Fighters Only

Oct 29, 2019

There are 206 bones in the adult body but it’s the muscle surrounding them that makes a champion. Learn how UFC all-time great Jon "Bones" Jones sculpts his frame.

He became the youngest champion in UFC history and has the potential to go down as one of the greatest fighters ever in mixed martial arts. With his long limbs, unending cardio and incredibly creative fighting style, Jon Jones makes success look easy.

But far away from the bright lights and the packed arenas, the real work is done. And what may appear effortless only comes from great sacrifice and a relentless work ethic.

With two brothers making headlines and substantial dollars in the NFL, it’s safe to say ‘Bones’ wasn’t even the natural athlete in his family growing up. Yet while Arthur and Chandler star on Monday Night Football, Jon is leading the UFC into a new area. He’s the flag-bearer of a new generation of superstar inside the Octagon, one that’s built on long hours in the gym and a dedication to all aspects of martial arts.

The UFC light heavyweight standout is now a global superstar. He was the first fighter to get an international endorsement deal with sports gear superpower Nike, and he’s just picked up Gatorade too.

Inside two years he put the UFC belt on the line six times, despite the latest – against Alexander Gustafsson – being his first fight in five months. Yet Jones insists it’s often time away from competition that really drives a champion.

“Time away from the gym is vital, especially every now and again in periods of a few months. It just helps you get your desire back, you miss it again,” he reflects. “You miss the training and the drilling and the whole process. You miss it, you want your abs back, you want your timing back, and you want your ‘it’ back!”

Along with acclaimed fight coaches Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn, Jones also works out regularly with strength and conditioning coach Adrian Gonzales at Elevate Performance, who he describes as a “phenomenal trainer.” But there’s also plenty of other fingers in Jones’ corner.

“My regular fight camp timetable?” Jon asks with a roll of his eyes, “It’s a lot of work, man. I train every day except Sundays. Sometimes I take off Saturdays if I’m really sore, but it’s mostly six days a week. Every morning at 9am it’s a different style of martial art and that includes sparring, really going live at it.

“Then in the afternoons on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays I go to Elevate with Adrian for my strength and conditioning; which is weights, sprints, all things like that.

“Then Tuesdays and Thursdays I’m out swimming. Then every night – except for Saturday and Sunday – I’m doing private classes, usually from 8–9pm, with either Greg Jackson, my head coach, or Mike Winkeljohn, who’s my head kickboxing coach.”

And it’s not just the population of Albuquerque, New Mexico, that helps shape the champ: it’s the terrain too. Straddling the Rio Grande, the town famous for producing world-class fighters and, as well as being home to award-winning TV drama Breaking Bad, seems designed to break and make athletes with its dry, arid mountain ranges.

Jon says: “Albuquerque has got plenty of mountains which is great for any training camp. It’s also at high elevation so even when I’m just jogging on the treadmill inside of the gym then I’m still training at elevation. Then when I get into those mountain runs and really use the lay of the land, then we can get even higher, as high as 9,000-feet.

“When you are working out up there, it’s really hard to breathe at first but eventually your body gets used to it. So when you come down that mountain, and especially when you arrive at the city you’re fighting in, which is usually at sea level, then you feel like you have an untouchable tank of gas.”

Leg days

However, Jones isn’t too partial to long mundane runs each day. He prefers his running sessions to be far shorter and more explosive. He adds: “They’re not usually the longest of runs, mostly sprints. I don’t run traditionally like boxers do, jogging for hours upon hours, it’s more speed and intensity – kind of like the way a fight is.”

And the same goes for his strength and conditioning sessions: 45-minute bursts designed by Gonzales to both tax the heart rate and maximize strength and power.

Gonzales reveals: “Jon’s frame is somewhat unique to the sport and his weight class. We want to make sure that he can use those long levers powerfully and is able to sustain powerful movements.

“His diet stipulates the weight and amount of size he puts on so we don’t necessarily concern ourselves with changing his body. His body did evolve last camp – he added size to his legs (quads and glutes) added size to his traps, shoulders and chest. Though we don’t train him with the outcome of getting him larger muscles, the intention is to get him faster, more powerful and better conditioned. The change in his body is just the icing on the cake.”

The increased size in his legs is what most see as being key to Jones’ long-term destiny. While as a light heavyweight his long, skinny arms and legs have made him the fiercest striker around, they also hold the potential to moving up a division one day in the future. Once packed with muscle, those limbs could become some of the biggest in the entire UFC and unlock the opportunity for Bones to become a two-weight world champion.

Although, when asked about his least favorite part of training camp Jones repeats an all-too-familiar phrase that you’ll hear repeated in the gyms and fitness suites the world over: leg days.

“I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to do squats,” he says gripping his two thighs. “Not just more squats, but squats period. Squats is one of those things that wherever you are with them today, you wish you’d started them a year before. Nobody likes legs day, do they? I don’t anyway. Legs day sucks.”

