun.
Running together actually motivated both of us to run faster due to our competitive nature around each other. I came in at 12m, Kate 12+m and Rich 11+m.

That's not much sweat for me

Update- 11-1-11
I've been asked the distances by a few people and here they are. 375 meter swim, 6.25mile bike, 2.5k run.

Overall I couldn't be happier with the race results. I'll train harder next year and take gold or at least improve upon my current times by 10% in each, yes that's a lofty goal but I'll do it.
Thanks to my partner Rich Power for filling in for my original partner. He has a fight in a few weeks, check your local provider.

Genius-
Side note, I caught a bad stomach bug and was in severe pain for the last 24h after the race. Keep your mouth shut when swimming in the bay here in San Diego I guess.

Sprint Tri Training

I want this bike that can apparently ride on water.

Life is good folks. I have been pretty dedicated to training for the upcoming Fearless Races Sprint Triathlon and keeping all the fighters busy with strength training. Though there has been a slew of moderate to almost bad injuries keeping training interesting to say the least, I have adjusted every one's fitness routine to work around these pretty standard annoyances. Combat sports are hard on the body for those who don't understand why injury would be a part of training, it's an unfortunate side effect of elite level training in any sport, for that matter. Back to the point.

Training for a sprint tri- (sprint tri-s are roughly half the distance of a normal tri)
I trained for 8-10 weeks for this one and it should be noted this is my first sprint tri and/or triathlon for that matter. I may be one of the worlds worst swimmers and also have never been an endurance style athlete.

Week 1-
Assess your weaknesses. Swim 10 laps for time, bike 6 miles at least a 14mph average, run 2-3 miles in less then 8.5 minute miles. Not all on the same day necessarily, if you can do all these on the same day you're ready for your sprint tri, keep doing what your doing and take a nap.
I was very weak in the swimming and fine on the running and biking.

Weeks 2 through 6-
Start working on your weakest areas while doing "bricks" of your stronger areas. A "brick" is back to back of any of the 3 parts of your tri. I commonly brick bike + swim + bike or bike + run.
Don't over work, do a brick every 3 days and work your weakest area 2-3 days a week. Use of intervals in all areas actually helps gain stamina better then going longer, so mix them in.
- Biking 4-5 days a week easy pace with occasional intervals 4-9 miles a day.
- Swim 2-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes taking all the breaks I wanted.
- Walking 1-2 days a week 3-4 miles. If you run once a week walk twice and vice verse.
- Running 1-2 days 1-1.5 miles in a brick with biking 8 min miles.

Weeks 7 through 10-
All the same training as weeks 2-6 just turned up the speed and distance as much as possible.
- Biking 4-5 days a week easy pace with occasional intervals 8-12 miles a day.
- Swim 2-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes taking breaks only after 4 laps and for 10 secs or less.
- Walking 1-2 days a week 3-4 miles.
- Running 1-2 days 1.5 miles in a brick with biking 8 min miles.

I noticed biking got really easy just because I was doing it almost every day. Swimming gained slowly but I'm much better than I was, still not even close to a confident swimmer. I will let you all know how this training payed off, if I don't drown of course!

Genius-

Power + High Heart Rate Circuit

Circuits are fun and fun'ction'al.

I very rarely have my guys do the same exercises as each other on the same day let alone the same circuit. Last Friday that all changed. I started the morning with Cosmoe (7am) then Cyborg (9am) and Jake (10am). I wanted to get Cosmoe's heart rate up without doing boring cardio. My plan was to do complex power movements with speed and lower than usual weight with high repetition in a circuit. I made said circuit and Cosmoe made it look easy, like he does, but was sweating his ass off so I knew I had to keep it. None of these guys complained but I saw the look of "f-u you coach" in their eye's. It was so nice, I had to see it thrice! We will be doing these every Friday for the next 8 weeks.

Lateral step up and over. Do this w/o the smile and fast!

Warm up circuit:
3 rounds.
Lateral speed step up and over x 25
Bosu air squats slow and controlled x 8
Swiss ball push ups 3secs down and up x 8
1 min break-

Swing a dumbbell if no kettlebell is available.

