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.