On the opposite side to leg days are sparring days, however. Jones just loves them. “Drilling, sparring, really being able to break down a move or technique and totally understand it. Teaching it and perfecting a move, I find that really rewarding as breaking something down like that ensures you understand it fully; you’ve perfected the technique,” he says. “That’s when you get to drill it over and over and over. I enjoy that.”

Diving

One aspect of his weekly training schedule that surprises most observers is Jon’s commitment to swimming sessions.

Jones swims twice a week without fail, over at Duke City Aquatics with veteran swim coach Betsy Patterson. “Swimming teaches me to stay relaxed, stay focused, have good form and technique and good breathing, regardless of how tired I am.

“The swimming pool is just such a good workout. I’m a pretty good fighter and runner, but the pool is relentless. And it’s a vital part of my good cardio in a fight. Swimming is definitely the toughest form of exercise. It’s brutal.”

He adds: “I usually start with some 800s, as a warm-up, then we do some resistance swimming where I have a bungee tied around my waist and I swim out into the center of the pool and they pull back on it, so I’m basically swimming but not getting anywhere.

Then, when I’m on the brink of exhaustion, they let the bungee out so I can make it to the opposite end of the pool.

“Then I have this other workout called dive swims which is where you start on one side by diving in, swim across then pull yourself up and out of the water. Then you dive right back in and swim back to the other side and pull yourself up and out again. And we just keep going back and forth, and eventually just pulling yourself out of the pool, man, it’s killer. It’s totally exhausting.”

'Bones’ Jones-inspired pool workout

1. WARM-UP

How: Swim lengths using freestyle and breast stroke alternating each length. Focus on technique not speed: long strokes. Use fins if required.
Reps: Complete 800m (16 lengths).

2. RESISTANCE SWIMS

How: With a bungee chord tied around the waist, the swimmer is allowed to reach the center of the pool before resistance is applied. When on the brink of exhaustion, allow the bungee out so they can complete the length/width.
Reps: 3–5 lengths is more than enough.

3. DIVE SWIMS

How: Swim widths of the deep end. Start by diving in, sprint across (freestyle), then push body up and out of the water.
Reps: Spin 180 degrees and dive back in to repeat.

4. THE FLOATER

How: Swim lengths using a float or inflatable device. For breast stroke hold between thighs, for freestyle hold with one arm, forcing the other side to work harder (alternating arms after each length).
Reps: 200m (4 lengths).

5. KETTLEBELL SPLASH

How: Using a small kettlebell or plastic dumbbell, perform various exercises while submerged (shadow boxing is also very good).
Reps: Either for a period of time or combine with swimming lengths.

6. WARM-DOWN

How: Lengths of freestyle, breast stroke and finally one of doggy paddle to finish. Conduct as quietly as possible.
Reps: 200m (4 lengths).

Team 'Bones'

Despite all the plaudits for his skills, however, Jones is always keen to praise the coaches who get him in condition, both physically and mentally, to fight. Jackson and Winkeljohn perhaps get the most exposure, but they – like Jones himself – are all just cogs in the mechanism that is the UFC’s star performer.

“Greg Jackson taught me how to breathe and fight like a warrior,” Jones says. “He taught me how to be a champion, that champions only start fighting when they’re exhausted. When their muscles are aching and chest is burning, that’s when champions fight.

“Michael Winkeljohn taught me how to kickbox. He taught me how to utilize my reach, taught me how to knee stomp. He’s phenomenal, and turned my career around big time.

“My wrestling mentor is Jack Stamford, because back in high school he really taught me how to believe and was a huge role model in my life. My wrestling coach now, Izzy Martinez, owns the number-one wrestling team in Chicago, his high school is ranked number one.

So he’s active to this day so he teaches me stuff that’s relevant now – which is probably why I’ve never been taken down.

“And then there’s Patrick O’Connell, my boxing coach, who is a 60-year-old super-dedicated mean old Irishman with just so much experience. All my coaches play such a huge role in my success.”

And adding new coaches, like O’Connell who last worked with Jones for his UFC 94 match-up with Stephan Bonnar in January 2009, is another trick Jones says is essential to keeping things fresh and new. “It’s always about stepping up your game and new coaches bring a new approach, a new game, an open mind and fresh ambition – and this all leads to one thing: a better fighter.

“Bringing Pat back was a no-brainer and he’ll take me to another level with my boxing. Already there’s a few things we’ve been working on, stuff that I probably got away from, that’s going to see me improve again. You’ll definitely see a cleaner-striking version of myself moving forward.”

With this ever-evolving coaching team, the dedication and, clearly, the ambition to do great things, the world truly is an oyster for the young UFC light heavyweight standout.

Quite what the future holds for record-breaking Jon Jones only fate can possibly know. But it seems that eventual switch up to heavyweight is somewhat inevitable.

But for now, at least, the UFC’s most marketable superstar will continue to study, improve, and both set and smash even bigger and brasher career goals. And with the UFC’s fan base always growing from increased mainstream appeal and rapidly expanding global exposure, surely the one thing that is assured is Jones’ spot as a global star.