Circuit of doom:
5 rounds.
Cable high low hop sweeps x 12 each side
Burpee with jump to pull up x 5-8 (jump high so you have a shorter pull up)
Dumbbell/kettlebell swing x 8-10
Barbell stop and go flat bench press

Give it a go , if you have any idea what any of these exercises are....Those who don't shouldn't do them without supervision anyway.
Genius-

The Lap Band Debacle

Let your new life Begin, Call 1-800-GET-THE-F*@#-OFF-THE-COUCH

Seriously?!?!
Living in LA, I saw 30 of these on my way to work every day. Notice the one in the background?
What kind of a world do we live in where you can fatten yourself up with irresponsible eating habits and then risk your life with surgery to slim back down. I'm sure the Lap-Band is less life threatening than liposuction and gastric bypass. I don't however think that any quick fix to a major problem is a positive thing, no matter the limited risks. Yes, obesity is a huge problem here in the States and is killing 112,000 people annually.....damn! Can we seriously stop playing the "it's genetic or glandular" game. I haven't been 7-11% body fat since becoming an adult but have been active while eating more or less healthy, that's genetic. I'm healthy and strong but don't look like the athlete I am. Some people will simply have to work less to achieve more, that's life not a reason to throw in the towel.

Matter of fact, the Lap-Band simply regulates the amount of food you can eat without pain. This means you could simply eat less and have the same results while beating the underlying physiological problem.

Lap band + suck it in + tanning = Healthy? NOPE!

     






You can't truly feel like you've changed unless you change your diet and get physically active. It's going to be hard but nothing worth having comes easy.

It really is that simple.
-Genius


Side story about me,
I recently changed my diet after gaining weight due to recovery from shoulder surgery. When I was able to workout again combined with the diet, I lost almost all the fat I had gained while putting on a good 10lbs of lean muscle. I was mildly depressed during the 8 months of healing and only being able to ride a stationary bike or go to physical therapy and took it out on my stomach. By controlling my diet and pushing myself in the gym, I got my mojo back. I'm continuing my quest to become the best overall athlete (in the WORLD) I can be and have the healthiest body to carry me to this goal. Keep working folks, nothing had easily is worth having!(similar quote above, I know)

Training Hard Pays Dividends.....?

There's a fine line between hard work and over worked.

The idea of hard work paying off is as American as apple pie. However, the idea of hard work in the gym needing to be "hard" may be a bit of a fallacy. Allow me to explain.
You must put in "work", hours on top of hours of practice is necessary to achieve any goal. I try and teach all my clients technique over volume or "quality over quantity". Training and performing at the level pro athletes do is by definition super human. The methods used to get them and  keep them pro athletes must, in my opinion, follow these broad guidelines:

1. Cause no injury due to: (A) Bad form (B) Fatigue (C)Lack of Knowledge

"I saw it on youtube so it must be good." Not so much.

(A)  The main thing to pay attention to is the lower back. Keep your butt out-chest out- chin neutral- shoulders back- low back with a slight curve inward- slight bend in the knees. ALWAYS!
(B)  You do need to push through barriers like fatigue, but not on technical lifts. Simply use less weight, explosiveness or risky movements and add reps or time once tired.
(C) "I saw it on youtube". This is fine for an educated trainer that understands the human body. I find more videos with horrible form online than with mediocre to good form.

2. Know your client:
 Know their strengths and weaknesses. If you notice toe drift or open scaps, these are huge issues in the con category and you should work on correction. Transversely, if you notice they are using a movement or exercise perfectly but too often, it may be time for a temporary change to promote growth.

3. Make them rest when it's time to rest:
 Sleep is more important than protein. When doing circuit training, sprint drills or tabata style training, upon completion of the round, the athlete should rest for a short period.

Look, you can work yourself to death if it makes you happy but, finding the point of maximum gain for minimum strain should be the goal of every Smart athlete, period.

                                                                           Genius-

We hit 500 page views before I wrote this, yeah!

Winning Weekend For Arena Team!

Rich Power, Jake Mapes, and the man they call Krutch(far right) all won via first round stoppage. Arena Fight Team.

