Issue 043

November 2008

Jake Bonacci was an intern at Xtreme Couture a year ago, pursuing his master’s degree in exercise physiology when he was asked by Randy Couture to help him with his strength and conditioning ahead of his title defence against Gabriel Gonzaga. Quite an honour for the 24-year-old Bonacci, who was used to watching the legendary champ fight – now he was being asked to help him prepare. 

While flattered that Couture had asked him for his services after Bonacci had put him through a workout, he was quite anxious at the same time. “I was really nervous,” recalls Bonacci. “I didn’t know what he did at all for strength and conditioning previously, but I knew how I would do it so I stuck with it and after the first workout he just told me I was going to be in charge for strength and conditioning for the fight – so we got the calendar out for an eight-week plan and to peak for that fight.” Those eight weeks were quite rewarding as Couture successfully stopped Gonzaga and defended the belt.  

Now Bonacci is the go-to guy for strength and conditioning at Xtreme Couture. Tyson Griffin, Mike Pyle, Gray Maynard, Jay Hieron, Mac Danzig and Martin Kampmann all draw on the expertise of Bonacci. It’s a hectic schedule and Bonacci has never been so busy, but he tries to get all the guys’ work done in the morning, anywhere between 7am and noon, so the fighters can come back in the afternoon around 4pm to continue training. 

Having team members fight on the same event is also beneficial as they can peak at the same time. Fighters such as Gray Maynard and Tyson Griffin, who are scheduled to fight at UFC 90, have the same sessions with Bonacci. When fighters have the same sessions and are fighting on the same date it can intensify practices and get the best out of the athletes. “It’s good to have because the guys, they like to kind of compete against each other,” comments Bonacci.  

“None of the workouts are the same, but they’re never too different that I can’t gauge progress,” says Bonacci.  

“It’s the same style but consists of different exercises.” Six or seven weeks out from a fight Bonacci will have fighters doing a lot of strength work, a lot of Olympic lifting, and a whole lot of core training. 

As the fight approaches, the programme becomes more cardio based, consisting of endurance circuits. For instance, he’ll have them do five minutes worth of sprints on the aerodyne bike, immediately run over and go through a full body circuit – such as a pull-up variation, a push up variation and a squat variation. “As we move closer that format kind of stays the same, the weights go away as the fight gets closer but recovery periods also decrease,” says Bonacci. “I break the workouts into rounds too.” 

The five-round fight is the ultimate challenge in strength and conditioning training. And one of the most pristine shapes a fighter from Xtreme Couture has been in for the 25-minute marathon that is a title fight, would be in the form of Jay Hieron. “I’d have to say, since I started, the guy I had probably in the best shape was Jay Hieron for his last title defence in the IFL,” says Bonacci. “It was a five-round fight we prepared, and his cardio was just crazy. We were ripping through six rounds with 25-second rest periods that week before the fight, so it was good,” Bonacci recalls.  

Bonacci’s success helped him gain a lot of respect in the camp. The fighters’ trust and confidence was something Bonacci felt was a pivotal component for success. “You can know everything, you can be the best trainer in the world, but if you don’t have the fighters’ respect, your degrees aren’t worth the piece of paper they’re written on,” says Bonacci.  

“I think once you gain their respect and they trust you and believe in you; I think that’s the biggest task.” Helping Couture defend his title was instant credibility. Also aiding Bonacci to win over the respect of the stable of fighters at Xtreme Couture was the fact that he could be seen training at the facility and going through the tough workouts. So Bonacci was not asking them to do anything he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, do himself.  

But Bonacci doesn’t want to take credit for any of the fighters’ achievements. He is extremely impressed with skill and their dedication. “They didn’t get there without having a work ethic,” notes Bonacci. Everywhere you turn in the gym you’re going to run into a world-class fighter, and Bonacci loves the experience of being surrounded by focussed competitors, such as The Ultimate Fighter winner Mac Danzig. “I like Mac, I like working with him,” notes Bonacci. “He’s not going to talk your ear off or anything but he comes there and he means business, I love the intensity.”  

Of course, the big dog in the gym would be Couture. Bonacci feels he sets the example and his work ethic is second to none – he’ll do whatever he’s asked to – and Couture’s presence in the gym gives an instant boost of spirit. When Couture returned to prepare for his return to the UFC to compete against Brock Lesnar, there was an immediate increase in energy. “The atmosphere is real intense right now, especially that he’s back,” comments Bonacci.  

In the first couple of weeks, three five-minute circuits with high intensity can be the plan on a particular day, but on another day Bonacci might switch it to four six-minute rounds. “Obviously we’ve got to get ready for five, that’s the ultimate goal,” says Bonacci. “Before the fight we’ll be doing five six-minute rounds.”  

As you get into the meat and potatoes of the training, the three days a week, one-hour sessions will continue to be based on a round system, but with higher volume and intensity. The middle day workout is usually a plyometric session. “A lot of box-jumps, a lot of balance stuff, I’d be surprised if any camp does more of the core work and plyo stuff than we do,” say Bonacci, who would also say the same for the amount of core strength work he has the team do.  

“I always say this, you can have a strong upper body and a strong lower body, but if your core is weak, you’re weak,” explains Bonacci. Which is why he has the fighters do a lot of pure core-training before the workouts, and whenever he can incorporate core and balance stability training into the workout he’ll do it. “Anyway I can add it in there, like single leg stuff, single arm stuff, just tons of different stuff to challenge the core at all times.”  

Bonacci’s style is definitely a great fit for the gym. Xtreme Couture has a strong core itself as a team, and from there they have just flourished and helped each other get better and better through constant improvement and hard work. In just a year Bonacci has been part of the process of improving the team further. For him the greatest part of job is the satisfaction of victory. “The best part about it is to see the guys win, see it all pay off,” says Bonacci. With the elite crew Bonacci is working with, there’ll likely be a lot more satisfaction in store for him.