Issue 184
Time and again we’ve see bodybuilding-style supported weights drills aren’t right for the cage. What does work is limited stability training says our S&C columnist.
Mixed martial arts has been around for many years now. Until about six years ago, when Dana White and Zuffa LLC bought the Ultimate Fighting Championship outright, no one really knew what it was.
It was considered a pay-per-view ‘dog fight’ with no rules. As a martial artist and a strength and conditioning coach, I was very intrigued with the sport in the early 90’s. Then it became banned in my home state of Massachusetts because it was ‘too brutal.’ Last time I looked, a lot of sports are brutal and grueling in nature.
That to me is part of the thrill of competition. There’s the actual game, match, or event but there’s also what the athletes put themselves through to be the best.
Along comes Dana White, a former boxing trainer from south Boston.
He partners with the right people and buys out the UFC from the former owners for short money around 2001. Then he conceives The Ultimate Fighter reality show and a whole new era for mixed martial arts begins. Some seven years later, I find myself at the forefront of this fast-growing sport, as the strength and conditioning coach to 12 of the top professional MMA fighters.
Not to mention the strength and conditioning consultant to several top MMA gyms in New England.
The reason I tell you this is to shine a little light on the background of MMA.
The marriage between MMA and functional strength training, from my perspective, was an easy one. Many of these fighters train like bodybuilders instead of training like fighters. The reason is bad education: they thought that was the right way to train.
The problem is that bodybuilding isn’t specific to fighting. MMA is a combat sport that has many different levels and components to it.
The athlete has to possess a knowledge of boxing, Muay Thai, wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. When you watch a fight, you won’t see any bench pressing, lateral pull downs, or leg extensions.
They are in the middle of combat, and combat is organized chaos.
This chaos may place the participants in many new and awkward positions with limited or no balance. That being said sitting, supported-strength training exercises of the kind bodybuilders do have limited or no worth for the Octagon, in my humble opinion.
What does belong is limited stability training. This is what these combat athletes need to feel and work on for their matches. One move in particular that is essential for not getting taken down is known as the ‘sprawl.’ Why is a sprawl important?
The move is one of the cornerstones of blocking or preventing to be taken down to the ground. A sprawl is executed when a fighter ‘shoots’ or dives in to grab the leg or legs of another fighter, to take him on the ground. The sprawl defeats the shoot.
If a fighter has the top position, he has the advantage. Also the takedown is a way of scoring points. If the athlete sprawls or stops the takedown, no points are awarded for the takedown. The ground is not a place you want to be, unless you’re on top.
When you look at the sprawl the athlete needs to have several conditioning components: Level change, push and pull, timing, explosiveness and balance.
One of my favorite pieces of equipment to tax my MMA clients is using the bosu to execute a sprawl. This is very challenging in a circuit or round (multiple stations) manner. I incorporate the bosu to my “ gas in the tank” workouts four to six weeks before a fight. It ‘s an excellent way to accomplish the five above components.
See how the sprawl works with the bosu in the panel on the left of this page.
The benefit to using the bosu is the device’s unstable nature.
It’s uneven, and this adds to the challenge of the central nervous system as well as simulating the instability of combat. We’ll also use the bosu and the athlete has an injury that may prevent him from live sparring.
A live sparring partner introduces many variables that may further increase the chances of injury.
Sprawls with the bosu allow the combat athlete to practice an essential move for the Octagon while rehabbing a possible shoulder, wrist, or elbow injury. In this way we’re still able to train and build the combat athlete for his upcoming fight. No missed time training equals no missed paycheck!
The bosu is one of my favorite ‘tools from my trainer’s box’ to use for work with my combat athletes. It’s versatile, functional and perfect for the demands of mixed martial arts.
Bosu Exercise
The sprawl works this way with the bosu:
1: The athlete grabs the bosu while standing up with bubble side down.
2: Then the athlete explosively drops down to the ground.
3: At the same time he shoots his legs backwards and drops all his bodyweight.
4: His arms are locked out on the bosu to mimic blocking the shoulders or head of the opponent.
5: The athlete then pops back up to a standing position and then executes this move for reps or time.
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