The Arena pro/am team swept all their fights in California last weekend. Though some didn't get truly tested, a fight IS a fight. Good job guys!

These shorts will get work soon.

On another note, Cosmoe Cala, one of the FitBlender.com sponsored fighters was scheduled to fight as well. After both he and his opponent weighing in at 205 lbs, for some unknown reason his opponent pulled out of the fight. Cosmoe was mad to say the least, this being the ninth time this has happened and all. Lets just hope he doesn't make it an even 10 by scaring yet one more fighter out of the ring.

And a final update. Though they fought their asses off, Cyborg Santos and Felipe Portela didn't bring home the "W". My man Cyborg was back in the gym with me the next week. I know they both will work hard and learn more to come back better then ever. You both gave your fans a great show and we thank you.

                                                                 The Genius-

The AFL Training Regimen

The Australian Football League ( Aussie Rules Football or Footy ) has some of the most complete athletes on the planet. The game is filled with constant sprinting, jumping, kicking and tackling for upwards of  two hours. I wanted to take a look at this sport's training regimen and see what is done to get and keep these athletes so fit.

I wasn't all that surprised to find that all the athletes/positions workout about the same way. Lots of running drills (jogging and sprinting pyramid style). The weight lifting was not much different than what you find in most High School Football training. A steady diet of squats, bench press, shoulder press and ab work is standard. Maybe the Aussies hold out on what hits the web or, I just didn't find the right articles. I noted the only real difference between American Football programs and AFL programs was the volume of sprinting they do throughout one week of training.

On average any given player in an
AFL game runs 7 miles of mostly sprints while being hit, run into, tackled and battered from every angle. It is not uncommon to see most players with wrapped shoulders and knees. It's by far one of the toughest sports on the planet. And as a new fan I hope to see more games on TV in the States.  As far as I'm concerned Footy beats Baseball hands down on pure entertainment factor.

Interested in watching an AFL game now?
This Friday first-place team Collingwood Magpies take on the Hawthorn Hawks. Saturday, second-place Geelong Cats play the West Coast Eagles. The winners of these games face off in the AFL finals (Aussie Super Bowl).
I could give a quick run down of the rules and what not but wiki does it better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_Australian_football

The Genius-

Beach Sprints

Anyone who knows me, knows I hate running!
However, I Love a damned running drill. In my personal and professional opinion, this may be the best kept secret for overall speed, power and cardio gains that can be completed in under 15 minutes.

My boxing coach and friend Rich Power is getting ready for his up coming MMA pro debut (9-23) and shortly after (10-06) his 16th Pro boxing fight. We have run these sprint drills and other variations for his past two camps with great result and, I guess we can share.

Resistance catch and release sprints:
You can buy a harness or rig a few resistance bands together and run them through the runners belt. We usually use a Stroop brand harness but had to improvise this week.

What you need and how to properly perform the drill:
Warm up first as always!
1. Need: a Resistance source(bands or straps).
2. Need: a Human to resist while running behind you.
3. Need: a Surface to run on (beach is optional) 40-100 yards is best.
4. Need: a Stop watch. Try and match or beat your times every run.
5. Rich Power wore: 20 lb weight vest and matching 20 lb weighted shorts and also had a breathing trainer (o2) in his mouth.(extra credit)

The Drill: Grab the resistance apparatus and have the runner start a full sprint with you resisting but keeping pace. At the half way point either let go of the harness, without snapping the runner in the back or, simply catch up/pass the runner letting them run the second half with no resistance.
Give the runner just enough time to catch their breath, no more than 1 minute. Repeat 10 total sprints.

It should be noted that Rich and I are much faster than appear on film.

Oh and Cosmoe and Rich informed me that my shorts are tooooo short.

The Genius-

Machines = Garbage!!!

I guess the only real danger is the danger of wasted time.

OK, So I hate machines.

Not the ones we use to make our coffee or drive us to work every day. Just the ones that every gym on the planet has way too many of.

There are few exceptions:

1. You're injured

2. You're elderly

3. It's an adjustable cable machine

4. You don't care about wasted time

Sitting in a machine will almost always use less balance and muscle control. They won't even work the desired muscles as well as doing the same exercise using free weights with less weight and proper form. Try and use the adjustable cable machine if you're intimidated by free weights and body weight exercises.

In the future do your best to avoid the metal monster that will eat your time and effort and give you very little gain for your pain. (rhyme intended)

Cyborg - Hanging Rope Row.

Cyborg Fight Camp: 3 weeks out

I don't really like showing what we are doing before a fight but ... I will say there are no sledge hammers, jump ropes or tugboat ropes to whip. We do flip a 300+lb tire once in a while but no cliche "fight camp" here. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that.  I just try to keep workouts not only athlete specific but also high intensity and yet still entertaining. The hanging row is already a pretty big movement.  Add in an explosion, a 5 second hold at the top and as if it wasn't hard enough use a rope grip....ouch.

Hanging rope row

Let's break this down. You will need a smith machine or power rack with a bar set at rib height and something to put your feet on a foot or so off the floor. Wrap a rope grip around the bar.

     1. Grab the ropes and engage your entire body in plank. Put your feet up on a bench or stool, the higher your feet are above your body the harder the row.                                                                                                   

2. Using a small hip kip, explode up towards the bar using your biceps, scaps(shoulder blades) and lats to get you there.

 3. Hold a plank at the top for 3-5 secs. Be sure to engage your core -  flex every muscle in your body.                                

Lower yourself back to start position 1 and repeat for as long as you can maintain form (typically 3-5 reps 5-6 sets).
ENJOY!
     

A Show Of Skill, Heart and WORK!!!

Vince and Joe putting in work!

Big Congratulations to Joe Duarte!

Last Friday at Strikeforce Challengers series Joe fought a man he considered an idol in Jorge Gurgel. In that fight Joe showed he is a man who put his time in the gym and beat a seasoned vet decisively.
I've had the privilege on a few occasions to watch Joe work with his trainer, Vince Salvador and let me tell you, they work damn hard. Vince has a great workout plan balancing coordination, movement, power and form (not to reveal the man's secret training) and Joe has the work ethic to make it through.  It was little surprise that the fight was fast paced and exciting. Good job guys and keep working hard on that road to the belt.

Yet another two Congrats to my jiu jitsu coach, Jake Mapes and My boxing coach Rich Power !

Rich lived up to his name and ko'd his opponent in just 2 rounds. Rich has taught me alot and I was happy to work sprint drills to help him get ready for this fight and every fight in the future.

Jake fought a very crafty and experienced fighter and showed he has the heart of a champion pulling a dominant unanimous decision win.  I know that Jake worked through multiple injuries to get ready for this fight never once complaining or making excuses.
I have worked with Jake only one time before this fight, and am hoping to work with him alot more for his next one.

I know I will have two more congrats to write in September for Cosmoe Cala and Evangelista Cyborg Santos. Cosmoe has had a string of fighters pull out of MMA fights and is going to take a boxing match to stay busy. I feel sorry for the poor guy that's going to take a beating six guys avoided.
Cyborg has a fresh face to beat in one, Jordan Mein. We've been working very hard and as Cyborg says he treats all his fights like it's for the belt. On Sept 10th I think we will see a very hungry Cyborg ready to get yet another "W". Video and pics of Cyborg working hard tomorrow, I promise.

Injuries

Oh, the dreaded gym injury.

If you haven't had a sports or training related injury, good job, but it may just be a matter of time. There are many different causes of sports and training injuries that I would like to cover. Here are just a few to start. 

1.  Bad Form    More then 85% of injuries in the gym are caused by bad form! Having good posture and proper form is almost always a key to injury prevention.

Notice in the picture below: Head looking straight forward with no chin tuck, chest out, scaps/shoulder blades pushed together, slight curve inward at the low back, butt out, legs slightly bent with the core of your weight over your heels.

This atheletic pose is aplicable in almost all lifts.  If you're doing a squat lean back a little more.  If it's dumbbell press on an incline bench drape your legs off the end, keeping everything else the same.

2.  Muscle Fatigue   Doesn't really take a genius to tell you the fix for this one.  It could be as simple as rest or eating the right food to fuel your workout.  But more often than not it's simply do less work. Pay close attention to your body and note things like: Headaches, constant cramping, small nagging pains and of course low energy levels.  For some reason the symptoms for muscle fatigue are similar to those of dehydration, so be sure to drink plenty of water. Which you should be doing anyway!  If you are experiencing some or all of these slow down your workout for a little while, get good quality sleep and make sure you are eating nutritious foods.

Time for my nightly injury prevention routine.  A gallon bag of ice and the Simpsons.

Congrats Team FitBlender 100% DIRTY!

OH, The sweet taste of victory....and mud!

At the Camp Pendleton World Famous Mud Run quite a few teams stood out, none more so than Team FitBlender's 6 foot 6 inch 240lb behemoth "The Genius" and his 5 foot 7 125lb partner "KS". There was little dazzle to our outfits and we definitely weren't going to win our respected classes but this being the first 10k (6.25 miles) we had ever run, (not mention more then half uphill or in mud and water),  we stood out by pushing past seasoned vets, a few Marines and even people that passed us early on.  Our training was little more than 6 weeks long and consisted of very little actual distance running (posted below). We not only finished but, finished better than the middle of the pack. Fighting through the pain of bad joints knowing the only worse pain would be stopping short of our personal best. Out of 6000 participants, The Genius placed 119th in male 30-35 age group and 961 over all, KS placed 32nd in fm 25-29 age group and 962 over all. A Big Congratulations to ME and KS           (TeaM 100% DIrTY)!!!

The Regiment-
Running 2 times a week 2-4 miles
Start the first few weeks with 2-3 miles and mix between slow paced running and interval sprints
Walk 2-3 times a week 2-4 miles
If you are a gym goer like BS+KS- cycle between- with no breaks- twice a week before walks-
3 rounds of Upper Body Ergometer (hand bike) training 90rpm for 3 minutes
3 rounds of Row Machine or Stationary cycle 3 minutes full sprint
2 rounds of Planks (1 min elbows and toes 30sec each side 1 min back plank/ elbows and heels
Add in push ups, sit ups, air squats and pull ups at your leisure.

The Fitness Genius- Presented by FitBlender.com

I'd like to start my first true blog entry by explaining Me, "The Genius" .

I'll be the first to tell you, I'm not some special CSCS with a PHD in Exercise Science.  I'm just someone who has been lucky enough to surround himself with coaches and trainers who think outside the box, the "true scientists" of the fitness world.  I strive to learn something new every day and to reinvent and tweak the traditional fitness model. I just don't believe in aesthetic lifting or sitting around the gym, hogging the equipment for two plus hours just to look good in a sleeveless shirt. You'll see in my posts that I'm all about mixing it up, being sport specific when needed and helping your body heal and prevent injury when not needed.

 I'm currently working with an up and comer in  MMA and a  power house of a fighter, Cosmoe Cala.  Thanks to Cosmoe's love of my "mad scientist" methods, he has brought me in to get his close friend and one of the top welterweights in the world, Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos,  into fighting shape by 7-30-11.  I promise you both of these men need little help in the fitness department, being two of the fastest and strongest men I've ever worked with, merely needing fine tuning and refined methods to prolong their careers and make them even better over all athletes.  I will continue to update you with all the details of their training and progress in the coming months as well as other up and coming pro athletes I'll be working with. As not to sound like a snob that only works with pros, I will also post about the many non pro athletes I work with.

The Fitness Genius (FitnessGenius.com)
- The Genius

Chest Day Switch Up : The Crush Carry Fly

A secret weapon in the fight for full chest strengthening!

I see quite a few guys in the gym doing cable flys, dumbbell flys and machine flys to build their pecs.

What they don't know is , changes in direction while fully engaging the pectoral muscles will work the

entire muscle group without having to change angles, equipment or seating/standing positions.

As always , I'm a fan of standing during lifts, on one leg occasionally

Due to lateral movement of the arms with your pectorals fully flexed you will achieve not only

a "pump" but a true strength gain.

Try it in place of normal band or cable flys for 8 weeks and enjoy the feeling of crushing power!

Thanks to our Fitness Model Chris for having perfect form!